Can anyone help me, my horse....

[horse_lover]

My horse TOOK OFF after a jump, not like cantering a little fast, like hand galloping and I pulled his head around to try to stop him, but he just keep rolling on, i eventually stopped him and dismounted, Henry is usually good, the worst thing he usually does is when we're cantering he sometimes goes too fast, I don't know anyother ways to stop him besides leaning back and hauling on his mouth and yanking his head around till he breaks gait, I need help, I almost fell off of a horse that is supposed to be really great and I'm cring and freaked out and need advice! :(

[Alwaysridin09]

u should practice going over small jumps at a trot, keep him at a trot when landing. also u half halts to keep him in check. lunging is a great way to show him that fast in not the only speed as well because u can lunge him over jumps. it will take time, but i think ur best bet is to trot over jumps for a bit, also the half halts should work well too.

[horse_lover]

i have done that!, we have a small jump, a few inches of the ground and he trots over those great....

[PrissyBritches]

Can you explain to me what exactly YOU do when you ask him to jump and what you do after he lands?
:)

[horse_lover]

before the jump, if he is going to fast I half halt him, if he is going too slow i squeeze him w/ my calves, as we go over the jump I am in 2 point and heels down, I give him his head, and after the jump, I ease back into sitting(instead of 2 point), and slow him down to a trot then walk and praise him, unless I am doing a course or plan to jump something else, then I still sit to the canter and the get into two point right before the next jump and so on

[PrissyBritches]

Hmm, sounds like you are doing everything correct to me. How high are the jumps that you are taking the horse over. I use to jump my horse Tazza over small jumps and she would take off after them but then i made the jumps bigger and she atomatically slowed down. i will do some research for you and see what i can find.

[*Nothin' But Equestrian*]

I know exactly what your going though! This happened to me last summer when i was riding a friends horse!! You should spend some time doing flatwork with him. Do alot of transitions everytime you school on the flat. Stay in a 20-meter circle and work on transitions like trot to walk, trot to halt, canter to trot, canter to walk and canter to trot. Make sure you keep your horse thinking and working!!! Doing loads of transitions helps to make your horse "lighter" and can make him pull against you less. This is an exercise that i do:

Pick up the canter and head around the arena. When you get to the short end of the arena ask your horse to slow down and canter a 20-meter circle in a nice, bouncy collected canter. Circle twice and then head out to the long side of the arena. Loosen your hold on the reins and really ask your horse to canter forward strongly. You want him to almost be galloping but not quite. He should listen to your legs and move foward fast. When you reach the short side again take up your contact on the reins, slow him down and put him back on the 20-meter. Do a few more times then give your horse a break. I hope this helps you like it helped me!!!!!!!!!!

[DixieGirl]

Did you do a emergancy stop and bend him?

[silverleprichuan]

If this is a one time incident then I'm glad you didn't get hurt but more than likely (ruling out pain) he was testing you. In his mind he "won" because you let him bolt, bolting is incredibly dangerous and scary but now that you've ridden it once you can figure out how to prevent it again.
If a horse is confused or green then there are 20+ ways to teach a horse how to jump quietly and in a relaxed manner. If your horses was truly just being a turd then it is an entirely different manner.
On a horse that bolts you need to do anything and everything possible to stop that horse. If it means grabbing your reins a foot from the bit and nearly pulling the bit through it's mouth, then so be it. No one wants to be mean to their horse but 10seconds of "ouch" is much better then a horse continuing to run and crashing into another horse or fence.
On a horse that bolts I think
a) sit up
b) plan where to make a circle
c) haul on the inside rein and do anything necessary to make that circle happen
d) continue to make that circle smaller until the horse is under control

no matter what, please do not put your horse up after he bolts. If you're truly shaken up (very understandable) have someone else hop on and trot around or at a minimum lunge him for a few minutes.
If he gets to go up right after he's bad then he associated bolting with getting to chill in his stall.

[PrissyBritches]

I totaly agree with the person above me.

[Alwaysridin09]

that sounds good to me. no horse wants to hurt its rider, but they may do everything in their power to end the session, or it could be fear. but, whatever u do, dont end the session on a bad note. even if u have a different person get on him, it will show him that he cant get away with it.

[horse_lover]

silver, how can I tell before he bolts, I actually think I won because I stopped himand he didn't just keep running until he felt like stopping, I pulled him out of it! We were about to jump (like a 1' 6'' jump) and he took off a little before the jump and soared over it then just kept running after it, I tried to slow him down, I mean, I didn't just like let him bolt and sit there like O no, Henry is bolting, I hope he stops soon.... I hauled on his mouth and dis-engaged his hindquarters, I don't think I let him get away fromn anything.

[horse_lover]

If this is a one time incident then I'm glad you didn't get hurt but more than likely (ruling out pain) he was testing you. In his mind he "won" because you let him bolt, bolting is incredibly dangerous and scary but now that you've ridden it once you can figure out how to prevent it again.
If a horse is confused or green then there are 20+ ways to teach a horse how to jump quietly and in a relaxed manner. If your horses was truly just being a turd then it is an entirely different manner.
On a horse that bolts you need to do anything and everything possible to stop that horse. If it means grabbing your reins a foot from the bit and nearly pulling the bit through it's mouth, then so be it. No one wants to be mean to their horse but 10seconds of "ouch" is much better then a horse continuing to run and crashing into another horse or fence.
On a horse that bolts I think
a) sit up
b) plan where to make a circle
c) haul on the inside rein and do anything necessary to make that circle happen
d) continue to make that circle smaller until the horse is under control

no matter what, please do not put your horse up after he bolts. If you're truly shaken up (very understandable) have someone else hop on and trot around or at a minimum lunge him for a few minutes.
If he gets to go up right after he's bad then he associated bolting with getting to chill in his stall.


I did ALL of these!
a) sit up
b) plan where to make a circle
c) haul on the inside rein and do anything necessary to make that circle happen
d) continue to make that circle smaller until the horse is under control

[PrissyBritches]

hmm, when you got him to stop the first time did you take him over again right away to assert your dominance?

[horse_lover]

no, I haven't been riding him very long and I didn't know how he would behave (the last horse I rode was really bad. Long Story short, it will be a while til I trust another horse) I don't know what the worst thing he will do is, I didn't know what he would do, nobody was there to watch and give me instruction, I know in my heart that I made the right choice getting off, something really bad could have happened, who knows, I could have avoided a broken leg today...

[PrissyBritches]

OH, I had no clue that you were by yourself. You did do the right thing by getting off. It was for your own saftey and thats good. Next time your ride him, try to get someone to come watch you that way you will have that extra help if needed. Try to make it pleasurable for you and the horse. I would start with the basics and work my way up. Trot over some poles lieing on the ground and take it from there.

Best of luck to you and the horse

[horse_lover]

Thank you SO much! the next few times I ride him I'm going to work on Dressage.

[Alwaysridin09]

yeah, if have a green, new, or unpredictable horse, dont ride alone. im not saying u should be scared, but its good to know if something goes wrong, u have support.

[horse_lover]

he was SUPPOSED to be just about perfect, (LIE) and he had been AWESOME the last few times I have ridin' him...

[Alwaysridin09]

i love dressage! its my favorite. henry is beautiful by the way. a great show name would be "Taking Chances" because that seems to be what u do when u ride him :rolleyes:

[DixieGirl]

Maybe round pin work first?

[horse_lover]

i love dressage! its my favorite. henry is beautiful by the way. a great show name would be "Taking Chances" because that seems to be what u do when u ride him :rolleyes:


Lol! I like that!!!

[Max]

....On a horse that bolts you need to do anything and everything possible to stop that horse. If it means grabbing your reins a foot from the bit and nearly pulling the bit through it's mouth, then so be it. No one wants to be mean to their horse but 10seconds of "ouch" is much better then a horse continuing to run and crashing into another horse or fence.
On a horse that bolts I think....

....c) haul on the inside rein and do anything necessary to make that circle happen


Be careful though when you decide to put your horses head in your lap, you could cause him to roll.The idea behind bending /flexing your horse is to do it before he gets enough speed otherwise as I said you could roll him.If he does get some speed, as the leprichaun said find a place to circle him, don't do it when there is an obstacle in the way or you could trip and roll him.

[horse_lover]

k, thnx, I didn't know that that cood make him roll

[TVF Maggie]

Well I'm assuming that he's pulling you and running away with you, so I would sit in my saddle, lean back if need be and halt him. If you cant halt him on the rail then halt him in-front of a fence, so the worst he could do is run into it, and learn a lesson from it. Also if that doesn't work i would half halt and then circle and they usually want to go slower on the circles, so he would probably slow down, and then you could halt him. Also, if he takes off right in-front of the jump and is pretty fresh, then you could just try sitting the trot to the jump, and half halt, and he should respond to that. Hope that works for ya.

[horse_lover]

no, listen, he isn't pulling me, I'm pulling onn his mouth and he won't stop, he just won't. I did turn him in a small circle though

[Love My Dun]

stuff like this happens.
it doesn't matter how long you've known a horse, or how good you're told they are, all horses will have their occasional freak-sessions and off days. give 'em a break, they can't be perfect all the time.

[horse_lover]

my pony Gracie is perfect all the time... :) O well, maybe it is just becuase she is speacial... lol

[theprancingpony]

this happened to me once in a lesson and the culprit ended up being my legs - i would have my heels down before a jump but they would swing back over the jump and the horse would take off afterwards...

[horse_lover]

well I have jumped him before and he has been great!!

[Haley]

Make sure to sit up immediately after the jump to regain balance and control. Often, that's half of the battle right there. Work on keeping him nice and collected before and after the jump, having him somewhat on the bridle and paying attention to you. Give him his head over the jump, of course, but after that immediately bring him back under control before he takes off.

[BigStarLover]

I had a similair experience, we had the last lesson of the day, so the horses had wanted to go home, so everytime i would have gone past the gate they would like turn around and try to get out, my instructor told me to squeeze with mymy left leg and then turn with my right reign. Afterwards, I just cut across the ring so my horse would not try to pull that trick again !

[fowlerk]

My retiered jumper did the same thing, I got a stronger bit (a Pelham) and used a lot of half halts. The Pelham works wonders!! The top rein is just a snaffle and if you need a little for leverage do half halts with the bottom rein, all it is a western curb chain bit. ( I explained it because people think it is really harsh.)