diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/alerts/AlertManager.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/alerts/AlertManager.java
index c284d52718a..8ad819fe334 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/alerts/AlertManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/alerts/AlertManager.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.alerts.triggers.TriggerManager;
 import org.elasticsearch.alerts.triggers.TriggerResult;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterChangedEvent;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterService;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterStateListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Tuple;
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
-import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 
 public class AlertManager extends AbstractComponent {
 
@@ -42,9 +43,10 @@ public class AlertManager extends AbstractComponent {
     private final TriggerManager triggerManager;
     private final AlertActionManager actionManager;
     private final AlertActionRegistry actionRegistry;
-    private final AtomicBoolean started = new AtomicBoolean(false);
     private final ThreadPool threadPool;
+    private final ClusterService clusterService;
     private final KeyedLock<String> alertLock = new KeyedLock<>();
+    private final AtomicReference<State> state = new AtomicReference<>(State.STOPPED);
 
     @Inject
     public AlertManager(Settings settings, ClusterService clusterService, AlertScheduler scheduler, AlertsStore alertsStore,
@@ -59,6 +61,7 @@ public class AlertManager extends AbstractComponent {
         this.actionManager = actionManager;
         this.actionManager.setAlertManager(this);
         this.actionRegistry = actionRegistry;
+        this.clusterService = clusterService;
         clusterService.add(new AlertsClusterStateListener());
         // Close if the indices service is being stopped, so we don't run into search failures (locally) that will
         // happen because we're shutting down and an alert is scheduled.
@@ -98,7 +101,7 @@ public class AlertManager extends AbstractComponent {
     }
 
     public boolean isStarted() {
-        return started.get();
+        return state.get() == State.STARTED;
     }
 
     public void scheduleAlert(String alertName, DateTime scheduledFireTime, DateTime fireTime){
@@ -149,7 +152,7 @@ public class AlertManager extends AbstractComponent {
 
 
     public void stop() {
-        if (started.compareAndSet(true, false)) {
+        if (state.compareAndSet(State.LOADING, State.STOPPED) || state.compareAndSet(State.STARTED, State.STOPPED)) {
             logger.info("Stopping alert manager...");
             scheduler.stop();
             actionManager.stop();
@@ -167,7 +170,7 @@ public class AlertManager extends AbstractComponent {
     }
 
     private void ensureStarted() {
-        if (!started.get()) {
+        if (state.get() != State.STARTED) {
             throw new ElasticsearchIllegalStateException("not started");
         }
     }
@@ -179,62 +182,82 @@ public class AlertManager extends AbstractComponent {
     private final class AlertsClusterStateListener implements ClusterStateListener {
 
         @Override
-        public void clusterChanged(final ClusterChangedEvent event) {
+        public void clusterChanged(ClusterChangedEvent event) {
             if (!event.localNodeMaster()) {
-                // We're not the master
+                // We're no longer the master
                 stop();
             } else {
                 if (event.state().blocks().hasGlobalBlock(GatewayService.STATE_NOT_RECOVERED_BLOCK)) {
                     return; // wait until the gateway has recovered from disk
                 }
-
-                if (started.get()) {
+                if (isStarted()) {
                     return; // We're already started
                 }
-
-                alertsStore.start(event.state(), new LoadingListener() {
-                    @Override
-                    public void onSuccess() {
-                        startIfReady();
-                    }
-
-                    @Override
-                    public void onFailure() {
-                        retry(event);
-                    }
-                });
-                actionManager.start(event.state(), new LoadingListener() {
-                    @Override
-                    public void onSuccess() {
-                        startIfReady();
-                    }
-
-                    @Override
-                    public void onFailure() {
-                        retry(event);
-                    }
-                });
-            }
-        }
-
-        private void startIfReady() {
-            if (alertsStore.started() && actionManager.started()) {
-                if (started.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
-                    scheduler.start(alertsStore.getAlerts());
+                if (state.compareAndSet(State.STOPPED, State.LOADING)) {
+                    initialize(event.state());
                 }
             }
         }
 
-        private void retry(final ClusterChangedEvent event) {
-            threadPool.executor(ThreadPool.Names.GENERIC).execute(new Runnable() {
+        private void initialize(final ClusterState state) {
+            alertsStore.start(state, new LoadingListener() {
                 @Override
-                public void run() {
-                    // Retry with the same event:
-                    clusterChanged(event);
+                public void onSuccess() {
+                    startIfReady();
+                }
+
+                @Override
+                public void onFailure() {
+                    retry();
+                }
+            });
+            actionManager.start(state, new LoadingListener() {
+                @Override
+                public void onSuccess() {
+                    startIfReady();
+                }
+
+                @Override
+                public void onFailure() {
+                    retry();
                 }
             });
         }
 
+        private void startIfReady() {
+            if (alertsStore.started() && actionManager.started()) {
+                if (state.compareAndSet(State.LOADING, State.STARTED)) {
+                    scheduler.start(alertsStore.getAlerts());
+                } else {
+                    logger.info("Didn't start alert manager, because it state was [{}] while [{}] was expected", state.get(), State.LOADING);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        private void retry() {
+            // Only retry if our state is loading
+            if (state.get() == State.LOADING) {
+                final ClusterState newState = clusterService.state();
+                threadPool.executor(ThreadPool.Names.GENERIC).execute(new Runnable() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void run() {
+                        // Retry with the same event:
+                        initialize(newState);
+                    }
+                });
+            } else {
+                logger.info("Didn't retry to initialize the alert manager, because it state was [{}] while [{}] was expected", state.get(), State.LOADING);
+            }
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    private enum State {
+
+        STOPPED,
+        LOADING,
+        STARTED
+
     }
 
 }