I have a big goofy warmblood who, for some reason, won’t tolerate other species in his very large pasture. I rest easy knowing a dog or coyote won’t be a danger to him and his pasture mate, but I worry about everything else. Especially my barn cats.
Has anyone braided bells in their horse’s mane, and is there a reason I shouldn’t do it?
why WOULD you put bells on. I dont think other animals need notification that 1200 lbs of something is coming after them.
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Yes i would definitely add bells.
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We have had barn cats trampled - have seen it happen. Bells would have given them more warning and a better chance.
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Lunge, roundpen, turn horse loose in an indoor arena, before belling him for pasture turnout!!
Many equines easily accept the sound of bells, are not reactive to them. OTHER equines spazz out, run away to escape the sound. That can include over or thru fences, over you if horse cannot escape the tied-on bells!
From personal experience, we have had a horse get badly injured with us just CARRYING a set of sleigh bell from the barn to the house. She was outside, not close to the person. She freaked out and tried jumping the fence but did not make it. Got tangled in the wire. 6 months rehabbing her. Granted, she was not a bright horse, but one bad reaction I have seen.
Second was a horse we sent for training as a driving horse. Trainer insists all the driving horses have to be accepting of bells. Horse was doing well with everything after a few weeks, so the bell came out. Rung ONE TIME horse had her brains fall out! Trainer said she ran around the indoor arena for 20 minutes! She was exhausted, sweaty, panting when she finally got tired.enough to stop. And so it went for almost 2 weeks, a race to escape the bell at the end of her training lesson.
Then she had her “AHA” moment and quit reacting to the bell! Trainer excitedly called to tell me horse had totally ignored the bell today! Horse had responded to voice commands well during free lunging and long line work, despite bell calmly rung or during enthusiastic ringing. Horse finally “got it” that bell noise was nothing to get excited about, went back to being the good student in her lesson. Have to say we celebrated that night!
So regardless of horse attitude, do some preperation work with bells before tying any on him! Both of ours who reacted badly were among the calmest, quiet types you can imagine. We sure never expected the reactions they demonstrated and that was just hearing the bells. No bells actually on them or even very close when they took off.
Better safe than sorry, Vet visits are not cheap. I hope this bell idea to help the cats be safer.
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This definitely!
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What goodhors said. Be careful with bells at first. I won some sleigh bells last year and when I went to introduce them to my mini he spazzed. He was OK at first and then he realized the noise was following him and he couldn’t get away from it. I think with time he will be fine with them, but it will take some work. He is usually a pretty Steady Eddy, so I was caught off guard a bit by his response.
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My horses never reacted to bells- i braid ribbons, bells, and identification information in their manes prior to hurricanes.
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Agree that the horse would have to be introduced to the bells carefully.
It does not have to be bells. Anything that increases the auditory factor would be effective in giving other animals more advance warning. A tag on a halter or blanket, or some bell boots are noisy.
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I have a friend who was into competitive jousting, and competed internationally. He said the best way to get horses used to the noise of armor and contact was bells. He said once you turn them out in bells, they don’t react to most noises. I always thought it was an interesting idea. As long as you do it carefully, as discussed above, I don’t see why it could hurt.
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You can hear him when his blanket is on; the “swoosh - swoosh” is enough to let the cats know he’s coming in fast. I’ll be very careful trying out bells.
My barn cats are skittish around the horses, normally. When they walk through the barn and they hear a horse in the stall you’d swear they’d never seen a horse or been in a barn before, they’re so jumpy. But they get out near the barn, and become intent on something else in the grass, or rolling around in the screenings, and he’s gotten pretty close to them before they realize.
I wish I had the kind of animals that are prone to inter-species adoration, like you see on Facebook.
It’s just that this one horse is so intent on doing harm to these animals. He sees them, sets on them with a slow quiet trot, lowers his head down, and quietly sneaks up to them. I know there’s not a lot I can do, it’s nature. But I really don’t want to pick up my dead cat out of the pasture. I’ve already had to pick up a dead dog, and there’s another one that limped out only to die later. It’s weird, because in every other way this horse is a sweetheart, dopey and lovable. He is low on the totem pole, and easily pushed around by the alpha, so maybe he enjoys flipping that role on something else.
You learn something new every day. I have never heard of using bells on horses. I know they use them on cows in the Alps. I think it is so that they can find them.
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