Horse bucks when bareback..

Back pains have been ruled out.

When Buddy gets ridden in the saddle, he's the coolest pony ever, but if you wanna get on him bareback he squeels and bucks once or twice with his butt!

The other day, I was cooling him out and wanted to cool him out bareback so I went to jump on him, and he did his squeel thing and Amanda and Jordyn were like omg are you ok!? And I was laughing too hard to tell them what happened. I tried it again just to show them and he did the same exact thing...

So I asked Jordyn to get on him because she's a daredevil, and he was actually fine. Didn't buck, and she trotted him around. She stopped him and and doing all these weird things, hopped off, got on and kept going to the other side, then she got on him again and turned around and he bucked her off....where's the video camera when you need it lol.

Anyways, I'm wondering if there's a solution to this? Today I'm going down to ride, and of course I don't have my saddle so I have to ride him bareback...but I'm going to try with a saddle pad this time.

And also, I've seen other horses like this at my old lesson barn. If you even thought about riding bareback, they'd have a heart attack.

I remember one time Old Jim was about to be ridden BB and the girl had one leg over and he bucked once, it was pretty big, and she fell off and hit the step up. It sounded like it hurt, but it was so funny.

So, any advice on this?
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Get his back checked over. A saddle can hide some soreness problems as it distributes your weight more evenly over the back, where as bareback your weight is directly over the spine which can put undue pressure on the back and cause a negative behavioural reaction.

Please don't encourage the behaviour and laugh it off .... its only funny until someone ends up in ED with broken bones.

I would have his back checked again. After that try pressing on certain points. Horses will buck if you sit to far back because it is painful and is a weak spot. They usually buck to push the rider more forward. If your not doing that, well in my opinion bareback is not always comfortable for horses or their riders. What kind of pants were you wearing? There is friction and the fact that all the riders weight is direct and not distributed. The riders balance tends not to be as great or the same or they ride a bit differently. This may be new/awkward or annoying for him and not comfy so he doesn't like it. This is just from my experience with it. After you get off is his coat where you were sitting all messed up because then it could be friction and pressure that is bothering him, just not use to it. I'm not sure what to do about bucking if the reason is different. My horses haven't bucked unless I jump on the without warning.

When does he start bucking? Like when you just get on bareback or when you ask him to move?

Kayty, whenever I'm with my friends and one of us falls off, or the horse does anything bad in general, it's always funny...it's just how we brush things off.....then we check if we're ok. Even on our way to the ER, we would still be laughing (luckily has not happened!)

And Cin, we were both wearing breeches. The owner also said she put her kids on him, an 8 year old, and a 6 year old at the same time, and he didn't buck, but he took a step or two and the little girl screamed (8yr old) and he threw and small buck. She caught both kids lol.

And Cin, he starts bucking as soon as you try and get on him. I actually never got to sit on him, just try lol. Jordyn however trotted him bareback no problem.
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What exactly have you done to rule out pain? Normally I'm the last one to say 'check for pain', but I agree with Kayty - saddles distribute weight more evenly than your butt does. The saddle could be covering up a physical issue.

Does he buck with the saddle or has he ever tried to? Do you reprimand him when he bucks (if you stay on)? Do you always get right back on after he bucks you off? With no snootiness intended, I wonder if your 'it's okay, it's funny when he bucks' sort of attitude makes him believe there are no repercussions for doing it, except to get these kids off his back ;)

You'd think it would be a relief to have just the rider instead of a rider and saddle but maybe he just isn't used to it??
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There are a lot of nerves running along their back. And you have your butt bones directly on top of them. Some horses won't tolerate a bareback rider, some will. I would definitely be thorough in ruling out any pain first.

Hmm, well kids are smaller and lighter. But since he bucked at a scream. I think he needs to get use to the idea of you getting on without tack, sorry, I can't see the horse, how much he is bucking and I don't know him. Just sounds to me like he is not use to it. It may sound funny but the horse is probably thinking. Why is she jumping on me? The saddle, where is it?...it is just out of routine. Maybe takes things slowly and get him more confident because he sounds a bit easy to frighten if the kids screams make him buck. It's not good if he continues to buck because he has found a way to get you off and might take advantage of it if he hasn't already. Just be careful, maybe ask for help if you can. As for the breeches, what are they made out of?

What do you think is making him buck? Does he look more afraid or rebellious/annoyed?

First, the saddle distributes weight.

Second, the saddle partially "absorbs" the bounciness of the rider who is not balanced enough. The boney butt slumming the spine is not pleasant for the horse.

So my advice if the pain is completely ruled out is to ride with saddle.

The vet did a check on his back to look for pain and he was cleared.

I tried today with two pads and he swooshed his tail and wasn't in the mood to fight with him so I put him away.

The first time I rode him he bucked me with a saddle, it was only at the canter....I'd smooch him, he'd throw 3 medium bucks and we'd be on our way lol. Happened most of the time, so I was hesitant to ride him again...but ever since that he was fine. When he bucked I made him canter twice as long as normal, so out of the 6 times I cantered, he bucked probably 4 times out of the starts....so at the end he stopped bucking and I didn't canter him the extra 30 seconds or so.

Buddy looks more annoyed when he bucks, like ayyy get off my back young child! And we didn't do anything about it, because you can't even get back on without him bucking...so yell at him for his bucking.

I'm no sure what they were made of. Mine were the tuffrider starter breeches, and Jordyn's were tuffrider pull ons.

As for riding with the saddle part KV, I was just curious because I didn't have my saddle today and sometimes I forget, so I'd like to have a second way to ride, instead of riding just Rocco, which ended up happening today.
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