Bolting up drive (ex-racehorse)... What to do?

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Always-Riding

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I've had an ex-racehorse for almost 2 months now, straight out of training. She's been going extremely well. Went to her first bsja at Wales and West - didn't compete just went for the experience.

She hacks well alone, practically unflapable. However as soon as we get to the bottom of the drive which is approx 1/4mile long and quite steep and she just canters off. I make things worse by leaning forwards but even with a conscious effort to sit back, she just "goes"... What should I do?
 
sorry to play devils advocate here, but can you remember her doing this when she first arrived or is it something you may have taught her by perhaps letting her get away with something once to often
think back
 
You are still riding a race horse. Has the horse had a couple of months off out in the field just chilling? Have you given them time to unwind and bought them back slowly into their new life?

Essentially when they are bought back to work they need to be started as you would a 4yo. Schooling, building their muscles and building up their jumping slowly and carefully.

Do you have a good trainer as sounds like a helping hand could be needed?
 
From day 1 she tried to trot off up the drive but i managed.to keep her in walk. Then gradually she ignored me. Last time she took off ibm trot for about 5 strides but gained control and back to walk. Shes had 2 weeks.off and this is the first time she has been.ridden and from before the drive she was cantering on the spot and as.soon as we.turned the corner she was off.. So in a way, yes its possibly taught
 
When my mare did this I dropped her down a pace at a time - so if she galloped up the (in our case) hill I'd make her canter to the top, then when she went to canter (rather than gallop) I'd make her trot to the top, eventually when she was settled in trotting to the top I'd make her walk. Hope this made sense, by 4 weeks she was walking :)
 
Ah phone posting. wrong words and posting too soon!!

LEC she was point to pointed last in April since the she's just been.hacked (and went to a.show) .. Maybe turning away would be best?

I've ridden racehorses just never retrained them
 
Always-Riding said:
From day 1 she tried to trot off up the drive but i managed.to keep her in walk. Then gradually she ignored me. Last time she took off ibm trot for about 5 strides but gained control and back to walk. Shes had 2 weeks.off and this is the first time she has been.ridden and from before the drive she was cantering on the spot and as.soon as we.turned the corner she was off.. So in a way, yes its possibly taught
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what are you doing to "gain control" - if she gets het up, bounces, jiggles and gives warning of speeding towards home, have you tried bridging and loosely giving your reins and sitting lightly? Don't throw them to her entirely, it might not work and you might need a safety net, hence bridge for a quiet and consistent feel but soften the finger, give her a little loose in the rein, sit quiet and breathe out - I suspect that you are both tensing up and you are giving "traditional" come back under control signals with seat and hand, and thoroughly confusing and tensing her up further - hence the response to hurry home ASAP to the safe place!


ETA - I'm not one for turning away myself, they are fit, clever thinking horses adn I like to go with what they are used to, being worked, hacked out, fittened, just gradually progressing it into a different "sphere" - so we keep hacking and working but we start to introduce contact, connection, and taking it into the school over time. A bit like how you would change feed gradually for the good of the gut, I don't believe in changing work patterns suddenly for the good of the brain, so i think you are going the right way but you need to learn to think like a racehorse! She is used to hacking for fittening, exhertion, effort and fast work, and you are asking for hacking for fun and relaxation - it takes time but start off by speaking "racehorse" and you will soon both become bilingual and fluent in "ex racehorse"!
 
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Thankyou 3bh!

Its a huge learning curve retraining rather than just riding a racehorse in training which I've done previously.

I will admit that I lean forwards - always been my bad habit :-\

You are completely right that she tenses, I tense and tighten reins and its a spiral. So I should be relaxing, keeping reins loose (bridging) and sitting up?

Also should I start hacking the way she's used to as I've just been pottering around rather than getting her to work?
 
Try using your legs - if she wants to go quickly up the hill then that's fine, but it has to be on your terms. I know it is really hard but if you can manage it try pushing her forwards with your legs and just a steady contact in your reins to stop her running flat (using the reins more to collect her than slow her). The other problem with ex racers is that they have often been trained up hills, so quite apart from being the road to home, the hill to her might mean go. It's not necessarily anything that you have taught her is alright - you might just be getting her into a working frame of mind recently so she is working the only way she knows how.
 
Always-Riding said:
She hacks well alone, practically unflapable. However as soon as we get to the bottom of the drive which is approx 1/4mile long and quite steep and she just canters off. I make things worse by leaning forwards but even with a conscious effort to sit back, she just "goes"... What should I do?
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That's where I got the hill thing from
 
DabDab it is up a hill! But still a driveway to a farm yard so a cantering horse going into a yard which could be full of tractors/quads etc is worrying... Especially as the farmer is blind in one eye.

She's very good for the rest of the hack, its just as soon as the drive is in sight, she's off.
 
Im just unsure what Im supposed to be doing!! I live in a very hilly area and I have full control troting and walking up hills normally
 
Ah I see - not the image I had in my mind! Then perhaps the best (safest) thing would be to just get off before you turn the corner and lead her up the drive home and start working her harder while out on the hack. After she has got into the routine of you getting off before the corner, go round the corner before getting off and work up to it that way.
Tbh if you take a light seat and bridge your reins she is unlikely to stop - she won't tank off and brace against you, but she is unlikely to take the decision to walk given that it is routine behaviour, but give it a go.
 
Btw what would happen if you got off and led her? Let her pick at grass and took your time to walk back?
 
I take it she does this on the way home ? Do you hack in company ?

We have just bought an ex racer and he is fine in company but gets very excited on the last bit home so jogs and jumps up and down. So far we have contained it but as he is very new to us and his new way of life ( he has had a few months standing in a field chilling before we got him) we keep him hacking in company but he is worked in the school by himself under saddle and also on the lunge where he has picked up voice commands really quickly.

Bridging the reins helps as does taking our feet out of the stirrups as he thinks he's finished his fast work. Not sure it's much help but just wanted to reply as we too are first time retraining:eek:
 
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Just to point out I would not say your mare is bolting..that means genuine out of control on a terrified horse running blind. It is possibly the most scared I have ever been on a horse and miles away from a strong horse upping the anti.

This sounds like your mare taking control. Also you say she had been out of work for 2 weeks. My ISH would probably do something like that if he had been off for that length of time!. I would focus on being consistent with her work, which is what she was used to and actually think the idea of getting off to lead her is good though might try the feet out first IF! I thought it was safe to do so. I have retrained a couple of ex racehorses and seen friends do the same so while not exactly over qualified I do have some idea. The first being is that there is no template and no prescribed route. In all cases, the horses were let down in terms of changing feed and then work and picking them up really depended on each horse. One spent 3 weeks chilling with his owner doing ground work and then went back into work as if a 4 year old. Another one has taken nearly a year not to be permanently wired..
 
I know its not proper bolting, I only wrote it in the title as couldn't think of a shorter way to say she takes off up the drive.

It is only on the way home, and is pretty much foot perfect the rest of the time.

She is 8 and been to quite a few yards so routine/exercise is only what she knows.

I am on my own but the trainer where she was before hacked her out alone normally so that's nothing new to her.

I will get off as soon as I feel Im losing control and calmly walk back.

I can't remember who said it, think it was DabDab, but every hill she wants to trot up but remains incontrol as the traffic is fairly frequent on the lanes due to a private school just above the farm.

Good luck to the poster who's also retraining... I will follow your with interest :-)
 
IMG_20130604_212507_zps25de2942.jpg


This is B at Wales & West for those interested
 
Always-Riding said:
I've had an ex-racehorse for almost 2 months now, straight out of training. She's been going extremely well. Went to her first bsja at Wales and West - didn't compete just went for the experience.

She hacks well alone, practically unflapable. However as soon as we get to the bottom of the drive which is approx 1/4mile long and quite steep and she just canters off. I make things worse by leaning forwards but even with a conscious effort to sit back, she just "goes"... What should I do?
Click to expand...

Ironically one of my liveries got bolted off with with her x race horse, she got on but now is or has lost her confidence. She came off hard onto the ground
 
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