Horse Spooks and bolts off

Jirwin

Hi Folks,

I was exercising my horse in an outdoor arena yesterday, a pony broke loose outside the arena and spooked my horse, he took off in full gallop around the arena, it took my over three laps to get him back to walk, I've asked a number of poeple around the yard the best way to handle this situation and I'm getting mixed answers, can anyone shed any light on the best way to calm the horse and bring him back to walk, I've been told to try circles, half halts, loosen contact, sit back, they all seem sensible until you try them at full gallop. I'm sure some of you have experienced this, anyone care to share there solutions, thanks J

The circles one always worked for me.. depends on the situation though, sometimes the horse would just get a little fright and I would let him run a bit, its his own way of calming down.

togster

Tricky.... If you are confident enough just let him run it out. If you get scared it doubles the panic sensation. Just my experience.

Take it with a pinch of salt....

Bendihorse

Theres kinda a difference between tanking off with you and not listening to your requests to stop and an all out bolt. All out bolts are bloody scary and until you've experienced one you wont know what a proper bolt really is, in this situation theres not a lot you can do except try circling smaller and smaller gradually slowing the bolt...

When he tanks off with you - which is what this sounds like, its best to sit deep and pull, relax, pull hard relax and so on, try some half halts aswell. A constant unrelenting pull on the reins wont work, it just makes him set his jaw against the bit. Its about regaining his attention and getting him to listen to you, but you do need to be firm - it helps if your strong too.

I wouldn't worry if its not an ongoing problem with him, he may have been fresh or else he was probably genuinely spooked for a minute.

A horses only defence against attack is his speed, its engrained in them to flee if they feel threatened. They roam in a herd and rely on eathother to spot potential threats so if they see another horse take flight (which is what happened to you) they think they need to run too as theres some danger lurking somewhere that the other horse has spotted but he cant see it!

Bendihorse

Just remembered another method i once tried, horse ran off - flat out gallop, i had tried the above method and it wasn't working so instead i pushed him on hard for a few strides then tried to bring him back. Worked in that case.

Every case and horse are different depending on the reason for him running off, you'll have to try different methods and see what works for him. When i re-read your initial post it sounded a bit like he may have been very fresh to me and was waiting for an excuse to go and stretch his legs.

If its a regular occurence, you could try giving him more turnout, or else try lunging him before you ride.

Jirwin

Many thanks for the advice, I am more use to riding outdoors,horses spooking and then running into full gallop never bothered me outside a confined space such as the arena, currently I'm exercising in a mid size arena, i never knew how small they feel when you are flying around. My horse is not prone to running flat out, i ride him every day so he gets well exercised, but I've a fear of flat outs in an arena since I had an accident on another horse previously, I guess I'm tensing up which does not help any, i wondering how other people dealt with flat outs in the arena, Thansk again

Bendihorse

In that case some people would try and run him to a wall or the fence as the case may be, a corner preferably. Some dont think this is the way to go but it does stop them. You need to be brave enough to turn him in and then be capable of sitting to the sudden stop when he jams on the brakes. I wouldn't advise doing this if you doubt at all that he might chance jumping out.

Otherwise, if hes not responding to your hands then pull him onto a tight circle making sure you sit deep and well back so you dont lose your balance.

In relation to your fear, im the opposite. I hate being in open spaces as i fear if the horse bolts then theres no stopping where he could end up! Everyone has their hangups, you can only deal with them as best you can

togster

Yeah OP i get what you are saying. The confined spaces thing. The thing is though it is a very hard thing to prepare. When a horse bolts like your did it is usually out of complete fear of something. Habituation is the key. Try and source the root of his fear and then perhaps turn him out with the hazard in close proximity. Bendi's advice is excellent. Pulling continuously the horse simply not listen.

Good luck OP i know how scary it can be!!