the barn sour horse

I agree with kevinshorses. In all my life of riding horses, I have never personally seen a horse pull a wild bronc tantrum due to a badly fitting saddle. Most horses just "grin and bear" it, which isn't neccesarily a good thing, but is more likely to prevent more complicated training problems - such as not being able to teach a proper extended trot or getting a good spin out of your horse.

My Arab mare is pretty good at letting me know when a saddle doesn't fit, but it basically comprises of a few crowhops and head shaking. I know immediately when she's telling me she's being pinched, but I can guarantee if someone less observant was riding her and forced her to work through it, she'd stop. She'd be stiff and resistant, but she wouldn't attempt to kill her rider due to the saddle.

Typically, the saddle is only the irritant on an underlying problem. Shay-las mare has been borderline psycotic her whole life. Constantly bucking and leaping and trying to bolt. Shay-la spent years trying to re-school her, and being somewhat novice when she bought her, just set it aside as the horrible training the mare had recieved previously. She tried riding her English and noticed something odd - the bucking was cut almost in half. We immediately started questioning the saddles.

Turns out, it had nothing to do with the saddles. This mare had suffered a bad injury as a youngster that had somehow "fused" her hips together in an unnatural way. Because a Western saddle has a longer back on it, it provoked more bucking. The English saddle didn't touch her loin area at all, so the bucking was greatly reduced. So really, it had nothing to do with the saddle, it was an underlying medical condition that was provoked by different types of saddles.

The mare is in retirement now by the way.

I've seen plenty of horses not listen to their riders, take off running, or buck due to pain of the saddle.

I am curious as to how you knew that these horses you saw behaving badly were because of saddle fit and not other reasons? The word "plenty" seems to indicate numerous horses and "seen" would indicate you were there. How did you ascertain that the problem was back pain (as opposed to pain elsewhere) and that the saddle was the cause?

Because most of these horses were boarded at a stable that I was at almost 24/7 during the summers that I was there. I knew it was saddle pain due to how the saddle was sitting and how it fitted on the horse. The owners were very new to the horse owning aspect of the world (they wern't bad riders and didn't haul on their horse's mouths) and tried to rule out everything but how the saddle was fitted. Not to mention how they didn't seem to understand that a saddle fitting so far back or to far forward causes other problems.

Other times have been when a rider asks a horse to change leads or to go after a cow in a herd during team penning and the horse whirls away and bucks due to the sudden pinching its saddle tree had on its back.

Did you know horses can go blind by a blow to the head? It can put them completely out of alignment. I would bet he was unpredictable and dangerous, BECAUSE HE COULDNT SEE!! I worked with a very well bred, stunning, futurity gelding that no one could get anywhere with. He was cowboyed, and by cowboyed I mean he was rode into walls by this idiot who thought by running him into the walls he would stop alot quicker? He was 16.3 HH, maybe he was intimidated? Who knows. The guy got tired of eating dirt so he quit. This horse took it until he lost his vision and no one could do anything with him after that. Everyone was scared of him. He was very spooky, head always up high, very alert....he was a very quiet people horse before this happened and ready to compete. I was told this but also new this when I met the horse. He really messed up this horse to the point of sending people to the ER. I have never come across a horse so kind and willing knowing what had happened to him. I rode him after about a month of groundwork and therapy to get his vision back. From being run into the walls, it turned his wither and back into an "s" shape as well as knocking vertabrae out in his neck including his poll/atlas and all the way down. He will need regular therapy the rest of his life for the scar tissue this guy caused and hes only 6. He needed a few sessions of therapy to put him back together but it was worth it. No horse wants to be afraid yet they become explosive and dangerous because thats there only way of defense once it hits a certain point of pain. He lost his peripheral vision due to being run into the walls which came back with therapy and he never attempted to hurt anyone after that, he calmed right down to his normal quiet self. Anything that wasnt in front of him on the ground scared the crap out of him because he couldnt see. How that makes a horse mentally sick I am not sure but it sounds like he was easy to pass off as being ill in some way. People need to really think about what could be the underlying cause of some behaviors before they send them down the road. This horse was absolutely amazing to ride and have around after I got him the help he needed. His career was done as far as everyone was concerned until I stepped in and offered. Not to brag at all or sound like I know everything, just want to make a point in saying that not every horse is sick in the head.

well all I have is to sayy that some people say that when a horse rears, you are supposed to crack an egg on the top of their head so they think they are bleeding!!!
there are 2 things wrong with this:
1. Where does the person get the egg from, it would crack if they rode with it!!
2. It is cruel to the horse cause they think they are bleeding, when it is just an ordinary egg!!!

If anyone else has heard and/or used this method can they please let me know as I would like to find out how you carried the egg and how the horse reacted!!!

Horses aren't stupid. They know they didn't hit their head on something and that they are bleeding…especially with something as fragile as an egg. I saw a horse rear in a trailer hitting the top of it so hard with his head that it knocked a rivet loose only to have him do it again the next time he was loaded. He also reared in the barn and hit a rafter causing it to vibrate…and he still rears...so I'm not sure that a horse hitting it's head on anything deters a horse from rearing…at least not that one!

I haven't used the egg trick, but both my cousin and dad have used it. Basically you ride one handed and hold the egg in your hand. When the horse goes up you break the egg over his head. Supposedly the horse thinks it's bleeding and that it hurt itself while rearing. In theory it will learn that rearing is bad and won't do it again.

They had both used it more than once and said it worked great. The horse didn't freak out, but acted more scared (who could blame it?), and stopped rearing. Oh and you don't "hit" the horse hard enough to hurt it, just break the egg.

When Soda was rearing I was told to try this. I didn't for several reasons and resolved the issue another way, so I don't know from first hand experience how well this works.

I would love to have you explain it to us?

I am in the habit of getting off at the head of the laneway, about 200 yards from the barn, loosening the saddle and hand walking him to the barn. this also loosens up my legs and takes the stiffness out of my body. It also allows the blood to come slowly back. You should not just pull the saddle directly off. Loosen it a few holes and leave it on a while.
This might be an old saying but I have read this a number of times and in endurance the old experiences guys taught it to us.
I have gotten in the habit of also leading my horse out the laneway before mounting too. It gives him a chance to get use to the tight saddle on his back and it makes me feel good warming him up a little.
That said I have no problems just saddling him , mounting and riding out. It just makes me feel good to lead him out the first couple of hundred yards. The walk in after the ride I feel is good horsemanship.