bolting problem

[moff]

first of all i will apologise for the size of this post as i am new to the forum and will have to give u all some background info first so you understand.
i'm seventeen and own a 16.1hh cb she came to me with servere sweet itch and a few behaviour problems but one of them i am finding a bit difficult. She has this thing about ocassionally (very rare now but still does it) when you are holding/leading her she just bolts! my dad was holding her to day while i put her some d.itch on to keep her sweet itch at bay and the other pony that she is in the field with bolted off down the field so she just spun around and bolted down there with him! obviously i know that this is very bad manners and she needs to stop but the problem that i have is that when she bolts NO ONE can hold her as she is so strong so i can not disciplin her for it, because when she bolts and i go back to get her again she comes more aless straight to me (as for me she is good to catch). I really cant understand her as people tell me we have a very good bond and were always hacking out and showing together. i love her to bits and she is deff 1 in a million-if i can just get her to stop this once and for all she would be absolutly perfect! she is very affectionate and such a sweetie. Before i owned her a girl had her on loan and she used to do this to that girl everytime she brought her in. She now only does it once a month-if that, i just want to totally stop her altogether so if anyone knows of anything please help. many thanx alex.
ps.i have tried a preasure halter and leading her in a bridle-but leading in a bridle is not always convinient and the preasure halter didnt work-she just resisted it. what i'm doing at the minute is if she bolts i go and get her again and take her back to the place where she bolted from and do what i was doing with her before she bolted so that she learns that she cant get out of it. alex xxx

[wonkeywoody]

Hi
I have a cb too! You dont say how long you have had her and how old she is?
You are doing the right thing by bringing her back and carrying on with whatever you are doing.
By nature cb's are greedy! Have you tried giving her a treat (apple carrot etc) during what you are doing and then a bit when you have finished? I am not a great fan of treats but you wont, as you know, by strength stop her 'going'!
Out of interest, what were her other bad bits that you say are coming good?

[Yann]

Your approach is sensible but you could try clipping her on to a lunge line rather than a standard short lead rope. If and when she goes step across quickly away from her line of travel so you are able to open the angle and bring her round on to a circle, it will reduce the reward factor she gets from bombing off. I'd also consider bringing her just out of the field to do whatever you have to do with her and make it as positive an experience as you can. Treats are good unless you have any issues with her mugging or biting.

[carthorse]

I have an ID who does the same so I know what a difficult problem it is to deal with.

Personally I've given up trying to cure the problem & instead I work around it. If I want him in he usually comes to call but if he doesn't I take some treats into the field, go to him, give him something, he walks to the gate with me & only then do I put a headcollar on him. Likewise if I want to put something like flycream on in the field I do it with him loose. For some reason if he's unrestricted he's far more likely to stick around even if he isn't keen on what I'm doing.

For leading I find a Dually better than anything else I've tried. I also taught him "quarters" as a command to swing his quarters away from me & if he's about to tank that can be very very effective if I'm quick enough - it's hard to run when your back end is doing a 180 turn around your front legs :p. Also he's far less likely to tank off if led on a very loose rope - back to the hating restriction theme.

Personally I don't lead with a lunge line as I found it doesn't stop him & scared the living daylights out of us both when he galloped off with it trailing behind him. For normal use I clip one lead rope on the end of another to give a long rope but if he's really wound up I just use a normal length rope because ultimately I can't stop him & if he gets loose I'd rather he didn't have enough rope to tangle himself in.

[moff]

thanx every1 :)

wonkeywoody-shes around 12years old and iv'e not had her a year yet (will have owned her a year in november-i knoew her for around a year previous to that. I used to ride her ocassionally and look after her etc) i realise that i have not had her long so i do not expect her 2 be prefect. and her previous behaviour problems were-her bolting as u know. she was terrible to lead, she reared when ridden (now hacks out down busey roads on her own) and she would refuse point blank to box (i have yet to travel her as don't own a box but i borrowed a friends and walked her through that 3times).

yann-thank you for the advie but as wonkeywoody said when she bolts theres just no chance of stopping her (doesnt matter how strong u are) and as carthorse said she would probably get tangled in the lunge line (shes a bit thick like that-and would prob panick lol)

carthorse-for me she will come to call (most of the time unless she has LOADS of grass. and even then she will let me catch her as soon as i get to her) and she will follow me if she wants to-unless she feels that the feild has more to offer (food wise):rolleyes:

thanx again every1 ..alex xxx