"Bolting"

Most often, bolting refers to a "runaway" - horses that gallop off with a handler at high speed, whether being ridden under saddle or driving in harness. There are many causes, most linked to fright that triggers the fight-or-flight response of the horse. In these circumstances, the animal is often running in a panic and may not notice where it is going, creating a dangerous situation for both horse and rider.

Less often, bolting is a deliberate disobedience by a horse that wishes to rid itself of a handler or avoid an unpleasant situation. In both cases, bolting horses are usually stopped by being turned in some type of circle, as directly pulling on the reins has little impact.

Deliberate bolting is also sometimes seen in horse racing when the horse chooses to ignore its jockey and run as it wishes, often in a manner that makes it difficult for the rider to maneuver the horse or rate its speed. Bolting race horses often head toward the outer rail of the track and even lose racing speed in an attempt to evade the rider's commands.

Horses may also bolt if greatly frightened when loose in a pen or pasture. In a confined area, this may result in an animal running into or jumping a fence.

The phrase "take the bit in his/her teeth" is a colloquial reference to bolting. However, in reality, a bolting horse usually does not take the bit in its teeth, as the bit rests on the gums in an interdental space where there are no teeth. What a horse actually does is to raise its head and tighten its jaw in a manner that allows it to ignore bit pressure. While a horse can move the bit to its molars and chew on it, this is not generally how a horse evades the bit when bolting.
 
I also tend to think there is a difference between a horse running off and bolting, although to be fair I have never experienced the second. I have had horses run off with me plenty of times, the worst time was on the roads, I would have stopped mine but my friend fell off hers so with a loose horse right next to us and nowhere to circle I just could not stop. However, when the horses saw a tractor blocking the road they stopped by themselves so I would class this as 'running off'. In a true bolt the horse loses all sense of self preservation and is likely to continue through obstacles, etc.

With running off circumstances and the skill of the rider make a huge difference to whether you can stop the horse or not. Personally I prefer large fields because you just pop the horse on a big circle and wait, whereas in narrow lanes there is little you can do about regulating the speed in a straight line. Also, I have found that some horses respond better if you allow them the rein for the first few strides and then quietly ask them to come back to you, whereas other prefer to be told to pack it in the very first moment they start getting strong otherwise they get stronger and stronger - unfortunately you don't know which one will work with a new horse until you try!!
 
I've only ever been the victim of one true bolt, like others say you can certainly tell the difference between that and 'taking off'
Hacking alone on youngster, everything calm, next second, horse spins, saddle slipped a little, horse panicked and bolted. It happened so fast, I never even saw what set him off.
I had just one stirrup and trying to balance on a wonky saddle, the longer it went on, the more blind he got. We were going flat out, I couldn't turn him as on a track, I couldn't even turn his head he was that fixed. I was pulling so hard on one rein, the bit slipped through his mouth, and i think he ended up with the bit ring in there! Whatever happened, it was enough to snap him out of it, and Iturned him into a hedge.
Very scary, and never hacked out successfully alone with him after that. (Although i did learn to make sure my girth was always tightened, lol!)
 
I've only ever had a few take offs thankfully - I currently ride a horse who's rather spooky, and when he's set off by e.g. a bird, a flashing lightbulb, tin foil, kids shouting and so on he's galloped off about 200m and didn't listen to my aids... but then stopped. If he was truly bolting out of fear, he'd have been jumping out of the arena as the fence as it's only about 1m tall!

The riding school kids seem to call anything bolting though, including one of the most charasmatic ponies, Astro, tanking off a bit when he's excited and pointed towards jumps. Still, I think part of them enjoys recounting the tale of bolting better than an excited pony going a bit fast with them!

I heard that a bolting horse's 'safe distance' was 3/8 of a mile in a book I read. It sounded like balderdash when I read it, and most of your experiences definitely seem to support that!
 
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I've been bolted with once by a 17hh hulk of a horse who wasn't stopping for anything.
River on one side, 8ft hedges on the other, nowhere to bail to until we got 1.5miles down the track (thank god there was no one else on it) when there was a 5 bar gate with a cattle grid in front and a 3ft gap for walkers to go through - thank god he didn't try to jump the gate but my leg caught a concrete post between the gate and the gap and I flew off.

I had my hands right down at his mouth and couldn't get his head turned, his neck was just locked.

He stopped for a second after I came off and had been threw into a wooden fence then galloped straight onto a busyish road in a village, made 2 right hand turns and galloped another mile back to the yard.

Most frightening experience of my life and has made me a far more reticent rider; I used to jump on anything without a second thought but I feel like a beginner again.
 
I think of it as when the horse is in such a panic, it stops looking after itself - it'll gallop through fences etc. etc. A horse who's taking off with you will generally still look out for its own safety and stop at a big brick wall for example!

I've been bolted with 3 times, twice on the road (one spooked and bolted for quite a distance and the other bolted with me in a field and unfortunately the gate was open to the road - we pelted out the gate and his hooves went out from under him, we landed in a heap sliding down the road - extremely lucky a car wasnt coming!). The last time was a few years ago - the horse spooked on a hack, and bolted straight through a barbed wire fence (getting caught in it) into a boggy field where he literally couldnt gallop so he then went into rodeo-mode until I leapt off. He was left with some scars on his chest after that and destroyed the martingale he had on. Being bolted with, I have to say is the most terrifying thing in the world!
 
Starbucks said:
Bless, I can just imagine shocked people watching this big, matchy matchy dressage horse galloping down the road with small child on board, in my head small child is screaming and waving her arms around... I'm sure not the case at all! Just shows though you've got to be careful, could've been a pretty bad ending! If it was me I'd totally bring that up forever with arguments with big sis.. "You nearly bloody killed me when..." :P
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Oh no the arms were not waving!! The arms were securely burrowed wrist deep in mane!! Yeah, could have had a bad ending, luckily it didn't!

Haha!!! I think if I used that against her she'd tell me to eff off!! xoxo
 
i have one mare that bolts with me she just goes out of the blue no reason panics herself and gallops, spins and i just have to sit there until she calms down she doesnt care if car is there or anything else. She did it in a lesson with me as well last week. However she is getting calmer and doing it less and less now.
 
Can recall only 3 times in all the years ever being truly 'bolted' with.

First was our first PC camp on young horse and a group of girl started cantering down the verge when we were hacking down from the stables to the XC course on the first day. My horse came out the yard sideways and boiling over...then when they cantered off, his brain blew and we bolted down a sheer concrete road. Ended up grabbing his bit ring with both hands and just hauled him into a gateway and into the gate to stop.

Second was with a mare a few years back. Did a U-turn out hacking and that was it. We blind bolted. May as well have had no bit in her mouth and nothing was going through her head. Ended up over 2 hedges and a ditch before I hauled her into a fence by the bit rings again.

Third was on another mare....I bailed with that one, as it was in a very confined space and just wasn't safe after we'd already done 20 odd laps with her flat out and not stopping.

Fizzy, sensitive things I don't class as bolting. Bolting to me is when there is NOTHING there despite using every rider trick you can and no care or self preservation. A little [or sometimes, a lot of!] 'forwardness' will never be bolting to me.
 
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