It’s scary to be on a horse that runs on his own volition and can’t be slowed down. Many people will sell their horse because they’re so scared of that happening again. How do you keep a horse from bolting like that?

There is a way to temper your horse even if he spots something that scares him and he wants to run in fear. I call it, “Installing an emergency brake.”

This is done on ground while you’re doing ground training. Every time you work with your horse you should spend a few minutes doing this – even if you know your horse “gets it.” It simply cannot be done enough.

What does it look like when you use emergency brake on your horse? While you’re riding, you reach down to either rein. You tightly grab rein, slide it up your legs along seam of your pants up to your hips. At same time, you are loosely holding other rein. As you do this, your horse’s nose will be pointing back towards his rear end.

Why does this work? Ever try to run forward while looking backwards? Need I say more? (There are exceptions. Some horses are so limber they will run forward with their nose buried in their sides – but not many)

But you can’t simply get on your horse and expect to pull his head back if he takes off. You must do some ground work first. And here’s what you do.

Put a halter on your horse and hook a lead rope to halter. Stand on left side of your horse. Stand by your horse across from his back leg. Take your right arm and put it over his rump. Next, pull lead rope towards you and rest your left hand on his back.

At this point your horse will resist some. If he pulls his head forward you hold lead rope in place. Eventually he will move his head back towards you and give into pull you have on lead rope. The second he moves his head back towards you then you release lead rope tension and praise him. In other words, when you see lead rope has slack in it because he moved his nose back towards you, then release.

As I watched him chase her I was reminded of those silent movies where everyone is moving comically fast with music in background. As I chuckled to myself I heard him ask aloud, “Why does she keep running from me?”

That was a good question. Lots of people have that trouble. There are lots of reasons horses run from their owners. One reason is fear. Horses are epitome of fear. If they sense their life is in danger they’ll run.

If a horse is comfortable with their herd, even if its one or two other horses, it can be uncomfortable for him. His entire DNA speaks loud and clear to him that herd is safest place to be. Therefore, if he leaves herd it could mean his life is threatened – at least…that’s his thinking.

One of biggest mistakes I see are new horse owners that make their horse work almost every time they go to see them. Picture it. You’re a horse standing there with your buddies. It’s ninety-four degrees out side, flies won’t leave you alone, and you were doing fine just standing there doing nothing – thank you very much. And because you are enormously alert due to your innate fear, you quickly spot your owner coming to you holding that weird looking, not-so-good-fitting rope thing that goes on your head.

The last 400 gazillion times your owner walked toward you with it in his hand, he accidentally jabbed your cheek while clumsily jerking it on your head. Then he made you leave your friends and go run in circles for thirty minutes. Boring!

Rather, horse owner should alternate working and pleasure for his horse. In other words, one day walk to your horse with halter in your hand and pet him. Talk to him. Tell him how beautiful he is. Take your halter and rub it on his body as if it were a brush. Get him thinking that halter will give him pleasure so when he sees it he’ll feel good about it.

The next day, with halter in hand, go see your horse and pet him. Talk nice. Then put his halter on. Pet him again. Keep talking nice. After a few minutes, take halter off and rub his body with it. Then walk away.