I’ve been cantering Montana in the wide open fields and letting him run, spook, shy, buck, and bolt. Previously, I’ve always shut him down with a one-rein stop and brought him back to a walk, where he’s fine. But for the past couple weeks, I’ve ridden through it to see what happens and see if I can somehow get him over it. He is particularly bad if Cedar goes away, as he is quite buddy sour. In those cases, when riding away from Cedar, Montana won’t go forward much but continually tries to go sideways. He also will throw a temper tantrum, which can get quite nasty with lots of head shaking, and he will bolt sideways 5 feet in a split second like an agile cat. Those sideways bolts have almost gotten me off. Then, when riding towards Cedar, he’ll take off like a rocket.

Today, after a 2 hour trail ride, I took Montana over some small jumps in the ring, after first walking over them. Party time! A couple times he ended up bucking several laps around the ring after the jump. Of course, even though I took him into the jump at a controlled trot, he would canter a stride before and jump really high. I’m trying not to discipline him too much, as he’ll throw another temper tantrum, and I hope more exposure will settle him down. (If this approach doesn’t work, I’ll have to get a bit more corrective with him.)

His bucking isn’t enough to unseat me, and I must admit it’s somewhat exciting and fun for me, so I don’t shut him down or discipline him harshly when he does it. I’m hoping he’s just young and eventually he’ll settle down. However, he’s not a horse that our friends can ride, nor does my wife enjoy riding him, so he’s somewhat useless beyond me.