The Horse Behavior Problem Solver by Jessica Jahiel

Author:Jessica Jahiel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Published: 2004-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Chronic Bolter

Q My new horse (Thoroughbred, three-year-old ex-racehorse) seems to be a chronic bolter. I am heartbroken because he is so beautiful and such a good mover. He is everything I have ever wanted, except for this problem. There are certain things that just seem to scare him to death, and he just whirls around and runs blindly. One of the other riders who boards here has a lot of experience training horses. She says I am doing everything wrong, and I will only make his bolting worse. Here is what happens: We will be in the arena or sometimes in the field, and he will see something that scares him. I never know what it will be. Last time it was a bendy tree moving in the wind, the time before that it was a mailbox, and the time before that it was an upside-down manure bucket that somebody had put in the arena to use as a mounting block. None of these things are scary and he should have seen them all before. He was fine when the tractor came past in the next field, pulling a big harrow.

I try to get him as close as I can to whatever it is, then just sit there quietly so that he can calm down. I thought it was working but the other rider says I have to make him put his nose on it or he will keep bolting away. Well, I tried that, and he got totally scared and whirled and ran away and it took me a long time to get him under control. It doesn’t matter how much pressure I put on the reins, he just goes faster and faster. He calmed down after about ten times around the arena, and he does the same thing in the field.

I am afraid to take him on the trail because of this, and I don’t know what to do. I really like this horse and want to keep him. I don’t want to put a twisted wire bit in his mouth as someone suggested for a brake. How can I stop him? I’ve heard of something called a “pulley rein;” should I use that?

A Actually, your own instincts are wiser than the advice you’ve been getting. It’s true that a horse that will go up to something and put its nose on it probably won’t panic, whirl, and bolt — but the horse has to approach the item itself, and put its nose on it out of interest and curiosity, not because someone has forced it into contact with the terrifying object. If you want him to approach something scary, get as close to it as you can without him going into panic mode. Then sit tall, loosen your reins, and let him stand there. If you make it clear that the choices are “stand still” or “investigate the object,” his natural curiosity will eventually take him closer and closer to the object, and he will probably put his nose on it eventually — at which point he may jump back.

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