Horse Bolted in Harness

[Ed Thayer]

Today was disapointing for me. I have been working diligently every day or so trying to bond and develop trust with our Haflinger. We have owned him for 4 years and my daughter had been showing him the whole time. He does graet most of the time……

He has a rare tendency to bolt and try to run back to the barn for no apparent reason. He has done this three or four times with my daughter on his back under sadle. It seems to only happen once in a great while.

Today was one of those days. I had ground driven him up the street to get rid of some of his energy. He seemed fine and obeyed all the comands. I hooked him to the dog sled that I have hitched him to before and walked him around the field a couple of times. He was responsive and listened to commands. all of a sudden, he bolted…. ran full bore across the field, across the road to the barnyard, through the fence and broke several fence posts in the process.

Scared the heck out of me. I want a horse to do farm work.. Twitch some wood, pull my sap scoot etc. This horse does not seem to have any vices but I am just a beginner.

He knows the coomands but has a mind of his own. Should I be looking for another horse?

Frustrated, Ed

[sanhestar]

Hello,

Haflinger are strong minded horses. If he had success with bolting from work in the past it’s likely that he will try it again and again.

Best thing and hard, too, is for you to learn to read him better so that you can anticipate WHEN he’s going to bolt and stop him dead in his tracks. If there are people in your area that work with natural horsemanship you may consider joining a class or two for learning basic horse body language.

You may also sit down with your daughter and recollect the incidences she had with him to find common causes and/or situations in which he bolted. Knowing haflinger a bit I would say it’s very probably that he bolts when he’s asked to do something he doesn’t like to do. Both of you should try to remember if he always bolts in the same direction.

I had a horse that would bolt to the right in certain situations, preferably when turning right meant getting home, never to the left. With him it was training errors from his previous owners. I learnt to live with it and not to trigger this response by recreating the situation he would want to escape from.

BTW – I wouldn’t think of selling him, yet. A strong minded horse that comes around to want working WITH you is a great gift.

[jen judkins]

Ed, I agree wholeheartedly with sanhestar! You have a smart pony on your hands. Best to be able to out think him. That is luckily our forte with horses…our brains!

This type of behavior undersaddle comes from allowing a horse to push on the lead or bridle..creating a brace. They then keep it in reserve for those moments when they want to leave….for whatever reason. The way to fix it is to teach your horse to never pull or push on the lead or bridle. This is accomplished by being very particular when handling your horse. If they put pressue in the lead or bridle…do ‘something’ to make it difficult. I like to put pressure on the hind end…for 2 reasons…first, it keeps you from engaging in a tug of war with his head (which you will lose) and second it allows you practice disengaging their engine so to speak, which gives you control over forward momentum. Its simply a matter of proving to him that he has to give to rein pressure…no matter what. You’re the boss! Jennifer.

[Plowboy]

You’ve been given some good advice here already but after rereading you post I have something to add. In the case of a rammy or bolting horse resistance is your best friend. Ground driving is just walking and he would do that himself in the pasture. If you really want a chore horse you need to make a heavier sled or get a tractor tire to drag behind your horse. A tired horse will be a better student in a case like this. The load should be moved fairly easy but heavy enough so he has to lean into the collar to move it yet not so heavy that it makes him baulk. It sounds as if he is what some call barn sour if he runs back to the barn each time. When he is sick of what you are doing with him he decides to go back home. With a load on him if you can catch him before he tries to bolt get him turned around and go back out to work no matter what until he can walk home peacefully. The more he tries the less breaks he gets until he understands the program then reward him with breaks and he will learn to stand quicker. The quicker you get him into an honest work program the better. If he keeps getting away you’ll have a cronic runaway on your hands. Another tool I have seen used is a lungeline with a chain lead shank ran over the nose or under the chin through the halter rings. Get a rugged person to help you for a while to handle the long line. If he starts to bolt the helper still has a hold on the nose while you are gaining control with the lines. Good Luck with him.

[jen judkins]

Plowboy is giving you the sage advice from the teamster perspective…I’m all ears too! He’s right…having a load to carry will give your youngster something to pay attention to. But pay attention to how he leads and how he respects you in the preparatory stages…leading, harnessing, etc. Jennifer.

[J-L]

There are a lot of good horses out there. This one sounds like he’s a counterfeit sonofagun to me. My advice is contrary to some here, but it’s been my experience that a horse like that is not likely to come out of it given your and his experiences. I’ve taken in a few like this and have had some success with them only to return them to the owner and have it happen all over again. If he went through the fence in a runaway, he was going in a bad one and a horse that’ll runaway blind like that will get you or your kid hurt. I would get something broke, older, and coldblooded.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ed, First, I understand how frustrating it is. Many of us have seen a team on single that we have worked hard to bring along up and leave us standing in the field. It is scary, but also educational, to see the amount of force that can go with us or against us. I think you are at a crossroads with this horse and rightly so. One the hand you would like to learn from this and improve the animals ability as a work partner, on the other hand are the questions of his ability to learn from you, given your current experience level and of course a question of safety.
I think a couple of factors that could help tip the scales are what mentorship do you have available, and second are you more interested in working a horse or training one. I believe mentorship is essential to learning this craft of driving work animals. That is easy to say and many find little or know mentorship available. Some may get by with a friend they can call, some may need a neighbor that can come over and really lend a hand. I think evaluating the mentorship that is available to you and makeing the best use of it you can is important. It sounds to me like this horse needs to be trained. I don’t mean in terms of learning commands. I mean in regards to the human/horse relationship and his place in it. Hard work that takes a fair amount of time and skill. Would you rather be working on learning that and teaching it to the willful halflinger, or would you rather be skidding fire wood? I am not trying to suggest answer as I find both very rewarding and fun, just different.
I once went to visit a friend in Montana. A busy and full-time horse logger. On Saturday we got up early to drive several hours to trade a horse and buy a new one. It was clear to me that the horse we unloaded was a real beauty and superior in every way to the one we brought home. An old chunk, with half an ear missing. When I asked for an explanation it was quite simple. The horse we got rid of was knot head and couldn’t make money in the woods. This meant a lot to me as it came from a quiet teamster whose horses worked with great precision and a no wasted effort. He knew when to quite putting time and effort into a horse that was never going to meet his expectations.
Good luck Ed, Please keep the discussion going about how to proceed. Donn

[Jim Ostergard]

Just want to add to what Donn has said. This thread will benefit all as it keeps going. Some sage advice and experience so far. I can’t add much except to say that when I’m having problems with Rusty it always helps to get him to work and get him tired. After that it is almost always smooth sailing. Thanks to all for participating in this and peaceful New Year to all.
Jim

[Rick Alger]

I had a grade Haflinger with behavior like yours. I sold him at a loss to one of the most experienced horsemen in my county. The horse ran away with him.

There are many good horses out there. Why put up with one that’s unpredictable and dangerous?

[Plowboy]

Good point Donn I was suggesting a solution but hadn’t analized the whole situation. Experienced help is always a plus. Sometimes I forget I had a dozen excellent local horsemen to help me along the way when I was just a kid.

[Gulo]

Have you hobble-trained your horse? I hobble-train mine, front feet and back to one hind, first in the pen to get them used to the hobbles in conjunction with “whoa” (if they start to figit in the hobbles, i tell them “whoa” before I think they’re going to get tripped up. You need skilled help for this. It’s best a job for two, even when you’re experienced.)

But this isn’t enough. You then need to take them out to a situation and hobble them when they’re “pointed back at home” and you know they’re likely to bolt, and make them stand in the hobbles. If they start to fight and go down, tell them “whoa!” emphatically. It may take several sessions.

And it may not work with a given horse. We’ve had a bad horse and sold her too, cheap, with full disclosure to the buyer.

My neighbor, a long time teamster with quite a herd of Belgians, uses the “running W” successfully on habitual runaways. He’s a rodeo cowboy and prepared for, well, a rodeo! Me, i think i’d contemplate ridding myself of the horse before that point.

Also, anyone using this horse should do lots of round-penning with this horse to assert dominance, and make sure you’re getting submission before you go back out. And it’s not enough for you to do this and then your daughter to get on the horse. I think all the people using the horse all need to spend time teaching it they’re boss.

[strath]

Is there something special about this horse? If not look for one that doesn’t have problems that you can’t live with. It cost the same to feed a good one or a bad one. There is something wrong with all of them and it doesn’t matter who is at fault. What matters is can you fix it or can you live with it? Give it something to pull that requires real work. Having to line drive him because he is too fresh means that he knows nothing about work.

[Ed Thayer]

Wow……….

I am impressed wit the the feedback. Thank you all.

It probably sounds lazy, but I really do not have a desire or the knowledge to train a horse from scratch. However, I am not unfamilare with training animals.

I have succesfully trained several springer spaniels to hunt upland birds and I enjoy that. But dogs are not horses and I know that. There are several training methods that are similare but a wild dog or one that breaks can be corrected with a simple check cord. Not the same with a horse.

I want to pull a sap scoot in my sugar bush and pull wood for the house and evaporator. I do not want to nor can afford a tractor so my thought process was to use our draft pony for that. He was broke and driven by Amish in Ohio and was sold to us with no mention of bolting. That does not mean it did not happen before.

He really is a nice horse and NEVER hurt my daughter when she was riding him. The two times in the past 4 years or so he did bolt with her on his back, she held on and rode it out. She is very experianced in english saddle and he really has a connection with her. He just may be a better riding horse with someone that knows what they are doing and not a true work horse. I know all horses are not both.

That being said, he has always been head strong. We board one other horse and they are very close as well. If the mare can see him when he is being worked she is fine. When we head up the street to the ring or out of site she is not happy. I notice our horse will walk behind me on lead perfectly when we are going away from the barn, but as soon as we head back, his pace picks up and he will try to lead me. This does not seem to be a problem in the work harness.

I am willing to work with him but have no problem with getting a horse that will do what I want and leave the Haflinger for my daughter to ride. Maybe something older and Ed proof:D

Thank you all again and let me know what you think.

Ed

[Ira]

Ed, you just found the root of your problem. He wants to go back to the other horse, “herd bound” is the term to describe the situation. He has already learned to run away though, so I’m not sure that he would ever be safe, even in a team.

[near horse]

I have some questions for the more experienced horse people out there.

1) Does it work to hitch a herd bound horse to an older very broke horse (and in this case – bigger as well. Think big Belgian or something w/ more size and mass than the Haflinger) and use it as sort of an anchor? In other words, besides being another horse buddy that won’t take off, the bigger horse creates a larger load to get moving back towards home. OR even tack on a plow or something that you can “drop anchor” on to help get the horses mind right:)

2) What are your thoughts on taking the “herd” elsewhere for awhile? If it’s only one or two horses, can you leave them with someone for a week or month so there’s nobody for the Haflinger to want to return to?

I’m a rookie when it comes to horse training but I’d like to hear more from the experienced crowd.

Thanks.

[Author]

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