Mare bucked friends daughter off today...

A

aintgotnohay

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ive got a grey 14.2hh cob x.been a broodmare all her life.ive been letting my friends very novice daughter ride her in exchange for chores etc and the arrangement was working out okay till today.she has been used for novices before as she just plods about and never wants to go fast.i went on a hack today on my other pony and when id gone the mare suddenly exploded and bucked my friends daughter off (shes okay).i ride the mare no problem and always carry a crop cos she can be nappy and does sometimes try it on.shes fab on the road in company.shes had her teeth done and everything else is good with her.do you think she was just trying it on.im hacking mare tommorow.
 
Hi

It's a bit unclear from your post what actually happened. Did you go off on a hack on your other pony and leave your friend's daughter behind in the school? Or were you both hacking together when the bucking took place? If the former maybe the mare had a tantrum because the other pony had gone off and left her. Mine sometimes does this in the school if the other horses go out and we are left on our own. If you were both out hacking maybe it was just excitement. Or maybe she was in season and was feeling a little tender behind the saddle. There are lots of reasons why this might have happened. Hope the young rider wasn't put off. Maybe you could put a neck strap on to give some extra security? Maybe also get saddle checked as she may have changed shape if she has been brought back into work after time off. Just a few thoughts.
 
If she was in the school and going by her past history maybe the girl asked her to do something she didn't like such as canter and the mare bucked her off then? I've seen a lot of cobs do this esp to inexperienced riders who ask too much. If your mare is used to plodding around then maybe she didn't like the harder work the girl asked for.
 
I am a little confused by your post (may just be the way I have read it sorry). First you say she has been a broodmare all of her life, presumably she has been broken and brought back into work by an experienced rider? However it is the point where you say she has been ridden by novices before and only plods but also that she can be nappy and tries it on, both in the same sentence. Are you talking about the same mare? If so why leave a 'very novice' rider to deal with her by herself is she is known to try it on and nap?

Who else was there when the incident happened?
It may be a one off, especially if you were leaving the yard on another horse but if not get everything double checked to rule out any pain related issues.
 
My feeling is that the mare was worried by the rider or asked to do too much for her level of fitness. A novice rider may not have given her the confidence she needed, or may have been unbalanced or heavy handed, or given her conflicting instructions and the poor horse simply thought,' I've had enough, get off now.'
 
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