Bolting advice

Y

Yogi Bear

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 April 2011
Messages
51
Visit site
I'm in need of a bit of advice. I have a 6 year old horse who was backed in Ireland as a 4 year old.
He is as bold as anything on the ground and generally ok ridden - fantastic in traffic, doesn't bat an eyelid at bins, plastic bags, deer in hedges as long as he can see it!!!!!
The issue is if something happens behind him or if I move too quickly on him he bolts. He is super unforgiving if I loose my balance and just takes off. He used to be sensitive to me even lifting a leg to tighten his girth, although this is slowly getting better. I end up trying to sit like a porcelain doll! I'm consciously making an effort to make small movements on him to get him used to it, but it's slow progress..
This is by no means a weekly occurrence, but it will happen once every few months. It's inevitable that a rider will loose balance at some point, and it would be lovely if he was to help me out rather than take off as he has sometimes lost me out the side door, which totally freaks him out :(
Any suggestions / similar experiences / ideas on how I can get him as brave to movement on his back as he is with things he can see safely?
 
Is he truly bolting or running off?

Personally if he is a proper bolter I wouldn't ride him or ask anyone else to - far too dangerous!!!

But if he is getting worried and running off when scared but you can pull up that is different.

How long have you had him? Has he always done this? Is he the same out hacking and in the school? How does he react when you get on?
 
Agree with Annabel - bit more detail on the actual bolting would help. A horse that truly bolts is running blind and usually does not stop but an animal that leaps forward for a few strides or sideways for that matter is not truly bolting. This second type of behaviour can be adjusted. As an old horseman once told me, ponies and horses can be taught to get used to anything and its all about repetition. You are going to have stop sitting like a porceline doll and start really moving around a lot more in the saddle and very very slowly increase this and other things like people behind you with plastic bags etc. Try it on the ground first. Horse in the stable and a long stick with a really crinkly plastic bag tied to the end and rub and tap and shake until he doesnt give a damn any more and then move onto the lunge and then eventually with you on top. Good luck!!
 
I've had him just over 2 years and it's happened approx 6 times?
Twice I've fallen off and the other times I have pulled him up eventually, but it's certainly not just a few strides. We've gone the length of a farmers stubble field!
It's happened both schooling and hacking.
Getting on was an issue when I first got him and even now he can be tense and has a tendency to try and walk off.
I should add back, teeth and saddle regularly checked..
 
He either has a physical issue, has missed an important part of the backing process or had something go wrong that has left him with a rather serious panic button, you are now compounding the issue, for obvious reasons of wanting to stay safe, by sitting there like a porcelain doll hadly daring to breathe for fear of him having an overreaction.

You need to work on desensitising him, gain his confidence in the unexpected movements that with the best will in the world will happen from time to time, without scaring him even more in the process, this type are tricky as if you push too far they panic more and you lose your confidence so I would be doing more on the ground, not plastic bags but something more easily controlled and less flappy until he trusts more.
On top I would always make a point of patting exuberantly after work when he is relaxed and tired, then extend this from his neck to anywhere I could reach until he is bored and not reacting at all, then be less careful about getting off, tap him with a whip, do it on the ground first, miss the odd rise in trot, drop the reins, whip and remain chilled at all times, the more you can do without him running the more you will gain his confidence but if he does go you will go back a step, a fine balancing act but one that should be achievable as he is generally a confident type, my guess is someone tried something silly such as standing up on him and scared him at a time when he was really just learning the ridden job.
 
Desensitisation is key here I think. Will this horse accept being lunged in a saddle with leathers flapping? I think that introducing the concept of things moving around on the lunge first might be a good idea. One of my horses was a bit like this after we backed him, so I actually built him a dummy, think Guy Fawkes type thing, stuffed it with straw and made it ride him first in hand and then on the lunge. He got used to it flopping about.

Be noisy around him too, when I back anything or get anything new, they are used to stirrups being flapped about and flung up on saddle because I make it a matter of course to do this.

Slowly then start doing this on board, in an arena where it's as safe as possible. Teach him a system whereby if he gets scared, he stops or slows rather than runs. Repetition is key. He's going to have to get over this is he is to be a safe riding horse.
 
I wonder how good you balance is. I used to ride my daughters pony and I ended up on the floor more than I would have liked, but it was my fault, I could not adjust my balance quickly enough.
If you are unbalanced and the horse sets off it runs goes faster and runs on its forehand to try and regain its balance. You see this often in trot, when the pony is running faster and faster but does not go into canter. Its a bit like being run off down hill with a loaded wheelbarrow.
You have to try to shift your balance back wards, use you seat bones and core abdominal muscles. The good news is your horse is sensitive to balance so learning to use your weight and seat will mean you do not have to use so much leg any way.
The pony I used to fall off a lot I could turn 360degrees on the spot just by shifting my weight,
 
I hear you on the balance. I am by no means a professional rider, but I have weekly lessons and my balance doesn't seem to be a day to day issue. Just get unseated with a big spook or as we head off at flat out gallop!!
 
What is he like with long reins or anything round his back end? Proceed with great caution I think, but would agree that he needs de-sensitisation.

I don't know if you have heard of Linda Tellington-Jones and the Tellington Touch,but she was a remedial trainer and one thing was to have a saddle blanket and pull it off the back of the horse and sprinkle some feed on it, so the horse always stopped to turn round to eat the feed. Now, don't just go out in the field and do that tomorrow, obviously it is something that you have to build up to, but it was the sort of thing that she would include in the normal training of a riding horse.

She has written several books, but I think she concentrates on companion animals now that she is getting older and doesn't come to the UK any more I don't think,
 
What about trying one of those Ardall dummies on him? Find a very safe enclosed indoor school (with no barriers he could jump etc if he really did panic), put him on the lunge in it and let him simply get used to it. He may well panic a bit to begin with but once he sees it wont fall off and terrify him more then perhaps he'll start to relax a bit. Id rather that than him getting worse because he kept chucking you off (thus scaring himself even more). I'd also do loads of ground work, just simple confidence building stuff like getting him to walk over tarpolin and flapping little things around like a jacket and working up to flicking it up over his back (but just doing a tiny bit each day), even setting up like a handy pony type course in his field with balloons etc. Anything to help make him less sensitive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top