Bolting

[*Shantih*]

Hi

This morning i rode my mum's new horse, an overweight welsh cob mare who has a totally insensitive mouth, due to harsh riding from a previous owner.

I decided to go out for a hack in the near by fields and she was being very calm, even lazy, but all of a sudden a bird shot from out the tree which spooked her and she was all up on her toes. Then a dog came rushing up behind barking and she was off like a rocket, and could i stop her, could i heck! I tried turning her but she was so strong, i tried not to panic and spoke in a calm (as calm as i could be considering!) tone of voice "wo-oah". Luckily, as she is so unfit she ran out of steam, but it was pretty scary to lose control like that! Its at times like that that u realise just how unpredictable and how much more power a horse has over you.

[kedwards]

That's a scary experience. Good for you for keeping your cool! It sounds like you handled it very well.

[Bel]

My old loan horse used to bolt all the time, he was an ex-racer. The smallest thing would set him off. One time we where going through a gate and my foot hit the post and he was off. Thankfully it was spring time and the grass was knee high, I just rolled off him the way i learnt as a child landed safely. Thankfully my friends had seen him streeking across the field and were waiting for him at the gate. In all fairness to Wilbur ( the Horse) i was riding with out sturips so coming off was all i could do. He was hard mothed too so asking him to turn or stop was not going to happen.
When a horse bolts on you all i think you can do is try to keep you wits about you and ether hang on and wait til the steam run out as you did *Shantih* or bail out as i did.