How do you stop a runaway horse?

♥ Divine ♥: How do you stop a runaway horse?
I was just wondering what you’d have to do to stop such a horse. I saw one recently and the rider was screaming and shouting for help and the horse was just bolting towards on-coming traffic as fast as it could and I’ve no idea what happened because horse and rider were out of sight in no time at all. So, how would a runaway horse be stopped?

Answers and Views:

Answer by adsmith50
Shoot it? =]

Answer by FarkdaPolice
Try the brakes, they are to the left of the gas.

Answer by **ice queen**
with great difficulty when a horse bolts it can be difficult to stop i have a bolter and pulling on his mouth sometimes works but its about leg and hand control in calming the horse down

Answer by sparkyharky
To stop a runaway horse you sit back in the saddle and turn the horse sharply to one side. Hold the rein of choice short and hang on. By shortening the rein on one side you are very effectively making the horse turn in a tight circle. They HAVE to slow down. If you can’t get them slowed that way you had better know how to make an emergency dismount. Also, if you are on the ground and a runaway is fast approaching , wave your arms vigorously. This will turn the horse away from you and hopefully keep you from being run over. Horses cannot see directly in front of or behind them.

Answer by 1024
Good lord, that’s scary.

There’s only one thing that will stop a horse for sure – the horse deciding it wants to stop! Well, that and a gadget called a running W, which hopefully isn’t used too much anymore (it’s a contraption of straps that will make the horse fall over.)

A pulley rein is the most common way of stopping a horse: You shorten your reins, then put one hand in front of the horse’s withers while slowly pulling back with the other hand. If you do it too fast and you’re strong, you might flip the horse. Another option is to try and pull the horse into a tight circle – if it has to bend and turn, it has to slow down. That’s the theory, anyway…it might fall over, flip over, etc.

Some people might recommend running the horse in the direction of a large object that will block its path. Again, if the horse is running in a blind panic, this might not be the wisest idea. A horse running in a blind panic is probably the most dangerous situation a rider could find themselves in.

It’s a tough call, when one is moving so fast…but in an emergency, an emergency dismount is usually safest for the rider. You dismount like you normally do (right leg behind you) and slide off, preferably landing in the direction that the horse is going so that inertia doesn’t work against you. There’s a good chace you’ll hurt yourself, but then there’s a good chance of that if you stay in the saddle.

EDIT: Oops, I’m assuming that you meant a rider on the horse, not on the ground. On the ground, if the horse is running away scared (not just wandering) then your best bet is to corner it somehow. Shaking some grain around in a can is good bait – of course, if the horse is freaking out, it’s not going to care too much about grain.

Answer by Louise
it can be near impossible – I’ve been in a similar situation and ended up bailing in a semi-controled manner; I broke both ankles but it could have been much worse.

Answer by tamarack58
A gun to its head.

Answer by black_bunny_momma
UGH! That’s an ugly problem

The first thing…is the rider MUST remain calm!! Panic feeds right down the reins and through the saddle to the horse.

One rein stops would help. Gotta get the horse out of a “straight line.” A horse can’t run effectively if he’s disengaged.

I’d probably tighten those reins, sit back hard/deep, feet forward, heels down, and do my best to bend that horse.

All else fails…by being calm as you can be in the situation…look for a place to “bail off”, that hopefully won’t hurt you too bad. A clear piece of earth with no trees, rocks, or fences.

EDIT: Forgot about pulling the rein slowly…to prevent the horse from falling

Answer by Thomas J
catch it in a fenced filed

Answer by cnsdubie
Butt deep in the seat, legs forward, firmly ease the head toward one of your legs with the rein.

Do it too rough and you’ll risk throwing the horse. You need a good seat, and shift your weight away to the opposite side that you’re pulling toward.

Answer by Angel A
grab the rains, and pull towards you

Answer by Sarah B
I’ve had this happen to me once, I’ll tell you what I did. It took some effort and screaming is NOT going to help, it will merely spook the horse and make them want to run more. Calmly you need to get a deep seat in the saddle, Slide our hand down one of the reins (go as close to the bit as you can comfortably). Hold and pull it slowly towards your hip. Pulling too quickly can throw the horse off balance, but slowly will let them keep their balance enough, but make them wary about falling thus slowing them down. Pull the rein until you have their nose almost to your knee, and they will slow. IF you must get them to circle until they calm down.

I did this with my mare who took off in a field, and it worked. Again slow is key, and so is being calm. They can sense your emotions.

Answer by horsybill
Pull the horses head towards its side and keep it there till it stops.

Answer by JH
I agree with previous answers. If you horse bolts, find your seat, stay calm and quickly scan surrounding terrain. If the terrain seems safe, just stay calm, get a comfortable seat and start talking to the horse, using rein aids and seat to try to slow him/her down. Most horses will come back under control if the rider is calm and reassuring. If the terrain is safe, you are relatively safe on a bolting horse.
If the terrain is dangerous and tricky however (holes, cars, muddy and slick etc), do what you must, whether it’s an emergency dismount, or trying to get the horse to circle to slow down, don’t be shy about giving VERY strong half halts.

Also remember that a release after a strong taking on the reins will often have more impact on reducing speed than just constantly pulling and keeping pressure.

Hope this helped!

Answer by Judy
Learn the “emergency dismount”! You should be able to find in on the web. Try googling Equus magazine or Performance horse. They’ve done articles. But any horse who bolts needs retraining, especially to turn!!! Once you get the horse to tip it’s nose, eventually the rest will follow. But it does need taught to respect your cues!

Answer by john r
when i have a horse that is somtimes prone to a runaway i will leave a halter on under the bridle with a good lead line on it tied to the saddle(western)so if the horse decides to bolt and pulling one rein is not doing it i can use more force on the lead line to pull the horse to dissengage the rear and lower the head.if you dont have a halter on with your bridle then pull one rein take a deep seat and pull and release while staying calm and give firm whoa..sometimes nothing helps and you will have to bail off.a good thing to do is to just every once in a while do a disengagement on your horse so you and your horse know it is second nature..

edit: i used to be a saddle bronk rider in rodeo so using a lead rope on the horse also gives me a balance point also if it starts to buck gives me a cue to the tempo of the horse so i can stay on and hopefully ride it out..

Answer by threewishes2008
you have several awesome answers to this one, not much I can add get the nose around pointing toward your knee, stay calm(very hard to do) brace yourself against your stirrups and pray god gave you strength to pull this 1200 pound giant to a stop!

Answer by lorne
if your sitting on it pull the reins hard left or right it will have to slow down to turn so tightly what ever you do dont scream and shout as that makes the horse worse lean back and that will give you more control and your less likely to fall off but you have to hold on to the reins real tight keep holding the reins tight to the right and it will eventually calm down the reassure it by clapping its neck gently, but on the other hand pick a nice calm horse and you wont have this problem

Answer by Total Cowgirl
I sat really deep in the saddle and pulled as hard as I could on the reins.

Answer by GiGi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you have to turn them in a circle, and stay calm b/c when u start to freak out the horse just goes faster.

Answer by Pokey I
Don’t pull on both reins, pull the horses head to one side and use your legs to aid in the turn. Turn the horse into tight circles and get him/her/it to settle down, and finally stop.

Answer by Lauren R
Well… that’s tricky you really can’t stop it you can try to call it or really it just comes to you! Are you asking this to help people? If so i know you want to because i ride and want to when someone’s horse or pony bolts away but you can’t you have to hope they won’t get hurt and wait till they are calm again to walk to them. Now that different when it’s a pony ponies are stinkers and you just want to go in and try to stop it so i doesn’t get hurt!!! So pretty much You yourself can’t do anything about it but pray!!!!! -Lo

Answer by tbjumpergirl
well if you pull on one rein and then quickly pull the other rein it can make a horse bend and that can stop them, also falling off makes them stop usually.

Answer by Mark L
Oh, that’s easy. You just shoot it’s legs off !!

Answer by ohgy21
jump ourself…..hah……

Answer by speedy
dunno

Answer by NTlesh
Clinton Anderson mentions this and has videos on the one rein stop. He’s got the right idea. Learn it and see that your horse knows it BEFORE you need it.
Ken McNabb also insists the any green horse he’s working be able to do a one rein stop before he takes it out on trails or in the open.
It’s simple to learn and it’s a life-saver, yours and the horse.

Answer by Adrianne L
Their are some wonderful answers already, but I thought I might add my two cents worth.
Please don’t get on a horse you think might bolt. If you’re not comfortable, at least stay in an enclosed area.

Answer by asb.punkin
There are several ways that you can stop a runaway horse, but most of the responsibilty falls on the rider (if there still is one:P). No matter how hard it is to stay on, the rider has to get the horse off balance. As hard as they can, yank the horses head to one side (this won’t hurt the horse and the rider’s safety is much more important than the fear of give the horse a bump). This will throw the horse off balance and they will not be able to continue running as they had been. If the horse stops, the rider needs to pull the horses head as close to their legs as they can and let it turn in circles until help arrives.
That’s probably the best way to stop a runaway horse when someone is riding it.
Hope I helped:)