Unpredictable runaway - need advice.

[user 3234]

The issue is with a horse that loves to run. As a cart horse in general he is great and has been trained for about 4 yrs. He is around 38inches and is generally driven by my husband on the weekend. He is round penned (and knows his verbal cues) before hooking him up to get rid of any extra energy. He will be extremely good at walk and trot, but occasionally (when least expected) when asked to trot and then asked to ease down to a walk he will increase in speed and then take off with my husband at gallop. My husband is not comfortable with a gallop and has to put a lot of pressure on his mouth to get him to slow down to a walk again. The harness fits correctly and does not pinch and he uses a standard simple no pinch driving snaffle. 85% he is as good as gold it the other 15% that he is unpredictable. Would a more severe bit help? Maybe a tie down or martingale? Putting him back on long lines and walking behind him at walk, whoa & stand?

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Just a thought, how are his teeth? If he is in need of a float or having wolf teeth done the request to stop/slow may be causing him discomfort that he responds to by trying to run away from it. The other thing is check the bit for edges, sometimes bits get worn from use or the coating gets cracked or chipped and it develops sharp spots that might be hurting him. Those are the 2 things that just popped into my mind. I don't blame your husband for not caring for the gallop. An out of control harness horse is just flat out dangerous to itself and to its driver(and bystanders too)

 

[Jetiki]

not necessarily a more severe bit but a different one like a mullen mouth or a french link might help. I wouldn't pull back with both reins at the same time, bump each rein. When you pull with both reins at the same time they have something to brace against and just pull harder. keep contact and not let them go slack but bump each side to get his attention, giving him something other than running to think about. Is when you are slowing down does the cart run up on his butt and push him forward? I would also go back to ground driving and get a really good whoa on this horse do a lot of transitions speed up, slow down, walk/trot/walk/stop/walk/stop/trot/stop/walk fast/walk slow/trot/trot slow/progress to adding a fast and slow trot. consitency is the key here. make sure you ask the same way and don't confuse the horse.

Karen

 

[NZ Mini]

Hello, I am new to this, I do something that may be of assistance. I have one miniature, new to harness. While ground training, I use left and right flexion exercises. The horse will flex its head to the left side of the girth and then to the right with slight rein pressure.

The reason is that the quickest way to shut down the hindquarters is changing the flexion. The training is built up from a stand through walk exercise through to trot. Lots of repetition, Walk, trot, flexion, halt. It is a safety behaviour, all trained with clicker, adding the word cue. I spend a lot of time ground training and long reining, before adding the cart. Although I am new to the driving and have minimal experience, I place great trust on my horse and want to know that we have good communication to make things as safe as possible for both of us. So far so good. I'm not an expert, just thought I would put this into the discussion.

Cheers.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

He will be extremely good at walk and trot, but occasionally (when least expected) when asked to trot and then asked to ease down to a walk he will increase in speed and then take off with my husband at gallop. My husband is not comfortable with a gallop and has to put a lot of pressure on his mouth to get him to slow down to a walk again.
...Would a more severe bit help? Maybe a tie down or martingale? Putting him back on long lines and walking behind him at walk, whoa & stand?

Assuming you've ruled out equipment-related pain, this is not the kind of issue that New and Better Gadgets are going to fix. Tie-downs and martingales and harsher bits are mechanical attempts to fix a psychological issue. This horse needs to learn that such behavior is absolutely NOT acceptable under any circumstances.

If this behavior is happening in an arena, the very first thing I'd do is run him right into the wall. Period. Let him get a little road rash on his nose and figure out that when your boss says "Whoa," he means WHOA!

If he's doing it out on the trail, either put him back in an arena or commit yourself to keeping him running until he's way past ready to stop. It's an old trick for a stubborn bolter but an effective one and rarely needs to be administered twice.

He takes off, you ask him to stop, and if he won't then you simply steer him and when he starts to slow you get after him with the whip and insist he keep running. Don't let him stop until he's foaming and exhausted and begging to walk. Then you walk him and walk him and briskly walk him some more, and ask him to trot again. Only when he's done it right do you then unhitch him. After a night in the barn to consider what happened, I bet you next time you ask for a trot he will TROT, not run!

I've got a horse like this too who no amount of training will convince that it isn't fun to run off some exuberance at the start of a drive (he walks just fine, but the first time you ask for an upward transition he gets hot) and I've found the best solution is to make him work harder than he wants and keep on working until he's huffing. The next time I ask for an upward transition he decides it's better to save his energy and only does as much as I asked for, which then earns him praise. (I could work him in long-lines forever and it wouldn't matter, he doesn't do it until he's hitched to the cart.)

While ground training, I use left and right flexion exercises. The horse will flex its head to the left side of the girth and then to the right with slight rein pressure.The reason is that the quickest way to shut down the hindquarters is changing the flexion.

First of all, welcome!

So how does that method work? I use clicker training too and know there are lots of western traditions out there that use the "disengage the hindquarters" thing but I've never taken the time to read up on those methods and understand exactly how they are supposed to work. What's the theory? Everything I've been taught in my life has been focused towards ENGAGING the hindquarters and making it so they stay engaged when the horse changes bend!

Is it something you can effectively use when the horse is between the shafts?

Leia

 

[NZ Mini]

Good question, I guess time will tell how useful/effective it is with horse between the shafts. The behaviour is not reliant on being trained using clicker. I know my horse is stronger than me, if he is pulling with me directly behind he will win everytime. When exuberant I wanted a behaviour that I could ask for without having to pull him around, so if I demand Halt, he flexs his head to me and stops. I have changes of pace and whoa on word cue, so the halt is more of a chance to interrupt before things get too exciting. Taking onto long reining with pressure one side and ask for the Halt, it changes his shape and we have a quick stop but is not an extreme pulling to one side and off balance. Different to whoa because the rein pressure is different and whoa means downward transition to stop. This is something I have worked on myself, just another tool to have a known behaviour that can help in situation that may quickly develop. I have started the flexing on each side when they were young, just adding to it over time. Used a target. This is more about training a behaviour than suddenly having to deal with a runaway. I have used this when jumping an excited horse, he gets reinforced with continuing to jump once he has settled

I have only just started with harness and cart . If running off was a repeated occurrence, I would also be thinking if the horse is really suited for harness.

Cheers