Help please with youngster bolting!

[rubyrumba]

I am posting on behalf of a very dear friend of mine. She has a 4 year old(rising 5) that was backed early last year.
He, even from the start, has taken to bolting for no apparent reason. She says he seems to panic like he is scared of something but there is nothing there and she can't put her finger on anything that triggers it. He runs blind and she cannot stop or turn him and has to sit (very afraid) helplessly on top until he stops himself. He is a big boy 16.2hh Dutch warmblood cross and has done this from the earliest days. He also does it on the lunge. He is fine out hacking apparently so this seems to be associated with the school and cantering.

Any ideas very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Orangehorse]

If I was in this owner I would contact an Intelligent Horsemanship
RA (Kelly Marks) and get them out. This is a difficult problem that needs sorting out as soon as possible and you might spend time and money on several different people and end up with an RA in the end.

 

[Irishlife]

Is he OK while cantering out hacking? If you can, try to find a corner of a field to lunge him in or ride a few circles in away from the arena just to start a process of elimination. If he is OK on grass both lunging and being ridden through a few easy exercises then the arena is the problem. Some horses despise working in he school. I have a sharp horse who turns off and goes to sleep so his schooling is done out hacking or in the field and another three year old who is an angel in every way in an indoor scool but outside blows up and tanks around. In my experience a lot of horses get extremely bored (have seen horses jump clean out of an arena) and can develop resistance. Was he started off by you or was he already trained. A lot of horses see stable/arena and that is it. I would school him hacking (leg yielding on tracks, turns on forehand etc etc) and give him a rest from the arena. When you do reintroduce the arena to him, make it interesting lots of transitions, trotting poles, work with another horse may make a difference too.

I note he was backed only last year so don't make the lunging and area work too intense and if he has not had a break then a month in the field will help get his head right.

Obviously precluding any saddle/pain issues etc etc. It sounds like a developed resistance to me but interested to hear what others think. Good luck

 

[rubyrumba]

She only does road work out hacking so no cantering.
She sent him away to be broken.
He is supposed to be going to be a showjumper so really needs to be in a school!
Possibly a pain issue, but he does it on the lunge with just a cavesson on???

 

[Irishlife]

Which ever way you look at it, it is an evasion/resistance and the cause needs to be found. This could be as suggested a pain issue and as canter seems to be the pace where the problem is occurring then would suggest an exam by vet to look at limbs, flexion tests, back, pelvis. This then should be your first stop as if he walks and trots ok hacing and in the arena then canter is causing him a pain somewhere.

 

[FestiveBoomBoom]

[ QUOTE ]
Is he OK while cantering out hacking? If you can, try to find a corner of a field to lunge him in or ride a few circles in away from the arena just to start a process of elimination. If he is OK on grass both lunging and being ridden through a few easy exercises then the arena is the problem. Some horses despise working in he school. I have a sharp horse who turns off and goes to sleep so his schooling is done out hacking or in the field and another three year old who is an angel in every way in an indoor scool but outside blows up and tanks around. In my experience a lot of horses get extremely bored (have seen horses jump clean out of an arena) and can develop resistance. Was he started off by you or was he already trained. A lot of horses see stable/arena and that is it. I would school him hacking (leg yielding on tracks, turns on forehand etc etc) and give him a rest from the arena. When you do reintroduce the arena to him, make it interesting lots of transitions, trotting poles, work with another horse may make a difference too.

I note he was backed only last year so don't make the lunging and area work too intense and if he has not had a break then a month in the field will help get his head right.

Obviously precluding any saddle/pain issues etc etc. It sounds like a developed resistance to me but interested to hear what others think. Good luck

[/ QUOTE ]

very good advice

cannot really add anything but agree that professional help may be beneficial - especially as she is no doubt feeling nervous and horse may be picking up on that

 

[eggs]

Have his eyes bee checked? I remember Granat from many years ago who often took off with Christine Stuckelberger in the warm up (witnessed it myself at Windsor). Years later she admitted he was blind in one eye and sometimes panicked.

 

[duggan]

[ QUOTE ]

He is supposed to be going to be a showjumper so really needs to be in a school!


[/ QUOTE ]
He ain't gonna be no showjumper if he bolts, so if the problem can be corrected it doesn't really matter where the work is done!
He may have pain that only becomes evident in canter, and that should be checked before you go down the Nh route IMO.
Perhaps he's been pushed a tad too far in the past and now knows work stops when he runs for a bit? Fingers crossed its something that you can work though.

 

[rubyrumba]

Thanks for all of the advice,i will pass this on tomorrow.

 

[LMuirEDT]

Agree about getting all the usuals checked - teeth, back, saddle, etc. Echoing eyes checked, We had something similar with a pony when I worked at a riding school, it would suddenly run off, I cant remember the official name for it but it had floating bits in it's eye and everytime one of these bits crossed it's sight it frightened itself and bolted.

Other thing I would suggest would be to go back to basics with it, lunging, long reining, etc

 

[JanetGeorge]

He's what we call 'a runner' (as opposed to a bucker!

) When young horses are first backed, some of them accept it very easily. Some suffer what I call 'predator on back' syndrome - they either buck like stink (to get rid of the 'predator') or they run. (I actually prefer the runners - they are easier to work with.)

This is MOST likely to happen with youngsters that haven't been well-handled from an early age (and I mean literally from birth!) It is an instinctive fear - and it has to be thoroughly worked through at backing.

SOME trainers who back young horses have NO understanding of horse psychology - they have 'a method' and they use it on every horse they back. If it doesn't work, the horse is at fault. Sometimes they solve it with pure strength - which is fine until it goes home to its owner who doesn't have biceps like Stallone!

This horse needs re-backing - and NOT by the person who did it initially! I would expect it to take 2-3 weeks IF most of the backing process was done correctly (that's a big if, but I live in hope!) But it DOES need to be done by someone competent - this horse is frightened, and being screwed around by someone who is adequate with the 'average' breaker will just make it worse. Where is your friend located??

 

[LMuirEDT]

Agree with JanetGeorge.

 

[SheadonSaffron]

Hi Rubyrumba,
Sorry to hear that your friend is having these problems with her horse, especially since she clearly went to the trouble of getting him professionally backed. Has she spoken to the people who backed him to see if this was something that they were aware of, and whether they have any suggestions?
I have had success working with this kind of issue, beginning with working from the ground. Clearly the first thing she needs to do is to make sure that teeth / back / saddle checks have been done, and by good, qualified professionals. Assuming there are no issues here, she needs to address the issue on the lunge initially, teaching the horse to relax and listen when she asks him to, even if he is feeling that he would like to bolt. There are several other groundwork exercises that she can do to consolidate this, and then she can progress the exercises into ridden work.

She can find an Intelligent Horsemanship Recommended Associate at www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk, if that is the route she chooses to take. I really hope that she can solve this issue, I have seen and heard of some very dangerous horses through bolting. At the Monty Roberts demonstration last weekend there was an International showjumper that bolts every time the rider gets on, and the issue has got progressively worse over time, recently the rider came off and was concussed, it could have been a lot worse. The issue is solvable, but it has to be taken right back to basics, and like anything, it will take time to work through.

Hope this helps a little,

Sue