Bucked Off Twice

Hello, Everyone!

Ollie was pinning his ears at Knee High and splashing at the same time. :D 

I bet you are wondering about the title of this blog. Yes, I was bucked off twice today. No, I am not hurt, and yes, It was on Ollie.

I went out this afternoon with some friends of mine to a nearby trail. We were walking towards the trail when we asked for a lope. The two other horses went ahead of Ollie because I was holding him back. he didn't want to be held back, but he was tolerating it. Next thing I know I saw Ollie duck his head between his legs and.....

...I was on the ground.



The key to when a horse bucks you off is to get back on as fast as possible, and make his feet hustle. When a horse isn't broke or has holes in his training you may have to step back and evaluate why he bucked, but I know my horse well, and he is NOT ALLOWED TO BUCK.

Hopped back on. Move those feet. Hustle, hustle, hustle. Right back into a canter. flex, flex, disengage hindquarters, soften his face. Okay, ready.

We continued on our way.

I was thinking about why Ollie bucked. Horses buck for a reason, either irritation, pain, confusion, happiness, being fresh...etc. But, unless it is pain related, Ollie had no excuse whatsoever for bucking.

He improved, and so  we went over bridges, crossed water, went underneath a bridge, over logs, and trotted in sand.

Make the horse think. Put his mind to work.

Towards the end of the ride, we decided to lope/gallop some. We did, and Ollie was fantastic. I kept working with him, and he improved.

We started to gallop really fast. Ollie was galloping up to one of my friends horses, so I asked him to turn to the right. I have been working on neck reining and adding a really good "steering wheel", so when I asked him he veered to the right. Fast. at the same time, he started to hump his back and partly because of the quick turn, and because I was off balance, I came down again.

Right back on.

Hustle those feet. Lope circles, ride in a straight line, do a stop, back up ten steps, turn around and repeat.

Move Ollie, move.

We finished our ride without a problem. But I was still thinking, "why would he buck? he has been in training for a few weeks now and was perfectly fine."

I was thinking about this question as I got home.

Then it hit me.

I KNOW WHY!!

Culprit:

Let me back up a little bit.


The saddle above is one I usually use on Ollie. Sadly, it is a narrow tree saddle and Ollie is filling out to where it is starting to pinch him and no longer fits him the best. A few days ago I put him in my mom's wide tree saddle and he was much more comfortable with it. Today I was going to bring the wide tree saddle, but because it is my mom's I decided on the narrow tree, thinking it would maybe be okay.

No, it wasn't.

It was pinching him and I think after being ridden in a wide tree saddle, and then putting the narrow tree saddle back on was something he was not happy with. However, to make sure I am going to try both saddles on him tomorrow and make sure that is the problem. If so he needs a new one..and I think that it may be time to buy that Clinton Anderson saddle!


As for the trail ride, it was bunches of fun and is always more enjoyable with friends. Many thanks to Mrs. Tanya and Alex for inviting me to tag along!

Another great reason to always wear a helmet. you never know when you could come off, even if it is on your most trusted horse.

Until next time!
~Alyssa