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The tack room

Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

Original poster

Dd's horse bolted with her. Wwyd?

88 replies

Mercison · 26/03/2018 08:13

Dd has had her horse for almost 4 years. He's a big competition horse but very polite and easy. Can get strong and boisterous occasionally but nothing bad. Dd has started eventing him and he's been great. She hacked him out last night as normal. She cantered along a bridle path and he got stronger and stronger faster and faster. She couldn't stop him and he ran through a line of bollards onto a road (bridleway has been unceremoniously divided by a new road Sad) , a car had to swerve to avoid them. She eventually managed to turn him into a closed gate and jump off. She rang me and I drove to where she was and led him home. She was completely petrified, had a panic attack. Horse is fine apart from a split mouth which MAY have been the cause (new bit). Also dh bought the wrong chaff with alfalfa in a few weeks ago which we thought he might be sensitive to, but fed it anyway.

She's supposed to be competing this weekend. Dh wants to get rid of horse!

Wwyd?

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UrsulaPandress · 26/03/2018 08:32

How bloody scary.

How old is your DD.

If it is out of the ordinary then look at what has changed. Clearly a new bit and a change of feed could both have had an effect.

Does she have an instructor who could get on him?

Gottokondo · 26/03/2018 08:34

I used to live nextto a place where they rented out horses (can't think of the english word for this). Every spring when the weather turned a couple tended to bolt. We always thought that it was because they really needed a good run outside in better weather after a long winter.

UrsulaPandress · 26/03/2018 08:38

They definitely get a 'spring' in their step at this time of year.

Ollivander84 · 26/03/2018 08:40

Bin the chaff and sort the bit
To me there is a true bolter which will run blind and kill itself/others which should be PTS as usually a cause like a brain tumour, or there's horses that run off but will eventually stop or be stopped
Sounds like the latter. If she's feeling worried maybe leave the competition and drop down a bit, some lessons, some schooling, more pottering about stuff?

Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 08:59

Hi thank you. Dd is 18.

Have also found out that she's been feeding him a new supplement to promote weight gain. Tbf our physio had recommended it but I'd ignored physio as it was a very expensive supplement. Dd bought it unbeknownst to me. So that may also have had an effect.

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UrsulaPandress · 26/03/2018 09:07

Eek. Maybe he is just feeling 'too well'.

Does he need to gain weight? We feed Ease & Excel to our stressy TB and it's fabulous.

Spudlet · 26/03/2018 09:08

I would probably cancel this weekend's competition, sort out the feeding and go back to basics for a little while. Maybe check his saddle and so on. Just calm everything down a bit and take a breath before plunging back into the exciting stuff. The sun is shining, the grass is growing, and it could just be that he feels really good and a bit overenthusiastic!

Sounds more like he pissed off with her rather than bolted (which is not to underplay how bloody scary that sort of thing can be, because it certainly is!). But they are different things needing different remedies. A real bolter would have probably gone through the gate rather than stopped though.

Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 09:11

I think she felt he was bolting as he just wasn't listening at all. She said he got his foot caught in the gate otherwise he would have kept going onto the a road! He's got a really nasty cut on the corner of his mouth so looks like the weekend is out.

Dd's been unwell and unable to compete for a few months, this is a depressing setback for her.

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Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 09:13

He's turned out now with hay and a bit of fast fibre. No more supplements and conditioning feed for him!!

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BertrandRussell · 26/03/2018 09:17

New bit, new feed, new supplements and spring.

How did he cut his mouth?

Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 09:20

He's got a really sensitive fleshy mouth that often splits. It hasn't for a few months now.

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MammaAgata · 26/03/2018 09:20

I think the feed contributing 100% to this.. my old mare went barmy for about 6 weeks a few years ago. I got a stronger bit, dropped noseband etc, she got almost unridable at one point.. I was so confused and worried about her until I found out the yard owner had put her on a high conditioning competition mix (she was a 22 year old cob in light work..Confused). As soon as I stopped the feed she went pretty much back to normal.

Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 09:22

Dd thinks she cut his mouth by hauling on the left rein trying to stop him. But it may have been cut before which obviously would have hurt and made him panic? He was in a right state when I got there, on absolutely high alert. Very unlike him. He was back to his self once we got back to his field.

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maxelly · 26/03/2018 09:23

Agree with ollivander, it sounds like a bogging off rather than a blind bolt but scary for your DD nonetheless. A canter in an open space can be a bit too exciting for a fit horse feeling well on spring grass and sugar-y (?) chaff and supplements and if his mouth is sore that could have affected the brakes too. If you know your horse is fresh it can be best to avoid cantering when hacking alone, especially heading towards home as it's just too much temptation for some! It's easy to say that in hindsight though and if he's never done it before I can understand how it would have taken her unawares!

Hopefully back on his normal diet he'll be OK and your DD's confidence won't have been affected in the long term, but maybe seek your instructor or an experienced person's opinion before your DD goes competing or hacking alone/doing fast work again?

Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 09:23

Yes I've managed to get his usual chaff (mollichaff calmer brilliant stuff not high in sugar and no alfalfa) and a sack of fast fibre. He can have that fir a few days

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Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 09:26

She was cantering away from home. I THINK she may have let him gallop then the road came up too quickly. There is a small chance that she is exaggerating slightly and that the road caught her unaware, she was going too fast and couldn't stop in time. This is what her (disloyal) younger sister had suggested and she might be right.

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Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 09:27

She has a lesson booked.on Tuesday if his mouth is ok

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rocketgirl22 · 26/03/2018 09:29

It would be a shame to give up over just one incident and no harm was done. I would follow the advice and just enjoy some time feeding, schooling etc and cancel the competitions for a little while.

I would want my dd to be perfectly confident before competing again and this might take a little while to come back but it will eventually.

Glad both are okay. We have had our fair share of hospital visits etc but wouldn't change it for the world.

maxelly · 26/03/2018 09:33

Possibly, or maybe it's just a case that it's a fine line between a controlled but fun fast canter and being carted off (especially on a horse you know well and trust, and even more especially for a brave, gung ho teenager, trust me I was one Wink !), and by the time you've moved from one to the other its too late to go back! So hopefully she can treat it as a learning experience rather than losing trust in the horse and confidence in the horse overall which would be a shame as sounds like they were a nice partnership before this incident...
Either way I would definitely want the horse checked over in case of any pain issues before she rides out again and build up carefully to faster work?

Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 09:39

Thank you all you've been the voice of reason. Dd is very gung-ho and brave. Hopefully this will have been a learning experience. Definitely hiding the supplement (equitop myoplast if anyone's interested!!) though

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Redpony1 · 26/03/2018 09:44

If he was mine, i'd take him off the supplement and the alfalfa, put everything back how it was including his bit and take a few steps back. Scrap plans to compete this weekend and ask her riding instructor to come and spend some time helping build the confidence back up. If he looks uncomfortable at all then definitely go through all the usual checks with the vet Smile

Similar has happened to me before, when a dog chased a young horse i had in for schooling and he bolted and jumped a 5 bar gate on to a lane, luckily no traffic around at the time. It's scary but i am a little mad so it didn't phase me Blush

One of mine is allergic to alfalfa, it doesn't make him silly, but it makes him really very itchy!

AwkwardPaws27 · 26/03/2018 09:53

Do you know anyone with a calm older horse she could ride out with for a few weeks? I used to share a pony with a penchant for tanking off, but he was a bit easier to pull up when he realised his mate wasn't following! It is bloody scary though, especially on a road.

Yecartmannew · 26/03/2018 10:14

Several of us out on a hack years ago on the main road on our way back to the yard. My daughter on her pony at the back. Big beefy motorbike comes up behind and revs...........

next thing pony galloping up past us all, daughter shouts "he won't stop". Nothing any of can do as chasing him would make it worse. Fortunately there was a bit of a hill ahead and no junctions so just shouted to her "hold on and keep him straight. He will stop at the top. DON'T LET HIM CROSS THE CARRIAGEWAY". He calmed down and stopped before the top in the end.

We were all a little shook up but recognized it as one of those things. Even the best behaved animal can act of character in the right (or wrong) circumstances. They are not machines after all.

BertrandRussell · 26/03/2018 10:32

Was it the car that freaked her out (completely understandable) or the tanking off? Because if it was the tanking off, maybe she's got a bit complacent and needs to remind herself that any horse can have moments of unoredictability. My dd got run away with at Christmas-her pony is now a retired old lady of 25 and dd was only having a little amble around the farm for old time's sake! She had a remarkable turn of speed for a pensioner and came back looking very pleased with herself indeed.

Original poster
Mercison · 26/03/2018 11:10

It was the car, also the realisation that the A road was 100m away and she had visions of careering onto the roundabout!

Off topic but I hate the fact that all new housing developments and roads don't give any thought to bridle paths. Another one finishes literally on the A road, it even has a little bridle path sign on the side of the dual carriageway, despite the fact there is no crossing and no way to get there unless you crossed the dual carriageway!!

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