My first horse was the Runaway King of the World. :shock: :shock: :shock: And I was too stubborn to give up on him because he was my first horse. He used to take off with me every time we got past a trot, not just when we turned toward home. He was so good at it that he'd reach down and actually grab the shank of the curb bit and then away we'd go!!! I was using him as a lead horse for a trail ride outfit, and he was in very good shape, so some of our little runaways lasted literally for a couple of miles before he got the edge off. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: (This didn't happen with the trail rides because they were pretty slow :wink: )
This was a habit I inherited with him, and this is how I fixed it. Rather than go to a stronger bit, I went right back to basics and put him in a big ringed snaffle bit. Then, since I'd had so much experience in being able to tell when he was getting ready to bolt :roll: :roll: :roll: , I would reach down the left rein just as I felt him begin to gather himself, and pull his head to the left. We'd do about four tight circles with his head almost back to my knee, then we'd do about four to the right immediately. Then I'd loosen the reins right off, and cue him to walk. He hated this!!!

If he started to bolt again, we'd do it again. And again. It did not take long for him to figure this out, so it wasn't long before all I had to do was move my left hand up the rein and he settled. This has to be done
before he gets momentum though. You don't want a wreck!
Once we got this little problem settled we worked on the barn sour issue. This is an ongoing process. The rules I followed were that I never ever got off in the same spot. At least every second time, I'd ride him past the lane before turning around and letting him go in. I'd also stop before the yard once in a while and get off to walk the last distance. This always surprised him. The bottom line is to never become predictable. If he bolts to the barn with you, turn around and bolt right back out of the yard. Then get off and walk back.

Keep him guessing! My horse was an exceptionally smart one with long standing habits, so probably not all horses would need this much preventative medicine, but some might.
I did such a good job of keeping him honest that one day we got caught in a bad storm, and there was no way he was going to hurry home! We travelled the last half mile in crashing lightning and pouring rain at a steady jog. :roll: :roll: :roll:
With reference to using the spinning as punishment, it didn't seem to cause any problems with him. We never did more than four each way at a time, and it only took a few sessions to stop the bolting. He eventually became a pretty good reining horse, and never minded spinning. It's kind of a different type of spin anyway. More of a front ended thing as opposed to a drive from the hind quarters proper spin. My horse definitely knew the difference.