Horse bolting when led

[SOS]

Thank you so much. Is there anyone in particular you might recommend that covers the midlands?
I was considering this. I'm generally not one to mess about and faff when it comes to sorting issues and would quite like to have this sorted sooner rather than later, whether that's using a suggested method, or having someone in to sort it. My only concern with having someone in, is that he will do it on first turn out, but if you get him back and do the whole thing again, he's good as gold, so it is hard to recreate the issue twice in a day for someone to come and work it through!

IME with horse groundwork trainers, most of the training is done on you, and a very small amount on the horse. That’s not to say they don’t work on the horse too but you will walk away realising you’ve probably learnt more than the horse. They are very capable and can “fix” horses problems easily , so they know to get a result, it’s fixing the owner!

They’ll also be able to figure out his triggers, which I’d bet are more than just mud. Now he’s learnt to pull away it’s probable he could use it as a response in other situations.

I had one out to a difficult horse a few years ago and still think about lots of the advice very often.

 

[3OldPonies]

I had one that b#ggered off being led anywhere once. I used a normal head collar and 2 lead reins to teach him some manners. One attached normally and the other threaded through the side rings over his nose loosely . If he behaved then no pressure on either, if the tried to clear off tighten the normal bottom one, and if he still ignored me I tightened the top one. He caught on quite quickly like that and never had a problem thereafter. Mind you had to be quick and quite dexterous with the two ropes to begin with.

 

[Billy Pig]

Thank you all so much for all your replies. I can't believe how much advice I've been given and am grateful to everyone who has had something to contribute.
Just a quick update. First time in a week that I didn't lose him this morning.
I very simply put his snaffle lunge bridle on to turn out with a rope looped through (not clipped on) in case I lost him. He didn't even think about going, which makes me wonder if he'd done this previously and been turned out in a bridle with previous owner? As he didn't even try to see what the outcome would be, almost like he knew he wouldn't be able to get away!
I am going to turn him out in a bridle for the next week or so and see if we can slowly start to regain some control and trust, with a view of swapping back to a halter. With the nice weather we're having, I'm hoping the ground will dry up a lot more as well!
He is due his first farrier visit tomorrow, physio in a couple of weeks and he has the vet coming for his vaccs as well so will mention it to them too.

 

[Billy Pig]

IME with horse groundwork trainers, most of the training is done on you, and a very small amount on the horse. That’s not to say they don’t work on the horse too but you will walk away realising you’ve probably learnt more than the horse. They are very capable and can “fix” horses problems easily , so they know to get a result, it’s fixing the owner!

They’ll also be able to figure out his triggers, which I’d bet are more than just mud. Now he’s learnt to pull away it’s probable he could use it as a response in other situations.

I had one out to a difficult horse a few years ago and still think about lots of the advice very often.

Yes absolutely agree and would hope that they'd be able to pick up on things that I cannot. The frustrating thing is I do a lot of groundwork and am often friend's 'go to' to help with loading issues and the like. So very frustrating that I can't turn my own pony out

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Yes absolutely agree and would hope that they'd be able to pick up on things that I cannot. The frustrating thing is I do a lot of groundwork and am often friend's 'go to' to help with loading issues and the like. So very frustrating that I can't turn my own pony out

I think sometimes, it needs someone to watch what is happening, for them to ge able to.puck.up on small but significant things that could be tweaked. When you are in the middle of it, you can't stand back and observe.

 

[suestowford]

I very simply put his snaffle lunge bridle on to turn out with a rope looped through (not clipped on) in case I lost him. He didn't even think about going, which makes me wonder if he'd done this previously and been turned out in a bridle with previous owner? As he didn't even try to see what the outcome would be, almost like he knew he wouldn't be able to get away!

He knew, for sure! How brilliant that you have found this out without having to visit the tack shop too
You may have to do this always, but if it keeps the both of you safe it's worth doing.