How do you handle a horse that bolts or runs away when frightened?

A horse that bolts — takes off at speed without the rider's direction and without responding to rein pressure to slow down — is one of the most dangerous under-saddle problems, and Clinton Anderson, Pat Parelli, and Warwick Schiller address it with a combination of immediate correction technique and foundational preparation that prevents the behavior from developing. Clinton Anderson's immediate technique for a horse that bolts is the one-rein stop: picking up one rein and pulling it to the hip, which disengages the hindquarters and pulls the horse into a tight, slowing circle. The one-rein stop is a fundamental that Anderson teaches from the very beginning of a horse's training, and he practices it regularly so it becomes automatic for the horse — the horse that knows the one-rein stop well will often begin to circle softly with a relatively light pull, before the bolt escalates. Anderson teaches riders to use the one-rein stop any time the horse shows the pre-bolt signs — sudden attention shift, stiffening of the back, elevation of the head — rather than waiting for the full bolt to develop. Parelli addresses bolting as a Right Brain Extrovert response — a horse that is both reactive and energetic — and recommends building confidence and forward/forward games that allow the horse to express its energy in directed, manageable ways rather than through flight. His approach creates an emotional outlet for the horse's energy that makes bolting less necessary as a fear response. Schiller's perspective on bolting focuses on the rider's response to the first sign of fear. Riders who tighten their hands, grip with their legs, and brace their bodies when a horse becomes alert are communicating — through their own body — that the situation is indeed alarming. The horse reads the rider's tension as confirmation of its own fear. He teaches riders to consciously soften their hands and bodies when a horse becomes alert, which communicates calm rather than alarm, and which many horses respond to by settling rather than escalating toward a bolt.