Anyone "cured" a true bolter

Snowysadude

Snowysadude

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Just pondering really, I am not talking about a horse that is strong/takes off in fear ect. I mean one that will be behaving perfectly normally and the next minute take off and be completely unstoppable/uncontrollable to the point where you have to bail/hold on for 20 minutes until they stop.

If yes how and what did you do? Or would you just PTS or retire for good if horses have had all the vet tests/neurological tests and nothing found to be wrong wrong?
 
I have a true bolter he is not ridden as not safe but in hand lovely so used for showing, I'm not sure there is a cure if there is I would like to know it
 
I think the point of a "true bolt" is that it can't be cured, or even in most cases anticipated.

I'd probably PTS if it was a true bolter (as opposed to "running off") and I didn't have a safe non-ridden, non-public-appearance job for it to do.
 
Only asking as there is one I am in love with but I would never consider having him. Hes great on the ground too and was fine for a professional rider for a couple of months then started doing it to him, even in the school :(. Snowy properly bolted once for no reason 3 years ago but if he did it twice I would have sent him back. I just did loads of work with snowy and was wondering if there was any miracle work that can help for the owners sake as she has invested a lot of time and money into him.
 
Sorry, there is only 1 permanent solution to a horse that is a confirmed bolter = PTS
It can be a field ornament, unless it bolts through fences (seen it happen).

Schooling can be done with those who 'scoot', spook or tank off.

Having had to witness the remains of a horse that bolted down a road & into the front of a builders van travelling at around 30mph, I am quite emphatic when this subject comes up.
 
Does anyone have any ideas as to why a horse would become a true bolter when others wouldn't? I have never experienced it and don't want to. I don't know what I would do with one but would be wary of selling on as a companion or other job...
 
I had one for about 5 weeks for reschooling/possible part ex... Totally sound in wind and limb, no back/neck issues, took off as soon as your weight shifted in the saddle. Got him to the point of w/t/c in the school but would never never have taken him out of an indoor and sent him back as that's no life for a horse.
 
True bolters can onl be cured by a bullet. I have been bolted with and I baled was bloody scarey and I will sit on anything, rearers, buckers, spookers naughty, nasty, those that tank off etc not fussed but I will NEVER sit on another bolter.

Its a right shame as well as the horses that do it semm to be talented lovely individuals.
 
mandwhy said:
Does anyone have any ideas as to why a horse would become a true bolter when others wouldn't? I have never experienced it and don't want to. I don't know what I would do with one but would be wary of selling on as a companion or other job...
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Generally, I think if there's no physical reason for the bolt then it's mental. In which case, a bullet is generally the kindest cure...
 
I've taken on 2 true bolters in my life (no physical reason could be found in either).

One is still with me (retired now). He would run in a total blind panic - very scary. He'd stop once you were off or sometimes he'd 'click' out of it.
He was truly panicking (no reason) - never seen anything like it!
The frequency went down over time but he still had it in him. I'd never trust him fully. We went out competing etc. He'd give a warning grunt and I learnt how to divert him or bale!

The other one is gone. He got worse no matter what I did. Bolted up roads, through fences, you name it. I struggled on for 18mths but he was getting just too dangerous - I'd never risk putting anyone on him.

So in answer - it depends on the horse and why they are doing it - but no - in my experience it is never something that truly goes away but you may be able to manage it (just depends - and not something you can really judge in advance)
 
Read a good book the other day Bill the *******, about an Australian horse that was in WW1. It was a confirmed bolter, only 1 man was ever able to ride him, although plenty tried.

He was at Gallopili, and was used as a pack animal carrying weights of up to 400kg, he was a big and stong horse, with no issue. But ridden, he might be ok for a minute or two and then he would bolt, stop, buck etc.

When he got to Egypt, a chap worked with him and they developed a bond, sufficient that this fellow was able to ride him, and he did ride him until he was shot through the leg, he passed out due to loss of blood. The horse took him (at a slow gallop) back to the vet lines, and waited there until someone found him. After that the horse went back to being a pack animal. On one occasion his rider had to rescue 4 men in the desert, he doubled them back to camp. 5 men on one horse at a canter through the sandy desert, the horse was groaning at every stride, but he saved those men's lives. There is a statue in his honour in Australia somehwere.

The chap who lost his leg, did ride the horse again once, after he lost his leg, but it was just a short ride. He made sure that the horse was not shot at the end of the war, but was given to locals as a breeding stallion, on the condition that they never rode him.

The horse was not in pain, but just a smart, sensitive, and intolerant horse with most people. He was not afraid, just difficult. It was a pretty good story actually.
 
What I find annoying with not ridding my boy anymore is the amount of people that will say oh my horse bolts too but I still ride it...not the same as a true bolter
 
jeeve said:
Read a good book the other day Bill the *******, about an Australian horse that was in WW1. It was a confirmed bolter, only 1 man was ever able to ride him, although plenty tried.
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I need to buy this book - have you read 'Hell West and Crooked' by Tom Cole? True story about a drover and buffalo man in the territory in the early 20th century - great read. :)

My instructor who does lots of rehab work with very difficult horses told me she cured a bolter, along with work she did on him she also got him to see an osteo who worked on his postural inbalances and helped straighten him up - he was so out of kilter which is why she said he bolted. I didn't see the horse, or it bolting so can't comment on whether it was a 'true' bolt or not - but she does deal with some difficult and 'thrown on the scrap pile' horses and restart them :)
 
I find the bolting threads interesting.

I used to ride a little horse that had completely bolted with its rider down a straight railway line and the rider had eventually baled. The horse had run away a few times in the school and at a show. His rider was (understandably) afraid of him by the time the railway line incident came around and after that wouldn't ride him.

I got along with him after a couple of incidents to work through and bit changes. It was getting progressively worse due the the loss of confidence between that horse and its rider. He turned out fine and went on to do very well.

Pros can often get the better of horses who have gone done the bolting line with an amateur. I had a mare that used to gasp and p!ss off as you were mounting or walking her round at the beginning. No brakes, no steering just laps of the school if you were lucky or sometimes randomly flying in various directions, lol. She'd showjumped with a pro and a good pro taught me how to ride her. I only took her out of an arena a couple of times though and felt it was too dangerous for us and other people. She never stopped the running off though, you had to get on in front of a wall to ride her into and, on occasion, you had to tell people to get out of the way while she ran round. Bonkers. You can't have that really can you? Though I wonder if she hadn't gone lame there might have been a rider out there that could have worked with it and phased it out.

I wonder how many of these "true bolters" have just headed that way through fear, cumulative bad experiences - because while running away they are frightened themselves even when its a habit - and overhorsed riders and how many are wired wrong. To me tanking is totally different, it doesn't have the fear, its just a horse taking the mick and not pulling up. Some horses that run on in fear, with good jockeys learn to rein in the reaction, some unlucky ones escalate to bolting IME, or are given up on before they get that far rather than risk someone ending up under a truck..

I reckon its like rearing. A horse who has reared, full up and maybe even fallen over isn't necessarily exactly "a rearer", just a horse who has reared. A horse who has bolted isn't necessarily, for life, "a bolter" but you might always want to be careful who rides it and who you sell it to.
 
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Irishbabygirl - I was going to say the same, Clayton had a young horse who was even caught bolting on camera... Resulting in horse crashing to the ground.

He worked on it and seemed to sort it.

I guess each case differs as that was a horse freshly broken by sounds of it.
 
Unfortunately some bolters end up killing themselves when bolting.

As others have said, the only 'cure' is to PTS, it is far too risky and the potential dangers to others when a 500kg horse comes galloping towards them is too great.
 
my horse came to me as a 'bolter' but I can say in the last 12 years of owning him I've never seen any evidence of it.
I was wary of him at first but now it never crosses my mind. So I assume it was just that one rider that he either didn't like or did something to cause the issues. Now I think of it, he's never bucked with me either but I let a friend ride him and she gave him a bit of a sharp kick and he bucked. So perhaps he will not tollerate rudeness!! BTW I am no great rider but I have been told I am a quiet but firm rider.
 
mandwhy said:
Does anyone have any ideas as to why a horse would become a true bolter when others wouldn't? I have never experienced it and don't want to. I don't know what I would do with one but would be wary of selling on as a companion or other job...
Click to expand...

In a lifetime with horses (and I'm eligible for a bus pass now) I have known ONE true bolter! He was an A Grade Showjumper in Oz = but when he went .... It wasn't just out of the ring it was off the showground and down the road (the rider - who was a top professional - would bail out at the showground gate!) He broke his shoulder when jumping in NZ and was PTS - autopsy revealed a brain tumour!
 
In over 20 years I've also only met a true bolter which was my first pony. My perception of a true bolter is once they go you don't have a hope in hells chance of stopping them and to try and divert before they bolt is prob the most difficult thing.
When I worked on a yard there was a lady with a amazing mare but she was terrified of her, she had countless broken bones where she said the mare bolted in the school and would just run into the fence or gate. She also done this with other riders so was not the owners riding ability.
I was asked to ride her and you could feel her back arch just before she would go, I popped her on to a tight circle the moment I feel her back arch. Eventually the owner took back riding her and she turned out a lovely mare. I still to this day do not feel the mare was a true bolter just one that took the mick and done so in a nasty way, once she learnt this was not going to continue she settled.
 
I was riding a pony that truely bolted. He had always done it and when I was riding him he was in his 20's. Always had done it and always would, just had to try to eliminate the possibility of him doing it by keeping him interested and with company when possible at events.
 
I was in the same situation about 2 years ago now - not that it feels that long ago AT ALL! My mare was pts last july due to her being a "True bolter".

Toff was a 14.2 welsh cross who lived a relatively unstressful life being a nervous teenagers pony and having a life of living out most of the year and hacking, being ridden in a school and on occasion going to small shows and sponsored rides. I had owned her since she was 7, I 13 and we grew up together. I never could have imagined living my life without her. Then one random day 2 years ago she pulled back while I was pulling her mane, something that she wasnt keen on but wasnt completely fussed about, and then turned, trotted straight through two post and rail fences and flipped herself over a 5 bar gate. She came out of this relatively unscathed, and at the time I thought little of it, just being gratefull she was ok. However, over the next year this behavior kept happening. The worst incidences included trying to bolt through the breezeblock stable wall, cantering around the stable as if blind pushing against the wall untill she reared and flipped herself over. Bolting on the lunge and galloping flat out into the inside wall of an indoor arena and bolting into a hedge and suspending herself above a ditch. She never did this under saddle but this might have been because I very quickly stopped riding her.

Every time she bolted happened I could reason it out, there was a trigger or a reason. I had every test run on her that could have been related, she had two full blood tests, full vet m.o.t, teeth, saddle, back shoes, no shoes, just front shoes, yard with stallions, yard without stallions, turnout with/ without other horses, in work, out of work, jumping, no jumping, feed, no hard feed, only certain types of feed, supplements, herbs.... (the list was endless). Nothing came up. Nothing changed, and then one day I woke up and thought about it realistically. I called our vet and asked her to talk to me about it realistically. The liklihood was that it was a tumour, she could be CT scanned but even if something showed up it would not be able to be resolved. The kindest thing I could do for her was to have her euthanised before she seriously her herself and had to be destroyed anyway. I had to stop being selfish and keeping her around for my sake.

Toff lived her last 3 months in a field with our other retired horse, we were very very lucky to have a farmer let us turn them out together for them where there was lots of room for her not to hurt herself if she bolted.

Looking back I dont know why I dragged the situation on as long as I did! I was 19 and should have known better. Toff was clearly ill. No reason was found. The difficulty was she was SO herself when she wasnt bolting, and she has been so lucky and come out unscathed every time, without hurting anyone else. And she would go through months together where she wouldnt bolt a single time, and then weeks where she would 3 or 4 times in daily succession. Ive also found people close to you are too scared to give you a slap round the face and tell you to step back and think about it sensibly, we are far too easily clouded by the "its my baby" scenario. One person had right from the start the only thing would be to have her put to sleep. Once I made that decision quite a few people found their tongues and spoke up too, saying it was the right choice. Its relieving to hear so many people on here A) recognising the difference between true bolting and the naughty shits that just run off to scare you! and B) Giving the only sensible piece of advice.

True bolting cant be cured. So I urge you to think about it this way (as I should have done WAY before I did), would you rather keep the horse alive until it bolts, injures itself and/or another person and HAS to be put to sleep, or say your goodbyes and let them go with the dignity they deserve x
 
That is very sad Steff, but it sounds like she could have badly hurt herself or someone else one day.

Maybe it is to do with brain chemistry then. I had thought that true bolters were just horses who weren't suitable to be ridden because they just couldn't deal with it mentally, which I think would be fair enough I suppose. It is amazing they let us take charge and ride them at all... but the lack of self preservation and doing it unridden does suggest there is something wrong deep down..

There was a thing recently about a young carriage horse taking off at a show and killing someone, I don't know if it was considered a 'true' bolt but very scary to think of the damage that could be caused if someone decided to persevere with a horse that bolts. I think it would be very foolish to take the horse out in public if it has been known to go through fences, and the fences at shows are not very robust!
 
Will not deal with a true bolter. Life is too short. Seeing the destruction after one such bolt, no thank you. When a horse will willingly try and kill themselves due to lack of self preservation, then no I'm not playing. If we are asked to take these kind, no is always the answer. It's very rare though so fortunately not something we have to deal with.

Teeri
 
PTS it now, there far to unpredictable no known cure dangerous dangerous dangerous think bolting in front of cars, lorrys over the top of kids and pushchairs:eek::eek: Nope PTS it quick
 
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