breaking in an abused 5 year appy mare

Question
I just got my horse January of this year, we rescued her from these people who didn't know how to take care of horses. She was my first horse. My riding instructor was keeping my horse at her house. She was 200 pounds under weight. Well when we got her weight back, we decided to do ground work, she excelled in that, my instructor wanted me to saddle her up and get on and off her, Dixie (my horse) did excellent with that, we got to sitting on her. Dixie did excellent with that too. My instructor wanted to lead us around with me on. Dixie had no reaction to it.
We brought her home to my house. I wanted to get on Dixie, so me and my mom and dad saddled her up and started to get on and off, then I went to go sit on her and she bucked me off. I didn't get back on, so I decided to do a little more ground work and manners with her, like a week or two later i wanted to just sit on her. i got on her just fine, she was kind of spooky, she relaxed and we decided to pony her, no bit, just a lead rope and halter, so my dad gets on his horse, Cash. Dixie and Cash are like best buds. They don't have a problem with dominance or anything. Well we were doing just fine, until Dixie takes off pulling the lead rope of of my dad's saddle, she takes off down the road with me still on, she stopped, I grabbed the lead rope, she whipped her head up pulling the lead rope from my hands. Then she took off back towards our pasture where everybody was, and she veers off towards the woods, I am still on, and I decided to jump off because my saddle was tipping to the side. I land, no injuries, but we grab her and take the saddle off and put her back in the pasture.
Here is the thing i don't understand: Why did she buck me off and take off when she didn't do it at my instructors place? Also, do you have any tips on how I can get her trained and what I can do so she can be a good barrel racer, trail horse?
thank you so much
Brooke

Answer
Hi Brooke!

You did not say if Dixie was broke to ride before you purchased her.  But, in this case I would advise you start from the beginning anyway, so what her riding past really was does not matter right now.

It sounds as if she had a rough period and now that she is back to a good weight and all, she is a "real" horse again.

It is too simplistic to just throw a saddle on a horse and attempt to ride it.  You need to do all the basic work first.  You need to build a relationship of trust and communication.  It does not matter at all where she bucked you off, it just matters that you basically put no thought into getting on her and she was not having it.  If you do not correctly train her to riding with you, you will continue to get bucked off....and worse.

What to do?  Start at the beginning.  Good, solid ground manners.  Then, proper longeing, whether on the line or free in a round pen.  Google Monty Robert's "Join-Up" method.  This is an excellent way for a new, young or difficult horse to bond to it's new human.  You will learn to talk to her in her language.  This will get her ready for the saddle and riding.

In longeing you need to teach her to respond to voice aids for all three gaits, this will transfer to when she is under saddle.

Speak to your vet, farrier or tack shop and ask them to recommend a local trainer who has experience in young horses.  Have them out to evaluate your situation and discuss your riding goals.  You need help and cannot train this mare by yourself.....obviously... or you would never have gotten on her like you did.  You are very, very lucky to have walked away from that with no injuries.  As for Dixie, she could care less about you and thinks you won't try getting back on her since she showed you who was boss.  So, prove to her you are the "Boss Mare" through correct training.  She'll get the picture.

If you build a solid foundation of communication and trust through correct training, then you can think about something as specific as training her to barrels...or any discipline.

Good luck and remember to always wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange