Voodoo
Well-Known Member
Marty, thank you so much for caring and yes I do realize how close I came to being severly hurt or killed today. I am thankful things turned out the way they did. I think that the fact that I grew up on horses, ride well, and have immense faith in myself and my abilities gives me a false sense of security that I shouldn't have. I will definately be more careful in the future, but you are right I do temp fate and I really shouldn't.
As for the bucking I would love to hear what you do. I am a very open minded person and love to hear new ideas. I am actually a little lost on this mare because I believe she bucks out of fear. When I bought her you couldn't touch her, if you came near her she would get the white ring around her eyes and you could see the fear. I feel she was abused on the ground because her previous owners were scared of her. If you would saddle her and she would start to buck it would immediately be followed by her running, forward, backward, or any other direction to get away from you. I think if she bucked they beat her on the ground. When I first started working her in the round corral she would literally try to run herself to death. Wouldn't stop, turn, rest or anything else. It was like they used the round corral to punish her by just pushing her around and around until she was in a lather. I spent the first month gaining trust, brushing, petting, saddling (in the round corral) if she wanted to buck fine, but it did her no good. I worked her in the round corral slowly until now she will walk, trot, lope, turn, stop, and come into the center to see me. She is relaxed with it now and no longer has the white ring around her eyes and no more fear that a person is going to try to kill her whenever they come around. I was riding her as well through this time as well and I still believe her bucking comes from fear. If something scares her she doesn't spook, spin to look, or even try to run away, she bucks. I don't know how that came to be her release, but it is. She is also VERY sensitive to your feet so I never wear spurs. I do use my feet quite a bit so that I don't suprise her while roping and cause problems so she is used to my feet and moves nicely, she is just sensitive. In the last month I thought I was really gaining with her though. She hasn't even offered to buck, she meets me at the gate to be caught. I can pick up all her feet brush her anywhere on her body, she no longer spooks and jumps every time someone walks by and she was doing excellent in the arena. She was picking things up quickly, but I wasn't pushing her too hard. She is such a quiet pleasure to ride, she's almost too quiet sometimes. I guess that is what gives the false sense of security that she won't buck. I get on and she just walks off breaks into a smooth lope, flying lead changes. Half pass very smooth, spin on her hind end or the forehand, flex very well everything so calm and quiet, in the last three weeks I just got overly confident that she trusted me. Today I think that since I didn't warm her up to a sweat like usual and when she shorted me a little I probably grabbed her in the flank area with my feet. That could have made her take that first jump and since I was out of position on her it probably scared her more when I grabbed hard with my legs and made a quick motion to get back in the middle of the saddle. From there it just escalated until she got away from the fear. I stood up and she was about 200' away just wondering what happened. I told her to "whoa" and then kissed and asked her to come. She trotted right up to me like "oh my gosh what happened?" I got back on and she was fine for the rest of the day. I will have to be more careful in the future about trusting her and trying to find out just exactly what sets her off. I wish I knew what happened to her previously, I listen to the signs she gives me and piece things together from her actions, but I obviously don't have it all figured out on her.
I'm taking things easy right now (got out of helping to unload and stack 10 ton of hay
) although I would rather unload the hay anyday. I will keep you posted on how things go and be more careful in the future. If you really want to drive all this way I'll take a sample of your "what for" for the chance to hear some more of your wisdom in person. Thanks again for everything.
As for the bucking I would love to hear what you do. I am a very open minded person and love to hear new ideas. I am actually a little lost on this mare because I believe she bucks out of fear. When I bought her you couldn't touch her, if you came near her she would get the white ring around her eyes and you could see the fear. I feel she was abused on the ground because her previous owners were scared of her. If you would saddle her and she would start to buck it would immediately be followed by her running, forward, backward, or any other direction to get away from you. I think if she bucked they beat her on the ground. When I first started working her in the round corral she would literally try to run herself to death. Wouldn't stop, turn, rest or anything else. It was like they used the round corral to punish her by just pushing her around and around until she was in a lather. I spent the first month gaining trust, brushing, petting, saddling (in the round corral) if she wanted to buck fine, but it did her no good. I worked her in the round corral slowly until now she will walk, trot, lope, turn, stop, and come into the center to see me. She is relaxed with it now and no longer has the white ring around her eyes and no more fear that a person is going to try to kill her whenever they come around. I was riding her as well through this time as well and I still believe her bucking comes from fear. If something scares her she doesn't spook, spin to look, or even try to run away, she bucks. I don't know how that came to be her release, but it is. She is also VERY sensitive to your feet so I never wear spurs. I do use my feet quite a bit so that I don't suprise her while roping and cause problems so she is used to my feet and moves nicely, she is just sensitive. In the last month I thought I was really gaining with her though. She hasn't even offered to buck, she meets me at the gate to be caught. I can pick up all her feet brush her anywhere on her body, she no longer spooks and jumps every time someone walks by and she was doing excellent in the arena. She was picking things up quickly, but I wasn't pushing her too hard. She is such a quiet pleasure to ride, she's almost too quiet sometimes. I guess that is what gives the false sense of security that she won't buck. I get on and she just walks off breaks into a smooth lope, flying lead changes. Half pass very smooth, spin on her hind end or the forehand, flex very well everything so calm and quiet, in the last three weeks I just got overly confident that she trusted me. Today I think that since I didn't warm her up to a sweat like usual and when she shorted me a little I probably grabbed her in the flank area with my feet. That could have made her take that first jump and since I was out of position on her it probably scared her more when I grabbed hard with my legs and made a quick motion to get back in the middle of the saddle. From there it just escalated until she got away from the fear. I stood up and she was about 200' away just wondering what happened. I told her to "whoa" and then kissed and asked her to come. She trotted right up to me like "oh my gosh what happened?" I got back on and she was fine for the rest of the day. I will have to be more careful in the future about trusting her and trying to find out just exactly what sets her off. I wish I knew what happened to her previously, I listen to the signs she gives me and piece things together from her actions, but I obviously don't have it all figured out on her.
I'm taking things easy right now (got out of helping to unload and stack 10 ton of hay
