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[RC] bucking horses-ashley wakeman - Ed Kilpatrick

hi ashley,  did you get the answers you were looking for?   if this horse bucked someone off, and hasnt been ridden for a year,  then i would suggest that you start over with some basic groundwork, get the horse working well in hand and on a leadline before you get on him.  make sure he is respectful of you on the ground first.  get him to yield his hindquarters, front end, and flex his head and neck well.   make sure he will back up when you ask him to,  with no rearing or resistance.  make sure you can pick up his feet, without any bad attitude, pulling away, or kicking. saddle him up, then work him on a long line and see how he does.  horses buck for different reasons, but most have to learn how to buck and wont do it habitually unless they derive some benefit from it, for example, dumping the rider and then being rewarded by not having to work.  and of course there is a real difference in BUCKING, as in mesquite rodeo action, and just a little "crowhop", which is usually all that happens, but often obtains the desired result by getting the rider to go rearend over appetite. or it just scares people and they get off and let the horse have the last laugh.  many horses will often crowhop when asked to lope, so the earlier suggestions given, to just ride them through it, are right on target.  it usually just takes a little while to work one through this. 
very, very, few horses buck because of equipment problems (saddle fit).  if the horse works fine at a walk and a trot, but only crowhops when you ask him to lope, then he is just telling you that he hasnt done it enough to get used to it.  so, just work him through it.  if a horse has learned to buck in order to get rid of the rider,  he will do it when you first get on him.   have fun,     ed (cracker cowboy)