The bolting horse may be the most frightening thing a rider can experience. It's a very dangerous situation when a horse blacks out and runs for his life, he may run into traffic, lose his footing at high speed, run over a cliff or run you into a tree. The unfortunate truth is that horses become runaways for natural reasons. They're prey animals and in the wild they escape to survive. They can't take chances either. While a human might want to evaluate a situation before deciding to flee, a prey animal can't wait to get attacked by a mountain lion to find out if the threat was real or not. In the wild, the choice to flee or stay is made by the alpha of the herd. The problem with riding, is that this instinct exists but there can be situations when the "herd" is you and your horse and something scares him enough for the escape survival instinct to take over, and in an instant he's a runaway.
There is one practical technique we can use when the situation occurs, but the best thing to do is minimize the chances of it happening in the first place. Let's talk about that first. You can't prevent a horse from bolting, but you can take steps to minimize the risk. Now that you understand why horses bolt in the wild and the role of the alpha horse, it makes sense that a back to basics training approach that makes you the clear leader of the herd is essential. We want the rider to assume the role of the alpha in the herd, so that the horse will look for guidance from the rider to determine whether or not a situation is scary enough to warrant escape (of course it rarely is).
Train your horse so that he will listen to you and your commands. This begins with a round pen training program. Don't just take the horse to the round pen to run off steam, do it for communication and to establish leadership (read my article on horse round pen training for details). Training in the round pen, if done correctly, will establish a solid foundation of trust, respect, and leadership. These are all factors that reduce, but can't eliminate the risk of bolting.
You can build on that foundation with several other exercises, doing them with the intent of having your horse pay attention to you at all times. One is simple leading, walking your horse around and throwing in stops and leading from different positions (including driving - to reinforce dominance). Lunging a horse is also an excellent training exercise - if done properly. Do not use lunging to wear down a horse that you think is "hot". That's ridiculous. Use lunging to teach communication and get the horse listening to you. He needs to listen to your commands while lunging, this reinforces the foundation established in the round pen and will carry over to riding. Stopping and slowing down need to be as much a part of your lunging training as is trotting and cantering around in circles.
Spend some time riding in a training mode instead of just going out to ride. That is make up some exercises that require the horse to pay attention.
Two more exercises that have a practical aspect other than establishing leadership are dropping the head and flexing. Dropping the head is important for promoting submission and relaxation. Flexing teaches the horse the one rein emergency stop. Flexing should be started on the ground and practiced in the saddle, every single time you're with your horse. A horse that flexes well is far less dangerous because you can crank his head around and usually bring him to a stop. I know it works because I've used it on the trail. But for it to work it has to be automatic, both for you and your horse. That means routine practice. You can also work on desensitization to make your horse more calm and confident around uncomfortable stimuli like loud noises.
All of these exercises and training tips are great but they must be done on a routine basis. Don't "train" your horse once and then stop and expect him to behave well on the trail. Ultimately you can't "prevent" bolting but you can lower the risk and be prepared if it happens.
David McMahon is a freelance author and horse owner. He invites you to visit [http://horse-training-tips.com] where you can learn more about dealing with a bolting horse [http://www.horse-training-tips.com/bolting-horse/].
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