Lost Nerve

[pdfangus]

yeah them doctor bills. My wife keeps us in them. Had an MRI yesterday suspecting a torn rotator cuff and she does not have a clue how she hurt it. Least wise she won't tell me.

She has just come off of a year and a half long battle with a brown recluse spider bit. got bit on the lower leg. So far they have saved her leg but we would not be at all suprised if it were to fester again. four or five long stays in the hospital over it. fortunately I have pretty good insurance from my day job. If not then we would already be busted.

Guess that is what got me going a bit shy. If I got bad hurt then everything round here loses. I worked all my life to put together a little mess and if I get stupid for a while I could watch it all disappear just because there is no one to take care of it but me..

 

[DrumRunner728]

Drumrunner, I hear the heavier you are the harder it is for them to buck. I must not be heavy enough.

My professional horse trainin' advice to you is to eat more doughnuts.

I'll fess up here - I'm early 50's and every now and then I get the itch to try a colt again. However, my mama didn't raise a fool, and reality soon hits me. "You were thinking about doing what???"

About 5 years ago I had agreed to take a friend's barrel horse and put a little finish on the mare. She had no bad habits that I was aware of, she wasn't a young filly, I had ridden her for several days with no incident, and she showed no overt signs of being stupid. On this particular afternoon I had already ridden her down the road for about 30-45 minutes. I came back to the pasture with the barrels set up and started doing slow pattern work.

To make a long story short, she took the notion to buck and she was good at it. I knew I was in big trouble when I blew my right stirrup on the second buck. Wasn't long before she launched me out the back door and pretty much pile-drived me into the ground. She also managed to kick me in the shin as I was flying through the air, just to add insult to injury. It certainly wasn't the first time I'd ever been thrown off a horse and I had always been able to jump right up, dust myself off, and climb back in the saddle. Not this time. It took a while before I could get up (even after hubby had checked to make sure that all wiggable parts still wiggled, etc.). I did, however, finally manage to catch her up and get back on her. The next day I was so sore and bruised that I had to have help getting out of bed. It was a reality slap in the face that I was no longer a spring chicken.

I decided then that I needed to stay on the horses I knew (realizing that you can get hurt doing that too) and I definitely needed to stay off colts. Through a friend's recommendation I found a great trainer in south Georgia. He's been my new best friend ever since!

I love horses, I've owned them and ridden them all of my life, and I hope to have at least one spoiled pony around to feed cookies to (yep, I do that) until the day I die, but no more colt breaking. I'll leave that up to the folks that still bounce.

 

[pdfangus]

Drumrunner, I hear the heavier you are the harder it is for them to buck. I must not be heavy enough.

All I can tell you is that 250 plus a 17 inch roping saddle is not too heavy.

Had me digging for worms in three to four jumps. :shock:

 

[DrumRunner728]

Drumrunner, I hear the heavier you are the harder it is for them to buck. I must not be heavy enough.

All I can tell you is that 250 plus a 17 inch roping saddle is not too heavy.

Had me digging for worms in three to four jumps. :shock:

My hubby's favorite comment at the barn when I haven't ridden my gelding in a while is, "Magic, mom says you're too fat to buck . . ." He's a real comedian, that husband. :x

 

[Horse Guy]

Well if you got a horse that can buck really good and who bucks everytime. Take it to a rough stock contractor. Bucking horses are worth money. Like I took it as a personal challenge, plus this horse is the most perfectly built horse I have ever owned. Well except for the double swirl on his forehead and smallish eyes. But you cant go by looks. I have another horse who has a double swirl and pig eys. He just looks all bronc. I thought he would be a bronc. He bucks out in the pasture all the time just for fun. Swaps ends and the whole nine yards. But he never bucked once when I started him.
But that one bronc I was talking about before. I sure learned a lot from that horse. But two years later he is still just a so-so horse and I have tons of time in him. He doesnt buck hard anymore but he just bucks enough that I wouldnt try to sell him to somebody. Honestly I think that horse is going to buck a certain amount the rest of his life. He isnt mean. He just has the urge to do his thing. Eventually my plan is to make him into a top horse. But when I think of the time I have in him right now and where he is in his training, well he would have been worth a lot more two years ago as a bucking horse. He sure is fast though. He could be a heck of a barrel horse some day. He is without a doubt the fastest horse I have ever been on.
This horse isnt/wasnt mean either. He is/ was always the first horse to meet me at the gate. I had his half brother and he was a bronc to but he didnt buck as hard. He was different. He could buck with his head up. He only did it every now and then which made him kind of tricky, example when you got to the top of the jump you could lift up on the rein all you wanted sometimes and there was nothing there. You had to keep the rein in your free hand as well to take the slack out the first time he brought his head up. Once his head was up he wouldnt pull the rein away from you he would just keep bucking with his head up. But he didnt buck near as hard as the other one. He didnt have the rear out or the drop as this one though. He always bucked the same easy pattern to. Same stride/buck everytime, nothing dramatic. Behind though both horses kicked out nice / sounds like someone swinging a baseball bat by your head when your riding them. But his brother was a nice horse to give you confidence on. Was so easy to get in time with you could put on a nice show.
Getting old sucks, I love bucking horses. They make you appreciate the easy ones! But I have started quite a few colts and really those two where the only ones that were really what I would call bucking horses because they bucked everytime you rode them and they put effort into it. But any colt will buck/ bolt if the circumstances are right. Example miles from home and you jump a herd of elk. Or your loping along and a pheasent flys up when you almost step on them. Takes a while for a colt to get used to ranch life if he has any life in him in the first place.
See the problem with taking colts to trainers to start them is most trainers juast ride in an arena or on some 1/4 section somewhere. It doesnt really prepare the colt for ranch life example bad weather, mountains, rivers, bears, etc.
Quarter horses sure are easy to get a long with compared to hotter breeds.

 

[DrumRunner728]

Getting old sucks . . . Quarter horses sure are easy to get a long with compared to hotter breeds.

Truer words were never spoken, Horse Guy!

 

[peg4x4]

pdfangus,you did at least 3 new things to a green horse. :roll: .a different rider-different saddle and rigging- new way of getting on.. ;-) We all know horses don't like new things :shock: Hope you're feeling better..

 

[I luv herfrds]

Horse Guy There are "hot" horses in all breeds. It just depends upon which one you get.

I broke my husbands horse when we first met Quarter horse throughbred mix. That is one hot horse to be on at any given time. Took about 20 plowed strips and three weeks to get him to stop being barn sour. His next bad habit was taking off at a dead run before you could even get the other leg over the saddle. Took two days and tight reins to break that one.
My first horse was great. Wild as could be getting her straight off the range. Just alot of time and ground work, you could do anything to that Morgan mare.
Next horse half quarter half morgan. Broke him also. Was riding him the day I got hurt, not by him. Loves to chase cows and loves my kids. Found my 5yo daughter hanging onto his tail following him in the pasture. Yes heart failure. Dad got his butt chewed for not watching her closely.
Next horse full Morgan, haven't gotten the nerve up yet to get on him yet.
Last horse full sister to the half morgan, turning out just like her brother. Getting alot of ground work done on both horses.

The two horses that we bought that were already broke were nightmares I would rather forget.

Each horse is different.