My horse will bolt right off what can I do to control him?

A horse that bolts — that takes off at a gallop with little or no warning and does not respond to the rider's attempts to slow or stop him — is one of the most dangerous behavioral problems in riding and deserves to be treated with the seriousness that genuine danger requires. Addressing a bolting horse requires both immediate practical strategies for managing the bolt when it happens and longer-term training work that addresses the cause. Before any training approach is applied, a veterinary evaluation is warranted for any horse that has recently developed bolting or whose bolting has increased in frequency. Pain is a significant driver of bolting — back pain, gastric ulcers, and ill-fitting tack can produce the explosive forward flight that presents as bolting when the underlying cause is the horse attempting to escape discomfort. Ruling out physical causes before attributing the behavior to training or temperament is not optional. For managing the bolt when it occurs, the one-rein stop is the most important emergency tool available and should be practiced at slower gaits before it is ever needed at a full gallop. The one-rein stop involves taking one rein and bringing it back toward your hip in a smooth consistent motion that bends the horse's head and neck to the side and disengages his hindquarters, bringing him into a decreasing spiral that ends in a stop. A horse that is bent laterally cannot propel himself forward effectively, and the one-rein stop bypasses the forward resistance that a bolting horse applies to both reins simultaneously. Returning to basics in training addresses the longer-term cause of bolting in horses whose bolting is primarily a training issue. Transitions from canter to trot to walk, repeated in patterns that the horse cannot anticipate, develop the responsiveness to the half-halt and the downward transition aid that bolting prevention requires. A horse that responds reliably to a half-halt at the canter in calm work has the trained response available when excitement or fear escalates. Avoiding situations that have previously triggered bolting while the training work is underway reduces the opportunity for the bolting behavior to be practiced and reinforced. A confirmed bolter ridden in situations that reliably provoke bolting before the training work has been established will simply practice bolting rather than developing the new responses the training is trying to install.