Horse sets back when tied

[gloriginger]

[QUOTE=NoSuchPerson;8038766]
To clarify, I was not suggesting that the OP tie her horse up using a rope halter and let him struggle. I was merely responding to the poster who expressed horror at the thought that anyone would tie a horse up in a rope halter.

There is nothing wrong with tying a horse up in a rope halter. I do it all the time - but always with a baling twine connector or panic snap so I can get the horse loose if necessary.[/QUOTE]

“Horror” is a bit dramatic now.

I was responding to the original post where the OP says that the horse is not used to being tied, sets back and panics…all of these and a rope halter make a really bad combination. In this situation, yes, there is a lot wrong with tying the horse in a rope halter.

[Pennywell_Bay]

I had one that despite tons of training, was never reliable on the cross ties ( off the track). He’d panic so much he once almost took off the back barn doors. He would stand tied in the trailer or wash stall. He was a phenomenal show horse, so I ended up just working around it. (Gasp) he’d ground tie all day and was great for the farrier, vet, braiding as long as he wasn’t on open cross ties. He didn’t mind it if he was in a confined space for whatever reason. He would truly panic, we never figured out why or how to stop him.

[PeanutButterPony]

Clinton Anderson’s videos on YT demo how to use the Blocker Tie Ring correctly. He’s not great for much, but he is good for this.

Stop hard-tying that poor horse until he learns more than he knows now. Otherwise you’re just teaching him to panic and leave.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=gloriginger;8039650]
“Horror” is a bit dramatic now.

I was responding to the original post where the OP says that the horse is not used to being tied, sets back and panics…all of these and a rope halter make a really bad combination. In this situation, yes, there is a lot wrong with tying the horse in a rope halter.[/QUOTE]

To be fair, the horse who pulls back and panics is at risk in any halter. If equipment breaks, his noggin and withers are at risk, too.

IMO, horses should be taught to stand tied, not made an exception for. That’s because sometime, somewhere someone is going to make a mistake and tie that horse somewhere unsafe. Or maybe they’ll be in a bad situation and knowingly do it because they don’t have another choice. In any case, every horseman will someday need his horse to help him out and be a good citizen.

[Montanas_Girl]

I’m with mvp. A horse who won’t tie is, aside from being a royal pain in the rear to deal with, incredibly dangerous. Allowing the horse to continue breaking free when tied is just going to make the situation worse. As another poster commented, this horse isn’t truly halter broke. He needs to learn to give to pressure before you ever attempt to tie him again. And you will never be able to trust him to stand tied. Never, ever walk behind this horse while he is tied - you will be putting yourself at risk for a very severe injury.

I am not a fan of the Blocker ring, the Clip, or similar contraptions. I’ve been around dozens of horses who were trained with those kinds of gimmicks, and none of them could be safely tied to anything else. These items teach the horse to pull back until he gets enough slack in the rope to do whatever he wants. The first time that horse pulls and doesn’t feel the rope release, all h&^% breaks loose.

[Flying_Hill]

[QUOTE=sbwinde;8037626]
I recently rescued an OTTB, and he is not used to being tied, as he was typically held by a person in his track life.[/QUOte]

I used to joke that OTTB’s come with their own rulebook, and that one of the rules was that all self-respecting, card-carrying OTTB’ s would occasionally revert to pulling back and breaking something when tied. Well-meaning people, often with a western background, make suggestions of retraining by tying with things that don’t break because they don’t comprehend the commitment the OTTB’s have to this rule to the point of BREAKING THEMSELVES.

These horses panic when they pull back and hit a dead end. Working with them on better yielding to pressure helps, as does tying with or to stretchy things. My favorite solution is to use the blocker rings with long ropes double looped which requires more pressure before the rope starts sliding. Long ropes give the horse pulling back enough room to stop pulling because they don’t hit the panic zone of the dead end and still remain tied. Over time they relax about being tied and fall behind on their routine “let’s challenge the rope schedule,” another rule in the OTTB rulebook.

Eventually they will stay tied pretty safely with a blocker ring most of the time and it is manageable, but I would never trust one tied unsupervised for any length of time.

[Simbalism]

I cheated with my OTTB mare when I started teaching her to tie to my trailer. I hung a bucket of alfalfa forage and thru some treats on top. I would get all my stuff out and then tie horse up. That way I was always right there to distract her from pulling, spooking as I was grooming and tacking up. I have had her a year and she stands tied to the trailer when we go on trail rides or other activities while we eat lunch after a ride. This is right after I got her.
https://flic.kr/p/hQ3Ya9 This second picture is after I had her a few months. We had gone on a group trail ride at a state park. We were eating lunch after a ride and I think she was sleeping. https://flic.kr/p/op8gPH Here is a picture of my older TB mare.https://flic.kr/p/6Gonu3 I used the same method for her as she was a really bad puller when I first started to train her to tie. Broke at least a couple of halters in the process.

[roseymare]

I think it all depends on the horse. If you have ever had one that will pull until it dies you might change your ideas. One needs to determine why the horse is a puller. There are truly some out there who are claustrophobic and panic. Not all are OTTB. Mine was a bulldog style QH. I understand they are dangerous but they also cannot be retrained just by tying them hard. They will kill themselves eventually. I have had both kinds of horses.

Strangely enough these “cannot get out of panic mode pulling horses” pull LESS when not tied hard. They do not just pull away and wander. They will stand all day unlike the ones where pulling back is a learned behaviour to get away.

I know it is counterintuitive to what everyone has learned and people will disagree but there are these horses out there.

[cowboymom]

I agree that there are those horses out there. And I also agree that an OTTB can be a different duck.

Why is that? I understand a young horse that just doesn’t know yet when he has come off the track environment but it seems like more than that for an OTTB?

[Belmont]

I have one that just won’t get over it. No matter what we do, so I have learned to live with it. BO has, though, broke a horse of it. Mine is just a lost cause.

BO tied a tire tube UP in a tree, with a hanging rope. She ties the horse to that rope and that rope only. AT first, he protested and kept hanging backwards. His behavior was learned (ie freak out when you are about to get saddled and they wont ride you). She let him pull back then worked him and tied him again. She found that the stretch of the tube was enough give and that the rope hanging from above wasn’t as easy for him to pull back on. The horse ties just fine now to his tree and to other trees. She also keeps the horse in work (OTTB), because he is just that type of horse that gets unruly and becomes a bully with no work (Bold Ruler blood).

My horse was from a bad situation. He does ground tie, and I can throw his lead rope over a pole and he will stand forever. He will tie, but we just don’t because once he decides to pull back he stays back until whatever it is comes out of the ground (he unbolted a hot walker and drug it quite a few feet once) or he hurts himself pretty bad. He does get tied to “the tree” when the farrier comes, and he has had no problems with him.

I use the tie blocker if other people are around or if I haul him somewhere. I also have used zip ties, tied to the trailer, and him tied to the zip tie. I also keep him distracted with hay. He won’t do it to be a douche. He does it when something startles him, which the other day was me tripping over a hose and almost falling on my face in front of him. Luckily, he wasn’t tied, just looped. He is getting much better about stopping once he has taken a few steps back, realizing he isn’t going to hit the end of a rope.

I just don’t think he will ever get over it, bless his little heart.

[roseymare]

Keep tying him with the release. He will get better. He is one of the rare ones I was referring to in my earlier post.