Kaydence Sports Medicine & Rehab

05/08/2026

10 emergencies to watch for in the hours after your mare foals

Phew! That baby is born. The past 11 months of waiting, monitoring, and hoping have ended, and that beautiful wet foal is now on the ground wondering what on earth just happened to her. Your mare, meanwhile, is back on her feet—curious and wondrous about that squirmy little ragamuffin that just came out of her.

It might be tempting to assume that all is well, and you can finally get your own much-needed deep sleep. Unfortunately, though, your bed will have to wait—you’ve only completed part of the complex process of successful foaling. The next few hours and days will be critical in determining the future physical and mental health of your mare and her newborn foal, says Christine Aurich, DVM, PhD, head of the Graf Lehndorff Institute for Equine Science, in Neustadt, Germany.

So get your foaling night blankets and hot thermoses of coffee—and brush up on your smartphone stopwatch features—as you keep a watchful eye out for these 10 red flags in the post-foaling period.

1. Foaling Passes the 20-Minute and/or 45-Minute Mark.
Careful breeders have their stopwatch apps open before they even see the foal, Aurich says. “At the moment the placenta breaks, and the birth process is starting, you should really start your watch,” she explains.

If the foal isn’t delivered within 20 minutes, there’s certainly a problem that merits investigation, she says. If handlers have had training in managing difficult births, they can try to help resolve basic problems like a stuck shoulder or flexed knee. Otherwise, they should call a veterinarian immediately.

Regardless, foals should be born within 45 minutes, Aurich cautions. Longer than that, and the foal is more likely to suffer from health issues such as general infections or neurological disorders due to lack of oxygen.

Good prenatal care can help prevent or at least forewarn handlers about issues that could complicate foaling, so they can be prepared, says Quinn Gavaga, DVM, of Charles Ranch Equine, in Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada. “The health of the mare cannot be overstated,” he says.

2. The Placenta is Late—or Early—and/or Isn’t Y-Shaped.
Mares should deliver the placenta within three hours of birth, says Aurich. Otherwise, a retained placenta could cause uterine infection and the resorption of endotoxins, provoking sepsis (a whole-body reaction to bacterial infection) in the mare, which could also lead to laminitis. This “very dangerous and life-threatening” issue can usually be quickly averted with oxytocin infusions that make the uterus contract and expel the placenta.

But early placentas are red flags, too, she says. If the placenta and foal come out together, or if the placenta emerges before the umbilical cord is torn because the mare has gotten up, it was probably infected (evident as placentitis, or inflammation of the placenta). “An early placenta is always an alarm,” Aurich says. “It means there was a problem already before the foal was born and that the foal was most likely infected in the uterus.” These foals develop sepsis, requiring aggressive treatment.

Mares with placentitis could also have a red bag delivery. This condition occurs when the placenta separates prematurely from the uterine lining and—rather than normal translucent white or yellow membranes—you’ll see the bright red, velvety intact chorioallantois (the outermost layer of the placenta) at the vulvar lips. In these emergency cases the placenta must be opened immediately and the foal pulled out to halt asphyxiation.

After every foaling, handlers should lay the placenta out flat and ensure it’s complete, in its typical Y-shaped form, she adds. An incomplete placenta means a piece has remained inside the mare, which poses the same risks as retaining the entire placenta.

Handlers can also weigh the placenta while waiting for the veterinarian. It should weigh 10-12% of the foal’s weight; if the figure is less or more, it signifies a problem with the placenta.

Be sure to save the placenta in a plastic bag or bucket in a cool place for several hours because it could offer important clues if problems arise later, Aurich says.

3. The Foal Isn’t Standing Within One Hour.
Ideally, foals stand very quickly after birth—often within a matter of minutes, Aurich says. At the very latest, they should stand within an hour.

Some foals squirm and struggle to stand but just can’t succeed. Problems that could cause this range from contracted tendons and neonatal encephalopathy to sepsis.

Foals that don’t even try to stand within an hour are probably ill and need urgent veterinary care.

“When something goes wrong with foals, it usually happens pretty quickly—so don’t wait for it to get better on its own,” Gavaga warns. “It almost never does.”

4. The Colostrum Doesn’t Pass the Home Brix Test.
Before mares foal, owners should purchase a Brix refractometer, Aurich says. This instrument—designed primarily for the food and beverage industry—also serves as an excellent breeding farm tool to test for density or specific gravity of colostrum. (Colostrum with high immunoglobulin levels has a greater density and, thus, a higher specific gravity.) “It’s a very easy and really cheap way to check your colostrum quality right away,” she says.

Handlers should squeeze a small drop of colostrum from the mare’s udder—ideally, just after the foal is born—and place it on the refractometer prism. If the Brix value is at least 25%, that means the colostrum quality is good. If it’s above 30%, it’s very good. However, if the Brix value is below 25%—and especially if it’s lower than 20%—“then you know there aren’t enough antibodies for your foal,” Aurich says. “You have to call your vet to get frozen colostrum from a broodmare farm” or the foal will likely need an intravenous (IV) plasma transfusion.

5. The Foal Isn’t Nursing Within 2 Hours.

Among all the time-sensitive boxes to check, the intake of colostrum—the mare’s antibody-rich “first milk”—probably ranks No. 1 in importance, Gavaga says. Foals that fail to consume enough colostrum within the first few hours lack the antibodies that protect them from even the most common pathogens, he explains. That means they could easily fall sick, creating a domino effect of lingering health problems, including sepsis. Without rapid veterinary help, they’re likely to die within days. Sepsis is the leading cause of mortality in newborn foals, adds Aurich.

Healthy foals usually nurse within one hour of birth, but some can take a little longer before they start searching for the mare’s udder. If they’ve reached two hours without nursing, they absolutely need human intervention; call your veterinarian immediately.

After informing their veterinarians of the foal’s missed milestone, handlers should milk the mare themselves, Aurich says. This involves gently drawing on her teats and collecting the colostrum in a clean bottle designed for human babies. Handlers should be careful not to spill or waste the colostrum. It’s best to wait for veterinary assistance before offering it to the foal: Importantly, foals need to suckle and swallow on their own without being forced or having milk poured into their mouths, she adds.

6. The Foal Isn’t Getting Up to Nurse Every Half Hour, Suckles the Wrong Thing, or Gets ‘Milk Head.’
Foals usually lie down to rest after nursing. “But then they should get up after a short period, not longer than 30 minutes, and go again,” Aurich says. They should also act alert and interested. “That’s very important. If they’re not doing that, then something is happening. Something is wrong.”

The foal shouldn’t have milk on his neck, ears, or face, either, Aurich explains. “Milk-head” occurs when the foal approaches the udder but fails to latch on to the teat, and the mare’s body releases the milk in response to the foal’s contact, spraying milk onto the foal’s head. “It means the foal isn’t nursing correctly and isn’t getting enough nourishment,” she says.

Milk-head foals do not need “training” to nurse correctly, says Aurich. They need veterinary care. “You have to check the foal because it most certainly has a problem,” she says. It’s not that the foal doesn’t know how to nurse but, rather, she gets disinterested or too tired to drink once the milk is flowing. “In most cases, this is a sign that the foal is getting sick.”

But it might also be a sign the foal was born with a slightly premature endocrine system, Aurich adds. Before birth, foals usually produce progestogen, then shortly before the mare goes into labor, they switch to producing cortisol instead. In certain cases foals that appear fully mature might still be producing progestogen—which actually has a sedative effect, she explains. Therefore, they don’t adapt well to life outside the uterus, they might suckle incorrectly and get milk-head, or they might even try to suckle the mare’s legs or the barn wall.

Watching suckling behavior is the most reliable way to assess the health of newborn foals, because their body temperature and other vital signs are still naturally fluctuating, Aurich adds. “Taking temperature isn’t helpful,” she says. “But looking for normal behavior is.”

7. The Foal Is Retaining Meconium.
The foal’s digestive system needs to clear the dark, tarry contents it accumulated during gestation, known as meconium. Currently, the recommended practice is to administer one or two enemas at birth to avert meconium retention.

Foals that struggle to pass meconium tend to strain, lifting their tails and often standing as if they want to urinate, but to no avail. As time goes on, they can show signs of foal colic—acting restless and lying down as if they’re trying to keep pressure off the abdomen. In addition to the obvious welfare concerns, meconium constipation can cause foals to stop nursing—which prevents them from consuming the colostrum and nourishment they need to stay healthy.

Foals should p**p approximately every half-hour for the first hours until all the meconium has passed, and yellowish milk f***s appear. However, foals younger than 3 or 4 days old should never have diarrhea, Aurich adds. If they do, this is most likely septic diarrhea.

The first urine comes later. “If they are drinking—and drinking enough—they will certainly start urinating within 12 hours or so,” Aurich says. Colts typically urinate within eight to 10 hours, whereas fillies start within 12-14 hours.

Notably, owners should not assume an empty udder means the mare isn’t producing enough milk, Aurich adds. As long as the foal is nursing regularly, the udders always appear empty even though they might be producing abundant quantities of milk.

8. The Mare Seems Disinterested, Colicky, or Sick, or Has Bloody Manure or Urine.
Healthy mares show an interest in eating hay and pay close attention to their foals, Aurich says. They should be passing f***s and urine within five or six hours of foaling.

Sick mares might act lethargic or depressed and could appear sweaty. Re**al temperatures above 38.5 C/101.5 For a resting heart rate higher than 50 beats per minute is cause for alarm. In a septic mare laminitis can start quickly, so handlers should check for signs of sore feet.

While mares might have mild abdominal discomfort for a few hours after foaling, they should not experience significant levels of pain, Aurich says. Importantly, pain should improve—not worsen—over time. Handlers should be concerned if the mare is getting up and down frequently, rolling and/or thrashing, or showing increasingly more severe facial expressions of pain such as tightening around the eyes, clenching the jaws, or pursing the lips. Blood in the urine or f***s is another critical red flag.

Such signs could point to serious issues such as uterine prolapse, a retained placenta, damaged intestine, uterine rupture, or a burst artery with bleeding into the abdominal cavity. “These are real emergencies that have to be attended by a veterinarian,” she says. Haul the mare and foal to a clinic immediately if a vet cannot come right away.

“Better to transport her with hope of saving her, than just waiting at home until she’s dead,” Aurich adds.

9. The Foal’s IgG Levels and/or WBCs are Out of Range.
Veterinarians recommend testing every newborn foal’s blood in the first six to eight hours of life to check IgG concentrations.

An IgG reading under 8 grams per liter is a critical red flag showing the foal did not receive a sufficient transfer of antibodies. A white blood cell (WBC) reading outside the normal range of 5,500-12,000 cells suggests the beginning of sepsis.

Remember that 85% of antibodies from colostrum is transferred in those first eight hours. So, if you’ve tested within that window and the IgG is low, you still have time to feed colostrum (whether from the dam or a donor) nasogastrically and get adequate transfer; the foal’s intestinal tract cannot absorb these vital antibodies past 24 hours.

Beyond that eight-hour time frame veterinarians can provide the foal antibodies through IV plasma infusion.

As for other measurements, a particularly low or very high WBC count reveals an immune system reaction, our sources say. Practitioners can also run a serum amyloid A (SAA) test. The reading should be under 100-150 to verify the absence of bacterial activation of the acute-phase protein SAA, which is produced by the liver.

10. The Foal and Mare are More Interested in Anyone Besides Each Other.
Mare-foal bonding is critical for good physical and mental development of the foal as well as the welfare of both animals.

While handlers should not hesitate to care for their foals, especially when they need help, human interactions with foals should remain as minimal as realistically possible, Gavaga says. “Concentrate on the mare and make her feel as relaxed as you can,” he says. “Do what you need to help, but don’t try and force a bond with you and the foal. Respect the mare’s relationship with her foal.”

Red Flag? Do Not Wait.
If you see any of these red flags, contact your veterinarian immediately. “I don’t think people miss the signs that often,” Gavaga says, based on his own clinical experience. “I think owners wait too long to react.”

Post-foaling is certainly not the time for taking the wait-and-see approach, or to let nature work things out, Aurich adds. “Nature can be cruel,” she says. “Nature helping means the wolf or the lion comes for the weak foals that can’t get up and run away.”

For optimal post-foaling success, breeders should maintain a very good relationship with their veterinarians, Gavaga says. They will often then go above and beyond in supporting their clients in all the phases of horse breeding.

Take-Home Message
Mares and foals can appear healthy at foaling but quickly go downhill if they develop complications in the post-foaling period. Knowing the red flags and acting quickly can make a dramatic difference in the outcome of these scary situations, our sources say. “You can’t be prepared for every scenario,” Gavaga says. “But you can try to get as much knowledge as you can beforehand to be prepared for the main problems that can happen.”

The Horse

05/04/2026

Balancing Work and Rest for Horses’ Long-Term Soundness

Training and conditioning sport horses helps prepare them both physically and mentally for competition, but the process can take a toll on their bodies. Without adequate rest, a horse’s body cannot fully recover, leading to overexertion and potentially acute injury or longterm soundness problems, increased risk of injury, and the horse becoming mentally burnt out.

Recovery activities and the amount of time a horse needs to recuperate depend on the individual horse and his workload. For example, a horse jumping a 1.60-meter (5.25-foot) course in competition needs a different recovery plan than a racehorse in training or a dressage horse competing second level.

“The recovery time (needed) is dictated by the individual horse, the type of work performed, the general health of the body, age of the horse, and so on,” says Tim Worden, PhD, an equestrian sports performance consultant based in Ontario, Canada. “In general, younger and healthier horses will recover faster than older horses or those struggling with health issues.”

How The Horse’s Body Recovers
“Following exercise, the body works to restore normal function, repair damaged structures, remove any by-products of exercise, and replenish resources such as energy,” says Worden. “Additionally, exercise stimulates different signaling pathways, which lead to proteins being assembled in the body to improve exercise tolerance (e.g., structures in muscle that can improve oxidative capacity or increase force output) for the next time the horse needs to perform a strenuous activity.”

He adds that these processes take time, and a lack of proper rest can cause overexertion in the short-term or overtraining—an imbalance between workload and recovery—in the long-term. “While allowing the horse to recover from a workout on Monday, you can still perform work on Tuesday, assuming you accommodate the fatigue level from the preceding day and steer clear of exercises that place similar demands on the body (for example, avoid doing two high-intensity jumping workouts on back-to-back days),” he says.

What Can a Horse’s Recovery Time Look Like?

Recovery can be divided into two categories: passive and active. Passive recovery involves no added physical activity, which for horses usually means spending a day turned out with no ridden exercise or groundwork, says Worden. “Active recovery is the deliberate prescription of low-to-moderate-intensity exercise to aid in the restoration of the horse’s body,” he explains. This could be going for a trail ride or a light walk, trot, and canter on a track or in a field to let the horse stretch his body.

“Recovery will vary with the type of exertion and the horse’s level of fitness,”says Steve Adair, MS, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, ACVSMR, associate professor at the University of Tennessee’s College of Veterinary Medicine, in Knoxville. “Recovery time may be a few hours between events up to a few days. Recovery time can be anything from a complete layoff to non-sport-specific exercise such as trail riding.”

“If I am building a training program, I may have one passive recovery day per week (assuming the horse can have extended turnout), but most of the time I prefer to use active recovery means,” says Worden. “Active recovery is helpful for pumping nutrients to the musculoskeletal system while simultaneously removing molecules and chemicals that accumulated during the preceding intense exercise.”

Active recovery can also give riders a chance to identify any potential soundness issues during less-intense training and provide horses with a mental break from typical ridden ring work.

“In my opinion, the No. 1 recovery method will always be active recovery,” says Worden. “Getting horses out of their normal environment and doing something fun. Some horses enjoy going for hacks, others enjoy controlled gallops on a track, and some will enjoy going to the beach. Figure out what allows your horse to mentally recharge and build that into your program as often as possible.”

Adair says the type of recovery time horses need varies tremendously depending on the sport. “For instance, a halter horse is not going to need much recovery between shows, whereas a 100-mile endurance horse may require several days to a couple of weeks for recovery,” he explains.

The Trainer’s Role in Planning Recovery Time
When building a program, trainers should tailor a horse’s recovery time to match his workload. “As trainers, we are essentially stress managers,” says Worden, applying stress in the form of exercise to stimulate the signaling pathways mentioned earlier. This “will ultimately result in improved aerobic performance, technique, power generation, and so on.”

Trainers should also ensure the horse’s recovery time is efficient and maximizes the training benefits. “A horse can perform a lot of quality work in training, but if there are issues with the recovery means chosen, then any potential gains will be lost or, in worst-case scenarios, lead to injury,” Worden adds.

Always consider fitness when planning recovery time. “The less fit an individual, the longer the recovery period that is needed,” says Adair. “The tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments, cardiovascular system, etc.) of an unfit individual have not been conditioned to withstand heavy stress, thus they are more susceptible to injury.”

Riders and trainers can work with exercise physiologists and their horses’ veterinarians to perform multiday fitness tests designed to determine horses’ readiness to perform following a variety of recovery times, says Worden. Fitness wearables, which can collect information on the movement and health data (i.e., heart and respiration rates), can also give trainers and veterinarians more information about horses’ optimal recovery times, especially if used in daily training.

Do Long Periods of Rest From Exercise Benefit Horses?
In some cases trainers might choose to give horses several weeks of rest, especially during the winter in colder climates.

However, long periods of complete rest are often not favorable to a horse’s health; keeping horses at a minimal level of fitness is often more beneficial, says Adair. “Exercise and movement are important to prevent nagging issues from becoming a problem,” he explains. “For example, older horses with arthritis tend to fall apart if they are laid off for several weeks. It is better that they have some type of exercise, even if it is just trail riding.”

Happy and sound mature horses in a well-constructed training program often do not need extended periods of rest, adds Worden. “I would prefer to give a week or 10 days of passive and active recovery a few times throughout the year versus one or two months off at one time,” he says. “The hardest thing to do in sports programming is to build an athlete back up (from significant time off or an injury) so, for that reason, I tend to stay a bit further away from extended time off.”

He adds that longer rest periods can help horses that have been overtrained, because giving the body time to fully recover is often the best way to counteract overtraining. “Once a horse has reached the overtraining stage, you cannot continue to train through it,” Worden says. “If you do, you are likely to have an injury arise at some point.”

Longer periods of rest might also benefit younger horses because it gives them a break from the training environment, which can be mentally draining for them. Having downtime turned out with other horses can help them remain happy and sound in their work in the future.

Care During Recovery
“Proper foot care is very important,” says Adair. Correctly shoeing and trimming the foot to match the conformation of the leg and offer maximum weight-bearing support under the limbs can help horses maintain long-term soundness and reduce their risk of injury.

“Chiropractic evaluation and massage therapy can also be of benefit,” he adds, noting that while there are many anecdotal claims about the benefits of complementary therapies for recovery, more research is needed to confirm their efficacy.

Having a skilled team available to regularly evaluate the horse will help maximize recovery time. “Someone who can ‘listen’ with their hands is vital for both guiding therapy and training decisions,” explains Adair. “To know exactly where the horse is muscle sore following a workout and how the body responds to different types of exercises can tell you a lot about strengths and weaknesses.”

Take-Home Message
Appropriate recovery time is crucial to a horse’s long-term health and happiness in his work. Following exercise, a horse’s body needs to restore normal function, repair, and replenish energy supplies. The amount of time a horse needs to recover can vary greatly depending on the individual and the work he performs. Riders and trainers can use both active and passive recovery in their training programs and should find active recovery methods horses enjoy to help them recover mentally from challenging work.

Know the horse. “Ultimately, the most important thing for owners, riders, trainers, grooms, etc., to do is observe the horse and listen to what it is telling you,” says Worden. “If you know a horse well, then you will be able to detect slight personality and movement characteristics that indicate it is not yet fully recovered and may need an extra day before the next workout. It is always better to give an athlete an extra day off than to push them too soon and (risk) an injury or impact their confidence.”

The Horse

04/27/2026

Great info about strangles!

Strangles is one of the most commonly contagious diseases of the horse (worldwide) and in 2017 it became a nationally monitored disease.

This condition is caused by bacterial infection with "Streptococcus equi subspecies equi" (referred to as "S. equi”), which typically infects the upper airway and lymph nodes of the head and neck, and is highly contagious in horse populations—particularly affecting young horses. Classic signs of the disease include sudden onset of fever as high as 106 degrees F, thick yellow nasal discharge, and swollen lymph nodes under the jaw.

Transfer from horse to horse usually involves direct face-to-face contact, or exposure to things such as contaminated feed, water, hands, veterinary instruments or grooming tools. A stall or van recently used to house or transport a horse that is shedding the organism may also be a source of infection.

WATCH OUT FOR ASYMPTOMATIC CARRIERS!

It is not uncommon for strangles infections to recur on a farm with previous outbreaks of the disease, and the primary source of recurrent infections are most likely asymptomatic carrier horses. These are animals who display no clinical signs but may continue to shed the bacteria for months to even years, serving as a continual source of new infections.

If you suspect a strangles outbreak, be sure to involve your veterinarian right away to determine the diagnosis and the best control practices for your particular farm. Without control and biosecurity measures, a strangles outbreak will ultimately affect all susceptible horses, last longer, and have a greater chance of leading to complications.
**Please note that strangles is a reportable disease in some states.**

And as always, contact your veterinarian for more information as they remain the best source of advice!

04/25/2026

It is so special when we are able to treat patient from their very first day, and get to watch them grow!

Everyone already knew Regan was a strong lady, but bet you didn’t know she was strung enough to hold a horse in her arms!!

04/20/2026

Why Do Horses Buck?

Skippy was almost aptly named. He didn’t skip, but he did hop and jump. And to his owner’s great regret, Skippy bucked.
“He was a horrible ride,” recalls Amber Cash of Newark, Delaware. “He kicked, he bucked, he bit, he would run and not stop. I thought I could train it out of him, but he always seemed angry.”

Skippy wasn’t always like that, though. Often—and especially when he didn’t have a rider—the big red gelding was delightful, which made Cash suspect his bucking was pain-related. “He was loving, funny, smart, and playful,” she says. “But when he hurt, he was a holy terror.”

Cash tried dozens of saddles, stretching techniques, and chiropractors, all to no avail. It wasn’t until she got his back radiographed that she discovered the tips of her horse’s backbone were running into each other—a condition known as kissing spines. After surgery to create more space between the vertebrae, Skippy was a changed horse. “He was so much happier and easy to ride,” says Cash.

Bucking Basics
The buck evolved in horses as a defense mechanism to literally throw off predators, says Sue Dyson, MA, VetMB, PhD, an independent consultant in the U.K., who published a scientific review on bucking research in 2021.

A few other herbivores, such as sheep and antelope, have a certain kind of buck, she says. But the equine buck takes the skill to new heights: Their leaps into the air, with two or four legs off the ground, sometimes combined with either an arched-up or stretched-out back, the head low, and/or sudden stops and twists, could pitch off just about any animal—­including humans.

What Kind of Buck Is It?
Not all bucks are created equal, says Dyson. Some include little hops with the upper back—the thoracic spine, from the wither to the loin—in extension and the head up; some involve full flying leaps with the back up and the head down (“pronking” or “crow-hopping”); some propel rapidly forward in a series of pronks (“bronking”), often with lots of stops and twists.

“I always ask my clients, ‘Do you feel the horse is trying to buck you off?’ ” Dyson says. “If they say no, that’s a completely different situation from the horse that does the kind of rodeo act when its back is in flexion all the time.”

Our sources agree that most horses that buck consistently merit a visit from the veterinarian. Even if your horse isn’t throwing you off, his body language is likely telling you something’s wrong, and he needs help.

We’ve listed nine reasons horses buck—most of which are pain-related. Bucking seems to be a natural equine response to pain, although the biological reason for that remains unclear. “We can’t necessarily say it’s pain relief, but it’s definitely a reaction to pain,” says Dyson.

1. Kissing Spines
When the long points sticking up from the top of vertebrae—known as spinous processes—crowd each other, they’re said to be “kissing.” Bone hitting bone is painful, especially with added pressure from a rider, says Beau Whitaker, DVM, of the Brazos Valley Equine Hospital, in Salado, Texas. “The No. 1 thing I look for in bucking horses is kissing spines,” he says.

Kissing spines in the saddle area (the caudal thoracic and the lumbar spines) are the most likely to cause discomfort that can lead to bucking, he says. “When you get on the horse, it causes the back to drop and the spine to ventroflex (extend), and that pushes those bones even closer together, causing more pain, so the horse starts to buck.”

Not all horses with radiographic evidence of kissing spines, however, display signs of pain such as bucking.

2. Sacroiliac Joint Pain
The large, rigid sacroiliac joints lie between the ilium of the pelvis and the sacrum (the vertebral column from the loin to the tail—also considered a part of the pelvis) and are supported by ligaments above and below. Through wear or injury, horses can damage these joints and ligaments—and the result is often a very telltale kind of buck, says Dyson.

“They usually only buck when ridden, not on the longe,” she says. “They buck with their back extended, most commonly in canter, and may kick out backward or sideways. As a rider, you don’t feel like they’re trying to get you off.”

Her recent postmortem work for a soon-to-be-published study has shown that some of these horses even have a damaged obturator or sciatic nerve, which could lead to neuropathic pain (caused by damage to specific nervous system regions that perceive pain).

3. Gastric Ulcers
Bucking-related pain can also come from the stomach, says Whitaker. Sixty to 90% of adult performance horses have gastric ulcers, which develop when digestive acids break down the stomach lining, often due to stress, large amounts of concentrate feeds, and/or long breaks between meals.

“Some horses get enough pain from gastric ulcers that when they’re moving, especially cantering, that acid starts to splash around and irritate them, making them buck,” he says. Gastroscopy is the only way to confirm a horse has ulcers, so it’s a useful procedure when other pain has been ruled out.

4. Poorly Fitting Tack
A saddle that’s incorrectly fitted or badly positioned on your horse’s back can concentrate high pressures in a small area or pinch, such as just behind the withers, Dyson says. Some horses have a “bucking spot” behind the saddle: Firm pressure to this area might trigger bucking.

A broken tree can also cause a horse to react, says Whitaker, as can a poorly fitted saddle pad or tack such as breastplates, bridles, and bits.
A broken tree can also cause a horse to react, says Whitaker, as can a poorly fitted saddle pad or tack such as breastplates, bridles, and bits.

Girths can also be culprits, says Dyson, particularly those with elastic inserts. Some horses might find the moving elastic uncomfortable.

5. Other Sources of Pain
Bucking-associated pain can come from all over the body, our sources say. For example, they’ve found it in the pelvis, limbs (especially the hocks and stifles), and ribs. “Lameness may be the cause of bucking,” says Dyson.

Or it might come from the other end of the horse: “Sometimes they’ll have a hook or a fractured tooth,” says Whitaker. “This can hurt more when they get their heads in a certain position. Often those horses will throw their heads, but we do see some that manifest in ways you wouldn’t expect, like bucking.”

Dyson says she has seen bucking related to a torn ligament in the back, spondylosis (degenerative bone changes) of the spine under the saddle, and a broken sternum, among other orthopedic issues.

6. Fear
In some circumstances, the consequences of a horse’s buck—namely, the rider falling off—can scare them. “You see some horses, when they’ve bucked the rider off, they just stand there and act absolutely astonished and fearful,” Dyson says. “They are often terrified of being remounted, (and they may especially) not tolerate the rider sitting upright.”

This doesn’t mean the horse is afraid he’s “done something wrong,” which is too anthropomorphic, she says. Rather, the horse is fearful of having a mass projected over its head.

7. Accidental Buck Training
Whether they’re frightened or anticipating pain, or they just don’t like being ridden—maybe due to previous bad experiences—some horses learn that strong bucking gets rid of the rider and any related pain. That relief is a strong reward, and they learn to buck to get it.

Even after veterinarians perform therapy to relieve a bucking horse’s pain, he might continue to buck because he learned to when it hurt to be ridden. “Unless something changes, like an intervention from a behavioral management point of view, you may get into a situation which spirals out of control,” Dyson says.

Unskilled riders can start the spiral, she says. Riders with poor balance might bounce a lot (causing pain) and eventually fall with a simple buck. And some horses develop a tendency to buck early in a riding session, which could be the result of having quickly dislodged novice riders.

Learned bucking is often more difficult to resolve than pain-related bucking, our sources say. “Sometimes you have to try to work those horses through the mental aspect of it, once you get past the pain aspect,” Whitaker says. “And that’s not always easy to figure out.”

8. Intentional Buck Training
It’s worth mentioning, of course, that some horses are purposefully trained to buck. “Certain lines of horses, from a rodeo performance point of view, are apparently better at bucking,” Dyson says. Usually, when they don’t have cinches around their groin, they won’t buck, she adds. However, they might have a greater propensity for it.

Meanwhile, some high-level dressage horses, such as from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, are taught bucklike movements such as the capriole.

9. Feeling Great!
Bucking can represent both negative and positive feelings. Horses buck out of exuberance when galloping and playing at pasture and sometimes under saddle, says Dyson. “They can feel fresh and exuberant, like when you take them out to the beach to gallop, and they give some happy bucks,” she says.

There’s a stark difference between the happy buck and the buck that says something’s wrong, however. Feel-good bucks are usually one-shots in specific situations of excitement, whereas bucks in a series or that happen every time you ride should raise a red flag.

Happy bucks aren’t usually an issue—unless you’re not skilled enough to ride them out, Dyson says. However, horses can be trained to not buck under a rider, even when they’re exuberantly happy.

Getting an Evaluation
If you’ve got a bucker, get your horse—and your tack—evaluated. Have a master saddler check your saddle and bridle, and ask your veterinarian to run a buck evaluation. That usually starts with palpating the back to check for reactions to pain, followed by radiographs and, if necessary, a gastroscopy, says Whitaker.

Veterinarians should also evaluate the horse in hand, while longeing, and under saddle (if he’s safe to ride), says Dyson. Local (temporary) nerve blocks can help find the part of the body that’s hurting.

Sometimes veterinarians perform an ultrasound of a painful area to see if the soft tissues have been affected. If those checks don’t lead them to the problem, practitioners might pursue bone scans (scintigraphy) to look for inflammation in the bones. Bone scans can help veterinarians track improvement once horses have started therapy, Whitaker says.

Treatment must be targeted depending on the diagnosis, says Dyson. Most horses also need behavioral retraining after they’ve recovered physically, to learn not to buck once the pain is gone. Seek the help of a certified behaviorist or a trainer versed in positive reinforcement methods.

Take-Home Message
Bucking might be what happy horses do in a field, but it can spell trouble when they’re doing it repeatedly under saddle. Veterinary treatment and behavior management can help resolve the issues behind the buck, our sources say. And when you identify the reason for the buck—like Cash did for Skippy—it can be a game-changer for both horse and owner.

The Horse