What do you count as bolting?

@ Flame_

But he jumped. To me that isnt a bolt. He would have just gone BANG straight into the hedge, or wall, or bus or fence.

They do not see or think. They just run.
 
I always say my horse tanks off but some people say what bolts! I dont' know the difference to be honest! she goes, you can feel so much power, she sticks her head down and you cant stop her for love nor money! can't turn her head or anything!

to be honest, she's not been that bad for about 10 yrs but she has done that a couple of times! but now I just let her go, let her get it out of her system and then eventually ask her to slow and she will!

my friends mare however will run blind at anything, doesn't care if theres a car coming, like she doesnt even know its there! and she won't stop either!

I think my mare would be sensible enough to stop if a car was coming at her!
 
My horse tanked off with me in the school yesterday it was bl***y terrifying as I had no idea why and I thought he was either going to jump the fence or fall over going round the corners. I know it wasn't true bolting as I managed to turn him so he was obviously listening to me in someways but apart from the one true bolt I experienced which I don't remember due to a horrendous fall and bang on the head it was the closest I have come so I may have described it as a bolt directly after.
 
Loopylozza I disagree. I think a bolter won't necessarily run flat into a hedge but would attempt to scale a hedge even if too large.
I know plenty of tankers who have run into a hedge or fence as brakes!

I imagine the horse will do anything and everything to get away from what it's bolting from. Stupid risks and blind running but between over and into a wall would attempt over.
 
I used to keep mine at a yard where they took horses for breaking. They had a Shire in once and it was about the second time it had been out in the flat lorry when it bolted. It went flat out down the lane then through a 5 bar gate leaving the lorry and people still in the gate as it smashed out of its harness and galloped across the field and through the fence at the other side. Fortunately neither the horse nor the people were too badly hurt but it was scary to watch happen.
 
What would people's opinions be on the following situations?

Firstly, the usually impeccably behaved Doodle did what I would call a 'tank' with me. Where, out on a hack on some local fields it was winter and she was very fresh, she did a small rear and leap into canter, which as I didn't catch it quickly enough turned into a flat out gallop and I couldn't pull her up at all, but could steer enough to guide away from the slippery tarmac in front of us to the hedge on the right, which I mistakenly assumed she would stop for! She didn't and ran straight through it, which as it was an old established hedge meant we got stuck in it and then as we almost made it to the other side (the hedge pinned me on her so I couldn't bail), she rotated and landed on me trapping me under her. Luckily we were both fine and I learnt to get her back before the point of no return.

Situation two is when I took Topaz hunting. I mentioned earlier on a different thread my experience of hunting her, I described it as a bolt? However she did jump some of the fences, but she did also run into things including other horses and also there was absolutely no control, communication or anything, I couldn't even turn her head? I wouldn't say she is crazy horse who should be put down as her behavior was caused by being completely over-whelmed and over-faced and exploding. She hasn't done it since but then I've not put her in a situation where she feels that over-whelmed, I've built her experience of lots of other horses and lots going on, up gradually by getting her out as much as possible to shows and competitions and she is so much calmer now so we are on the right track. As she was fairly hysterical when at events as well when we first got her, but nowhere near the extreme reaction as on the hunting field...

Just to add I've never been so terrified as when Topaz went, it was no normal tank to me and I'm definitely not a nervous rider!
 
I used to get the 2 mixed up all the time. But then in 2009 I rode a true bolter. I think its the scariest thing a Horse can do (next would be rearing and flipping over) I tried everything I could think of, but the Horse was in his own world. No matter how exeprienced the rider, they would not stop a true bolter. Horse ended up falling over, I have a scar down my leg now and it left me with no confidence.

A tank, whilst being scary, can be controlled if the rider is experienced enough.
 
LaurenBay said:
I used to get the 2 mixed up all the time. But then in 2009 I rode a true bolter. I think its the scariest thing a Horse can do (next would be rearing and flipping over) I tried everything I could think of, but the Horse was in his own world. No matter how exeprienced the rider, they would not stop a true bolter. Horse ended up falling over, I have a scar down my leg now and it left me with no confidence.

A tank, whilst being scary, can be controlled if the rider is experienced enough.
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This to me is the key difference. One is uncontrollable by the current person on board, one is simply uncontrollable.
 
This thread makes me feel better as it means my horse isn't a "bolter" - just an idiot.

He was condemned by fellow liveries when he "bolted" with my friend on a hack. Although he did take off it wasn't at a gallop, she kept him on the track (around a corner) and pulled him up after about 300m and rode him back to me (on my other horse). He was still freaking out about something and only relaxed when she got off and allowed himself to be led home like a donkey! I still maintain it was pain-related.

He's tanked with me 3 times - twice I've fallen off as he's changed direction suddenly (to avoid the hedge/long grass so not bolting or he'd have gone through it, yeah?) and I flew off. The other time was in the school and he "scampered" a lap and I stopped him.

So not a bolter!
 
I have had one experience of true bolting i was riding my pony and a group of people decided to gallop past on the otherside of the hedge, my pony just panicked and went for it! Some other riders infront tried to block me arcross the road. He just threw himself into them and carried on, Ending up bolting down the middle of a busy main road!! Eventually (THANK GOD) he came to standstill i was only 10 at time i was shaking like a leaf afterwards, (one f the riders who tried to block me, actually had tried to follow me on his horse i remember when he found me he exclaimed "**** me that thing should be in the grand national!) so to me a bolt to losing all crontrol/reponse of the horse and no matter how much experince you have there is actually nothing you can do about it!!
 
My old horse did this. He was dangerous and was an accident waiting to happen looking back :(

I also class bolting as a horse just going and having no idea what it is doing - lack of awareness of anything around it and any possible dangers - unfortunately we lost him when he did this for the last time when he bolted out of his field (why we will never know but the marks leading up to the fencing is the only way we knew he was going at speed), through a fence, through a garden, through (and I mean abliterated) a garden shed, down a ramp, through another garden, through more fencing and off a 15 ft drop into someone back yard. :(
 
I disagree with a couple of statements made about a bolting horse never being able to turn or jump.

I have plenty of experience with 'tanking' - horses either spooked or taking the piss, but have only ever once been bolted with. The pony was in harness on a main road, and there is no question, something frightened him and he went out of his mind. However, I could still turn him, enough to keep him on the right side of the road, and take a huge U-turn to avoid the motorway on-slip. I thought he would go over, or have to slow, but he was still in full gallop, even when he was almost horzontal, and the cart at 45 degrees behind him. I wouldn't have believed a Haflinger could go that fast.

Finally stopped only when he jumped a barbed wire fence and the cart didn't.
I only stayed with the vehicle to try to save other people. I expected to die.
 
holeymoley said:
I personally see bolting as having spooked at something and galloped blindly without listening to anyone or anything. I have sat on a true bolter and believe me you do not want to! Won't stop for love nor money and you have to pray you'll come out it alive! Haha. Or even then throwing yourself off is an option :eek:
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These experiences are terrifying. I have been tanked off with a number of times, but never bolted. I do remember a disaster locally though. We had a farm not far away which used to run a team chase. A thoroughbred belonging to one of the team members bolted about half way round. It just lost its head completely. It ran smack straight into a tree and was killed. The rider was pretty knocked about, but survived.
 
For me, a true bolt is a horse running from incredible pain in its own body (kissing spines being the classic one) so the flight response just intensifies and there is no slowing once away from the ‘danger’.

I’ve had a horse run in blind panic - but a healthy horse who got a decent distance away then found their reason and responded to aids again. I knew the cause, we got away and slowed. That, you can work with.
 
This is one of my biggest pet peeves.

Bolting is NOT a horse just getting strong and buggering off because the rider isn’t secure or strong enough to hold them. Bolting is a horse running blind with no self preservation. In all my years riding my own, and riding professionally, I have ridden two bolters. One ran into the side of a building while I was on him and snapped his neck. They are not safe and have absolutely no thought for their own wellbeing.

Bolting is exceptionally rare and incredibly dangerous.

It drives me MAD when someone says ‘ohh he bolted with me’ when in actual fact they were gripping with their legs and the horse shot off a bit quickly for half a long side.

ETA - a horse who is actually bolting won’t try and jump something, they won’t corner safely, they literally just run blind. Through or into whatever is in their path.
If the horse is jumping a gate or obstacle in its way, it is not bolting. It is tanking off in panic.


Very, very different.
 
Would Kmac71 (reply 43) be a bot?

'Last seen' yesterday, 1 minute after posting their reply to a 12 year old thread...

What algorithm would initiate this sort of thing, and why? Genuinely confused as to what can be gained - unless HHO is unwittingly educating AI?!

​

 
Starzaan said:
This is one of my biggest pet peeves.

Bolting is NOT a horse just getting strong and buggering off because the rider isn’t secure or strong enough to hold them. Bolting is a horse running blind with no self preservation. In all my years riding my own, and riding professionally, I have ridden two bolters. One ran into the side of a building while I was on him and snapped his neck. They are not safe and have absolutely no thought for their own wellbeing.

Bolting is exceptionally rare and incredibly dangerous.

It drives me MAD when someone says ‘ohh he bolted with me’ when in actual fact they were gripping with their legs and the horse shot off a bit quickly for half a long side.

ETA - a horse who is actually bolting won’t try and jump something, they won’t corner safely, they literally just run blind. Through or into whatever is in their path.
If the horse is jumping a gate or obstacle in its way, it is not bolting. It is tanking off in panic.


Very, very different.
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This is one of my biggest peeves. A bolting horse is a horse that's f'd off. It's literally what the word means, like how rearing means a horse standing on it's hind legs.

What you experienced was the worst and most dangerous type of bolt resulting in the worst possible outcome, that does not mean that runaway horses in different circumstances aren't bolting.

There's rearing and there's rearing. There's bucking and there's bucking. Bolting is no blooming different and your dismissal of anyone's experience that doesn't equate to as severe as how you perceive yours as, "well, that wasn't even bolting" is subjective and pretty damn rude.
 
Proper zombie thread. I think the term bolting has been diluted over the years as to me it also means blind panic full spread crash into anything in the way with no self regard or thought processes you can work with.

Other than that is tanked off with or similar. They are both quite different behaviours to me - I have only seen a bolt once and thank goodness I wasn't on the horse. The rider who was had to bail and broke her ankle. And it wasn't pain related, we were young and stupid and thought we would see what happened when we left one behind and the others cantered off. Panicked beyond reason was the answer, not done that again!
 
Maybe the term has become diluted over the years because true bolts are tending to happen less and less, because on the whole we (the horsey community) have got better at recognising pain responses so a horse isn't repeatedly put into situations where they are running from pain, and we are also able to recognise trigger stacking and other emotional overloads, so the causes for true bolts have become rarer, hence it doesn't happen so much?

Happy to be corrected on this, but all the horror stories seem to be from years ago? (Obviously the thread is old, but even then the stories seemed not so recent?)

It's a long time since I've heard any reports even on SM of a horse actually bolting - I think the last one even remotely like it was a few years ago when the novice on the ex-racehorse couldn't stop, but that was not a bolt.

Perhaps, thankfully, people are no longer experiencing true bolts much if at all, hence why the term's use has morphed over time?
 
Flame_ said:
This is one of my biggest peeves. A bolting horse is a horse that's f'd off. It's literally what the word means, like how rearing means a horse standing on it's hind legs.

What you experienced was the worst and most dangerous type of bolt resulting in the worst possible outcome, that does not mean that runaway horses in different circumstances aren't bolting.

There's rearing and there's rearing. There's bucking and there's bucking. Bolting is no blooming different and your dismissal of anyone's experience that doesn't equate to as severe as how you perceive yours as, "well, that wasn't even bolting" is subjective and pretty damn rude.
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Tend to agree. Generally when people use the b-word they do flesh it out a little bit with more detail. Couldn't stop had to bail, did eventually stop themselves, horse stopped when rider hit the dirt etc etc which is the actually useful information, rather than the single word choice. Having "bolt" as a special word that can only be used in one very specific circumstance without any allowance for colloquial use (which the word does have!) isn't particularly helpful.

I had a circumstance recently when my pony took off like she has never taken off before, in a very scary way. I hesitated to use the b-word, because of threads like this tbh, but in order to make the point to other people that it was a pain and panic response (vet agrees), rather than her just being naughty, it was an appropriate word to use colloquially to differentiate. "Taking off" or "tanking off" implies horse had a choice, when with a pain or panic response the horse does not necessarily have a choice. If I was describing it HERE I would not say she bolted, as I would get jumped on, but it is still a useful word so people don't just tell you to give your horse 3 firm whacks on the arse and actually take it seriously. Context, audience, circumstance etc etc etc
 
A couple of years ago, I had a beautiful pony who was sadly a true bolter. She wasn’t just pissing off out of naughtiness.

We were evicted from two yards as when she was spooked when leading in - she was gone - at any cost, with any strength of handler. Bridle, chiffney, you name it. She pulled me flying not long after I bought her and I hit the ground so hard my whole leg was black and blue.

She did it twice under saddle and I had to bail on both occasions. The last time she ran full force into a stock fence and got completely tangled up. This was after being spooked by someone’s waterproof trousers rustling.

I had everything checked from a physiological perspective and she scoped clean. She was physically fit as a fiddle, but had learned this dreadful vice as a panic response. I asked her breeder if she would take her back as a field ornament, and she politely declined - quelle surprise. So I had her PTS.
 
Flame_ said:
This is one of my biggest peeves. A bolting horse is a horse that's f'd off. It's literally what the word means, like how rearing means a horse standing on it's hind legs.

What you experienced was the worst and most dangerous type of bolt resulting in the worst possible outcome, that does not mean that runaway horses in different circumstances aren't bolting.

There's rearing and there's rearing. There's bucking and there's bucking. Bolting is no blooming different and your dismissal of anyone's experience that doesn't equate to as severe as how you perceive yours as, "well, that wasn't even bolting" is subjective and pretty damn rude.
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Good grief.
 
I must admit, I hate the use of the word bolting when a horse has careered around the school or buggered off out hacking. It's not true bolting, in my opinion.

Sadly, I've experienced a true bolter and it's nothing like the high jinks and naughtiness people often refer to as bolting.

In my case, I had to bail in a hedge. We were flat out but it didn't feel like a flat out gallop, it was a different gait entirely, I can't quite explain it.

I watched, after bailing, the horse continue on the warpath, run into a parked car, he got up and tried to jump another car, failed and again crashed to the ground. He just kept going. He only stopped when he fell in a ditch and couldn't get up or out. Safe to say it wasn't a pretty sight.

I hope never to experience that again. I will take a bugger off around the fields or school any day of the week.
 
Apizz2019 said:
I must admit, I hate the use of the word bolting when a horse has careered around the school or buggered off out hacking. It's not true bolting, in my opinion.

Sadly, I've experienced a true bolter and it's nothing like the high jinks and naughtiness people often refer to as bolting.

In my case, I had to bail in a hedge. We were flat out but it didn't feel like a flat out gallop, it was a different gait entirely, I can't quite explain it.

I watched, after bailing, the horse continue on the warpath, run into a parked car, he got up and tried to jump another car, failed and again crashed to the ground. He just kept going. He only stopped when he fell in a ditch and couldn't get up or out. Safe to say it wasn't a pretty sight.

I hope never to experience that again. I will take a bugger off around the fields or school any day of the week.
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That sounds terrifying
 
Apizz2019 said:
We were flat out but it didn't feel like a flat out gallop, it was a different gait entirely, I can't quite explain it.
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I agree

I've been run away with a few times but the one time I was on a true bolt he was headed home no matter what. There was a fence coming up and I threw all my weight to one side to try and turn him, but unfortunately the saddle went and I hit the ground at speed. I was too winded and hurt to see what the horse did but someone nearby saw him literally bounce off the fence - he didn't try and jump it - and then it was like the impact shocked him back into his head and he stopped.

You may be able to bridge reins or turn with a runaway but a true bolt doesn't even know you're up there.
 
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