Came off my Bucking Horse, should I get back on?

It has been my experience that when a horse develops a bucking

habit, it is usually because there were shortcuts taken in his starting process. Although there are many competitions that showcase horses being broke within a few hours, that is really not the best way to create a reliable and safe mount. I am not adverse to top horsemen showcasing their skills in this way, but if you were to ask them if that is how they would recommend a horse be started, they would all say no. Although gentling a wild horse to be ridden in a few hours is certainly impressive, the real trick is to make the horse a great mount for the rest of his life. Many classical schools will take as long as a year to back a horse. During that year, the horse is taught everything he needs to know as a reliable mount so that by the time he is ridden, there is nothing the rider can do, that the horse has not already experienced.

So now what to do if you are bucked off? Many might say that if you fall off a horse you should get right back on. This can be true for the most part if you fell off because the horse spooked, you were not paying attention, or the horse refused a jump. A rider can fall off a horse for any one of these reasons and when he does, he should get back on the horse and continue his ride. But there are occasions when I do not recommend a rider get back on.

After pondering it a bit, I have decided that after a fall, you should only get back on a horse under the following conditions:

1. Your are not injured or hurt

2. The horse is not injured or hurt

3. The reason you came off is NOT the direct result of the horse trying to get you off

If you are injured or hurt, do NOT get back on. Further physical activity may worsen your injuries. There will always be another day, another horse, and even another sport.

If the horse is injured, do NOT get back on. Further physical activity may worsen your horse's injury and possibly make him detest your presence on his back.

If the reason you fell off is because the horse engaged in actions specifically to unhorse you, then do NOT get back on. If he did it once, he will do it again. And the second time, you might not be lucky enough to escape injury. Furthermore, you will solidify yourself as someone whom he can easily dislodge and the bucking can become a habit.

If the horse develops a bucking problem, then the following are your options:

1. Train the horse to stop bucking and resign yourself to the time and effort it will take. Your horse has bucking as a habit and thus breaking the habit will be extremely difficult and time consuming. But if you are willing to do it, then it can be done, but be prepared to be in for the long haul. (and also be prepared to fail for that may happen too)

2. Pay a professional to take your horse for a couple of months. The advantage of this is that you are not endangered during the process. The disadvantage is it may be difficult to find someone who really can do it. They may just take your money for a few months and give you back a horse that bucks.

3. Get rid of the horse and get a horse that does not have a bucking problem. This is my personal recommendation. People often feel like they are giving up when they get rid of a horse, but that is not the case. Doing so does not make you a quitter. And this is not the vehicle to assert your fortitude. If you are not a professional trainer, you should not be expected to act like one just because you own a horse. As an experienced trainer I often get too wrapped up in myself and tend to think that everyone should be like me. I forget that if everyone was like me, I would be out of a job. You may have a separate professional and personal life apart from horses where you can engage in courageous, and dedicated behavior. So unless you want to be a professional horse trainer, or some kind of professional equestrian athlete on the show circuit, you should not be expected to take unnecessary risks.

A Jumping Exercise

I recently had a conversation about jumping.  The person I was speaking to echoed many concerns that people have when learning how to do this.  Jumping can be nerve wracking and is often dangerous, but it is also a very enjoyable and sometimes necessary part of riding a horse.  Aside from competitions where jumping is the sole purpose, there are many occasions on a trail where it may be necessary to know how to jump.  Occasionally, your horse may need to jump over a small ditch, and often there are logs and other obstacles that horses will need to jump over in order to negotiate.  Personally, I am not a competition jumper, but I do believe that jumping is a skill that every horse and rider should keep in their back pocket.  Bottom line, it is better to know it and not need it, than to need it and not know it.

When I originally started to learn to jump, I learned the old fashioned way from a veteran pony club instructor.  She put out trot poles and had me trot over them in two point position, and eventually had the horse hop over an “X” until both the horse and I were confident about staying straight and centered.  Then she slowly started raising the poles until we were jumping a respectable height.  Over time, different jumps were added with combinations, oxers, boxes, logs, walls, and a variety of other stadium and cross country obstacles. 

This was a very successful and effective way to learn and I completed the course of instruction with flying colors.  I had an excellent teacher and all occurred with great safety and significant progress.

When the time came for me to start passing these skills to others, I noticed that it was very effective when teaching the young.  But for older more mature or adult riders, especially those coming into riding later in life, there were some problems.  First of all the reflexes of a child were much quicker and more reliable.  Secondly, their learning curve for physical activities was much steeper.  So in the split second that it took for a horse to clear a jump, the children had plenty of time in the air to practice their position and even make corrections in flight.

But alas, for an older crowd, a little more time was needed.  The trouble is that the horse has only a certain amount of time in the air and thus there was no way to increase the time.  Therein was the heart of the problem.  If only there was a way to stop the horse in mid jump and give the older rider enough time in the air to make the corrections.  But unfortunately, gravity was very rigid about it’s rules and would not allow delays.

So my solution was to put the horses on a hill. It solved the problem immediately.  I took the horses to a hill, and let the students practice their two point positions as the horses trotted or cantered up the hill.  Once they got to the top of the hill, they could turn around and practice their position as the horses came back down.

So the benefits are:

1. Extended time with the horse in an ascending jumping position, thus allowing the rider to practice and make corrections
2. Extended time with the horse in the descending position, thus allowing the rider to practice and make corrections
3. If the rider is having trouble, the instructor can hold the horse in the ascending position and let the horse stand, thus giving the rider an infinite amount of time to learn the position
4. Riders will invariably look at the top of the hill, thus giving them practice at looking up and away past the jump instead of looking down
5. Safer for beginners and horses.  No actual jumping needs to happen until the rider is comfortable with their position
6. And best of all, you don’t have to constantly be replacing knocked over jumps.

For those of you trying to learn, give it a shot, if it does not work for you, then at least you will have had some fun riding up and down some hills.  For instructors, consider how often you have yelled out corrections, only for the student to comply after the fact when it is too late.  On a hill, you have all the time in the world.  Well, at least till the top of the hill.  But then again, who said you have to be moving at all?