Lately it seems there have had a lot of barn fires. We are installing heat sensors in our barn. Also thinking of cameras.
But what about halters? I’ve heard of horses being lost because they couldn’t be caught to halter. We’ve always taken halters off at night. What do you do? How about cheap leather halters, which will break if hung up(for safety) or neck collars like broodmares wear in the field?
I have halters off. I also have a barn where every stall has a door that opens directly to the outside in addition to a center aisle door. In case of fires I would run around the outside of the barn an open the doors. Drive out any reluctant ones. Quicker and safe than trying to halter even clip a lead line on a frightened horse.
Off. Unless it is crazy weather that could produce emergency. Probably bigger chance of horse hurting it self with halter then having a barn fire etc.
P.
I think that’s a smart idea. We leave halters on during storms & any warning of a potential natural disaster. I’d just be concerned about getting rubs - it’s uncommon for a horse who wears a halter 24/7 to not have any marks from it.
Off. My halters are right next to the stalls and if worst comes to worst, I would just let my horses out (it’s easy because I only have 2 and keep them at home, I could probably just get them into the pasture).
But at a large stable, maybe during storms and such when there is a possibility of a fire (however, keep an eye on your wires, as that can definitely cause problems without you knowing!). But I’d just make sure they were leather.
I try to keep cheap leather (or nylon with chintzy hardware) halters on all my horses all the time, in or out. But right now I have a pile of halters in need of repair and only a few horses are actually wearing them. The stallions and other PITA to catch critters always have halters on.
Off. I have four horses at home and keep their halters hung on hooks just inside the front sliding door of my barn. We also built a big paddock off of the stalls so I never lock them in unless I absolutely have to, mainly because barn fires are my worst nightmare. I only do leather halters - not only do nylons not break, they melt in fires.
I once saw an emergency halter setup, wish I could remember where. They had a rack of them, one for each horse. The halters in that picture were red nylon - good for visibility but like I said, terrible for fires. I’d do something like that but with leather halters if I had a big barn. You could do red cotton leads to achieve the eye catchiness.
[QUOTE=RedmondDressage;7882107]
Off. I once saw an emergency halter setup, wish I could remember where. They had a rack of them, one for each horse. The halters in that picture were red nylon - good for visibility but bad for fires. I guess I’d do something like that but with leather halters if I had a big barn. I have all four of mine at home now. We built a big paddock off of the stalls so I never lock them in unless I absolutely have to, mainly because barn fires are my worst nightmare.[/QUOTE]
I think you’re thinking about this page:
http://blog.sstack.com/fire-halters-an-easy-safety-measure-for-your-barn/
But what I always wondered about that…why are the halters BUCKLED around the bar?? To use them, you have to unbuckle them from the bar, rebuckle them, and then put them on the horse. Makes no sense.
IIRC, last time we had this conversation a fireman (or someone who works with them? can’t quite recall) said that halters need to be ON the horse, and they can’t be nylon. Second best, there should be a cotton rope outside of the stall to loop around the horse’s neck, and horse should be well trained to lead that way for anyone. There is no time to halter in a horse in a fire situation, especially for someone who isn’t horse savvy.
[QUOTE=Simkie;7882113]
I think you’re thinking about this page:
http://blog.sstack.com/fire-halters-an-easy-safety-measure-for-your-barn/
But what I always wondered about that…why are the halters BUCKLED around the bar?? To use them, you have to unbuckle them from the bar, rebuckle them, and then put them on the horse. Makes no sense.
IIRC, last time we had this conversation a fireman (or someone who works with them? can’t quite recall) said that halters need to be ON the horse, and they can’t be nylon. Second best, there should be a cotton rope outside of the stall to loop around the horse’s neck, and horse should be well trained to lead that way for anyone. There is no time to halter in a horse in a fire situation, especially for someone who isn’t horse savvy.[/QUOTE]
That was it! You’re right, having them buckled makes zero sense!
A side note to my first post - I have hooks on my stalls but keep my halters at the front door because I can easily grab them without entering the building and I can access the stalls from their run in doors outside if I need to. If they’re on the stalls you would have to run all the way into a burning building to get them.
I’ve read that most firefighters will not even attempt to halter horses. So if possible I leave on and use leather.
I always leave my horses haltered and a lead rope on the stall door.
I can sure see the halter on-or-off dilemma for a boarding barn owner.
If a barn fire already has a good start and there’s a lot of horses, it would be mighty tough to get everyone haltered and safely out of the barn.
I might thoroughly investigate breakaway halters that actually would (breakaway), if the horse got hung up on something.
My horses are home and barely wear halters for anything these days. I have grilled Mr. WTW 50 million times as to what HE is to do, should we ever have to deal with fire. I have lit him up for not latching the snaps in the correct position for just that reason - I don’t care if I am left-handed and he isn’t.
I keep an intercom on the night stand so, I can hear what goes on at the barn. I would pray I could get to the barn to get all three out and that Mr. WTW had darn well better be at the paddock gate to let them into the main pasture, while he’s calling the fire department at the same time.
I know it’s asking a lot for a man to walk and chew gum at the same time but I will have my hands wrapped in wet towels, opening doors, point and grunting “gogogo!”
[QUOTE=Paks;7882006]
I have halters off. I also have a barn where every stall has a door that opens directly to the outside in addition to a center aisle door. In case of fires I would run around the outside of the barn an open the doors. Drive out any reluctant ones. Quicker and safe than trying to halter even clip a lead line on a frightened horse.[/QUOTE]
Same setup at my place.
[QUOTE=Paks;7882006]
I have halters off. I also have a barn where every stall has a door that opens directly to the outside in addition to a center aisle door. In case of fires I would run around the outside of the barn an open the doors. Drive out any reluctant ones. Quicker and safe than trying to halter even clip a lead line on a frightened horse.[/QUOTE]
We have the same set up at my boarding barn. I think it is far safer as well. All the stalls open into the pastures.
Off. I would make sure that each stall had the halter, with lead rope attached, hanging on the stall door. A lot of barns never seem to have a lead rope available when it’s needed, so I’d make sure there was one for every stall.
My barn at home has all stalls opening to the outside pasture. If I ran a large barn, I might consider having a discussion with the staff about what to do in an emergency. Every barn is different. I hope no one has to go through a fire.
Halters Off !!!
I think more emphasis should be put into creating safer layout, designs & structures. Plus putting importance on creating a working plan for fire & natural disasters escape routes. Additional safety measures such as Alarms, Camera, Smoke Detectors, Sprinkler System & additional doors in stalls on outside walls opening to small turn-outs.
Leaving halters on is an open invitation for unforeseen injuries. Halters can cause sores - in turn creating scars & blemishes. In the summer heat horses sweat under halter thus becoming irritating, which then causes horse to engage in rubbing frenzy. Halters get hung up or hooked on things. Horses play w/straps on each others halters. I once saw a noseband pulled so tight the head swelled up like a balloon. A horse got halter caught on a fence post while rubbing & broke neck. A foal stepped into another horses halter resulting in broken leg. While rubbing on stall window the Snap on throat latches onto wired window - horse freaks & pulls back face gets mangled. No thanks you. Halters always OFF !!!
Off! Both ends of barn end open on safe pasture.
I leave mine off, but definitely understand the point of leaving them on. Its sort of a danged if you do danged if you don’t proposition. I am with pony4me I hope no one has to go through a fire.
Off, always.
I boarded (briefly!!) at a barn where horses had to wear halters on 24/7, including in stall. BO’s orders - reason was that if the horse was cast or caught or panicked or loose it needed to be able to be restrained, quickly. I respected that.
However, the horses would get caught on things constantly – one horse hurt himself getting the metal ring on the halter caught on the metal slot that holds the water bucket… Since it was metal to metal, there was no safety mechanism or quick release… and the horse seriously injured his neck breaking free.
Personally, not a fan and I’ve seen way more go wrong leaving them on than leaving them off.
I think everyone needs to sit down and draft a ‘in case of fire’ emergency plan… Most barns don’t, which can be damning when your barn goes down in flames. Having a set of spare halters/leads somewhere outside the barn easily accessible, with a barn formatted in a way where horses can be set loose in case of catastrophe is really best.
The potential for daily harm occurring to horses who wear halters 24/7 vs the very small possibility of a barn fire is what drives my decision to leave them off. Good barn design (doors outside and inside, fire prevention and cleanliness) make more sense.
