He went bronc on me, I think I give up...

I agree with MyBoyPuck esp being a OTTB, they can get like this when theyre not used to be taught something new. I would just go back to walk/trot for a while till you get his confidence back up for about a month or so and then go back to the canter. For an OTTB keeping a nicely balanced canter is very hard for them and they do tend to get frustrated so just take it slow.

I agree that you write very well and it's a good story, with a happy ending in that you weren't badly hurt.

I think that this horse doesn't know how to handle pressure. What I mean is that he goes along, goes along, goes along in a way of going that you describe as "lazy". He is kind of tuned out. When there is enough pressure to move him out of the zoned state of mind, he comes unglued. Some horses have two settings : Turned off and wacked out. And the tranistion line between the two is razor thin. Most horses have a middle ground that moves progressively toward wacked out as pressure goes up and with training, they know how to deal with a lot of pressure before they reach the place where they lose their mind. I think your guy has never had the training to DEAL with pressure and his inborn personality is kind of unaware or sucked into himself, UNTIL something breaks the shell and then he is GONE mentally. That's why a horse that on the surface looks really "deadbroke" can often be so mentally tuned out that he is dangerous when faced with sudden pressure.

I would work with him in a round pen (if you have one) and push him forward, push him to the point where you can see he is getting irritated or frustrated or just reacting to the pressure emotionally, and then experiment with both easing off at that point, and then pushing again, a little further. IF and WHEN he "blows" don't let him indulge in a long bucking session, but rather get hin there turn him, turn him , turn him and bring him back into his mind and listenting to you, even though he wants to react ballistically to the pressure.

Thanks everybody, I don't have a professional trainer helping me, as the closest I can get is my awesome next door neighbour who is a race horse trainer, he has Mitchell for now and he's going to hack him out for me untill the weekend where I'm going to get him back and start working on him again.

I wasn't doing anything excesively difficult, and he is very balanced in his canter (to me anyway, but i'm naturally off balance thanks to scoliosis so hey)

I'm actually wondering if he's been bored also, I was only riding him in paddocks, while they were different ones with different scenery and "scary" objects (road cones and barrels) they were still just paddocks.
I did some bending poles on him at a trot the day before and he enjoyed it, but you should have seen his face when I asked him to walk around one of the big logs in the paddock, his eyeballs nearly popped out of his head. He is quite spooky but the last time he spooked he went leg yeilding across the paddock at a trot, which I have to admit was hilarious at the time because any other horse I know goes either backwards or forwards... very quickly. He leg yeilded, very quickly.

He has been taught to naturally go down on the bit, this was after he finished his racing career in April 2010.

Thankyou :) I enjoy creative writing but that's normally imaginary... This definitely wasn't haha!
When I got my first horse I trained myself to ride her before I actually rode her... If that makes sense. I don't have a round pen, but I would set up a make-shift one out of standards and a reel. Would this work? Or should I just kindly ask my neighbour if I can clean out and borrow his? It's a wee while away but that's ok.

Yeah I have to agree he is quite tuned out at times, for instance he's very smart but at the same time a bit of a numb skull, if I pick out his right front hoof first he doesn't pay attention and slowly leans backwards, then leans down slowly as if he's going to bow, then just drops to his knees because retard wasn't paying attention, any other hoof he's alright though the wierdo :L


I also have to say I am in a far better mood about my horses in general today, I rode bubbles tonight and she was an absolute angel for once in her life, I rode with barely any contact on her mouth and we did a few flying changes. We are *hopefully* competing on saturday.

Humphrey wants to get Mitchell ready for me to compete on saturday in the flat classes, but I'm not to keen on that idea I would rather just take bubbles and leave Mitch at home... Unless maybe it could benefit him having a day out? Even just to walk around and not be ridden?

Thankyou smrobs, I will try that next time, generally when they buck that's around about what I do if I can't initially push them forwards underneath me to canter properly, but this time it happened so fast I couldn't react fast enough... And that's saying something because I race ministocks and have one of the fastest reaction times on the track, which has saved my butt numerous times.

My knee is still purple haha but I rode bubbles today anyway, I will sacrifice my comfort to keep her in work and strong lol. That's why I love bubbles, because no matter how, when or why I get thrown off any horse I know I can get on her and do what I would do on any other day, she just can't scare me anymore. So I got on her today especially for that reason, because it did un nerve me quite a bit when Mitchell did what he did.

*hehe, sorry, another novel.* -i'm good like that :L

I'm so glad that you got out of that situation with a bruise instead of a broken bone. I'd also have to agree with the post above. Perhaps you should take a little more time before you completely give up on this horse.

I have to comment just because this same thing happened to me riding someone else's horse. They told me he was well broke, had been leased by a young girl who did barrels on him but recently he had gotten and absess in one of his hooves and hadn't been ridden for months while it healed. I watched the owner lunge him on my first visit and he was an ass, but I could see what SHE was doing wrong. So the second visit out she lunged him for a bit and then I lunged him. He tried his antics with me at first but I already knew what he was going to do so I managed to keep him from doing it. Then I got on and just walked around in a small circle. Next time I was out on my own. He always had been a distracted horse, looking this way and that like his head was on a swivel. I had lunged him for a bit and then got on. Was just walking around the ring and he just stopped. I thought 'maybe he's going potty' so I turned and checked..nope, just standing there. So I squeezed with my leg a little. Still no response. I gave it another second trying to think, myself, why he decided to stop. Next time I gave pressure with my leg he bucked and then went backwards right out from under me. When he bucked, I landed on the wide part of the saddle horn (western saddle, not my choice but the only one that was available) then he was off into his bucking/farting fit around the arena. It was a small arena so not really a big concern of me having to chase him. I just got up and dusted myself off and moved out of the way until he was finished with his tantrum. During his tantrum he destroyed the bridle. Stepped through the reigns and snapped them as well as the bridle itself. So he had his little fit and then just stopped and walked back over to me like 'ok I'm done now' I couldn't get back on him because there was no bridle but I free lunged him around the small arena making him work out the excess energy he had. I explained to his owner what happened and she was a little suprised but not 'enough' suprised if you catch my drift. She sold him the next day.

Maybe you should have the vet check him if he drops to his knees when you are picking his feet. Even if it is only with one leg. It sounds like something is wrong there.

He has been checked over by a vet but he only does it on that one leg if he's not paying attention. If I pick out another hoof first or I have been doing other stuff with him he doesn't do it. I think brushing him relaxes him to much haha then when I go to pick out his hooves he's like oh wait what? If I pick the hooves out before I brush him he's generally ok.

Bubbles has done it to but she had grass staggers so that's a different story alltogether.

I'm going to buy either alleviate of tox-defy to put in his feed until the grass isn't so much like rocket juice anymore.. I've been told it works so hopefully it does.

It's not nice aye, Mitchell carried his fit out in the paddock and come back when he had finished but I ignored him because I was so frustrated all I wanted to do was smack him one, I didn't though I only smack them immediately after/as they are doing something bad. I ended up putting my whip away 'cause I didn't wanna use it out of frustration.
Oh yeah, sounds like the horse had a slight history of it then?
That's one reason why I ride with a running martingale, if I come off I generally let go of the reins and when I do I know the martingale will help keep the reins away from the legs etc. He has a brand new very expensive bridle so needless to say I would have been less than impressed.

So sorry that happened to you. Something like that happened to me but I was hurt pretty severely - gaaaa...don't ever want that again.

No horse is worth taking away your confidence and joy of riding. If you aren't comfortable with this boy - get one you are comfortable with. I don't do bucking fits...I am too big of a sissy.

Hope everything works out for you...not matter which road you take. : )

I used to ride this little arab/paint cross that did the same thing. He would go great for quite a while. Then, for no reason other than being an a** he would buck. And I mean BUCK! Lol. I know it wasnt the saddle, because he did it both bareback and with a saddle on. I know it wasnt the bit, he did it both bitless and with a bit on. And I know it wasnt transitions as he has done it as a trot, canter, walk, and full out run (which is fun trying to stay on a bucking bolting angry little arab without a saddle on lol). Anyways sometimes horses personalities are harder to tame. The horse, when I left for college, had gotten a lot better and no longer bucked hard, but he still threw little fits sometimes. The point being some horses are just more easily irritated and act out. Like humans they have distinct personalities. Good luck with the little bugger, and good job for getting help.