Anyone else's horse bolt if you lose your balance and have you cured it?

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cavalla

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Just wondering if anyone else has a horse that panics and bolts if you lose your balance at all, and if you do have you ever been able to do anything to stop them doing it? My fab grade B is a sensitive soul and panics if you lose your balance - which thankfully I only do about once a year - he has definitely taught me to sit up straight and sit tight :) But I dislocated my shoulder at the weekend when we were competing BS - we were happily jumping round a 1.20, nearly finished a nice clear round when a paper bag blowing in the ring upset him and to cut a long story short he stopped at the last fence (think he thought the bag was chasing him, I lost my balance and he did his paniky, bolting thing, so I dropped off, as he won't let you get back in the saddle and just gallops off faster and faster till you are off. It is a sheer panic thing. Does anyone else have this problem and have you ever come up with a solution?

He is better than he used to be - when I got him he didn't even like me leaning over to do the girth up. But it is a bugger because once he's off there's no getting back on and he is going so fast when you drop off. I have tried lolling all over his back when he is poddling about in the school and he copes with that now but I have never managed to stop him doing it when his blood is up.

Friend suggested putting an Ardle dummy on him set to wobble and letting him get used to it but my gut instinct tells me that a) you wouldn't be able to strap it on him in the first place and b) it would unsettle and panic him so much at his age (he's 15 now) that he would forever after be a nervous wreck with a rider back on.
Interested in hearing from anyone else with the same problem.
 
I have had some sensitive babies that were similar but being young it was easier to desensitise them with time and patience.

I would treat him more like a young horse, be a bit careless when you can, get on and land a bit heavily, give him huge pats when he does not expect it, jump off and thump the side of the saddle with the stirrup leathers, generally aim to get him used to unexpected things happening while you are on and around him.

Horses like this are usually treated as if they will have a nervous breakdown, with good reason as they may well do if things go wrong, putting a dummy on would probably kill not cure in my view, it could well mean he completely loses it in every way.
 
Yes i have got one and no i haven't yet found a solution, when you find the answer let me know, mines 8yrs old now (had him since 4) and my confidence is shot to pieces riding him as i've had a couple of nasty falls including one just off the road in January when he spooked, i started to slip sideways and off he went, i didn't get back on for 2mths that time.
 
please don't put the dummy on, he really might kill himself trying to get away from it. even in the stable... my vet told me of a horse which broke its neck when someone tried something similar in a stable. :( :( :(
i would spend ages standing over him and slapping a quilt or similar all over him. then, when he totally accepts that, while you're sitting on him (gently at first). then at walk etc.
loads and loads and loads of desentising, basically. it's the only way. hope your shoulder is okay.
 
Sorry, meant to add, don't try the dummy, bad move with ponies like ours as they really are blind when they panic, mine has run straight into trees in sheer panic........

I do the de-sensitising work with him all the time, throwing things over his back and then letting them slip off as he walks along, flags and bags on sticks flying over his back and falling down his legs.

Slowly slowy catchy monkey, i haven't put him into any situations that he is likely to panic since his last episode and now have superglue on my butt (suede seatsaver), saddle has been re-flocked 100% level etc, new sticky girth to stop any saddle slippage, everything has been done to make me as secure in the saddle as possible complete with neck strap at all times and him as comfortable as possible.
 
I had one too, hated it if you got out of balance and would make sure to finish you off!!

Thankfully I could sit to most of his antics so it was never to much of a problem, only if I tried jumping,!
I did once try to get on him bareback, he'd been stood chilled out on the yard whilst i groomed him so led him to some shavings and attempt to get on, he bolted in panic!! The minute I got off ( id never really got on) he stopped straight away and looked at me all hurt and confused!! :o

Makes you wonder how he was broken, thou he always was a worrier :rolleyes:
 
Yes, my 4 year old was the same. However my poor lad was PTS before I could do too much work to rectify the issue, so am reading the replies with interest!
 
My old competition horse was exactly the same.
I never totally cured him of it. He did improve. Initially any movement would set him off in a blind bolt until I came off when he'd stop. By the end he'd only go if the saddle slipped.
I was fanatical about having his saddle and back checked regularly and never moving the saddle when I was on. If he started I'd just get off immediately (once I sat 15 mins of bronking etc until I finally flopped off - there was no point trying to stay on as he would just keep on).
If I'd used a dumy etc he'd have killed himself no shadow of a doubt.
Good luck - they do improve (even if it's not cured)!
 
I'm going to follow this thread with interest as my 6yr old ID mare is a bit like this!
She is fine with rugs being thrown on and dragged off, likewise with saddle. It's just if she feels the rider lose balance she panics. With her though she either reverses at high speed or spins, ditching you out of the side door.

I'm not totally convinced that at some point in her training, someone hasn't given her a wallop for stopping or spooling as its almost like she spooks, stops and in a split second panics and tenses up as if expecting a bash!

I've has her since oct last yr and she's had me off twice due to this behaviour. Once when jumping and another when she spooked. She is generally a sensitive sort but I hope I can work something out to stop her beinh so worried....otherwise, superglue for my saddle??? :)
 
I'm watching this thread with interest too! My 5yo is similar to yours Dollymix, but his rear end disappears to somewhere under his belly and he takes off in a blind panic. Not ideal when I am a novice rider anyway! He's been on schooling livery whilst I've been recovering from our last incident, so fingers crossed they've managed to make some headway with him. :)
 
Trottingon mine sounds similar to yours but he's 4 only had one incident so far but his bum disappeared underneath him too!
 
Another very interested reader! Mine too takes off if you lose your balance. Recently she put me in A & E when, riding with friends, pheasants erupting out of a hedge spooked her. She jumped forwards and in doing so barged the horse on her left. My left leg was caught momentarily behind that rider's right leg, enough to pull me sideways. The moment I tilted, Madam bolted. I came off over gradually over her left shoulder, hit the tarmac and was knocked out, but am told the moment I came off she stopped.

So all tips very much appreciated.
 
I have had two that were sensitive to movement and both are better Calerux shearer has the one, when I had him as 6year old from jumping yard it took 3 people to get me on two to hold him and one to leg me up, he never reared bucked, just ran and you couldnt touch him when you got on, no checking girth doing stirrups etc, even in the school if another horse hit sj pole he would run. i was told by the guy I worked for at time that the was only one way to cure him........When he runs let him! (cue me going:eek::eek:) The theory being he will realise that what he is running away from wont hurt him so I invested in some Big Girl Brave pants and went xc schooling in big flappy coat cue pony got scared and ran but i was in massive xc field so he could run, and I had had him few months and thought he was sensible enough not to run into trees etc, so held the mammy strap and prayed within 30 secs he slowed down and realised that he was safe so stopped and gave him polos and told him he was good boy, and he that was turning point he never bolted like that again yes he would shoot off for few strides but not blind panic.......but it took 2years before i could get on him off the ground on my own and i never could ride him with a whip, BUT when someone else rode him he was sharp again!! So it is possible but be very careful he had self preservation he wasnt stupid, if they wont look after themselves then IMO you will never win and arent worth bothering with.
My other one is a little cob who came with reputation of being unrideable, but he is now a great i applied same logic let him run and work it out for himself.......but he did run(bang went the theory he's a fatcob and wont go fast he went faster than some racers!) but he hasnt even tried it since, but he also hates noise to wheres earmuffs all the time and sticky saddle pad cos if saddle moves he panics.
When I let them run i dont mean beat them when then slow down just let them run out of steam.
 
As Kiribati has said underneath me... I've got Billy now who is the first horse she talks about in her post. I still can't get on him with a stick and I never do my girth or stirrups whilst Im on him because he's still funny about it. You also absolutely cannot take off your jacket whilst your on him. He has definitely got better, its just a case of knowing how to deal with him. If he does it now I absolutely never ever get after him, he's a very sensitive little horse and gets quite upset if you start to get after him. The way foward is to just sit really quietly and talk to him (I sing to him!) and he generally fairly quickly chills out again. Its just knowing how to cope with it.
ETA - He's still the same in that he has never ever threatened to buck or rear etc - the only thing he'll do is run, and occassionally spin round!
 
Some interesting replies guys - thanks - funny some of the points made here definitely apply to my horse - I never ride him with a whip - there's no way he'd let you mount him holding one - learnt that when I got him. Neither can you take off or put on a jacket mounted. If he is having a sharp day he is even nervous about you leaning down to do the girth up. I had already worked out not to go with the dummy idea - I too think he would panic so bady he would end up hurting himself and probably never trust a jockey to get on again, so helps to hear that others on here agree.
Interesting though that other other's have horses with the same issue as this is the first that I've had that does this - even the sharpest horses I have had in the past have generally just ground to a halt if you lost your balance on them. Have to say that over the years I have had him, and he has learned that he can trust me he is no where near as jittery to ride. I suspect though that he will always have this quirk - someone mentioned here that they let their horse run until they stopped and realised nothing bad was going to happen to them - trouble with mine is that once you've lost your balance, you are clinging on sideways and I don't fancy belting around at speed hanging off like a cossack while he works it all out - think we might make it the whole way across the county before that happened. :) Will keep jumping him as absolutely love competing him and trust him to take me to any fence I point him at - it's the little things you can't control that sets this off usually - like the bag blowing into the ring or a filler blowing over as I came to a fence - which is what set him off the last time this happened.
Bad news is though that my dislocated shouder needs operating on - so looking at about 2 months off riding :( that's the summer gone then
 
Mine's a bit like this too. Will scoot off sideways worrying about something, and if you get discombobulated, he'll flip his lid and just leave at high speed in a random direction. Good news is that he's improved loads with gradual exposure, to the point where people look rather doubtful when I tell them! :) Other thing that helps is that it turns out the direction in which he leaves isn't so random after all: obstacles are avoided by running to the right, and leaving tends to involve dropping his left shoulder at some point. Understanding this has led to the development of appropriate defensive tactics! :D
 
Found this thread very interesting as my horse used to bolt (before I bought her) through being in pain due to badly fitting saddle. She had been re started using natural horsemanship techniques but was still doing the shove her bum under and shoot forwards trick when I bought her. They had taught her off the ground and in ridden work to yield to the leg a lot more so they could circle her if she took off. If you could turn her before she took off she would stop. I had a new saddle fitted for her and always make sure her girth is extra tight because she hates it when her saddle moves even a tiny bit and she has never done it with me riding her. She is very sensitive but over the years I have desensitised her to pretty much everything through repetition. If I find something she doesn't like I try and get her used to it in a controlled way. She used to panic about whips but now you can wave them all round her head, under tummy etc and she doesn't bat an eye lid. Only thing she not keen on is the noise of velcro (if undo coat or something while on her). She still won't tolerate riders who are even slightly unbalanced and especially those who get behind the movement but is getting better and doesn't bolt just flings head in air, jogs and looks very worried. Recently I have been having some lessons with a ride with your mind instructor who takes a lot of theories from a man called Andrew Mclean, from the limited bit i know about it it seems that it is about stopping the horse from using its flight response. I am sure someone else will be able to explain it in much more detail that that. It seems to work really well and could possibly help many of the horses on here people have posted about. My horse is now my perfect horse so please don't give up on them too easily.
 
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