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Considering the current horse market, why mess with her? Replacing her would not be expensive but medical specialists are. Just sayin....... from experience.

She just started this, going to try to stop it as fast as she learned it. Have access to an indoor riding arena so I think I will make her a winter project and start at ground zero.

Not saying I can be of any help, but what hasn't been asked is her age. Is she green broke? Well-broke? Rode a little. Rode a lot? Ridden consistently?

Green broke, bought her off a ranch out your way two years ago at age 8. Brought her home and started to use her and she came down with an infection on her withers. Gave her 7 months off to heal then started riding her this summer on and off with no real issues. Two weeks ago I threw the saddle on her and cinched up, she started crow hopping so I walked her down the trail and got on and she bucked me. Got back on and rode the buck out, then she went down the trail like a normal horse. A deer caught her by suprise and she spooked but when she saw what it was she just put her head down and kept walking instead using it for an excuse to start bucking again like some do. I am leaning towards being a green horse and barn sour, If it would be a pain issue would she let get on and off hours into the ride?

Okay, that helps. Any horse that is green broke at age eight is a candidate for being a problem. Now, to qualify my answer. I am a third-generation rancher. My father raised and sold horses all his life as have I. I raise registered Quarter Horses, write for numerous horse publications and occasionally retrain a "rescue" horse. I'm not sure what an infection on the withers is or how she would have gotten it. Saddle sores, saddle marks, bone bruise... lots of possibilities in that area. As Saddlesore said, the first thing is to turn your stirrup leathers so you don't have to bend over. Two questions here. Does your bending over somehow irritate a sore or is she savvy enough to know she is catching you at a disadvantage. I suspect the latter. It sounds like you are padding her up well so the withers are probably not an issue.
If she was green broke when you bought her at age eight she might have a lot of baggage. There is a reason she wasn't being ridden.
It is possible during the seven-month sabbatical -- especially if she were being fed well -- that she decided she liked the easy life.
Are you using a mohair cinch? There is an expensive, synthetic cinch on the market that sores horses under the skin. You might not notice much or anything on the skin. I had this happen to three geldings this summer until I figured out what was going on and took the cinch back to the dealer.
I would not put a gag bit on a green-broke eight year-old. Never.
Bosals and mechanical hacks are no aid for a horse that bucks. First of all, for a bosal or hack to cut the air off the noseband has to be positioned lower than it is meant to be; secondly, a horse can buck hard for several seconds without needing air. Thirdly, you can damage nose cartilage by pulling hard on a poorly positioned hackamore.
If this mare has a generally good disposition and is only acting spoiled she can be ridden through this stage. But, if she has a generally sour disposition this might only be the tip of the iceberg.
As Saddlesore said, it is impossible to diagnose problems from a distance, but a green-broke mare at eight years of age certainly raises red flags. What needs to be known is: at what age was she started and was she started properly?
At my age (59) and have suffered a spinal contusion, I no longer take chances on horses like this. I found homes for two similar horses this summer, but I no longer get on them myself. I discern that they are by being around them, checking their breeding and background and then I only put them with people who are flat-out hands. And I tell them everything I know about the horse.
Now, it's none of my business what you paid for her, but a green-broke mare of her age should have cost you about 30 cents a pound, or $300 to $350. It will cost you at least that much again to have a good trainer put five or six rides on her (depending on where you live and what type of horse people are available.)
So, I'm probably not that much help, but I do wish you the best of luck. And be safe.

Doesn't kick, bite, never seen her pin her ears back at me or anybody. Brought her and two others 2200 miles home and never gave me a problem on the trip. She spent a late season in Gardiner where a friend of mine guided for elk off her and put some miles on her. I had high strung POS horse where the sweat would be rolling off them in the fall just from the trailer ride, she is nothing like that. Her biggest problem before this was that she is a little head shy and didn't like having her ears messed with, but with time she let me rub her ears and stand still to bridle.

One of the several trips we took alone back in the timber, about 8 miles from the trail head where that pic was taken.


Never an issue till two weeks ago, That horse used to not move a muscle till I told her to go.

I'd make sure about saddle-fit and girth type and location. The wither infection is a flag, methinks. i missed that earlier.

If fit and anatomy/conformation are ruled out, you probably have to go back to ground work and get her head.

I was thinking of the round pen if the problem is for sure under the brow band. Try to mount in the round pen. If she walks off, make her move and build a sweat. Do this until she decides that she would rather stand still than be stupid.

Well, its anybody's guess. Some of the best behaved horses you will ever see are in PRCA bucking strings. Your saddle looks new. It's possible the bars in the tree are a poor fit for her body type and are aggravating the injury to her withers. If you like the mare she is worth some time and trouble. Judging by her hind quarter it appears she has a little hot blood in her (Arab? Morgan? TB?) and if she was idle for much of her life she might not be well-disposed to working for a living. Also, horses used in any type of pack string (if she was) become very accustomed to only following other horses. Left alone some are more than sour. Such was the case with one of the two we tried this summer. I thought about buying this gelding for my wife. He'd been a ranch horse, calf horse, and dude horse. But, the last three years was as a dude horse and all he did was keep his nose in the tail of the horse in front of him as they walked mountain trails. When left alone he simply threw a fit -- not with me because he sensed I could handle him, but he really took advantage of my wife. I'll be curious how things turn out so let me know in a few weeks what has happened. I can't see her withers in the photo or see how she's padded. We have one very nice gelding that is exceptionally high-withered. I have to use as many as three good, thick blankets on him.

I'm still intrigued by this "infection" in her withers. What was it and how did she get it? A bite from another horse? Saddle gall? Or was it something like warbles that just appeared there, burst, and became infected? A saddle gall would have to be pretty bad to get infected.

she is registered appendix, throughbred on the dam side. One ride went to put the saddle on she backed away and acted scared. looked for problems and didnt find any so I got the saddle on and rode no problems. When I pull the saddle I always check the withers on all my horses and on her didn't see nothing wrong. Four days later I notice hair off on the wither and she didn't want it touched so I figured one of the geldings bit her so I left her alone, gave some bute for the pain. several days later it broke open and it must have hurt her like hell, she would shake the skin if you would put a hand close to it. So it was SMZs for a week flush it and let it heal. It closed up in about two months but I just stayed off her for half a year. She is a very high withered horse and thought the saddle sored her but the saddle didnt put pressure there and I have hundreds of miles on that saddle with my geldings. Going down to feed so I will grap the withers again to see if she flinchs.

Thats what I am hoping. If it is a concuring wither problem I have some nice jack donkeys close by I could breed her to.

Way past my meager knowledge about horse problems.Igave up on them years ago and switched to mules. New set of problems then.

Fistulous withers?

Let me add that fistulous withers could be serious because of her time in Gardiner and possible exposure to Park bison and brucella abortus bacteria. I have never had fistulous withers on a horse, but your mare's symptoms certainly suggest that could be the problem.

That was the first thing my vet said, brucella. He took a sample and sent it to the state lab for testing and it came back negitive thankfully. The infection started in Sept 2010, it healed about 12 months ago, I got on her back for the first time april or may. I had at the most 8 rides on her before this stuff started.

Seems to be a never ending learning curve.

Just for my own curiosity, I would like to know her bloodlines, especially the second, third, fourth generations. I have a little experience with Appendix Quarter Horses because they theoretically fit my needs very well. But, most Appendix horses have sprinting TBs as the Jockey Club influence and when crossed on certain QH lines it produces a time-bomb. I had to eliminate Appendix mares from our breeding program because crossed on the QH stallion we were using at that time about half the colts would buck and they were simply unridable. A hotter QH line crossed on sprinting TB blood came produce horses with a bad temper, especially when they're bored. They also can have a tendency to be herd-bound.

Dandy king bar, swet dandy andy
sweet sweda
Ricky george, rickys candy cloud
candy cloud
-------------------------
go man go , togoman
tonis rocket
libertys miracle [ the thoroughbred], liberty bell miracle
rego bucks

Thats as far back as they go on the certificate.

If she is hot blooded its on the dam side, her half brother came back east with her and he is quiet. He is a 100% QH, same head shyness as her though.