A dead horse, tied with a rope halter, lots of blood on the outside of the stall wall, scrapes are clearly fresh on the side stall wall.
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Yep and it looks like outermost lower incisor was broken off below the gumline. Pretty significant blood spatter, not so much in the amount because god knows horse mouths bleed, but in the spread of it horizontally - he was fighting hard. There was a fresh abrasion on his haunch, not stifle but not hip either, just on the slab of his rump. Stall mats had been scraped clean of bedding in places by feet.
I also think he panicked and was fighting and fell and snapped his neck. Not that it matters at all.
Incidentally, my own stupid baby Irish horse tried to kill herself this morning; I tied her outside the stall so I could give the donkeys hay, she tried to follow the hay by when I walked past, got her leadrope stuck under the stall latch next to the wall (like in a slit, between wall and latch plate?) and was having an episode. Her nose was pressed against the aisle wall because of how she had done it, and there was no slack for me to pull the rope out. She was hauling back but not fighting, and the nice safe turnout halter was pressing on her nostrilsā¦ I got her to lean back just enough for slack to unsnap the leadrope, then yonked on it until it tore off the little bit stuck in the latch, and then pulled loose the sloppy quick release knot I had done. I thought of this case immediately.
So leather halter, tied nose level, loose goosey quick release done to literally just hold her 30 seconds, and she still tried to hari kari herself because horses are dumb and accident-prone. Any horse person who intentionally ties in the manner in this case 
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I know you are right. I guess I was thinking if this happened to my horse, I would not want people seeing him like that.
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The lawyer for the owner is who filed those photos with this claim.
They probably weighed the fact that these photos show quite a bit and it disputes what this trainer claimed happened, so it is worth having the photos out there.
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Lots more blood than I expected. Dead horse w his body on the ground hung by the rope halter. Awful
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It sounds like the photos definitely dispute her stories.
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Thanks for the descriptions. Appreciate not having to click. Iāve seen too much bad stuff lately, canāt take anymore.
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Iām really tired of explaining myself over and over again.
When I said āThat was exceptionally poor judgment even if she meant no harmā¦ā that was on 6/19 and all that was out there was a news article recapping the complaint. No photos.
Photos were first linked to this thread 6/25.
I could not have seen the photos and formed an opinion based on them on 6/19 when I posted owing to the fact that time travel hasnāt yet been invented. As a former academic, surely you understand the linear progression of time 
Seeing the photos NOW wonāt change the fact that at the time I posted that statement (in which I was not defending her but rather saying we canāt tell a personās motives from a second hand account of a different person who was not there) none of us had seen the photos. I donāt really want to see photos of a dead horse. They sound awful. But Iām a little sick and tired of the lack of reading comprehension.
In no way did I defend her. I havenāt said one positive thing about her here. She sold me a horse and I formed a frankly negative opinion of her based on our interactions. I was merely pointing out (1) that unless we have ESP we canāt know what was going through her mind; and (2) people do dumb shit all the time when it comes to tying horsesā as this thread continues to demonstrate by people sharing the stories of dangerous things they have done or seen and people debate the merits of things that can or canāt be accomplished by tying.
Iām not going to keep repeating myself like a broken record. Iām not defending her. Iām just pointing out weāve all done or seen dangerous things happen with horses and regardless of the motive, the person who did it is responsible.
Itās (presumably) a civil negligence case anyway so there need BE no proof of a higher motive for the plaintiff to prevail. Intent need not be proven.
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Someone suggested tying horses with velcro cable ties. I intend to try it and see if itās any safer. Supposedly the velcro will let go before the horse can hurt itself. Iām not certain it is good to teach horses that they can get away but it might not be bad to attach 2 or 3 velcro ties along the lead rope so that if one tie pulls away, they are still tied, if with a slightly longer lead rope.
Only my youngest horse does not tie reliably but heās still learning.
Get a blocker ring.
I have seen rope halters, under heavy stress, stretch and end up in the mouth of the horse. Iām wondering if thatās what happened here to pull the teeth out? After witnessing that, if I have a horse who is liable to set back, I not only tie the halter tight tight tight up in the throatlatch, I will often put a second one on just to dissipate the load, just in case.
FWIW, this was not an el-cheapo halter, either. It was either a parelli or a clinton anderson one. It grew probably 5" at the chin area as the knots fully tightened down when the horse sat back, it was terrifying.
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Another vote for blocker rings.
My horse learned to set back at a barn I leased him to. Heās broken crossties, halters, tie rings, and indeed learned how to sit on a good rope halter until it stretches out (and the twist his head just right and slide it off). Heās panicking when he does it, but also heās gotten free successfully enough times that he will. not. give. up.
He ties fine with a wall behind him, but I canāt leave him completely unsupervised for long periods. āFixingā him is above my pay grade, and heās retired anyways. But, blocker tie rings work for him very well, and have made him reliably tie-able in most situations. I wonāt single tie without one anymore.
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Tying terrifies me. Perhaps because Iām used to thoroughbreds, who tend to be flighty that way, or my own claustrophobia. I saw a lot of near neck breaking action at the track for years that I just donāt have the stomach for it. I teach mine to stand with a halter and rope shank tossed over their backs. Iāll tie in the stall when Iām working on the horse and everything is happy. But if Iām doing something they donāt like, such as treating a thrushy foot, I put them where I want them, untied, and do what I need to do. They know they need to stand there. Same for getting a bath or doused with fly spray and dressed before they go out. And traileringāwhen we are hanging around the parking lot i either put them in the trailer to stand and munch hay or I have a hold of them.
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Tying a horse is not evil just because this person did wrong things.
On the topic of blocker tie ringsā¦
I have them, I use them in some places.
But there are some places they are not appropriate.
More than once I have encountered a horse with its tie so long that it was tangled (or broke something because the long tie snagged on something) or is loose dragging a lead rope because they were tied to a trailer with a blocker tie ring and the humans were not right there watching it (because sometimes humans have to pee, or go to the secretary tent or other reasonable human activity).
So yes, a blocker tie ring is great, as long as the horse is supervised 100% of the time.
One thing I really like about the thread about the horse who pulls off its wraps is the understanding that some horses just do some things that are not wanted and at some point you have to accept that not all horses fit into the perfect horse mold, no matter how much amazing training they get.
(None of this post applies to the lawsuit in question that this thread is about, except the first sentence.)
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Just came here to say I appreciate the educational turn this discussion is taking.
I have no desire to see the photos of the horse at the heart of it all but I have started thinking what I would do if I came across a tied horse in trouble.
I can say, in complete honesty, I suck in emergencies and something like this is now fighting it out with assorted trailering and turnout scenarios for the top spot on my Worst Nightmare list. Hereās another topic Iām going to request be discussed at my barnās adult camp.
If you all want to keep talking about what do/how to lessen the chance of something like this happening, please do,
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The idea that everyone has about cutting the horse loose with a knife is often a pie-in-the-sky type mindset. Youāre going to unsheath a knife by a flailing horse?
Not me. I wonāt even approach one, Iām not getting in the middle of it. Some horses will just stand still when theyāre in trouble, those you can rescue. But a horse who is absolutely losing it? Thereās nearly nothing you can do but stand back and wait.
Thatās the reality of it.
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Yes, but while this horse was apparently left unattended with no one around to even attempt to cut it loose, your point about using a tie blocker to teach a horse to stand tied is a good one, and one some readers wonāt be familiar with. And a lot of people would not understand how violently a horse can fight being tied and may not understand how useless a knife is in most cases, so thatās educational in itself.
There are ways to teach a horse to stand tied without taking that risk, which is hopefully something that some readers are getting out of this thread.
(Though incidentally, part of the rope was accessible from the outside of the stall so in this particular case, it might have been able to cut it loose without getting kicked or run over.)
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I Googled the tie blockers, because they are new to me, but can someone give me an explanation? Do they just loosen up as the horse pulls? Donāt they just learn to pull themselves loose?
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Well, in the case of this horse, if someone had been there it was probably able to be rescued by untying or cutting from the outside of the stall, where you are safe from flying hooves.
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Generally the horse will give up before the rope pulls all the way out.
The rope giving way a little bit caps the pressure on their poll at a reasonable amount, and it also makes them feel less claustrophobic about the whole thing.
Most importantly, they donāt get the reward of āBANG and Iām free!ā that they get with halters that break or being tied on a piece of twine.
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There are multiple ways to thread the lead thru so they can be really easy to pull thru or much harder to pull thru.
The theory is if the horse does not hit a solid stop they are not likely to freak out and break things.
Which is fine until you are in the bathroom and Dobbin is tied to your trailer in the middle of a field and they pull to reach for grass and the tie keeps getting longer and longer and longer and then gets stuck under a door and the horse freaks out and things go flying.
(I have seen this, I caught the horse.)
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