Driving..runaway question

[Leeana]

Luckly i dont have to worry about that really. We have a huge pasture where about 90 cattle run and all so i usually take him in there. The only time he has ran with me was when the cows started running and i guess he wanted to but i wasnt worried or anything ...we were in a pasture so nothing really he could run into. I just pull back and yess 'whoaa easy boy ..easy'. It probaly would calm them to hear your voice.

 

[GREENWOODMINIS]

YOU HEAD FOR SOMETHING SOLID LIKE A WALL...BUILDING ETC...AND, IF NEED BE A FENCE ASAP...ALTHOUGH THE FENCE WOULD BE MY LAST CHOICE FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.

CIRCLING WORKS WITH THE RIDING HORSES BUT... A HORSE HOOKED TO A CART...YOU STAND A HUGE CHANCE OF FLIPPING YOURSELF OVER AND CAUSING FAR GREATER DAMAGE TO YOU AND HORSE. EVEN BIG CIRCLES WITH A FREAKED OUT HORSE COULD GO WRONG...THOSE CARTS FLIP VERY EASY.

DON'T USE STEADY PRESSURE PULLING BACK...PULL AND SLIGHTLY RELEASE...AND, KEEP REPEATING. IF YOU PULL REALLY HARD...THE HORSE WILL PUSH INTO THE PRESSURE...MEANING YOU HAVE NO CONTROL...ALSO GRABBING UP THE REINS TIGHT WILL FREAK HIM FURTHER AND ONLY THROW GASOLINE ON THE FIRE.

STAY CALM AS YOU CAN AND TRY TO GUIDE HIM TO A SAFER PLACE TO RUN HIM INTO SOMETHING. HIS NATURAL INSTINCT WILL BE TO STOP WHEN HE SEES THE WALL OR SOLID SURFACE COMING UP IN FRONT OF HIM.

I WOULD NEVER JUMP OUT OF A MOVING CART...THINGS COULD GO DOWN HILL FAST THERE...I HAVE HEARD HORROR STORIES OF HORSES RUNNING LOSE WITH THE CART ATTACHED. NOT TO MENTION YOU COULD REALLY HURT YOURSELF TRYING TO GRAB REINS...WHILE GETTING OUT.

AND, TRYING TO HOLD A FREAKING OUT HORSE BY THE BRIDLE...WELL, YOU WILL GET THE OLD EXPRESSION OF "GETTING THE SHAFT"...I WOULD ALMOST WANT TO SETTLE HIM WHILE "IN" THE CART.

IT IS A SCARY THING TO HAPPEN BUT, IF CAN KEEP YOUR WITS TO YOURSELF, THE HORSE BEING SCARED WILL SENCE YOUR CALMNESS AND HELP HIM SETTLE DOWN.

I WILL SAY A PRAYER FOR YOUR FRIEND...I HOPES SHE HEALS QUICKLY!!

LIS

 

[WhyMinis]

My first driving lesson, the second thing that Shelly went over was what to do in a runaway situation. She advised not to head for a solid object also for the same reasons... that duck out and run at the last minute would result in an accident.

There were a couple of things she suggested that weren't mentioned:

1. Talk to your horse and use all the words you use during training, Whoa, walk, easy... one of them may click. Example she used was a friend whose horse didn't seem to here Whoa.. but Walk clicked in his mind and he slowed to a walk.

2. Try to steer towards a place where the going is not as good, such as tall grass so that it makes the horse work harder.

I'm sorry about your friend and I hope she will be alright. Runaways are my greatest driving fear. I try to train my horses to stop when they are frightened and face whatever they are afraid of but it is a fight against instinct. Rambo bolted for a whole 3 strides yesterday because the Air conditioner unit turned on about 10 ft behind him, not a runaway situation but enough to get my heart thumping.

 

[SunQuest]

I would like to add and ponder one point.  If you are on a roadway it might prove difficult to turn in circles big or small.  As I said before I have never had a runaway (still knocking on wood) and with the exception of the firecrackers this woman was forced to experience have gone through many things which could have resulted in a bad situation.  In this area there were a number of incidents where some warped minded young people were pelting mennonite horses with eggs.  They found out that a few mennonite boys were equally armed and had pretty good aim as well.

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If one is on the road and can't find a safe place to get the horse off the road to circle as in a parking lot or into an open area, then all one can do is still try to guide the horse and keep it safely out of harm's way without tipping the cart while try to talk to the horse and get it calmed down. Also, sawing on the reigns may help in this situation, but again, you need to get left and right control first than you can work on stopping. When I was on my Arab and she bolted because of kids, we were on the road. We ran about a quarter of a mile until we go to my Aunt's place where I knew I could safely circle her as her place was the first place without a fence or trees that got in the way. I knew what I was going to do before I got there and let her run until I could get the situation under control at that spot.

If you can control the direction the horse is moving and if you have enough room to allow them to run, even if in a straight line, they will eventually tire out.

It is those roads that are busy where you have cross roads where you can get hit are the ones that you really have to worry about. Or really curvy roads and you don't have any steering control.

Of course there are always unique circumstances, so each time would be different if you are not in an arena or pasture. Know your area that you are driving in. Look for places along your way that would work for an emergency. Be a "defensive driver" where you are prepared for those emegencies by having a plan in your head about where you can safely turn at to get into a spot where you can circle if your horse becomes uncontrollable.

But in any event, one must try to remain calm and try to think of where they can go to give them time to regain control. And unfortunately, there could still be times where one has no choice and will get hurt. So you can only do your best and try not to panic.

 

[GREENWOODMINIS]

I WANTED TO TOUCH ON ANOTHER THING AS WELL...HELMETS ARE A WONDERFUL THING TO WEAR. I WEAR ONE ESPECIALLY WHEN STARTING THE YOUNG ONES...THEY ARE A PAIN TO WEAR...BUT, COULD SAVE YOU FROM A HEAD INJURY.

A COUPLE OF PEOPLE HAVE BROUGHT UP A GOOD POINT ABOUT THEM DUCKING OUT...YES, THIS IS A POSSIBILITY FOR SURE..BUT, THEN AGAIN WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A RUNAWAY...OUT OF CONTROL, RUNNING FOR ITS LIFE...AND, YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE LEAST OF INJURIES TO YOU AND YOUR HORSE...

IF I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST NOT GOING TO STOP AND DANGER WAS AHEAD...I STILL WOULD HEAD FOR THE WALL OR BUILDING...BUT, THAT JUST ME...

BUT, YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO DO WHAT YOU THINK BEST AT THE TIME AND, USE GOOD JUDGEMENT.

ALOT OF FACTORS GO INTO YOUR APPROACH...ARE ON A ROAD? A FIELD, TRAINING BARN, THE SHOW RING ETC...STAY CALM AND THINK THROUGH IT.

CALM, CALM, CALM YOUR HORSE DEPENDS ON YOU.

GOOD LUCK...MAY THE HORSE BE WITH YOU

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Well..I have been thinking..I think I would get the heck out of that cart..BUT I am just not sure if I would have the guts to jump..anybody driving should have a backup plan in my humbled opinion..since we NEVER know what can happen..My friend has 2 breaks in One leg..broken rist and punktered lung ..ribs broken..

she managed somehow to crawl into the cart when the horse came back to her..and told him GO HOME..and he did bring her home!!

What a good boy, and a brave lady! The concensus at the ADS events I have been at is that bailing is a bad idea. Not primarily because of the risk of injury to yourself or the unguided horse, but because of the tremendous threat to those around you. This is not so much the case with a mini (especially in a rural environment), but the horror stories people were telling about TEAMS of Friesians bolting at shows and roaring loose through a barn aisle dragging their overturned cart behind them were enough to turn your hair white!

MAN but a large horse loose and panicked and attached to a cart is a terrible sight! They will bodyslam people, trailers, cars, barn doors, anything because there is no one to guide them and that cart is wider then they are and only panicking them more. For the sake of those around you, try to stay with that horse if you can.

You should pull HARD on ONE rein if you have a runaway. 
...Always try to have a pocket knife with you, in case you have to cut leather.  I have a tool box attached to my cart.

Only if you want to overturn. As others have said, carts have a very small turn radius (especially at speed) and one rein only will get you killed or flip the horse in the shafts as he throws his neck up and back to one side and crashes horribly. It is, however, a very good idea to always carry a sharp knife with you when driving.

One suggestion I read which I thought was a great idea- if your horse has breeching, instead of cutting the holdback straps to free him simply unbuckle the back strap from the saddle and let the horse walk out from under it. MUCH faster way of getting free of the cart then cutting two tight straps, one of which might be under the downed horse. This is something that makes sense but I know I wouldn't have thought of in a moment of panic.

Overall, I'd say the best and clearest advice rendered so far is by Nila (SunQuest). I love the concept of Defensive Driving with your horse! What a safe and wonderful idea, and a great mindset to have.

It is very difficult to drive in circles sometimes due to the environment the horse bolted in, but the one thing on a panicked horse's mind is escape. He only reacts more strongly if he feels a spike of fear from his driver and the lines suddenly clamp and tighten and trap him further. HE IS NOT THINKING AT THAT POINT. All he knows is he wants out of there and something is keeping him from doing it and he will fight harder. This is one reason we give and take on the reins, see-saw, etc. That doesn't give him anything to react against. But letting him run out and focusing first on where he's going makes him feel like his herdmate is with him, you two are thinking alike, and it allows that flight instinct to be satisfied and his mind to come back online that much sooner.

Kody has bolted with me, my Arab has bolted with me in harness. It is the scariest thing ever and sometimes it is just not preventable. Spyder was absolutely terrified and there was going to be no stopping him. He hooked the cart on the arena gate opening just after taking off causing the harness to snap and catapulting me out of the cart and took off down the trail trailing leather so there was no question of letting him run the panic out. I don't know what I would have done if that arena gate had been closed. Probably still have crashed.

It was just scary and I was lucky to get off with a mild concussion thanks to my helmet. (Always wear a helmet when driving!) But when Kody bolted at a herd of ponies suddenly erupting at a gallop out of bushes behind a fenceline he was driving by, I did by instinct exactly what Nila said and went with him instead of trying to force him to stop. I kept my hands soft through those first couple of lunging strides, holding him back but not grabbing at him and called "whoa" in a calm voice. Because I did not try to contain him and he trusts me like he does, as that initial panicked flight wore off he "came back to me" mentally and was able to get control of himself. I did then have my passenger jump out and head him and we quickly unhitched because the ponies were still running and he was dangerously close to exploding. I ended up having to ground drive him for almost an hour before he settled completely and it felt like the bravest thing I had ever done to hitch him up again and drive home. My passenger chose to walk, incidentally!

Couldn't blame her.

Summation: driving horses is dangerous. Have a plan, do your groundwork, understand your horse. The first goal of handling a runaway is not to stop them, but to get control and prevent injury. Stopping comes later.

Leia

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

I agree with helmets and remember that i saw many people saying sew saw on the reins.. constant pressure on a horses mouth in a panic situation has the opposite effect of what you want to do.

a quick and quiet "see saw" and then releasing all pressure for a min and then starting again will help your horse to actually feel what you are doing and asking and help get there mind back as opposed to actual constant pulling or see sawing

 

[disneyhorse]

I think it is important to remember that each horse reacts differently so it's important to know your horse well. Techniques will work differently on each horse.

I had a stallion that was pretty lazy... he bolted on me... and I was like "FINE, if you want to RUN, I am going to MAKE you run!" I didn't let him slow down, and he decided it was better to walk when I told him to.

Some horses, if you let them run, will just run no matter how long you carefully try to steer them. My friend was driving a serial runaway (it was a percheron draft horse!) that she tried three big, fast laps in the arena before steering him into a corner. Although there was fair damage to the cart, her personal safety was ultimately at risk.

Seesawing can work on some horses with better mouths and minds, as can increasingly tighter circles.

It is important that the horse learn the word WHOA and stick to it!

Good luck, and the most IMPORTANT thing is to try your best to keep calm and not panic. That does the most towards a safe recovery.

Andrea

 

[littlesteppers]

Update for anybody who cares..they caught the "kids" that threw the fire crackers..they in jail..and my friends hospital bill will be covered..YEAH

 

[Magic]

Update for anybody who cares..they caught the "kids" that threw the fire crackers..they in jail..and my friends hospital bill will be covered..YEAH

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Oh GOOD! At least there is a bit of justice. Tell your friend that we are thinking of her and wish her a quick recovery!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Woohoo!! I hope the little brats have their names published in the local paper so old folk will beat them with canes and their more decent-minded peers will shun them.

I'm so glad your friend will not suffer financially for their cruelty. That's just the last straw on something like this, you know?

Leia

Edited because I did NOT mean "beggers" which is all the forum will let me post. Far too polite for what they did....

 

[SunQuest]

Glad to hear that they caught those kids!!!!

Now, I certainly hope they give those kids many hours of roadside clean up activities in addition to them paying for restitution! And hope they have to go over to the injured freind's house and shovel stalls until she is completely healed as well!

And glad to see this post as well! It has given me other ideas to try if available like the soft footing or long grass. (

like this high desert area that I live in has anything soft that can be driven into as all fields are plowed and furrowed for running irrigation and many have drainage ditches by the road to collect the runoff water from flood irrigating so you can't go in there or you would definately tip or get bounced right out of the cart. Long grass? What is that! LOL! You desert dwellers know what I am saying! Hee Hee.)

Yep, helmets are always good to wear as well as carrying a pocket knife in your pocket as well as a spare in a tool kit if you have a tool kit! Remember, it does no good to have the knife in the tool kit if you can't get to it because the horse has overturned the cart! Best to keep a pocket knife directly on you. And another thing... I carry a pocket knife that has a locking blade that I can open with one hand. You have to figure that most likely your other hand will be in use as you will be trying to hold the horse while you get it cut loose... Again, this goes back to thinking in advance.

And of course others have made it perfectly clear that circling must be done in very large circles when in a cart, and that if all else fails one may have to run into something. It is all a matter of judgement and of formulating a well thought out plan in your head in advance. Even if you don't use that plan like you thought you might, it still gets you looking for ways to stay safe if the unexpected happens!

Great post everyone!!!

 

[littlesteppers]

Well..I hope everybody who drives read all these great responses..it might just click in your head IF you ever need it..(I pray nobody ever does)

I like the summery..stay cool and try to regain control..more important that stopping ..steer..like a car if you hit ice comes to mind!!

Thanks again you ALL!! Hopefully something good can come out of that mess!

 

[Sanny]

I just had a near miss of my own, due to my own idiot laziness. I drove my 33-34" gelding with our Graber cart (which is just slightly smaller than our Jerald) and then I wanted to drive my 36" gelding and I thought he would be OK in this cart because the Jerald was in our garage and I didn't feel like getting it out. Well his harness was adjusted perfectly for the Jerald and the Graber has slightly shorter shafts but I thought it would be fine and I hitched him up and got in and the cart rolled forward and bumped him in the butt. He panicked and bolted and when I would tell him whoa he would stop but then the cart would bump him again and he would take off running again (like a bucking bronco).

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO TRY AND STAY CALM. I AM NEW TO DRIVING AND HAD I PANICKED AND FREAKED ON HIM, I AM CERTAIN WE WOULD HAVE CRASHED.

He was freaked out and scared and but I kept talking to him and trying to slow him down and used my head. I knew I had to get him somehow on an upward incline so that I could stop him without the cart banging in to him again. We went in a couple of really wide circles and I was talking to him and doing sort of half halts on the reins to try and slow him down and I managed to get on an incline got him to stop and swung my legs over and off the back of the cart so that if he took off again on me I wouldn't get caught up in the wheels or tip the cart over on its side. I kept a death grip on the reins because I didn't want him taking off and crashing and ruining the cart.

I unhitched him as fast as possible and calmed him down and then we DID get the Jerald and I hitched him up and drove him for an hour. Once he settled down he was just fine again.

I do have to say the hardest part was my husband was watching and HE panicked and was yelling and wanting to intervene somehow so I was also trying to tell him to calm down and back off and quite yelling and scaring the horse MORE.

This is a great thread and gave me more ideas on what to do in this sort of emergency.

I do have another mini that I would love to drive but I was told when I bought him to NEVER hitch him up again because although he had been a good driving horse he had freaked out at a show and ran crashing through the barn aisle and totally destroyed the cart before finally flipping himself entirely and hurting his back. He has been an awesome halter, obstacle, showmanship, hunter and jumper horse but he literally shakes and panics when he gets near a cart whether the cart is just sitting there or is hitched to another horse. I wish I could help him overcome this but I just don't have the ability or experience and both of us would probably get hurt again.

 

[justaboutgeese]

I knew several "old timers" who would cringe at the mention of cutting off or just cutting a harness to free a horse. They would have said thats what the buckles were for. Please no flames I and just relaying the thoughts of generations past.

 

[Ashley]

if you have a true runaway there will be no stoping him with out running him into something. My cousin had this happen with her a few years back. The only way we stoped him was by running him into a door way where he stoped when the cart didnt fit through.

We have been told by others that the best is to let them run until they stop on there own if at all possible, but in most cases it is not.

Geese~ That is exactly why I always have a knife with me. Cutting them out is the fastest way and im sorry but my horses life is more important then my harness, I can get another one of them, I cant of my horse.

Sanny~ I can see you being the calm one and your hubby not being so calm.

That said, I have become a chicken driving. Alot of the reason why I havent drove my one gelding much. My retired gelding is such a dead head, that he hardly ever spooks. If he takes off, normally he will just run a min or two then stop dead in his tracks. THis gelding is a bit different, and if he has any of the power his mother has I know I would be in trouble if he truely took off.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I knew several "old timers" who would cringe at the mention of cutting off or just cutting a harness to free a horse.  They would have said thats what the buckles were for.  Please no flames I and just relaying the thoughts of generations past.

Trust me Geese, I cringe at the thought too.

If my horse is calm, yes, you bet I'm going to try and simply undo things. Good lord, why damage harness if you don't have to?

But if my horse is injured, or panicked, or hanging at some horrible angle because the cart is stuck somewhere and the buckles are too tight to undo quickly (or are under the horse and I can't get to them), I will sacrifice that harness in a heartbeat. MY HORSE COMES FIRST!

Sanny, sometimes it's just not worth it to try and rehabilitate them. Spyder is like that now. The mere sight of a cart gets him upset and I know that no matter how great he might have been or how much I might want to do it, he simply can't be driven again. That's akin to telling a claustrophobic that if they can just stand to walk through this little tunnel they'll reach Alladin's Cave. It might be fantastic, it might be wonderful, but they simply cannot do it without a nervous breakdown. Some things you just don't get over! And it's not fair to ask them to. They do so much for us, we owe them an understanding of their limitations. Good for you for doing what your horse can and no more.

Leia

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

 

 

  That rotten little buzzard bolts when

he thinks hes been driven enough. 

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This is one guy who isn't running because he's afraid, he's running because he WANTS to. With these guys I heard when they go (if it's safe) you MAKE them GO. When they wanna stop, you make them go some more! And go and go and GO. Until YOU ask them to stop. He'll learn that when he runs, he RUNS.

I had a runaway once, not even MY horse! I turned her UP a steep hill, and she stopped. She was another that the cart banged into and scared her. I had tried two steps before to stop before we went down the hill, but it was too late. Not her fault. She didn't do it again, but they got smart and never drove down hill without breeching.

Lucy