Bitting advice for a bolting horse

1

{108361}

...
Joined
9 September 2013
Messages
150
Visit site
I've had my mare 5 months and on two occasions she has bolted (once at a show on Saturday and another time out hacking on a windy day). Both times I had absolutely no control (using my full strength to pull and try and turn her she completely ignores or bucks me off when I try and pull her up.

The rest of the time she is fine and Ive even hacked her out bitless but now Im thinking I need a bit with more control in case it happens again.

She is currently in an eggbut snaffle with lozenge in basic cavesson.

Anyone got any suggestions? Looking for more 'brakes' and something to help pull her head up if she starts bucking (so not a gag).

p.s back/teeth etc all checked and are good.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
If shes a bolter, then pts.

If it's just scooting off in a rude or scared manner, get a good instructor out to observe and advise. Advice from random strangers on a forum that havent seen your horse or how you ride, for bit advice in this instance, isn't suitable, sorry.
Click to expand...

This, pretty much.

Bolters are bloody dangerous, and need a bullet.

Knobbing off is rude and needs fixed - but you'd be better with a good professional to observe and help you and make informed suggestions.
 
hmm putting my horse to sleep seems a bit extreme, though I do understand that it can be extremely dangerous.

It has happened once on a hack when it was windy and something spooked her - she galloped flat out (never been so fast) for 3/4 fields and I literally couldn't stop/turn her at all despite pulling with ALL my weight.

The second time (both are recent things) was at a show - in the warm up ring she took off and bucked me off when I tried to pull her up (though this wasn't a flat out gallop like the first time, so not really a bolt).

I think I will see if I can find a pro to advise.
 
Antw23uk said:
How much riding and horse experience do you have? Im always wary of people using the word 'bolt' because it means so many different things to people! Why do you think she bolted? what triggered it?
Click to expand...
I accept Im not hugely experienced so accept that I may be a contributing factor. The first time it was very windy and a branch in a tree creaked and set her off. Ive been on horses that run off when they get spooked (they usually slow up after they calm down a bit and realise they aren't near the object that spooked them) but this was a good 4 big fields worth of flat-out uncontrolled galloping. Ive got her pretty fit (she came from a hacking home where she barely cantered), which I think may be contributing to a change in behaviour. The majority of the time she doesn't spook, nap and is very calm and chilled (not a forward horse at all) and I cant get her in a gallop, which is why its puzzling me.
 
Fortunately i've never sat on a true bolt, but i have seen one, he ended up upside down in a ditch, rider ditched out before this thank god (she did break her ankle though). I have sat on an ex racehorse that wouldn't listen until the end, but he would still stop eventually and he was just rude, but i could feel that.

Did you get the feeling that she would run through a wall if it appeared or did she still have some sort of self preservation still? If a true bolt from something as insignificant as a creaking branch i'm not sure i'd ever want to take her hacking again.
 
If you normally struggle to get her to go forward but a spook results in that level of running off my first thought would be saddle fit. If the saddle is too tight now she is muscled up and fitter then it will be impeding her normal movement and a sudden spook may cause a painful pinch resulting in running off. Forget the bit for now and get a decent saddle fitter and physio / chiro out asap.
 
You probably didn’t mean to, but you probably didn’t help them stop when they panicked. They are in fright mode and I think the more you pull the more they lock on and don’t listen. No strong bit will help, in fact it will probably hinder.

A regular bolter is dangerous. But, I have had a pony bolt once out of fear and never again in the three years I had him. Plus my ex racer twice in his first year in the school. he had a bad back from poor fitting saddle which I think contributed. Never again in decades.

When pony bolted i automatically tenses and tipped forward. But I then quickly acted. Sat right back, used my voice and did give and take with the reigns, rather than just pulling. Less then a field he was back to trot thankfully!
 
mariew said:
Fortunately i've never sat on a true bolt, but i have seen one, he ended up upside down in a ditch, rider ditched out before this thank god (she did break her ankle though). I have sat on an ex racehorse that wouldn't listen until the end, but he would still stop eventually and he was just rude, but i could feel that.

Did you get the feeling that she would run through a wall if it appeared or did she still have some sort of self preservation still? If a true bolt from something as insignificant as a creaking branch i'm not sure i'd ever want to take her hacking again.
Click to expand...
There was a sense of some kind of preservation at the end - I stopped her in the last field in the corner between two fences and she had calmed a tiny bit by then. It probably should've scared me more than it did as Ive been hacking out alone since.
 
Brownmare said:
If you normally struggle to get her to go forward but a spook results in that level of running off my first thought would be saddle fit. If the saddle is too tight now she is muscled up and fitter then it will be impeding her normal movement and a sudden spook may cause a painful pinch resulting in running off. Forget the bit for now and get a decent saddle fitter and physio / chiro out asap.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I had a saddle check only the week before it happened and the fitter is very well regarded so cant be this. Teeth and back all been checked in last month too.
 
If it was safe to do so you could have kept her going until she was knackered then some but personally if it was an outright bolt/blind panic bolt etc with no self preservation then I don’t think I’d ever get back on unless there was a clear cut medical issue etc, so fair play to you.
 
OP, I've in the past had shot 2 x horses that bolted.
1 that just needed finishing off as he had partially done the job by going for 3 miles till he went straight into the side of a big lorry (messy).
When I was much younger, apart from breakers etc, I also took in particular equines for trouble finding, to work through or advise owners.
Once is an accident, more is worrying.

You request a bit that will get head up if bucking, but when a horse bolts, its head is usually up, so bringing head down is of importance! One bit wont do both.

I def advise a good instructor to see whats going on.
 
You need to determine first if it was a true bolt or just buggering off at speed.

if it is a true bolter then i would pts unless you are extremely experienced and willing to spend thousands of £ on investigations that may or may not find a reason and then thousands on rehabbing it.
With thw bolter i had no bit would have helped, you could have broken his jaw and he would have kept going. He went straight through post and rail fences and headfirst into walls.
We spent close on £6k on investigations that showed up a fractured pelvis, then a further £4k on rehab and retraining with specialist trainers. He did come right in the end but it very easily could have been all in his head.
 
ester said:
checked how and by whom? a vet? xrays?
Click to expand...
Exactly! I have known both vets and saddle fitters make apalling mistakes and dismiss an owner's concerns as fussing when there was a serious underlying issue. OP I would advise you get a second opinion on both saddle fit and back pain (or lack of)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top