How To Stop Your Horse from Bucking When Cantering
There are three reasons why horses do this. Here's what to do.
Horses who buck when cantering usually do it for three reasons.
1. The horse isn’t strong enough to carry a rider comfortably in canter.
To solve this problem, you need to develop your horse’s topline and overall conditioning. Most horses start out carrying the majority of their weight on their forehand, and the rider’s job is to shift that weight back onto the hind legs. When a horse canters, the thrust comes from the hind legs, particularly the outside hind leg. (That’s why you ask for canter with your outside leg.) If the horse isn’t strong enough, he will be uncomfortable and will show you that by bucking when you ask for canter or in the middle of cantering.
The best way to accomplish a shift in balance toward the hind legs is to make frequent use of a REAL half-halt. No, a half-halt isn’t pulling back on the reins halfway. It is using your body to rebalance the horse and shift his weight back. You can read about how to do that here. You can read about how to strengthen a horse’s topline here and here and here.
1. The horse isn’t strong enough to carry a rider comfortably in canter.
To solve this problem, you need to develop your horse’s topline and overall conditioning. Most horses start out carrying the majority of their weight on their forehand, and the rider’s job is to shift that weight back onto the hind legs. When a horse canters, the thrust comes from the hind legs, particularly the outside hind leg. (That’s why you ask for canter with your outside leg.) If the horse isn’t strong enough, he will be uncomfortable and will show you that by bucking when you ask for canter or in the middle of cantering.
The best way to accomplish a shift in balance toward the hind legs is to make frequent use of a REAL half-halt. No, a half-halt isn’t pulling back on the reins halfway. It is using your body to rebalance the horse and shift his weight back. You can read about how to do that here. You can read about how to strengthen a horse’s topline here and here and here.
2. The horse isn’t balanced.
Most horses start out being stiffer on one side of their body than on the other. You’ll feel that when you ask them to bend around a corner. When cantering on a circle, a horse needs to be balanced—equally (or nearly equally) strong and flexible on both sides of her body. When cantering in a circle on the horse’s hollow side, the horse will make the circle larger and larger. When cantering a horse on the stiff side, the horse will “fall in” making the circle smaller and smaller. Eventually, the horse will fall out of canter into a trot, or will start bucking. She feels like she’s going to fall, and wants this to stop. You can read about how to improve a horse’s balance and flexibility here.
3. You are holding the horse’s head rigid in canter.
Many riders (particularly dressage riders) tend to keep themselves in the saddle by gripping the reins in a stranglehold. The problem is that the horse’s head and neck need to stretch forward and retract back with each canter step. If you grip the reins too strongly, you will hit the horse’s mouth hard when he needs to stretch forward, and will make him feel bottled up and constrained. Eventually, he will break out of canter into trot (a gait which allows him to hold his head steady) or he will start bucking. You can read more about how to follow a horse’s head in canter here.
Happy riding!
Copyright Denise Cummins, March 3, 2020
The Thinking Equestrian
Opening photo credit: Creative Commons https://www.flickr.com/photos/lostinfog/1251068981
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