Hobbles

[Dani]

Who here has hobble trained and where do you place your hobbles?

I’ve always been taught and I’ve taught many horses to use figure 8 hobbles around the pastern. I was talking to someone yesterday about it and their trainer taught them to hobble around the Cannons. I’ve honestly never seen that before and I’m curios if anyone else has seen it or tried it. Her trainer’s reasoning was that the horse would be ‘less likely to break its ankle’ (I’m assuming he’s referring to fetlock joint), but I would be worried about the hobble straps pulling around the tendons back there. I’ve always seen and done pasterns and I’m interested to see what other have done or seen.

[Bluey]

We have always taught first around the cannon bones, with a piece of burlap, that is soft.

First you ready the horse by using a soft cotton rope you only double to keep it in place, so the horse learns to feel that around the cannon bones and to be restrained a little bit, but safe to turn loose if it becomes uneasy.

Once hobbling, you do it where the ground is very soft, in case a horse were to fall.
We never had one act up, they generally pick up a foot here and there a bit, then stand there until you let them loose.

Some people shoo them on so the horse tries to move and finds out it can’t, after fighting the hobbles.
That has never made sense, they won’t fight them, they know they are there and they can’t move and learn to just stand there until you take them off.

When working cattle with others where you don’t have something to tie to, some work on the ground, so hobble their horses and leave them standing there while they work, until they need them again.

[Aces_N_Eights]

I teach the same way Bluey does.
I’ve found most colts don’t fight it much if they’ve had their feet handled enough to not pull away from you when their getting trimmed or shod.
Roping feet does wonders for teaching them to give to the pressure.

I too start with the burlap hobbles then leather, single ring figure rights. I’ll put them on up on the cannon bones but they usually slip down to the pasterns.

In all my years, knock on wood, I’ve never had a horse injured from hobbles or training them to hobble.
I’ve noticed people who aren’t familiar with it weary of teaching it but its simply a form of restraint. No different than teaching a colt to give to the pressure of the halter before tying him hard to something. Do your prep work properly and its really uneventful.

[goodhors]

I also do it like Bluey and Aces N Eights. The burlap has never left a mark on my horses, though they have not actually fought the restraint. As mentioned, mostly lifting a foot, feeling the length they can reach, settling leg back into place. I do not go to the leather hobbles, since they always seem too small for my horses wide chests. Leather actually pulls lower legs tighter together than they would stand normally, which I think could be painful. Using the burlap piece, I can size the hobbles to the width I want between front legs, no pull on the upper legs at all.

I always start the hobbles on the cannon bones. All the illustrations on “How to teach your horse to hobble” had the hobbles up on the cannon bones. So following those directions, my first horse learned to hobble as I read the article!

If horse does some pawing, reaching, the hobbles may slide down to pasterns, but I have had no problems with either location. I NEVER let horses “fight it out” with hobbles. They try them to see how much room they get, then they stand and wait as directed by the word Whoa as I leave them. None have offered to fight or run, just act puzzled, then accepting of the restraint. They are well educated young horses, willing to cooperate, know what Whoa means.

Teaching to hobble and wait when restrained has saved several of my horses from getting badly damaged when snagged in downed fences, vines on a trail ride. Some evidently had stood there entangled for a long time with only minor injury or no injury at all. We had to go find them, didn’t come up with the other horses.

Well worth the effort to teach a horse this skill. He may need it later in life, as mine did.

[Dani]

I NEVER just slap hobbles on and let them fight it out, I do properly teach them to give to pressure on their legs and make sure they’re comfortable with soft rope before I move on to leather ones. I’ve got my training method down, never have had one freak out, fall down, rear up, etc.

I just want to see if anyone has had injury issues in one way versus the other and how common cannon hobbling is. Whether they’ve spooked and started struggling or tried to take off and there were injuries. I camp and prefer to leave the horses out hobbled, usually don’t have a good way to high line.

[Aces_N_Eights]

Even when I was young, dumb and didn’t know any better, putting hobbles on(cotton or burlap) and let them figure it out I still never had one hurt himself. They might have removed some hair but no serious injuries.
The main thing was to keep the legs as close together as possible. Where I’ve seen wrecks is legs too far apart, they still try to step each leg independently rather than hop on the front or getting a hind leg hooked in between the fronts on the hobbles.

[Hopeless]

@Dani

I NEVER just slap hobbles on and let them fight it out, I do properly teach them to give to pressure on their legs and make sure they’re comfortable with soft rope before I move on to leather ones. I’ve got my training method down, never have had one freak out, fall down, rear up, etc.

I just want to see if anyone has had injury issues in one way versus the other and how common cannon hobbling is. Whether they’ve spooked and started struggling or tried to take off and there were injuries. I camp and prefer to leave the horses out hobbled, usually don’t have a good way to high line.

I only hobble trained one horse and the only injury I ever had was once when i was putting them on she lifted her leg and clocked me across the cheek bone with a knee. OMG did I see stars! lol

[Dani]

Hopeless - I nearly caught a knee to the face a few days ago too! I can only image the pain!

Aces - I have seen a few fall on their face while learning with other people, trying to avoid that with my crowd. Mine tend to shuffle their fronts individually rather than hop and I’m not going to show them how to hop lol I’ve seen a hobbled horse take off after learning to hop.

[Aces_N_Eights]

I agree you don’t them to learn how to hop and get away, if one is going to fight the hobbles its easier on their legs to lunge forward with both feet together is all that I’m saying.

I have a horse who was ran through several fences by a mountain lion as a colt and was essentially three legged until he healed. Although he knows what being hobbled means he’s quite efficient at running off hobbled. LOL

[Dani]

Wow! I bet he is! That’s an experience I hope none of mine have to go through.