Problems with breaking my mare

Question
"I started riding my two year old mare (quarter horse) in July of this
year. This is the first horse I have ever broke to ride.  I started out
riding her four times per week for about two weeks, then three times a
week for about three weeks, and I am currently riding her about two
times per week due to some time contstraints.  I spend an hour outside
with her each time.  Approx. 30 minutes for saddling, fly spraying, and
round penning, and 30 minutes for riding. I always round pen her before
riding.  She does great in the round pen, and I always wait for the
ques of respect (licking her lips, head held low) before letting her stop
in the round pen.  The first month I rode her she did excellent.  I
could do forward motion, turn and stop great.  I could even open and shut
gates with her.  She would ride away from the house with no problems,
(wasn't herd soured at all) and could ride her without anyone else
present with no worries.  However, about three or four weeks ago I had her
in a trot and she started running sideways on me which I know is a sign
of a soon to be blow up.  I lifted my left leg to put pressure on her
side to move her back over and was in the process of doing that when she
bucked and threw me off.  I was already slightly unseated anyways from
the sideways trot.  I caught her and took her back to the round pen
for several minutes then got back on her again and trotted her in the
same spot for the same amount of time until she didn't try to buck.  That
day the problem was solved.  I decided at that point that maybe I
needed to slow back down (i.e., I was moving her training too fast) and I
have not trotted or loped her since then.  However, now she tests me
every time I ride her.  For the most part she just tries to either bolt
forwards or sideways a couple of times at the beginning of our ride.  My
solution has been to stop her and flex her and let her stand for a few
seconds to get her attention and focus back.  That was working until
yesterday.  Yesterday she tested me with every lap we took up and down the
pasture.  She tried to bolt or run sideways I don't know how many
times.  Finally I decided some punishment was in order.  When she tried to
bolt, I would stop her and apply repeated pressure with the bit in her
mouth for a few seconds to let her know if she did that, she was going
to feel that pressure from the bit.  Then, I would flex her and get her
going again.  Her behavior never improved.  I am stuck and desperately
need an answer or my husband is going to insist that I stop riding her
and let someone else take over.  I am not against this, but really
want to finish what I have started.  Please let me know how I can
effectively get my horse to stop this behavior.  I also wanted to let you know
she is not spooking at anything and there are no other reasons for her
to be trying to run off with me other than she is trying to buck me
off.  I have ruled out every other possibility such as bit/saddle
problems, spooky objects, etc.
Thanks for your help."


Answer
Hi Kathy,
It may be time to bump her up a little bit and give her more to think about. Stop backing up - go forward.  I'd get some more control of her so you can ride her threw these times.  Lets go to the round pen first - tie her around and let her go round and round and give to the bit a little to soften he up.  Take bungie cords and run them from the bit to the d rings on the girth and let her work herself some.  Then when you get on, lets go with draw reins.  Take split reins and snap them to the d ring on each side and then up threw the ring on the O'ring and tie them together if you need to.  Make sure they are even in your hands.  This will give you more control, and also stop her from being able to buck with you.  All young horses go threw this trying you stage - be aggressive and ride her threw it.  You sound as if you can more then handle this, give her more to think about and keep going forward with this mare.
Feel free to email if you need any more help - I'd happy to work with you.
Regards
Jeff