Monster Monte

I've been continuing with Monte's anti-buck training for about a month now. I taught him the hip over cue which he does automatically at any speed. As a result I have to be careful when I give it because he will just about topple over if he's at a gallop. That is not what I expected. I expected him to slow down as soon as he saw my arm move out in anticipation of having to disengage his hips, but he actually just instantly throws his hip over regardless of the circumstances.

The ultimate goal, however, was to solve his bucking problem. The hip-over thing was meant to gain control of his back end and convince him to stay collected as he never knew when I was going to throw his hip over. The rest of the solution required that I be able to stay on his back despite the bucking and also teach him that dangerous behavior has consequences for him. Unfortunately, I was never able to get him to buck again on the jogging track after the first incident, so I decided it was time to take him to the arena. I can work with an individual horse alone all I want, but effective cavalry horse training has to be done with a group of horses because their behavior is so much different when they are together.

With six other riders in the group, I formed them into a column of twos and had them trot around the arena. I put Monte in the back of the column so I could work with him without the others colliding with me. I found out that Monte is so programed to turn sideways when I give the hip-over cue that it doesn't matter what his speed is or if there is a fence rail or another horse in the way. This was a little disconcerting. I also found that in the arena, Monte drags the bit. On the jogging track, he is very light in the mouth and requires little pressure. Not so in the arena. I had trouble getting him to drop his head and softening his neck.

After I practiced the hip-over maneuver a few times at a trot, I put the column into a gallop. Monte immediately dropped his head and threatened to buck. I instantly threw his hip over and revealed to him my secret weapon--a riding crop. With this I laid three sharp whacks on his shoulder and then put him back into a gallop in order to rejoin the column. Monte again put his head down to buck and again I threw his hip and applied the riding crop to his shoulder. That was enough for Monte. I had no further troubles with him despite repeatedly giving him his head to invite another bucking session. To be sure he had learned the lesson, I formed the other riders into a skirmish line and had them practice some charges. I moved through a sequence of walk, trot, and gallop but Monte would not buck anymore.

I don't for an instant think that Monte has given up on bucking. He just gave up for the night. We will try again next week and see if we can cement the lesson. It was an important breakthrough for Monte though and reversed a trend that has been growing in intensity for a couple of years now. Hopefully, Monte can soon again be used without endangering our riders. We will see.