Hardest decision, think might have to have healthy pony PTS :(

R2R

R2R

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I have a pony whose owners asked me to have at the yard after its loan home went wrong. The pony is ultra talented flatwork wise (it does lateral work etc) and would make a 128 jumping pony. It has hunted etc and would follow all day.

BUT

It has become apparent that the pony also bolts. He panics and runs flat out. He did it with my goddaughter in the school, I rode him and he flew forward with me and I came off landing on my head...at which point he went to a friend as she has an ultra ballsy rider who was doing fantastic work with him. A week ago she dropped him at the yard saying she had a paying livery and couldn’t keep him, and then this week I found out the pony bolted with ballsy rider across the heath and terrified the life out of her.

I am now faced with a pony I can’t ride, and cant ask any kids to get on him for risk of something happening. I don’t want to send him to a dealer, so I feel my only option is to say to the owners he needs to be PTS :( Any advice?
 
Unless they can afford to retire him for the rest of his life, PTS is the only responsible option. I assume you have discounted physical causes for the bolting, and it now looks like experienced riders cannot deal with him, so he is extremely dangerous. If he was sold he could go on to seriously injure someone else, probably a child.
 
Booboos said:
Unless they can afford to retire him for the rest of his life, PTS is the only responsible option. I assume you have discounted physical causes for the bolting, and it now looks like experienced riders cannot deal with him, so he is extremely dangerous. If he was sold he could go on to seriously injure someone else, probably a child.
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i agreee ^^ assuming you have had a vet or physio out etc to check theres nothin gphysically wrong


the risk to a child or even an adult is too high with a bolter.
 
boooooring, but back teeth etc checks incase it is a pain reaction rather than the pony just choosing to bolt? Any chance of him being a companion? If you can't secure his future as a non-ridden pony and he is too dangerous to be ridden then I think pts is the best option. It is the kindest option to a pony and the safest for any potential future riders than an dodgy future owner might move him on to. Sounds harsh, but I really don't feel a bullet is not the worst end for a horse tbh.
 
Is there any physical reason for this - his saddle etc fits ok? I'm sure you will have checked but thought I would raise it just in case. Or it may be that something has hurt in the past and he now freaks out in case it hurt again without giving himself time to realise it doesn't, if you see what I mean.

I guess once you have ruled out physical causes, your options are to find a small enough adult to reschool him, find a companion home, look at some kind of job he can do in-hand or PTS.

I hope you can get it sorted out.
 
I am assuming all health checks have been done to eliminate the cause of the bolting?

As above poster has said, unless you can send him somewhere to retire or be a companion then I think you have an obligation to the pony and to any future potential riders to do the right thing for all involved.

Very very sad though :(
 
Booboos said:
Unless they can afford to retire him for the rest of his life, PTS is the only responsible option. I assume you have discounted physical causes for the bolting, and it now looks like experienced riders cannot deal with him, so he is extremely dangerous. If he was sold he could go on to seriously injure someone else, probably a child.
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I agree. Harsh but true. If he is that dangerous with an adult I would definately advise owners to PTS. Couldnt risk a childs life.
 
Yep all fine teeth wise etc, he is a hardy little pony, WHP type, all fine saddle wise. With me, he ran away from a trotting pole - it is like a mental thing (he had jumped the jump, the pole was on the floor, and he bolted becasue it had changed. With goddaughter he bolted becasue he was spooked...
 
If physical pain has been ruled out, the responsible thing to do is put it down.
"Healthy" means mentally healthy as well as physically fit and well. A pony with possibly a large screw loose is not healthy.

ETA How old is it?
 
A friend of mine had a horse that did something similar - she did manage to work through it with help of Richard Maxwell, and tehn rehomed the horse having been totally honest with new owners. However a pony is probably more difficult as more aimed towards kids....and agree that potentially PTS is the safest option unless he could be a companion....
 
I know, I just dont really want to go to the owners and say I give up - have been trying for months :(

Poor pony :(
 
It sounds stupid, but have you tried any groundwork- it could be that the pony is just a bit confused about aids, especially if kids have been riding him. Just practice 'stop' and 'go' on the arena and make sure he's absolutely obedient- also teach him to 'park' i.e. stand stil on the end of a rope and not move until he's told to do so- push him back if he moves so that he learns not to. It's a fairly easy thing to do- start in the stable and move into scary environments.

It just helps to clarify if it's a communication problem- it really is amazing how many horses don't actually understand how to 'stop'- it tends to be because people have been too quick to teach them to stop from the seat, or never remninded them that they still have to be able to stop from the hand. Then when they encounter something that makes them bolt, and the natural reaction from the rider is to pull on their mouth, they simply don't understand why and get even more scared!
 
We were in the same situation. We loaned a pony, 14.1 (ish) Connemara x, knew at the time he would occasionally panic and run, but decided that daughter would be able to ride him. She is good, confident rider and has a good seat to control.
His problems turned out to be that of a bolter, he would just run flat out in any enclosed area, the only way to stop him was to tight circle onto his haunches.
Daughter was not fazed by it and controlled him mostly, however other riders (friends) he would gallop with around blindly and they could not stop him.

Daughter rode him for 6 months, worked so hard on him until they had a relationship of respect, although he would occasionally take off still.

At the end of the loan, due to Harry being returned to me, we decided that he would be returned, because 4 ponies was a handful, but the owner gave him to a RS, where he showed his colours again and hurt a rider by bolting for about 30 minutes until she came off.
At this point we were told he would be sent to a dealer, and my heart over-ruled so I said we would take him back (this was just 3 days after he had gone)
It took several days to catch the beggar and weeks to regain his trust, however, both him and daughter now have a beautiful bond again and he trusts her. He now bleongs to us :) He wont be going anywhere I don't think and he has shown his skill at cross country, it just works for the two of them.
But it took a lot of guts and courage to keep him knowing him, and I can see where your dilemma is, if you can't find that perfect rider who can try and overcome it.....

edited to add, his problem is leg contact, any pressure and he is off, also overbending (pinned to his chest) however, daughter worked on him to improve this and now they know what ticks.
He has had every check going for problems and none found btw.
 
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The problem with ponies of this size, is that the children riding them are usually tiny, and often not particularly experienced or confident. There are not many good enough tiny jockies to deal with truly difficult tiny ponies. And why would a parent want to put their tiny child (however good) into that potentially disastrous position? Even if the perfect child was matched up with this pony, the child will outgrow it, and then the whole sorry thing starts again. IMO, it is just not worth risking the life of a child either now, or in the future.
The suggestion of driving it is an interesting one, but I would seek advice from a seriously experienced driver on that.
 
I've learned the hard way to always get a second opinion re saddle fitting, physio, dentist if things do not pan out as envisaged.

Having said that, sadly I know of several horses who have been pts due to bolting and post mortem have shown brain tumours. These horses appeared to be in very good health.

Best wishes for such a tough decision
 
Ok.

Say this pony was a dog that posed a real threat to people and had bitten/attacked before, people would be saying pts for safety's sake.

A pony/horse that bolts is a real threat also, not only to any rider, but to handlers, bystanders, anyone in the way, it could get onto a road, cause a pile up and kill or maim people, innocent people.

Anyone that knows a pony has a tendency to bolt and knowingly endangers others is irresponsible.

Unless someone wants to take it on as a companion, or willingly risk their own neck then I would pts. It is a ticking time bomb.
 
I'm afraid companion only or PTS and as a companion; the fear is that someday, someone, somewhere will try and get on him...

Crying shame. Out of interest, how old is this pony? I would be tempted, as a very last ditch thing, to get a really really, properly qualified EDT to him. A friend had one put down because of his unreliable and inconsistent temperament. From a youngster, he'd been treated by an EDT who is totally crap and I fear he might have had a mouth issue as he owner said it was a bitting thing. However, she wouldn't be swayed by the possibility this guy wasn't all he cracked himself up to be :(

But other than that, he's best some place where he can't ever be a danger to people.
 
mtj said:
Having said that, sadly I know of several horses who have been pts due to bolting and post mortem have shown brain tumours. These horses appeared to be in very good health.
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I also knew a horse that was the same, blind panic bolting (which at one point included over a main road, thank goodness nobody was hurt). The owner decided to PTS and had a post mortem and the result was the same, a brain tumour. This horse was also completely healthy in every other way so it was almost impossible to pick up on.

If it was me I'd PTS as especially with a pony of this size its just too dangerous for children to be riding it. Horrible decision to make though.
 
I was just going to post that I had heard of a similar case, and it turned out the horse had a brain tumour, and now I see someone has just posted as much!

That said, if it were an underlying neurological condition, I would expect it to manifest itself in other ways, not just when ridden.

Either way, I think the only way is to PTS, for safety's sake.
 
Agree with the majority, sadly I think pts is the only responsible thing to do. With a pony of that size there is always the chance a child will be seriously hurt, not a risk you should take imho.
 
1) Are the owners willing to pay for everything to be checked out?

2) Would they be happy to keep him as a companion (Not sure of your role in this, if you are a full livery YO or you just have tried to give pony another chance) or find a loan home for him as a companion? A LOU freezemark may help to prevent him from being ridden again?

3) Is he safe to handle on the ground, and could therefore do groundwork (natural horsemanship etc) if there was a child or adult who wanted to have a play around with that?
 
spaniel said:
Cant believe you actually typed that!!!

It BOLTS!!!!!
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Its such a shame that its so common for people to think that if a horse can't be ridden it would make a good driving horse :(

Off topic a bit, but it scares me that a lady I know has an 18 month old, has just had it castrated and had no idea that keeping it on a not very clean bed wasn't the best of ideas, I see has now been on (our local horse) forum asking for advice on which book to buy to learn to drive with - she wants to learn to drive and break the pony (who I have no idea if he is suitable) to harness at the same time *headdesk*
 
If it really is last last last chance time for him....would it be worth getting in contact with any of the practitioners at all? I know they often do shows and want demo horses to work with etc....whether some kindly worded emails or phone calls seeing if they'd take him on would make any difference at all to try it from a different angle?

If all has been tried, then why not. It's only a small delay and one last chance really before the ultimate final decision there is anyway.

I'm in no way an NH convert or anything else, BUT, no harm in trying and it would be his last chance from the sound of it anyway. How many other horses would have been put down etc before which they've worked with...never know if this could be another 'turn around'pony for them to fix out....even worst case scenario....still no result, and the pony is still PTS.
 
I sort of took him as a favour as his owners live miles away and the loan didnt work - and now I am sort of stuck with him.
 
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