What the heck was he doing? What should I do!?

I bought a cheap little saddle at an auction, seemed ok, tree appeared sound, looked a decent fit but when the rider sat on it the pony pretty much sat down. tried again, didn't even take any steps and he did the same. Didn't bother to check it as cheap, just binned it; sometimes it isn't immediately obvious that something's digging in or otherwise very uncomfortable.
 
picking a leg up and kicking his belly to me seems like more than jst a bolshy cant be bothered green cob, that would be ringing alarm bells, did you check his feet? was the ground hard or stoney?may have been foot sore or he may have stood on something, i would be having the vet out to do back, feet and ulcer tests first but it also sounds like you need to re-establish some ground rules and instill some manners too.
 
So you haven't actually had the fit of this saddle checked? Who says it fits ok? Get it checked asap, start lunging, long-reining your horse and be firm on the ground! There is such a stereotype of bolshy cobs and it is simply due to lack of boundaries and decent handling. If he plants make him move. There are some good handling books available on amazon that could give you some exercises to teach pressure-release which is essential for good ground manners. Do not ever let him use you as a scratching post.
 
FairyLights said:
green horse hasnt been ridden for 5 months? Just having a bit of a buck. Nothing to worry about.
I just love the way this forum goes over board wit ulcers, saddle fit etc. its like saying a sore throat is cancer. It is sometimes but it usually isnt.
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Tail swishing and kicking up at the belly is not 'just having a bit of a buck'! I don't think people are going overboard at all. Novice owner, green horse, previous badly fitting saddle, five months off, not back check and now self fitting a saddle! Recipe for disaster.

OP your pony is displaying signs of pain. Get the vet out, do not get a 'back person' unless the vet recommends this (they are known as physios or chiropractors BTW). Then get a good saddler to come and check your saddle.
 
I agree with the others, it sounds more like a physical issue than just being a bit bolshy, in either case the op sounds like she needs some more experienced input. It would be irresponsible to suggest she just cracks on without ruling out anything else, nobody here has seen the horse or its saddle fit, so it is only right to suggest these are sorted first. The horse and its tack may be fine, but without checking nobody knows!
 
QUESTIONS FOR THE OP.
1) Did you lunge him in tack before you mounted? A must if he hasnt been ridden for 5 months.
2) Did you mount him near the haynet or take him away from it first? I wudnt want to walk away from my dinner!!
3) He is green- you might have walked, trotted and cantered, but he is still very green!
4) How can a horse 'double-barrel' you when you are riding him?

It sounds like the OP went about getting on a green horse after a 5 month break TOTALLY the wrong way. She shouldv spent a couple of days leading with tack on, a couple of days lunging/long reining with tack on, then maybe a bit of being led while mounted, before attempting to get on and ride.
 
I'd already "tried his tack" on him a few days before and lunged him to make sure the saddle wasn't slipping back/forwards, bouncing about etc. Also I was making sure his bridle was okay (also new). We haven't changed his bit.
I always take his Haynet away before I put his bridle on to stop him eating with the bit in his mouth, so he wasn't walking away from anything either.
I do know he's green, but not very green. When we were riding regularly last year he was a bit more 'further on' than the majority of greenies I've ridden.
What I meant by he "double barrelled" me when I was riding him is I just stood him still to reassure him, and he leapt in the air and kicked out, I just called it doublebarrelling because I couldn't think what else to describe it as.

Also, just to clear a few other things up,
1. I'm not a novice
2. I didn't just "give him a five month break", as I said in my origional post we literally couldn't do ridden work for that period of time because his ill-fitting saddle (that we didn't actually keep for very long for obvious reasons) sold before we got a new one
3. He wasn't kicking his tummy, He was putting his head down as if to buck but then only being able to do a tiny tiny one and only getting to the stage of the buck where he has his feet tucked under him because he was obviously only walking so didn't have the same momentum as if he was in trot or canter.
 
Haven't checked his sheath yet but I'll try and have a look today! Might be a bit tricky as most of you will know they get quite hairy in their "private area" over winter!
 
No, sorry OP, I repeat the suggestion that you get yourself access to some experienced assistance.
 
CassTheCob said:
I'd already "tried his tack" on him a few days before and lunged him to make sure the saddle wasn't slipping back/forwards, bouncing about etc. Also I was making sure his bridle was okay (also new). We haven't changed his bit.
I always take his Haynet away before I put his bridle on to stop him eating with the bit in his mouth, so he wasn't walking away from anything either.
I do know he's green, but not very green. When we were riding regularly last year he was a bit more 'further on' than the majority of greenies I've ridden.
What I meant by he "double barrelled" me when I was riding him is I just stood him still to reassure him, and he leapt in the air and kicked out, I just called it doublebarrelling because I couldn't think what else to describe it as.

Also, just to clear a few other things up,
1. I'm not a novice
2. I didn't just "give him a five month break", as I said in my origional post we literally couldn't do ridden work for that period of time because his ill-fitting saddle (that we didn't actually keep for very long for obvious reasons) sold before we got a new one
3. He wasn't kicking his tummy, He was putting his head down as if to buck but then only being able to do a tiny tiny one and only getting to the stage of the buck where he has his feet tucked under him because he was obviously only walking so didn't have the same momentum as if he was in trot or canter.
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What you describe is indicative of pain. Tail swishing and trying to buck are symptoms. Horses are perfectly capable of bucking from a walk. They can throw in HUGE bucks from walk. I am assuming you are not an adult (you are 6 stone) and therefore assumed you were a novice. You can be a novice even if you have ridden for many years. Novice is not the same as 'beginner'.
 
You haven't said if you've had a professional out to check the fit of your new saddle?
Personally, I would have been doing some form of work (ie lunging/long reining) before you put a saddle on his back again. Also, you need to establish some ground rules with him by the sounds of things.
 
I still think you need to get the saddle fit checked properly. After a 5 month break from ridden work I would have gone back to DAILY lunging (or preferably long reining) in tack and done a reasonable session on the ground before getting on. Not just "a few days before". I never ride a youngster without long reining first and then the ridden session is short, simple and at the end so they finish on a positive. However you must rule out saddle fit issues before anything else. If it fits well, fair enough, then you move on to the next possibility and rule that out, and so on.
 
we dont even get onto seasoned hunters after their summer break (4 months) without lunging for at least a week first, to allow their back muscles etc to become acclimatised to carrying weight again.
 
Thank you to everyone who replied nicely and politely, I'll take your suggestions into account! I'm however just going to ignore everyone who answered as if I was asking a stupid question and displayed the exact reason I stopped asking questions on Facebook. I once asked a few years ago how I can help stop mud sticking to his feathers and even got people whinging at me for that. Seems like the Internet is full of armchair experts these days. People come to these forums for help from fellow equestrians, not to be made to feel stupid.
 
Yet you have a pony showing signs of discomfort and haven't had his saddle professionally fitted.....

Fwiw if it fits him now after 5 months off it isn't likely to once the pony is fit again.
 
At the risk of being accused of being 'an armchair expert', that saddle is only available in two gullet sizes, medium and wide. It is also a cut back head which is designed for high wither horses and therefore unsuitable for cobs. Saddle fit is not only dependent on the gullet width but on the shape of tree and on the flocking. I have never known a good saddler not to make some adjustment to the flocking on a saddle that they fit.

OP people are not trying to make you feel foolish, but they are giving their time and attention to help you solve a problem with your pony. The only foolish thing you could do is to ignore these valid and knowledgeable posts and only heed the ones that give you what you want to hear.
 
If you post on an open forum, CasstheCob, you will get many different replies- some good, some possibly not so good. But you may not hear what you want to hear. My advice is to read all the replies and sift through them to see what may apply to you.
I have read all the posts on this thread and cant find a single one where people are trying to make you feel stupid. All they are doing is offering their opinion and trying to help.
 
Obviously before buying a saddle, doing a lot of research on the saddle, and reading reviews made by other people is the sensible thing to do as you can only be to careful when buying a saddle, so I did just that, and a lot of the reviews I read where by people with cobs or chunky natives, and the vast majority of what they'd said was positive. Most saddles these days have a cut back head anyway
 
I wasn't just paying attention to the posts that told me what I 'wanted to hear'. I've ignored the comments where people have basically just been a bit rude about the situation, and people giving absolutely stupid reasons for why he was doing what he did.
 
Hate to say it, but you really get what you pay for with these cheap saddles and as a result, the fit may not be as good as you believe it to be. I don't buy into this "self adjusting saddle" business.
 
CassTheCob said:
I wasn't just paying attention to the posts that told me what I 'wanted to hear'. I've ignored the comments where people have basically just been a bit rude about the situation, and people giving absolutely stupid reasons for why he was doing what he did.
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Actually nobody has given you stupid reasons for why he was doing what he did. The answers you have been given are saddle fit, back problems, or green/bolshy youngster. All are perfect possibilities. It seems that you don't want to hear that your saddle may not fit, however it is possible it doesn't. I agree with Wagtail. Your horse is displaying signs of discomfort/pain. Get a professional to help you.
 
CassTheCob said:
Obviously before buying a saddle, doing a lot of research on the saddle, and reading reviews made by other people is the sensible thing to do as you can only be to careful when buying a saddle, so I did just that, and a lot of the reviews I read where by people with cobs or chunky natives, and the vast majority of what they'd said was positive. Most saddles these days have a cut back head anyway
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Or even better you get an experienced saddle fitter to do it for you. Some people can fit very well themselves but that is usually when they have a stock of saddles to try still not an off the peg from the Internet. Especially when you apparently couldn't tell that your old one didn't fit.
 
Holly Hocks what I meant by silly reasons was like "He might have ulcers", even though what he displayed wasn't even similar to symptoms of ulcers
 
Touchstone, all those reviews where from people with flat backed and very low/high withered horses, and luckily my cob is just in between!
 
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