Bucking at Canter

Question
Hello, my question is about my 8 year old gelding Rio. He is 15.3hh and close to 1200lbs he is very strong and atheletic. I have had him for almost a year now and we bonded really quickly. He is a great horse, he loves attention, he is very patient and tolorable and seems to be very eager to please, even when he may be a little confused. He is very trusting in me, and looks for my leadership in situations he may not be familiar with or may be a little scared of. We purchased him from a lady that owns, breaks, and competes western events with her horses. She said that he was used mainly as a trail horse, but had been used to collect cattle on a few times and he seemed to enjoy doing that as well. Rio is extremely fast and full of life, although I wouldnt say that he is "spunky" because he is very well behaved with one exception... He will buck when asked to canter. I first thought it was a tack problem, but after being thrown from his "rodeo bronc buck" I started working with him on a lunge line and he does the same thing with no tack on him other than his halter. He will obey "walk" "trot" "whoa" "back" "stay" & "come" voice commands but is a little difficult to move into a canter and once he does, he bucks almost 100% of the time. He is very easily brought back to a stop and doesnt seem to realize that he has done anything wrong. I do not ask him to canter while Im in saddle bc I have been hurt when he "threw" me before. I am only working with him form a lunge line. Do you have any other ways to remedy this problem?

Answer
Hi Syntyche,
Please don't take this wrong when I say this. But you have trained the horse to buck. I realize you have an issue with coming off a horse when it bucks out. I do too. It hurts. And it shakes your confidence. The horse has learned that if he kicks out at a canter or bucks a little, you stop trying to make him lope. So he has trained you to stop making him canter. Make sense?
I do have ways to get a horse over this but it involves getting back on the horse and pushing him through it. Yes, he will probably buck out and you will have to ride it through and possibly get injured again.
So my suggestion is to let a qualified trainer handle this situation. No need in you getting hurt. You can't ride your horse if your laid up in a hospital injured. It shouldn't take a trainer long to fix the issue so we are not talking about alot of money. It would be well worth it to get your horse back and you can lope off with confidence.
If you decide to tackle this problem yourself, you can email me:
blpdoc82652@yahoo.com
I can then go through the steps it would take to fix it.
I hope this has helped you. Good luck and please stay safe.