On Getting Bucked Off

Lizabeth On Getting Bucked Off .. -

I don't mind so much the violence of the horse rejecting me, or the way the air laughingly plays with my limbs akimbo, but with the way the earth always seems to accepts me - Flat on my back and knocked out of breath!

I say this after careful reflection after getting bucked off yesterday by my little bucky boy...

I should have seen it coming, I should have been ready..

Even as I realized in the vague haze of what was happening, I never had a chance..

I was pissed at myself...

So lets start at the beginning which is where all good storys start.

Its weds - which is ride with the Dude's day..

I always look forward to this because its my time to get Marshal moving around a bunch of other horses and we usually do all the transitions. Its my time to work on picking up and holding the soft feel from walk to trot and getting a good canter on the right lead.. and holding it..

So i get him saddled and everything is going good.. Its a windy day.. cold.. For July?!?!?! Go figure!

So when I walk him out of the barn he is already a little snorty...

So we head down by the dreaded wine making equipment - Which he is always suspicious of.. and he knows something is different... Now I am riding him by this time.. and he is like.. You know I am not going to take a step..

Now usually I can get baby steps out of him but this time his neck is erect and he has his landing gear out..

Now I can see what has changed..

Over the wine vats they have placed a huge canopy which is flapping dreadingly in the wind...

Now I ignore it because I know he does not know what is different, only something is changed..

So we try to get the steps and he is not moving... So I start thinking maybe I will have to walk him past it...

( since the day before we had the same issue but at a different location of the stables, and after we walked by the spooky item I moved him around a bit and he started bucking out his nervousness... then I got back on and we rode pretty good the rest of the afternoon )

Well just when I started thinking I would walk him by it a horse was walking a ways past it and Marshal kinda hooked on to that horse and we moved past it..

Excellent..

Now he moved kinda quick but I did not worry to much about it..

So we turned the corner, quickly and headed into the arena..

Well in the arena they have added a bunch of huge trees to provide shade ( in the summer )..

Well he is still not used to these...

So when we trot into the arena, he is up, he sees the trees, he knows something is screwed up and cant not put his finger on it, and then I almost go pell mell into a girl having her lesson and the silly trainer sitting in her little lawn chair in the arena holding her dumb little dog..

So i try to get around these guys and SLOW his feet and then it happened..

BUCK!




Well I am not a bronc rider and off I go...

The lawn chair trainer tells me I should lunge him, and I tell her I should ride him better.. and I trudge, pride in hand down to the mounting block and get back on..

Now I get his feet moving.. I mean twisty pony!

I am not angry with him, I am not even angry with myself... I am disappointed with myself because I did not keep him moving, try to refocus him..

So we do twisty pony a little bit and he snorts, shakes it out and we were good to go the rest of the evening..

What did I learn?

I learned that if the horse stops and REFUSES to go.. its because something is REALLY bothering him...

Get off..

Walk him past it....

Then get back on...

Make it no big deal..

But if you think your a good hand, and you ride past it..

Then keep your horse moving..

Keep him focused on something ( ie you and what you are asking him to do!!!)

Until you feel him free up.. then you can go back to whatever you were doing...

But when-ever this happens.. Think about what happened, before what happened, happened..

Now I am sure Marshal thinks that something past that scary thing and before the arena is what got him..

So he will be suspicious of that area for awhile so I need to be sensitive to that...

You gotta break it apart... Find that sticky part and dont go there again...

LOL

Why the hell did you ride up to the lions den!!!

DUH!

HiHo!

LZO!