My horse had on a rope halter in the crossties. Crossties were the breakaway. He sat back, breakaway popped open right into the artery on the side of his face. He ran down the aisle spraying blood everywhere. I was not there as my trainer was riding him that day. Thankfully there were a few people around to help her apply pressure, get some drugs in him until the vet could get there etc…
He is now only crosstied in the wash stall or grooming stall where there is a wall behind him. We added Equi-pings to all the crossties. When my trainer tacks him or vacuums him in the main aisle he is ground tied. But for bathes and shoeing he is crosstied.
I’m in South Africa, also not really a thing here, especially that craziness with tying up horses in an aisle.
When our trainer moved to a new yard a few years back, and built a new barn, we have them now, but they’re in their own separate stalls (if that makes sense), not in the aisle.
What we use here a lot are crushes. Not traditional vet crushes like a chute, but a small little area, that is used for tacking up and washing etc. The horses aren’t tied up in there, but there is usually a ring for tying if you have one that doesn’t like water near their heads.
I much prefer the crushes to cross ties. So often I will clip the two ties together and not to my horse’s halter, so the space is a crush.
@SonnysMom oh my gosh I’m so sorry. That had to be an awful experience. When you say the crossties were breakaway, what do you mean? Like they had bailing twine on the end? Or just the quick release clip on the end or something else on the ends?
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹I’m just now waking up and drinking coffee so sorry if missing it :yes: I’m not totally awake.
My horse has pulled back twice when tied but luckily not severely and he quickly steps into the pressure and stops. Especially if I’m there to reassure him. I see that going a lot worse with crossties though… So I certainly want to be as safe as possible if I have to use them.
A 10-cent solution is to make a ring from light-duty zip ties (a/k/a cable ties) on the D-rings of your halter, and clip to that. Once you cinch the tie to the diameter you want, cut the tail end off and they’ll be nearly invisible (and won’t get all frayed like natural baling twine does). If you get a zip tie with a 40- or 50-lb test strength, that’s strong enough not to give way at a minor tug, but break long before your horse is sitting back in a dangerous pull.
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They were the quick release clip pictured below. The side to the right was attached to the halter. We are guessing it snapped open and cut his face or maybe the direct pressure of the metal tore his skin/artery just below the cheekbone.
Definitely agree!
I love baling twine at the end that will break (and it has with my guy several times as he knows the trick of pulling back until something breaks when he’s startled). I also have the quick release clips but find that they don’t always work.
I boarded at a barn that didn’t use any break-aways and after breaking a few leather halters I started tying a little loop of twine to his halter so that my pocket book wasn’t hurting buying new halters all the time.
Now he’s home and weirdly hasn’t pulled back since he moved here in spite of my safety measures. Go figure, but I’ll take it.
I prefer the method where I teach my horses to stand tied no matter what. I need to be able to tie overnight in the middle of nowhere or on the side of a busy road or any number of places that your average horse doesn’t get tied at.
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@tabula rashah so do I but my 4 year old does great at that but not yet for bathing. More training needed but there is no way to speed up time and experience.
Plus if I ever need to sell a horse or if something were to happen to me, I think a horse that straight ties, cross ties AND ground ties is in a better position to find a home.
I prefer to ground tie but not everyone else will do the same.:winkgrin:
Exactly right, Bluey. That photo looks like ponies prepped for either a fancy sale or a class at a show - and waiting to go in the ring. So yes - this aisle would be one trainer/barn’s “territory” with no regular traffic going through. The ponies are standing on those outdoor “rugs” as the floor is obviously dirt - and they are trying to keep them as clean as possible before they go in the ring. The rugs are much easier to haul around than rubber mats.
I also agree that any horse should be used to regular ties as well as cross ties… and being able to ground tie would be a bonus!
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Mine tie in either, but we just usually tie directly to a post in the barn with a quick release knot. It seems the easiest thing to do. We also routinely duck under their necks, which I know is forbidden in many horse circles.
I didn’t like cross ties in the boarding barn where I used to keep my horses because of the blocked aisle issue. Is that still common, or do boarding barns have a tie up area near the tack room? That would be so much easier for those that are moving horses around or cleaning stalls. The way those horses were tied in Bluey’s first picture looks like a nice way to manage lesson horses or to cross tie without blocking the aisle.
Blocker tie rings. I haven’t used cross-ties since my previous horse went straight back on supposedly quick-release cross-ties and took the whole board to which the eyebolt was attached with her. She was fine, but I never want to see that again.
https://www.doversaddlery.com/blocker-tie-ring-ii-wmag-loc/p/X1-4762/
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@Posting Trot I love those and there is one in one area of the barn, I use it a lot. But this isn’t my barn, I board. There is no place or any way to tie in the wash rack-just crossties.
If you only used one cross tie and attach it to the ring under the halter that would be the same as tying wouldn’t it?
You can tack, groom and wash horses with them standing still and not being tied.
In our wash-grooming-saddling room, you can put a horse in or tie it to the vet stocks, you can single tie, you can cross tie, you can ground tie, from the front looking in or from the back looking out or sideways, any and all works fine there and people have done it all ways safely.
Whatever each horse and handler wants to do, they can easily, the way it is set up there.
@SuzieQNutter these crossties are tied from the ceiling and REALLY high up and tight. They are just really odd, I’ve never seen any positioned like this in any barn I’ve ever been too.
I suppose I could tie him there but still very restrictive for bathing a youngster. Plus I would rather tie towards the back of the wash stall instead of the front.
When we were training race horses, we had a chain strung high between two trees.
We had leads hanging down from that and we would tie a horse to one and give them baths there.
Horses could move around, but not really pull back, or wanted to, since they were not feeling tied where they could not go anywhere.
Worked very well for us, most horses learned quickly to just stand there and enjoy their bath.
We had rules how to bathe horses so horses liked baths, no aggressive water on a horse that was trying to get away, but gently spraying and changing spots quickly, before they would object.
Most important, only go as high up the neck and on the head as a horse tolerated, if one didn’t like, use a bucket and sponge, never attack a horse’s head with a water stream as some do.
Some horses liked bath and face spraying, some hated that, you were to work with the horse you had that day.
I think that is why we had horses that learned to love baths and play and drink with water coming from a hose.
I see way to many people enjoying pestering a horse with the water while giving them baths and laughing when horses pin their ears or try to get away.
No, it is not funny.
Is always best to find what your horse likes and do that.
Or train them to what you want, don’t force them.
Cross tying horses from the rafters seems strange, but whatever works for them …
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I haven’t seen crossties in years since I boarded in Washington state.
Now I’m in SW Idaho and we just have hitching posts/tie rails mostly everywhere I’ve been so far. My mare had never seen crossties and she’s 7, not sure about my gelding.
@Bluey this was probably his second bath in his life so I think he just needs miles. He mostly hated his back legs being done but he hates ANYTHING touching those but such is life. He came around. I just had a friend help and hold him.
He just needs miles 
But I’m not willing to risk an injury, he’s already dealing with that spider bite and hives.
