diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleService.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleService.java
index aa91feebff7..da6a18c6f7c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleService.java
@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@ public class WatcherLifeCycleService extends AbstractComponent implements Cluste
     }
 
     private synchronized void stop(boolean manual) {
+        WatcherState watcherState = watcherService.state();
+        if (watcherState != WatcherState.STARTED) {
+            logger.debug("not stopping watcher. watcher can only stop if its current state is [{}], but its current state now is [{}]", WatcherState.STARTED, watcherState);
+            return;
+        }
+
         manuallyStopped = manual;
         watcherService.stop();
     }
@@ -62,7 +68,7 @@ public class WatcherLifeCycleService extends AbstractComponent implements Cluste
     private synchronized void start(ClusterState state, boolean manual) {
         WatcherState watcherState = watcherService.state();
         if (watcherState != WatcherState.STOPPED) {
-            logger.debug("not starting watcher. watcher can only start if its current state is [{}]", WatcherState.STOPPED);
+            logger.debug("not starting watcher. watcher can only start if its current state is [{}], but its current state now is [{}]", WatcherState.STOPPED, watcherState);
             return;
         }
 
@@ -78,7 +84,7 @@ public class WatcherLifeCycleService extends AbstractComponent implements Cluste
             return;
         }
 
-        logger.trace("starting... (based on cluster state version [{}])", state.getVersion());
+        logger.trace("starting... (based on cluster state version [{}]) (manual [{}])", state.getVersion(), manual);
         try {
             watcherService.start(state);
         } catch (Exception e) {
@@ -89,6 +95,11 @@ public class WatcherLifeCycleService extends AbstractComponent implements Cluste
     @Override
     public void clusterChanged(final ClusterChangedEvent event) {
         if (!event.localNodeMaster()) {
+            if (watcherService.state() != WatcherState.STARTED) {
+                // to avoid unnecessary forking of threads...
+                return;
+            }
+
             // We're no longer the master so we need to stop the watcher.
             // Stopping the watcher may take a while since it will wait on the scheduler to complete shutdown,
             // so we fork here so that we don't wait too long. Other events may need to be processed and
@@ -105,6 +116,10 @@ public class WatcherLifeCycleService extends AbstractComponent implements Cluste
                 // a .triggered_watches index, but they may not have been restored from the cluster state on disk
                 return;
             }
+            if (watcherService.state() != WatcherState.STOPPED) {
+                // to avoid unnecessary forking of threads...
+                return;
+            }
 
             final ClusterState state = event.state();
             threadPool.executor(ThreadPool.Names.GENERIC).execute(new Runnable() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/execution/TriggeredWatchStore.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/execution/TriggeredWatchStore.java
index d921eefc8d3..a153f3b7ef5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/execution/TriggeredWatchStore.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/execution/TriggeredWatchStore.java
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ public class TriggeredWatchStore extends AbstractComponent {
     public Collection<TriggeredWatch> loadTriggeredWatches(ClusterState state) {
         IndexMetaData indexMetaData = state.getMetaData().index(INDEX_NAME);
         if (indexMetaData == null) {
-            logger.debug("no .watch_history indices found. skipping loading awaiting triggered watches");
+            logger.debug("no .triggered_watches indices found. skipping loading awaiting triggered watches");
             return Collections.emptySet();
         }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/watch/WatchStore.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/watch/WatchStore.java
index 3758b15fc30..8007805a8e1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/watch/WatchStore.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/watch/WatchStore.java
@@ -97,14 +97,16 @@ public class WatchStore extends AbstractComponent {
     public boolean validate(ClusterState state) {
         IndexMetaData watchesIndexMetaData = state.getMetaData().index(INDEX);
         if (watchesIndexMetaData == null) {
-            logger.debug("watches index [{}] doesn't exist, so we can start", INDEX);
+            logger.debug("index [{}] doesn't exist, so we can start", INDEX);
             return true;
         }
         if (state.routingTable().index(INDEX).allPrimaryShardsActive()) {
-            logger.debug("watches index [{}] exists and all primary shards are started, so we can start", INDEX);
+            logger.debug("index [{}] exists and all primary shards are started, so we can start", INDEX);
             return true;
+        } else {
+            logger.debug("not all primary shards active for index [{}], so we cannot start", INDEX);
+            return false;
         }
-        return false;
     }
 
     public boolean started() {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleServiceTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleServiceTests.java
index 87068f5b376..d5cea155f7c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleServiceTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleServiceTests.java
@@ -83,14 +83,15 @@ public class WatcherLifeCycleServiceTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("my-cluster"))
                 .nodes(nodes).build();
         when(clusterService.state()).thenReturn(clusterState);
-        when(watcherService.state()).thenReturn(WatcherState.STOPPED);
         when(watcherService.validate(clusterState)).thenReturn(true);
 
 
+        when(watcherService.state()).thenReturn(WatcherState.STOPPED);
         lifeCycleService.start();
         verify(watcherService, times(1)).start(any(ClusterState.class));
         verify(watcherService, never()).stop();
 
+        when(watcherService.state()).thenReturn(WatcherState.STARTED);
         lifeCycleService.stop();
         verify(watcherService, times(1)).start(any(ClusterState.class));
         verify(watcherService, times(1)).stop();
@@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ public class WatcherLifeCycleServiceTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         nodes = new DiscoveryNodes.Builder().masterNodeId("id1").localNodeId("id2");
         clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("my-cluster"))
                 .nodes(nodes).build();
-        when(watcherService.state()).thenReturn(WatcherState.STOPPED);
+        when(watcherService.state()).thenReturn(WatcherState.STARTED);
         lifeCycleService.clusterChanged(new ClusterChangedEvent("any", clusterState, clusterState));
         verify(watcherService, times(2)).start(any(ClusterState.class));
         verify(watcherService, times(2)).stop();