horse bucking - The Horse Physio - Sue Palmer

Tag: horse bucking

Behind the scenes with Sue Palmer, The Horse Physio, 3.10.24

By Sue Palmer on October 3, 2024

One client this week was referred to me for physiotherapy following surgery. The vets have specifically asked me to focus on the horse’s core strength. I took a video of the exercises for the owner, and I’m grateful she’s allowed me to share them with you in a 20-minute video. If you’d like some core strength and postural stability exercises for your horse, you’ll find some in my short e-book...

Why does my horse buck?

By Sue Palmer on March 16, 2024

“There can’t be much wrong with him if he can keep bucking people off the way he does”, is how I was greeted at a yard recently. I know I’m preaching to the converted here, so it’s safe to vent my frustration. I’ve put years into writing ‘Brain, Pain, or Training’ and then more into writing ‘Harmonious Horsemanship’ in partnership with Dr Sue Dyson. Dr Dyson has spent years developing the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (also known as the Ridden Horse Performance Checklist - you can download a FREE PDF here) and ensuring that multiple robust scientific studies back up the list of 24 behaviours. That’s on top of the hundreds of scientific papers she’s been involved in around horse health. And that’s just me and Dr Dyson. There’s a worldwide conversation around social license for equestrianism. Discussions around horse welfare are at the top of the Paris Olympics agenda.

Is bucking a sign of pain in horses?

By Sue Palmer on August 8, 2022

Have you ever sat on a horse that has bucked? Have you ever been bucked off? I bet there are not many riders this hasn’t happened to at some point! I’ve been riding since I was three years old and know I’ve come off many times. Some of them were pure accidents, some of them pure stupidity, and many of them, no doubt, a misunderstanding of what my horse was trying to tell me. I heard a description that resonated with me when I was listening to Horse and Hound podcast number 130. Dr Gemma Pearson discussed the difference between an N-shaped buck and a U-shaped buck. She said, and I agree with her, that an N-shaped back is invariably pain-related, whereas there can be a variety of reasons for a U-shaped buck.