Bolting horse

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Barnone

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Hi there, i was wondering if you all would be able to give me some tips on how to stop a bolting horse.

This post is a result of nearly breaking my spine as i went out the back door of my irish cob. We were cantering around the arena, then all of a sudden he burst into a full blown gallop. He speeds up on the corners, practically throwing himself round the corners all most. I stayed on until he decided to attempt to jump the 6 bar fence. I landed on the fence, and he went galloping off.

I want to ride him in dressage comps this summer but i'm scared he'll bomb off again. Any tips?
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
A true bolter you will never stop, apart from using lead in its skull.

If its just tanking or bombing off, then get a decent instructor for help.

Interesting dramatic 1st post OP
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:;) A true bolter would have gone straight through the first corner . Is it all 6 rail fence?
 
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In order to get the help you need, you would probably have to provide more info OP - how old is he, how long have you had him, is this a new problem, if your aim is dressage - were you using spurs, what is he like on hacks, how long has it been going on for, what was going on in/outside the school when it happened, as already suggested - have all the usuals been checked, is he getting turn out, what feed is he on, do you have lessons together - what has your instructor said, did anybody see it - can they offer suggestions?

Hope you're feeling better soon and you can narrow down what is happening to cause this.
 
I think you need to find out the cause, has the horse had saddle/teeth/back checked? How old? How much and what work had he been doing up until the tanking off? I have a big strong sec D who would set his neck against me and tank off as an evasion to work, I went back to basics and started off by just walking on each rein for a few mins and gradually building up the time and exercises we did when schooling.
 
Barnone said:
Hi there, i was wondering if you all would be able to give me some tips on how to stop a bolting horse.

This post is a result of nearly breaking my spine as i went out the back door of my irish cob. We were cantering around the arena, then all of a sudden he burst into a full blown gallop. He speeds up on the corners, practically throwing himself round the corners all most. I stayed on until he decided to attempt to jump the 6 bar fence. I landed on the fence, and he went galloping off.

I want to ride him in dressage comps this summer but i'm scared he'll bomb off again. Any tips?
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How experienced a rider are you? Did you get unbalanced when he first shot off, unintentionally making him go faster by trying to cling on with your legs? Or did he spook and made you get unbalanced and he got a fright and took off?
How old is he? Were there any outside influences could have frightened him?
Is this the first time hes done it? How long have you had him?

You need to think about the cause to find the solution.
 
A bit more info about the horse OP, age, how long you've had him, hasn't he done this before etc etc? It's difficult to offer any advice without knowing a bit more.

In thirty years of horses, I have sat on one true Bolter. Yes I've had horses run off, tank off, hard to stop but there is a huge difference between this and something bolting.

I was on a showground with a youngster and he lost it, and off he went. And he didn't stop. As we headed towards a cattle grid, the showground now a distant dot, at a speed so fast that I had practically lost my ability to see or hear, I contemplated jumping off as by now I decided I was in a life or death situation. By some absolute miracle he was spooked by something and snapped out of his trance before we reached the grid. He ground to a halt and stood shaking. I remember slithering to the floor and my knees giving way. I don't ever want to feel that panic in an animal underneath me ever again, he had completely gone, mentally.
 
If it 'bolts' have it shot, if it is just running off and being cheeky or other factors could of given him a fright then you have lots of options but need to provide more information. A horse that truly 'bolts' will never ever be safe
 
If it's a true Bolter as said above it will never be truly reliable and safe. The problem with bolting in my mind which makes it worse than other vices is that it's not just the rider at risk. Imagine if he bolted into oncoming traffic or something awful. Doesn't bear thinking about.
 
I have only once been on a true bolter. Walk, trot fine, went to put him into canter and straight away into flat out gallop, Across two main roads, through a wood into a park through a childrens playground and up then hill by a cemetary. Half way up the hill -we'd done about 1&1/2 miles- he began to slow and I was able to reach forward, grab the reins up by the bit and put his head onto my knee, he slowed enough for me to jump off. He stopped then.
Since then Ive been on horses who spook and run, or tank off or are strong, but nothing like that again.
 
Definitely need more info of the horse, how old he is, how much he's done, whether usual checks have been done, how much and how well you ride.

Agree with others that there is a real difference between tanking off and bolting. One can be solved, the other is really a one-way ticket...
 
peanut said:
Oh dear I think Barnone may have bolted herself :o
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I think people have taken your post too seriously! :D
I would probably avoid looking at the post if loads of people started saying my horse needing to be shot! It's a little insensitive to just say 'it needs the bullet'. I'm with you on this one!
 
SpringArising said:
Do people need to post five posts about what rug to use before they're allowed to post something like this?
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No :)
Whoever would suggest that? How odd!

But bolting, nearly broken back, 6 bar fence, then doing dressage with said 'bolter' and the like in a 1st post is attention seeking, dramatic, and usually the 1st sign of a troll :)
 
peanut said:
If I had put a ;):p or :D you might be justified in thinking that. But I didn't.

I'd run away if people suggested shooting my horse on my first post.
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What would you do with a horse that is a bolter then? It is realistically the only answer.

For what its worth im with FF wont wasting any more time.
 
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Barnone said:
Hi there, i was wondering if you all would be able to give me some tips on how to stop a bolting horse.

This post is a result of nearly breaking my spine as i went out the back door of my irish cob. We were cantering around the arena, then all of a sudden he burst into a full blown gallop. He speeds up on the corners, practically throwing himself round the corners all most. I stayed on until he decided to attempt to jump the 6 bar fence. I landed on the fence, and he went galloping off.

I want to ride him in dressage comps this summer but i'm scared he'll bomb off again. Any tips?
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A true bolter would have gone through the fence, not over it, and that's assuming that it even bothered to turn at any of the corners. So this incident was probably not a true bolt. Hold off on shooting him, and get his back, teeth, tack/saddle, etc checked, and strip his diet back to basics - high fibre, minimal sugar, no cereals, soya, or alfalfa. Then get a decent instructor in to help with schooling.
 
I think that this must have been awful, I hope you are not hurt but if you are I also hope it is not too bad.
 
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I've had a similar experience with one who I considered to tank off. It would be a spook, spin and tank. He tanked across the arena and jumped the 5 bar gate with me falling off and hitting it. He ran straight to his stable and munched his hay. He was taking the piss, not a true bottler by any means.

I would consider myself an experienced confident competent rider, 20+ years into eh saddle, backed, brought on and retrained all sorts. However I was absolutely no match for this horse. He did it several times and with my instructor present and advising. I had to make the decision that we were absolutely not suited.

Good luck in whatever you decide op.
 
He has had his teeth checked, farrier done, saddle and bridle has been checked and fitted correctly so no problems there. He's 6 rising 7 and green, we have a trainer riding him three times a week but he does it with her as well. She's broken her leg after he a bronco session with her, bucking rearing and then bolting off.

I'm a very experienced rider, having come from a horse mad family, being chucked on any horse that needed a rider. I've been on bolter's before, and stopped them successfully, but this one just wouldn't.

I bought him as a project and thought with the help of my trainer i could handle him, but i'm just concerned over the saftey of myself and her on him
 
lawa said:
Depends of he does this regularly or not. If he does I would shoot ASAP
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Wow, how about finding out if there's a reason. The horse could be bolting from pain caused by a crappy fitted saddle for example? Why would you shoot without even looking into why the horse is doing it.

The Fuzzy Furry said:
A true bolter you will never stop, apart from using lead in its skull.
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Don't agree, what do you class as a "true bolter", is there a set number of times a horse has to bolt to become classed as one? One of mine bolted with me on 3 occasions. Twice he ended up going straight through a barbed wire fence, the third time he bolted all the way home from a hack only stopping when he slipped over. All these times were out hacking and caused by him freaking out at cows. I didn't hack again for some time until we worked on the issue. That horse was the best competition horse I'll ever have, he never bolted on any other occasions (including eventing past cows...). So I think it very much depends on the cause and what can be done, and not always assumed the horse is instantly a write off.
 
KittenInTheTree said:
A true bolter would have gone through the fence, not over it, and that's assuming that it even bothered to turn at any of the corners. So this incident was probably not a true bolt. Hold off on shooting him, and get his back, teeth, tack/saddle, etc checked, and strip his diet back to basics - high fibre, minimal sugar, no cereals, soya, or alfalfa. Then get a decent instructor in to help with schooling.
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I agree! I had a 'true bolter' and he would run into things when he took off on one occasion even after hitting a hedge and falling over he got up and went again! I wasn't on him at this point having hit the deck a few minutes earlier at the cost of 3 broken ribs and my left elbow.
Op if you have had all the external checks done...back, teeth etc...it may be worth asking the vet about internal tests for ulcers etc as it sounds more like he was 'running' rather than 'bolting' and in my experience this is usually down to pain, rider error, lack of manners, high jinks or confusion.
 
MagicMelon said:
Wow, how about finding out if there's a reason. The horse could be bolting from pain caused by a crappy fitted saddle for example? Why would you shoot without even looking into why the horse is doing it.



Don't agree, what do you class as a "true bolter", is there a set number of times a horse has to bolt to become classed as one? One of mine bolted with me on 3 occasions. Twice he ended up going straight through a barbed wire fence, the third time he bolted all the way home from a hack only stopping when he slipped over. All these times were out hacking and caused by him freaking out at cows. I didn't hack again for some time until we worked on the issue. That horse was the best competition horse I'll ever have, he never bolted on any other occasions (including eventing past cows...). So I think it very much depends on the cause and what can be done, and not always assumed the horse is instantly a write off.
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I class a true bolter (as has been discussed in depth many times on this forum) as running blind.
I hope I have had enough experience in the past with the many horses and ponies I've had over the years for backing, schooling and re-schooling, re-habbing etc.

eg: when you see a horse run over 2 miles in a straight line and go straight into a truck, killing itself outright. Another that run through 3 lots of fencing and only stopped when it was so caught up that it was brought down. Sickening to see.

You are right in that there are many causes, annd these ought to be investigated. However, one that runs in a blind panic more than once, with no thought about stopping or aware of its surroundings is dangerous and imho needs to be destroyed before it destroys itself or someone.

We will have to disagree on this one I think.
 
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