Positivity needed

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serena2005

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Please tell me your success stories with horses that bronk

We bought a pony a little over a year ago, and he bronks when he’s nervous, excited or frustrated.

We are building his confidence by not pushing him too far out of his comfort zone.
I recently took him hunting and he seems to have a spring in his step!
Taking him cross country today he was out in front, jumping things he’s never jumped we were having a great day!
We got to a spot where it’s slightly up hill and great for a good old blast.
He was up for it, usually he’s a little unsure when you push him on, but I didn’t have to. He stepped up a gear and was really enjoying himself.

Then the bronking started, with a bit of speed he had some power behind him and I sat a few but I tipped forward and he’s got such a short neck it just wasn’t there to grab hold of and I came off.

So now a little confidence seems to be biting me in the arse!

His teeth are checked, his back is checked, new saddle a few months ago, the vet has given her opinion, in which I trust and completely agree there’s nothing physically wrong with him.

Before I’m told to sell him
1. I don’t want to sell on a problem
2. We are only a year in and he’s only 7 so I’m not sure we’ve had enough time together.
3. I really like him and want him to just stop bronking. He’s perfect in every other way


Please tell me you’ve been through this and have got past it 😭
I bought him for my daughter and she loves him but he’s knocked her confidence and she begs me not to sell him whenever we have this conversation, she so desperately wants to make it work too
 
Have you got a good instructor on board who can see what's happening and support with a plan?

Really hard to tell without seeing what's happening but if he's bronking in scenarios such as hunting, going xc and jumping the jumps in a group and then going for a good blast it sounds like you could potentially be accidentally setting him up for failure and maybe an instructor who can see what's going on can help you set up a plan. They are all fairly big asks for a youngster that's known to get excitable and for me wouldn't fit the criteria of not pushing the comfort zone and building confidence
 
Broncing can (and usually is) pain, but I've had a few that simply get carried away when excited. One was my saintly Charlie-Horse, and he would do it in the scenario you described, as in jump a jump and gallop uphill feeling powerful and ye-ha! I guess the difference was that he would bronc until he felt the rider shift balance, then stop, mortified!

I would find someone who can sit them, and ride through them.

My ginger horse, he would have a little bucking session at the start of every schooling session. It felt joyous! Never unseating though. I used to describe it that he was bucking WITH me not TO me. It was a shared ha ha moment. I'd warm up on a long rein, he'd round his back to step under and set to, like a dolphin diving in the sea. I never saw fit to correct the behaviour as I didn't see it as bad.

I don't know though if yours is pain or ye-ha.
 
I used to have a broncer, bronced from fear or excitement.
When it was excitement, I just used to push him on. I would practice just letting him go, and I did that till he stopped broncing. He eventually stopped.
The fear part I could never change, it didnt happen often but if he saw something extremely scary he would bronc.
 
SpotsandBays said:
Unclear from your post but was it just today that he’d bronced or has it happened multiple times?
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Multiple times
he’s a nervous pony but will do anything you ask but you can tell he’s nervous.
When we first got him it was him napping out hacking
But now he’s used to the routes he does it less.
If he does it out it’s in canter or going into canter and yesterday felt like pent up energy that got a little out of hand. I can usually sit them.

Other times he does if is if he’s spooked himself, he jumped over jumped a filler and bronced on landing
 
Squeak said:
Have you got a good instructor on board who can see what's happening and support with a plan?

Really hard to tell without seeing what's happening but if he's bronking in scenarios such as hunting, going xc and jumping the jumps in a group and then going for a good blast it sounds like you could potentially be accidentally setting him up for failure and maybe an instructor who can see what's going on can help you set up a plan. They are all fairly big asks for a youngster that's known to get excitable and for me wouldn't fit the criteria of not pushing the comfort zone and building confidence
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He was perfectly behaved out hunting
Not once did he bronc
I don’t think there’s a way up upload videos. But I have a few of him doing it.

When we go xc it’s usually with one other horse, we usually follow. It’s usually kept very calm.
He just seemed to be feeling himself yesterday and gave me the feeling he was really up for it.

In terms on an instructor. I have one for my daughter for lessons at home and they are both doing really well together
I’ve been looking for a while but haven’t found another one yet that I like their methods.
 
Red-1 said:
Broncing can (and usually is) pain, but I've had a few that simply get carried away when excited. One was my saintly Charlie-Horse, and he would do it in the scenario you described, as in jump a jump and gallop uphill feeling powerful and ye-ha! I guess the difference was that he would bronc until he felt the rider shift balance, then stop, mortified!

I would find someone who can sit them, and ride through them.

My ginger horse, he would have a little bucking session at the start of every schooling session. It felt joyous! Never unseating though. I used to describe it that he was bucking WITH me not TO me. It was a shared ha ha moment. I'd warm up on a long rein, he'd round his back to step under and set to, like a dolphin diving in the sea. I never saw fit to correct the behaviour as I didn't see it as bad.

I don't know though if yours is pain or ye-ha.
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I’ve had everything checked.
The vet has seen him and watched the videos.
The only thing left to do is X-ray his spine for my own piece of mind. But he’s showing no signs of kissing spine, he’s never lame, he’s in lovely condition, he works beautifully when schooled.

Most of the time it feels like it’s anxious and feels like he’s throwing his toys out the pram. If he’s not sure about what we are asking of him, so we’ve changed our approach and let him trott untill he breaks into canter himself, then he’s fine. It’s almost like DONT TELL ME WHAT TO DO!

Yesterday felt like Woo hoo but went too far
 
I would x ray the back as in grand scheme of things it’s cheap just to check and tick that box in case it escalates but on whole it sounds like an adrenaline reaction both from nerves and excitement. Does he put his head down to do it? One of the simplest ways to help is to bend the neck, they can’t do it unless they are straight in the neck. I appreciate this is not an easy thing to do. The other thing about bending the neck is it disengages the hind leg and reduces their power. If you ever watch Jay Johnson videos (which I don’t particularly recommend) but it’s very interesting to see he puts them in a Pelham and is constantly moving the neck for that reason.

With some work and I would suggest a western style trainer for this you can teach them a one rein stop.

If it’s a bronk where he puts head between knees I would look at getting one of those kids daisy reins to see if you can break the habit and give you some support under pressure.
 
I'm Dun said:
He needs a vet work up and xrays. You need a new vet if they haven't done this and have declared its behavioural. Vets who do this should be struck off.
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I’ve known this vet for her whole career and 100% trust her judgment.

I can appreciate your message and have requested an investigation to start with the pony
 
LEC said:
I would x ray the back as in grand scheme of things it’s cheap just to check and tick that box in case it escalates but on whole it sounds like an adrenaline reaction both from nerves and excitement. Does he put his head down to do it? One of the simplest ways to help is to bend the neck, they can’t do it unless they are straight in the neck. I appreciate this is not an easy thing to do. The other thing about bending the neck is it disengages the hind leg and reduces their power. If you ever watch Jay Johnson videos (which I don’t particularly recommend) but it’s very interesting to see he puts them in a Pelham and is constantly moving the neck for that reason.

With some work and I would suggest a western style trainer for this you can teach them a one rein stop.

If it’s a bronk where he puts head between knees I would look at getting one of those kids daisy reins to see if you can break the habit and give you some support under pressure.
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Thank you so much for this message!
I have considered a daisy rein! He does put his head down, and he’s got such a short neck his head literally disappears! This is how I came off, I went to grab some mane as I tipped forward and it just wasn’t there 🤣

He’s never cantered that powerfully before, you know when you can really feel their back legs going and he just felt like he was loving it. It’s just so disappointing he can’t just enjoy himself without getting overwhelmed.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I would start by checking the saddle again and if you are certain that it fits well under all circumstances, including jumping, I would want the vet to x-ray.
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Get the same saddler out or a different one? The saddle seems to fit well, we don’t have any issues with it when riding.
Unlike his 2 previous saddles we had which tipped and slipped constantly

Ive enquired with the vet about where to start with this issue. If he needs a full work up or can I just get him xrayed
 
I have experience with broncing. My old horse Nova bronced quite a lot - I originally put it down to her being young - but it turned out she was in quite a lot of pain. I’d xray his back. It’s relatively cheap and can cross something out if there’s nothing significant on there.

My current horse bronced with me when we went for a gallop with another. It’s the only time he has done it but, despite not having him long, I could tell it was an excitement thing as it was the first time I properly let the handbrake off and he did two tiny broncs and then carried on galloping.
 
serena2005 said:
Thank you so much for this message!
I have considered a daisy rein! He does put his head down, and he’s got such a short neck his head literally disappears! This is how I came off, I went to grab some mane as I tipped forward and it just wasn’t there 🤣

He’s never cantered that powerfully before, you know when you can really feel their back legs going and he just felt like he was loving it. It’s just so disappointing he can’t just enjoy himself without getting overwhelmed.
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Do you ride with a neck strap? Easier to slot fingers anytime in rather than mane and support you more while being moved. Also you can sit up against the movement with neck strap rather than be forwards. If you can balance better and then urge them forwards more it also discourages the habit. Its why with fresh horses you want to get into canter sooner so you can ride them forwards rather than slower they have the opportunity to throw more moves in.
 
J_sarahd said:
I have experience with broncing. My old horse Nova bronced quite a lot - I originally put it down to her being young - but it turned out she was in quite a lot of pain. I’d xray his back. It’s relatively cheap and can cross something out if there’s nothing significant on there.

My current horse bronced with me when we went for a gallop with another. It’s the only time he has done it but, despite not having him long, I could tell it was an excitement thing as it was the first time I properly let the handbrake off and he did two tiny broncs and then carried on galloping.
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What was wrong with the first horse?
 
LEC said:
Do you ride with a neck strap? Easier to slot fingers anytime in rather than mane and support you more while being moved. Also you can sit up against the movement with neck strap rather than be forwards. If you can balance better and then urge them forwards more it also discourages the habit. It’s why with fresh horses you want to get into canter sooner so you can ride them forwards rather than slower they have the opportunity to throw more moves in.
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He has a martingale but I can’t think why I didn’t try and grab that, maybe I did it was all very fast.

He did this bronc about 30+ mins into the ride, we had gone for a long canter, did a few jumps which he did lovely. This canter point is the ok you can go now point

After we went for another canter and popped another jump and he was perfect
 
serena2005 said:
What was wrong with the first horse?
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She had kissing spine, PSD, arthritic changes in her hocks and possibly more as she was still lame and sadly pts so we never figured out the absolute extent of her issues.

I’m not saying yours has all, or any, of those issues at all - she was very much a worst-case and completely broken - I’m just saying that broncing can very much be a sign of pain.

But she was doing it a lot, even in “unexciting” situations, and to the extreme of broncing to get me off her basically.
 
J_sarahd said:
She had kissing spine, PSD, arthritic changes in her hocks and possibly more as she was still lame and sadly pts so we never figured out the absolute extent of her issues.

I’m not saying yours has all, or any, of those issues at all - she was very much a worst-case and completely broken - I’m just saying that broncing can very much be a sign of pain.

But she was doing it a lot, even in “unexciting” situations, and to the extreme of broncing to get me off her basically.
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That’s so sad I’m sorry x

Yes he is doing it much less over time and he only does it when he’s cantering in a field or after a jump that’s a bit scary for him.
So we have taken his jumping right back to welcoming small jumps so *touches wood* we’ve had no broncing and he’s been keen to jump.

When he does it out it’s usually because he’s nervous and feeling like he’s protesting, so our tactics has been to let him go into canter at his own pace and this seems to resolve the issue.

He was definitely anxious yesterday, chewing on his bit, sweating more than I’d have expected him to. But I wasn’t needing to use any leg he was forward when usually he’d back off if he wasn’t confident so I relaxed and let him go as fast as he liked, so I was completely off guard
 
My young cob has thrown in some decent rodeo displays when he is overwhelmed. I've needed 2 new hats this year.

One very dramatic display was at a clinic and the lady running the clinic lent me a different bit, which just gave me a bit more ability to get his head up and get him moving. I wasn't sure the first time if it was a niggle (he had a minor stifle injury at the beginning of the year) but the vets couldn't find anything and once I was in a position to get his head up and get him moving forward - neck out rather than all crunched up and ready to explode - he was fine.

He will still explode if it all gets a bit too much and I can't get him forward. My challenge is to not ride defensively (easier said than done!) and to give enough with the rein that he can travel without feeling that I'm giving away control. I did a clinic on Saturday where there was a lot going on around us and I literally locked the fingers of my right hand under the neck strap until he settled. He also needs to be in a lot of work at certain times of the year to not be an idiot.

I've come off him a few times hacking in the situation you describe, so I'm quite careful about where I ask for speed. Field margins are a bad idea because there is too much open space but he's fine on woodland tracks. He's also fine doing faster work in company providing that they really do shift so he's having to keep up rather than wave his legs around.

I would also say that if we've been out in a group (hunt ride, sponsored ride etc) then the next time out he will be awful so I avoid a 'going fast' situation until I've given him a decent work out at home. I made the mistake of doing 2 rides at Cholsey in quick succession over the summer and then a jumping clinic. I got properly decked at the clinic because he was so wound up. I now know that the night before a clinic in that kind of week we need to do a lot of trotting of circles at home to re-engage brain.
 
SEL said:
My young cob has thrown in some decent rodeo displays when he is overwhelmed. I've needed 2 new hats this year.

One very dramatic display was at a clinic and the lady running the clinic lent me a different bit, which just gave me a bit more ability to get his head up and get him moving. I wasn't sure the first time if it was a niggle (he had a minor stifle injury at the beginning of the year) but the vets couldn't find anything and once I was in a position to get his head up and get him moving forward - neck out rather than all crunched up and ready to explode - he was fine.

He will still explode if it all gets a bit too much and I can't get him forward. My challenge is to not ride defensively (easier said than done!) and to give enough with the rein that he can travel without feeling that I'm giving away control. I did a clinic on Saturday where there was a lot going on around us and I literally locked the fingers of my right hand under the neck strap until he settled. He also needs to be in a lot of work at certain times of the year to not be an idiot.

I've come off him a few times hacking in the situation you describe, so I'm quite careful about where I ask for speed. Field margins are a bad idea because there is too much open space but he's fine on woodland tracks. He's also fine doing faster work in company providing that they really do shift so he's having to keep up rather than wave his legs around.

I would also say that if we've been out in a group (hunt ride, sponsored ride etc) then the next time out he will be awful so I avoid a 'going fast' situation until I've given him a decent work out at home. I made the mistake of doing 2 rides at Cholsey in quick succession over the summer and then a jumping clinic. I got properly decked at the clinic because he was so wound up. I now know that the night before a clinic in that kind of week we need to do a lot of trotting of circles at home to re-engage brain.
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This makes a lot of sense.
This is the second time he’s been out since hunting. The weather was awful so I rode him instead of my daughter but the ground was so bad we only really walked and trotted with a few steady canters and he was perfect after he had settled getting off the box.

This time I assumed as he knew the cross country course and we were just with one other horse he’d be fine. he was fine until I relaxed and assumed he’d just have a good gallop without broncing as it’s usually at the start of cantering.

So I’ll definitely take on board getting home and making him use his brain after a excitable day out.
Thanks so much
 
I currently have one who will buck with excitement - always has, it’s predictable and only in certain situations. Rest of the time she’s a dope on a rope! One of her predecessors was a gorgeous TB who would do the same - less of the head tucked in bounces there though and more of the wild giant handstands! There was a point in her 5yo year when I rode her in a Cheltenham gag so I could pull her head up enough to lessen the severity of her excited leaps. Thankfully she grew out of that, got used to wildly exciting things like xc and fun rides, and settled into adulthood as a sane and sensible horse (so long as we did enough canter each week!).

So I would say:
- Know your triggers. If I don’t want to sit a bronc, I don’t canter on ground without good grass cover (she’ll buck at slippery mud patches); I don’t go for a good fast canter. We can canter, on the bit, at any pace I choose - but let her loose and there will be a moment just because she’s her!
- Learn how to stay on. Sadly, that is sometimes experience! I learned that from a very helpful little New Forest pony who delighted in dumping her rider when she’d had enough. It was effective though and the landing was usually soft!
- A good instructor can help. I had one who pointed out that one of my past ponies bucked when she felt like it because she’d never been told not to, and although it didn’t bother me, it might bother others. So we worked on explaining to her that it was rude, and she did stop doing it. I am probably guilty of the same with current pony. I don’t mind if she wants a joyful leap or six, so I have never actually asked her not to.
- Remember your pony is still only 7. We have mostly young ponies and I am constantly reminding my kids that if they want to take them for a race up the field they absolutely can, but the explosion of bucks they will receive (and the possible loss of control) is to be expected. I’ve only ever had one that showed no inclination for joyful leaps as a youngster. Most ponies grow out of it though, some later than others!
 
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