# How to train horse not to bolt after a fall



## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

When you fall off, how do you approach him afterwards?

I suppose the best solution would be don't fall off ;D

However, he may be expecting reprimand and bolts- is it a YEEHAW bolt as he's got you off, or a scared bolt?


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## PoohLP (Jan 15, 2009)

Afterwards I'm very matter o'fact. Just calm him down, then get back on and get on with the ride. No point in punishing him for things that aren't his fault - like being a stupid spooky, playful baby with a rider who was being less attentive then they should have been . 

My guess is he has never had someone fall off him before, so it is probably a little bit of a "oh, S^&(*, what happened" followed by a "galloping around like a loon in the big arena is really fun! response." 

Regardless, the response I want is, "my rider came off, stand and face." I just need to know how to train it. If I can do it without having to jump off him a lot, that would be great - he is nearly 17 hands so the ground is very far away!


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## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

I haven't much experience, but I just wanted to ask because when mine threw me she freaked when I approached her.

Have you tried riding with others? Maybe he would just run to the other horse...providing other horse doesn't burger off too.

I hope other posters will be able to give you more help!

That is a long way too fall.. have you thought about a body protector if this is going to be a regular thing for the moment as a just in case?


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## FreeDestiny (Jul 3, 2011)

I think I've heard that if a horse respects your command and you both trust eachother, he'll be encouraged to stay near you. Of course, if there is something like a dog that gets you dumped, and said dog is still around while your brushing the sand off your butt, your horse is probably still pretty scared and just wants to get away. 

Honestly these are all things I've heard, but I think if the way YOU were riding your horse beforehand was painful or extremely uncomfortable for him/her, he/she may just run to avoid having the same pain inflicted upon them again.

Oh, and another thing I just thought of, let's say you lose your balance cantering/sitting trot whatever, and you fall off only because of that, a loud thud and spray of sand next to your horse may spook him too. 

I'm no help, but I thought I'd chime in. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

what if you tried practicing fallen off of him...
so like first week have someone help you and hold his head while you fall of his side. then when he is comfortable with you falling have the other person hold him on a loose lead and when you fall have them give correction as needed 
then when he is comfortable with that, try falling off with you holding the lead so when you fall you are putting pressure on him to stay with you... 
do it all gaits and on lunge line might help :/
not sure if it would work but it looks good in my imagination... but then again imaginations always make things look better


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

One thing you could do is take a tire inner tube and lay it across his back. Start walking him and when the tube slips off make him stop. In time he'll learn to stop on his own when it or the rider slides or slides off. I've never done this but have heard it works.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## PoohLP (Jan 15, 2009)

Dear God, I hope it's not a regular thing! I don't generally fall off - I've had the creature nearly a year and these are the only two times it has happened. I have no intention of allowing it to become a regular occurrence. But I want a safety measure in place, just in case it ever happens again. 

This has nothing to do with the horse being in pain under saddle or being afraid of me. The first time was a combination of him being playful and me leaning forward out of my saddle to rub his neck for having been a good boy over his first little oxer. I know he likes to throw his head down at the canter when he gets playful so that is a bad on me. The other time he only got me off because I was leaning over his side to tighten the girth or adjust my stirrup and he spooked and spun out from under me. Allllmost saved that one, but not quite. 

Other horses were in the ring. They didn't help.

I don't think he's thinking about respect or lack of respect - he's just running. That is why I want to training an instictual response - rider off = stop. Do not gallop past go, do not collect $200 bales of alfalfa...


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## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

even if you dont plan on falling off often i would practice it for his learning. falling off can spook a horse even more when they are either spooky or hot... which adds another spooky thing for him to deal with at that moment. if you practice it then it will be more comfortable with the feeling and get used to what you want afterwards


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## DieselPony (Jul 26, 2010)

I'd go with what usandpets said. I started it with my mare and it was working. Plus it helps get him used the thud of falling stuff. 

After a while you can use two lunge lines, one to control him and one to hold the sack on him until a given moment when you let go and let it drop or pull it off to drop on a different side.


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

usandpets said:


> One thing you could do is take a tire inner tube and lay it across his back. Start walking him and when the tube slips off make him stop. In time he'll learn to stop on his own when it or the rider slides or slides off. I've never done this but have heard it works.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Only had time to do a quick post and wanted to add more. 

Another thing I've seen done is work your horse with others doing spooky things around you. This gets the horse to remained focused on you. 

What I do with our horses is to spook them on purpose in a controlled area. Basically desensitizing them. As long as they spook or keep moving, the spook stays there. Once they stand still and relax, I remove what causes them to spook. They still may jump or "flinch" when spooked but they don't run off.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

FreeDestiny said:


> I think I've heard that if a horse respects your command and you both trust eachother, he'll be encouraged to stay near you.


Very true. I just want to add not so much "respect the command" as being next to you is the most comfortable and safe place for the horse (especially in a strange surroundings (say, new trail or a clinic)).

Frankly, I don't have an answer on how to train that. I did fall off my qh and was lucky enough for her to stand and wait on me to get my bones together and get my butt up.


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## Tnavas (Nov 29, 2011)

The arabs in the dessert teach their horses to wait for them by having a long rope on them, they then 'fall off' hold onto the rope and gie the horse a treat. Do this over and over again and the horse will learn to stand when youo fall off.


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

Take a feed sack, a real fiber one if you can find it and put a little weight in it. Old books, water bottles whatever and drape it across the horses back. Take your horse for a walk, trot now on a lead. The sack will fall off eventually and randomly. Instant whoa and a treat, repeat over and over daily. When your horse has it start doing it with the sack up there behind the saddle or across your lap and randomly loose the sack.

Even after my horse had the concept I would occasionally repeat the process once and while to make sure she remembered.

This actually saved my butt when I was a teen. I was riding alone and bareback. I was pretty deep into the woods. On the way back home somebody had discarded a washing machine along the trail. My mare flipped out. Being a teen and immortal I was bound and determined to make the mare look at the monster. We battled and eventually the mare reared and flipped over on top of me. I was pretty fortunate that it was a sandy area on the trail but I was hurt pretty bad just the same. The mare stood nearby and waited for me to mount. Not sure how I got back up there but I did. Would have never made the walk back out.


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## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

Tnavas said:


> The arabs in the dessert teach their horses to wait for them by having a long rope on them, they then 'fall off' hold onto the rope and gie the horse a treat. Do this over and over again and the horse will learn to stand when youo fall off.



I disagree with this, unless you're saying fall off on purpose.. but even then if the horse bolts and you are attached, or stuck in said rope its as bad as being stuck in a stirrup :?


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## MN Tigerstripes (Feb 20, 2009)

I trained my old mare to stop when she'd feel a rider coming off. She was to the point that she'd stop dead if you started to swing your leg up and over. 

Not exactly sure how I did it, this was years ago, probably at least 15 and she's the only horse I taught. More that likely I just started jumping off at a walk and telling her "whoa" and once she got it down at that speed moved up to a trot.


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## Tnavas (Nov 29, 2011)

DuffyDuck said:


> I disagree with this, unless you're saying fall off on purpose.. but even then if the horse bolts and you are attached, or stuck in said rope its as bad as being stuck in a stirrup :?


This is an age old tradition of training the horse to stand when you fall off. You don't want to be left to walk home in the desert. The reason you have a long rope or rein is to allow the horse to take a few steps before you pull him up. You will of course start teaching this in halt first then increase to a faster pace. WARNING don't teach to a games pony as you want the pony to continue moving with you if you have to run to equipment.

Yes you do deliberately fall off, obviously you wouold be doing this in a sensible environment such as an arena and would no doubt remove your feet from the stirrups before jumping off. It is a very good idea to teach yourself and emergency dismount anyway. 

If you teach your horse to stop when you fall off you won't be at risk of being dragged!


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

I'll be working with this on Lucky pretty soon..in the next week or so. She'll already stop at a walk (I just slide off and land on my feet, she stops), but I haven't tried it at the trot, yet. I know for a fact that she won't stop if I fall off during a barrel run (canter/gallop), because..well, it's happened before, haha. I don't plan to go to shows and fling myself off her in the middle of our run (especially when I'm aiming for shaving 2-3 seconds off and actually getting in the money lol), but I'm hoping to work on walk/trot stopping this winter, and moving out to the round pen for cantering when the weather gets nicer (and NOT wet..I don't want to try that again).

And even though I originally wanted to do it for the wrong reason (wow factor that my horse stops and doesn't run around wildly and then slide stop into the gate if I fall off, like the rest of the barrel horses around here), it'll add to our safety at shows, trails (even if I'm with a group), and general riding. Sure, my horse isn't really going anywhere in an arena, but why do I want to walk from my nice, comfy spot on the ground that may or may not be accompanied by blood, over to my horse that looks like she's a psychopath? I don't plan on -ever- falling off at a show again, but who's plans actually fall into place all the time? Coz mine sure don't, haha.

Anyway..I plan on flinging myself off (and preferably landing on my feet) with my whoa ready, and my lead rope in my hand. My lead will give her a bit of room to stop without being yanked, but she will stop and stand. I have a feeling that she'll be relatively easy to train this with though, as she actually chooses to be with me now instead of bolting out of the arena and back to the horses in the field since we've understood the terms that ground-tying encompasses. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Lakotababii (Nov 28, 2010)

Ive done a few things to help my horse understand. Some have already been mentioned. For one, I throw things on him, that I know will fall off, and when they do I expect him to stand calmly. I've let the saddle slip (at a walk) and let blankets fall off of him, all with me stopping him afterwards to correct his "problem." I've done this at a lunge and on the lead line.

Another thing I do is "bail." Bareback at a walk I will randomly hop off. Holding the reins, I stand where I got off at. He stops and faces (due to the pressure created by the reins) and I praise him. Also, I slide on and off a lot, at a stand still, to get them used to all the sliding and slipping. (WITHOUT A SADDLE) 

One other thing: Train yourself. When you fall, hold onto the reins. As far as I'm concerned, when I fall, my horse is gonna feel it too. Mind you, I do not use harsh bits, so as to not hurt the horse, but I definitely bump him when I fall, similar to pulling back for a stop. They stand and wait for me to get up. Obviously, use common sense. If the horse is gonna bolt when you fall, let go. Or if the situation is dangerous to hold onto the reins, then let go. :wink:


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

MN Tigerstripes said:


> I trained my old mare to stop when she'd feel a rider coming off. She was to the point that she'd stop dead if you started to swing your leg up and over.
> 
> Not exactly sure how I did it, this was years ago, probably at least 15 and she's the only horse I taught. More that likely I just started jumping off at a walk and telling her "whoa" and once she got it down at that speed moved up to a trot.


This is what I work on with all my horses. I will start at the walk and get them going along all nice and relaxed. Then I start to lean off the side and give a verbal/rein cue for a stop at the same time. I work on that until I can feel them starting to stop whenever I shift my weight. Then, I start actually stepping off while they are walking. If they stop when I hit the ground, then they get a good scratch in all their favorite places and if they don't, then I will stop them and back them up a few steps from the ground and then scratch on them while they stand still for a few moments. Then I get on and do it again and again and again until they are extremely solid on the stop when I get off both sides. 

Then I start it over at the trot with leaning off and working toward just stepping off. I work until they are very solid and then I work on it at the lope as well. I've never tried it at a run because I am uncoordinated enough that I would end up eating dirt, but this method has always worked for me and the horses almost always stick around if I fall.


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## Legend (Nov 15, 2011)

Gah, this has happened way to much lately. I have fallen off, and my horse runs like a loon for a minute or two, then, once I get up, regain my breath, and wonder why in the world I put up with this, I head over to my loon, if he is even in sight. Then, once he spots me, he gallops over to me, slides to a stop before he reaches me and waits for me to mount. 

Smrobs, how does that training method work if you fly off their neck? (I unfortunately do this stunt the most) Sorry, not trying to stir anything up, but if you train them to stop when you swing your leg over, or lean over, or stepping off, it seems that would teach them to stop only if you fall of the sides of the saddle, not if you fly off their necks...?


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

It's not just training them to stop when you step off, but more training them to stop whenever the weight on their back gets severely unbalanced. I've never gone off over the neck of one like, say, a jumper would, but I would share a similar story.

I was working cattle and the way the pens were set up, I had to push 7 or 8 head at a time up an alley before jumping off my horse to run up under the roof of a shed to shut the gate behind them. These cattle were very pushy and would run you over if they got half a chance so I had to keep them going pretty fast the whole way to give myself enough time to shut the gate before they turned around and ran me over so we were traveling at a long trot/lope when I would step off.

The horse that I was riding was one of my older horses that had been through this type of stuff a couple hundred times. Anyway, on one run up the alley, one of the lead cattle got up there faster than the others and had already turned around. I was halfway out of the saddle when I saw her coming back my way at a run and I knew there was no chance that I could get back on because my momentum was carrying me toward the ground and Dobe was already applying the brakes pretty hard. I knew that if I stepped off, that 900 pound heifer would run me over and possibly hurt me pretty bad so I kept my left foot in the stirrup, my right hand on the horn, and my left hand had a handful of mane. When I reached the point where my grip came tight, it spun me around and I bounced off Dobe's left shoulder pretty darn hard. Hard enough to kind of knock the air out of me. I stayed that way until all the cattle had turned around and ran back past me (20-30 seconds) and Dobe stood stock still the entire time with me hanging off the side of him like a tick. 

IMHO, if a horse can learn to tolerate that while a handful of cattle almost as big as he is are running within about 3 feet of him, then it should work about any other time as well.


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## Jumper4ever (Jan 2, 2011)

my mare bolts and runs off bucking, not a good thing for an event horse to do. My pony and my other horse do stop though. I have trained them to stop by at any speed jumping off them and planting my feet and making them stop, i also do this on the babies im training. Also, if at a walk or whatever speed your comfortable, start leaning off their side and make them stop. if you're in a discipline where when you start leaning off their side as in falling off, it makes them realize when their rider is slipping off to stop. Good luck and have fun!


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

I'll be curious to know if your method of practicing "falling off" works. My horse was nice enough to wait for me to get up and make sure I was okay only to run home once I got up, so I've also thought about attempting to train stopping after a quick dismount into my horse. Please post back if it works for you.


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## Jumper4ever (Jan 2, 2011)

i've used this method on many horses. I am not afraid to actually fall onto the ground if need be, so this method has proven to really work for me


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## FoxyRoxy1507 (Jul 15, 2008)

practice falling off... thats really all you can do.. i have taught this to all my horses and it has helped IMMENSELY in situations when this has happened and they just stand there


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