Horse bolted today - advice please

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TED2010

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I bought an unbroken 4 year old at the end of September who is now broken and was coming on nicely i thought. He came over from Ireland in March and was very funny around his back end and nervous to start with but has started to chill out a bit, although he is still very wary of everything going on. His nature is pretty laid back most of the time and he is very quiet to handle, tie up, in the field etc I recently found clipping was a problem and had to have him sedated after he got more and more wound up and kicked me. He doesn't show any signs of being nasty or wanting to kick with general handling.

His work has been a bit stop start because of the snow and ice but he has been worked on and off as much as I can and has been worked for the last week. Today I went for a hack on my own, have recently moved him to a new yard and went exploring a few routes, he was a bit jumpy but didn't do anything wrong. I had just had a short canter up the bridlepath near the yard and was walking towards the lane back to the yard, he seemed perfectly relaxed and tired and i had a fairly loose reign. we turned onto the concrete road which leads back to the yard and he bolted in panick at a flat out gallop down a VERY steep concrete road with a sharp bend at the bottom. I don't know what caused it, I could do nothing and still don't know how he managed to stay up right. ANyway i'm still alive and he has a small cut to show for the adventure, I was terrified by the experience and have had a fair few hairy moments in all my years of riding but actually thought my time was up today. He stayed on his feet and I stayed on board and once we had got round the bend the road goes steeply up hill to the yard and he came back to a walk very quickly and behaved as if nothing had happened, I rode him back into the yard, got off and nearly fell over with wobbly legs.

What has worried me the most is that he has seemed so sensible up until now, not nappy and good in traffic, like he really had his head screwed on the right way. It is pretty steep all around the yard and we have to up and down fairly steep hills to get in and out and to ride. I am now worried that this could happen again on a road with cars and next time we won;'t be so lucky. I have been riding for many years but first experience of this sort and with young horse who I don't know much about his past etc. One explanation could be that I put an exercise sheet on him for the first time today becaue it was cold but it had a fillet string and couldn't flap, he is used to wearing rugs etc and had been ok for the rest of the hack - surely this wasn't the cause?!

Does anyone have any advice from similar experiences or knowledge they can give me to try and avoid having such a horrible experience again - much appreciated.
 
Young inexperienced horse, worked sporadically since backing (due to weather etc ?) .Can't say about feed/turnout contributing to it, but on a new yard. My guess would be that he was more fearful than he seemed and on turning for the safety of his new home, he lost his courage and legged it. Understandable really, particularly if you weren't concentrating, in that split second he made what he thought was a wise decision.
Had it done to me once, next time was concentrating and never happened again.
Don't lose faith in him, he's young. I know about the wobbly legs when you get off though :)
 
Oh I'm so sorry this has happened to you. I've been bolted with in the past and it is terrifying. I'm afraid I don't have any nuggets of wisdom for you, but you need to keep i mind something might have caught his eye to spook him without you realising, so with any luck it wil be a one off. It may even be a good thing that he was calm afterwards, rather than if he had scared himself you would now be having to cope with a jumpy, panicky youngster, looking for scary things behind every tree.
Maybe you should ride him in the school for the next few times, get a bit of confidence back in each other, then try hacking out with a calmer horse for him to learn from, or take someone with you, perhaps using a lead rein if you have lost your nerve a bit.
 
Just to add, I think the change in yard will have unsettled him. My lot recently moved to a new yard (temporarily while my new place is built) having been at my previous place for a long time. Two of my lot who are normally very laid back were horrendous to deal with for the first month, but are now settling down and back to being their old selves. I think we forget how a change in routine affects them.

Give him the benefit of the doubt - agree about the fact he was calm afterwards - but scary that it happened.
 
Ive been bolted with many times with my previous horse ( cruelly treated before me) sometimes he had a reason and sometimes he didn't.
it sounds to me having moved yards etc he probably is a little insecure best thing to do is stay positive and reassure him by being a positive rider (sympathetic)
i have to admit an exercise sheet would've been the end of it all for my previous horse maybe if you could lunge him in it and check for a reaction if he got spooked by 'monsters' and the sheet rustled well . . .
the best advice i was given with my horse was to try and see it from thier point of view they are a flight animal so if theres danger run !.
deffo take a steady horse out with him till he a bit braver (itil help you too)
best of luck !!!!
 
I think maybe what happened is something spooked him, he ran forwards, lost his balance running down hill, couldn't stop himself, and he panicked.
Do you remember running as a child down a steep hill and it feels as if your legs over take your body and you can't stop yourself? I bet that's what happened and it frightened him.
I would just be careful next time to keep a bit of a contact so if he does spook and run (natural reaction for a bubba) you can bring him back before he panicks. Also has he gets better schooled and more used to your aids it won't happen.
I bet it was a one off, I wouldn't worry to much, just work on the schooling and make sure you have him within a safe cOntact at all times out hacking. Just take it slow for a while too, maybe no cantering out untill you have everything re-established :)
 
Firstly - sorry for your experience, it is terrifying when you feel out of control and especially if the horse doesn't feel in control of itself either!!
I echo what others say above, consistency is the absolute key with a four year old. When I broke my ISH if I didn't ride her very regularly, repeat the same lessons, etc I came unstuck, also she was hugely affected by change in routine or yard etc. I would reckon this is a response to time off, change of routine etc, not a sign for long term problems.
Good luck and keep it up!
 
firewell said:
I think maybe what happened is something spooked him, he ran forwards, lost his balance running down hill, couldn't stop himself, and he panicked.
Do you remember running as a child down a steep hill and it feels as if your legs over take your body and you can't stop yourself? I bet that's what happened and it frightened him.
I would just be careful next time to keep a bit of a contact so if he does spook and run (natural reaction for a bubba) you can bring him back before he panicks. Also has he gets better schooled and more used to your aids it won't happen.
I bet it was a one off, I wouldn't worry to much, just work on the schooling and make sure you have him within a safe cOntact at all times out hacking. Just take it slow for a while too, maybe no cantering out untill you have everything re-established :)
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^^^ This!

It was scary at the time - but he stopped of his own accord and was fine afterwards. Try and put it behind you and crack on.

I had a similar scare this summer with a green 4 y o that I was working - stupidly without a martingale! It took exception to getting a boot in the ribs for being lazy off the leg, stuck it's head in the air and went..... Noooo control, but mercifully managed to avoid two lots of electric fencing... After my life flashing before me, he started to slow down, then returned to Mr laid back and continued to work as normal! Who knows what goes on in their heads - but that's baby horses for you!:)
 
It may well have been the exercise sheet. I have just bought a 6 yr old TB horse and the first few times I used the exercise sheet he would his clamp his tail and shoot off, he wouldn't always do it at the start of the session, could sometimes be half way through.I lunged him in it a few times and now he is fine.
 
I would put it behind you. He is a baby and they are all entitled to their 'moments'. I would hazard a guess that it may not ever happen again. If he seems relaxed and happy now, then I would put it all down to experience and crack on with his training. Owning a 'Bolter' myself I can sympathise with you that its terrifying. This is the reason why I cannot class my cob as a novice ride. Admittedly he has not bolted for over 3 years, and he had a good reason for doing it (an idiot tried to attack me whilst I was riding and he panicked and bolted to a horse further on up the road - terrifying), and prior to that it was 2 years previous and he did it for no reason.

Good luck.
 
Thank you all very much for your helpful and encouraging replies. I am off to ride him now (in the school today), he has been turned out this morning and is every day. I think I will try and get someone else to hack out with me at the weekend to give him some confidence (and me) and i hope very much you are right and it was a one off, but i will be keeping my guard up and not relaxing too much, because he seems so steady much of the time it is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security.

I think you may be right that he shot forward and because it was so steep frightened himself and just had to keep going, if he had tried to stop or turned i think it could have been a lot worse. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth today!! Think I will leave the sheet off for now too, i'm sure he will survive, will just need to work a bit harder to keep warm!

Thank you
 
I think if he was only backed in September and lightly worked since, personally I wouldn't have been hacking him out on his own when he'd just moved to a new yard. Any horse will be on their toes during a change like that, let alone a youngster who hasn't been worked long. I'd only be working in the school or hacking out with others until he settles in.
 
I would try not to worry about it too much and hope that it’s just a one off!! Does sound scary though.. my normally quite well behaved rising 12 yo semi bolted with me down a field yesterday when I was trying to open a gate which is very rebellious for him, I think it is quite hard for them with being in/out, riding/no riding with the bad weather and he might be extra anxious being at a new home… plus he’s only a baby!

I’m sure you’ll be fine.. good luck!
 
In response to MagicMelon, unfortunately if I waited to hack out with other people he would never go out as with work committments etc there is rarely anyone riding at the same time and in my experience a young horse soon gets very bored of doing nothing but work in the school. He has been at the new yard for three weeks now and has been turned out every day without fail, even in the snow, I have worked him as much as possible but he did have about a week off during the snowy weather. He had been back in work for over a week when i rode out and he seemed to have settled into new yard and has been very relaxed in new surroundings and got used to the other geldings he is turned out wih. I had hacked him out once with another horse and once on my own with no problems. I have done quite a lot of work in the school with him on control so thought he was ready to go out. I have ridden him in the school today and he was fine if a little fresh but I will try and ride out with someone at the weekend to give him some confidence.

I have increased his feed a bit (not massively) since he has been working harder and with the cold weather and very little grass and he has ad -lib haylage but he only has spillers h & p nuts, hi-fi apple, dengie alphabeet and a mug of equilibra (once a day) so shouldn't be heating. He is quite a big chap and needs the feed but do feel he is getting a bit of an attitude. Have bought some calm and condition today so will start introducing a bit of that and cut down on the the rest a bit. He is by Cruising and i know they have a reputation for being a bit difficult so i want to stamp on his naughtiness before it starts. He can't half jump though :)
 
I agree with you about young horses getting out and about rather than spending too much time in the school. Its very difficult to always have a babysitter to ride with and better to get them riding out alone if you can do so reasonably safely. In an ideal world I'd be able to ride my 4 year old out on safe tracks on a circular ride, but, like you, we have to deal with what we've got and just get on with it. That said, I try to ensure what we do is positive and if she scares herself, I go back a step and do what she's able to cope with.
You sound pretty clued up despite having one of those 'Oh S***' moments. Standard advise is always to ride, ride, ride, give them plenty to do while hopefully staying in one piece.:rolleyes: Thats the skill, I guess. Babies do improve your stickability.
My youngster is going through a phase of thinking she's Very Important, so I'm currently whispering in her ear that yes, she is but not quite as important as me. Little peanut brain.
 
horserider said:
I agree with you about young horses getting out and about rather than spending too much time in the school. Its very difficult to always have a babysitter to ride with and better to get them riding out alone if you can do so reasonably safely. In an ideal world I'd be able to ride my 4 year old out on safe tracks on a circular ride, but, like you, we have to deal with what we've got and just get on with it. That said, I try to ensure what we do is positive and if she scares herself, I go back a step and do what she's able to cope with.
You sound pretty clued up despite having one of those 'Oh S***' moments. Standard advise is always to ride, ride, ride, give them plenty to do while hopefully staying in one piece.:rolleyes: Thats the skill, I guess. Babies do improve your stickability.
My youngster is going through a phase of thinking she's Very Important, so I'm currently whispering in her ear that yes, she is but not quite as important as me. Little peanut brain.
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Thanks horserider, it certainly was an 'oh s*** moment but i'm back in the saddle and won't let it hold me back, it is encouraging that so many people have said it will hopefully be a one off, and I will try and do things to build his confidence for the next week or so. I like your style, going to do some whispering in my chaps big donkey ears too!
 
Glad your ok and no harm done!!!
I`ve got 3 youngsters two of which are backed and one isnt, luckily none of have bolted with me on them, my no1 girly did how ever bolt when i was leading (not a fan of push bikes) she went straight across and down a main rode and luckily stopped when she realised i wasnt dangling on the end of the rope!. I agree with the having some company the first few times, then maybe still go out with company but you take the lead, help him to get confidence back. Could also try long reining around his new surrounding too.
 
I certainly wouldnt be hacking a newly broken 4yr old out on their own, its asking for trouble - any thing that can make him/her loose their confidence will be a problem later on which will take you twice as long to fix. It also takes a lot longer than 3 weeks for a horse to settle on a new yard completely, especially a youngster. I am sure other people from your yard hack out on weekends - could you not arrange to go out then with somene?
 
I've always hacked babies out alone, as soon as I think they can cope. With one cob mare I backed a few years ago, I hacked her up the road alone the day after I first sat on her. It is entirely horses for courses.
Sounds like you are doing all the right things to me OP, I would suspect he was spooked by his sheet, he may have felt the fillet string or something & panicked.
 
It does get better...!

My four year old went from a lovely laid back lazy sweetie - to a very marey demanding teenager! Had a very similar experience hacking out - previously she had been excellent on her own with no problems and one day took to bronco - ing on concrete!

Consistant calm working and handling with a pep talk and hints and tips from my wonderful instructor means she is back to working away nicely - but I don't think it's over yet and I don't intend to be complacent! Youngsters, even nice ones can be unpredictable!

I am not an instructor but this is what i try to do! Be brave and be safe! Ride in the school to get the measure of your horse before you go out if you can. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back. Try and stay in walk if having a canter leads to bolting off. Work your youngster out on the hack if you can (leg yield/shoulder in/transitions) - keeps the brain occupied and if they do try anything you are probably better placed to deal with it.

Good luck! This weather is very frustrating!
 
I agree that it's best to just put it behind you. It's probably a one off and he'll be fine in the future,but I can totally understand that must have been terrifying!! Maybe stick with company for a while if you're a bit nervous?
 
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