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Just wondering , those that trail ride, going on pack trips, which method do you use to picket your horse?
Of course, if we are in a horse camping area, where our truck and trailer are parked, we use a hi line, as we have hay available
However, packing into the back country, usually means your horse has to learn how to picket, in order to graze.
We used to picket from the halter. The horses were first taught to picket at home, using a garden hose over the picket rope
We then discovered that picketing by one front leg, seemed to work much better.
I found this picket set up, that prevents a horse from getting wound up,a round the picket pin.
i hand graze my horse in the backcountry. or use hobbles.
i’d like to picket, but picketing can be dangerous, especially if the horse spooks, yanks the picket pin out of the ground, then goes galloping frantically down the trail with a lance bouncing around behind it.
when i can afford it, i’m going to get a solar-charged portable electric fence. that’s the best option.
i agree - i wouldn’t picket for the same reason aliceo said.
i’ve had good luck teaching a horse to tie to a tree. it’s not as easy - but i’d bring a length of twine and tie it around the trunk, and do a safety knot in a length of rope. in the open country i imagine trees are hard to come by. think hobbling or holding the rope is the best option for this.
Sidelines are an alternative to hobbles. A hobbled horse can more a quicker than most folks think and can cover a lot of “straight line” distance. The sidelines, properly adjusted, require the horse to move in a circle. If the spook and run they will generally stay in the same location.
G.
[QUOTE=Guilherme;7963776]
Sidelines are an alternative to hobbles. A hobbled horse can more a quicker than most folks think and can cover a lot of “straight line” distance. The sidelines, properly adjusted, require the horse to move in a circle. If the spook and run they will generally stay in the same location.
G.[/QUOTE]
g, i have never heard of sidelines. can you provide a link?
yes, hobbled horses can sometimes run in them, though certainly not as fast as without them! you don’t hobble horses and leave them unattended.
if the purpose is to allow the horse to graze without hand-feeding, then you cannot tie to a tree. if the knot is at the proper height–horse’s eye level–he can’t graze, unless the lead is too long. if the rope is tied low down, the horse will trip and get tangled up and get rope burn. (btdt!)
if you are out camping it is not okay to tie to trees for longer than an hour or so anyway. horses destroy tree roots with their pawing, they destroy the vegetation under the trees, and the rope debarks the tree.
a highline is good for overnight or extended stops. they are not hard to put up, provided there are stout trees available, and they are safe so long as they are above the horse’s head.
IIRC tying horses to trees in National Parks or Forrests will earn you a meeting with The Authorities. I’d bet the same would happen on state land. I’ve seen devices advertised that attach to trees and to which you tie the horse.
Here is a short thread on another site that has some photos of cavalry sidelines used in the late 18th and early 20th Century. http://www.militaryhorse.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6387
The ones illustrated are made of chain; I’ve seen similar devices made from various types of rope. You can make a simple set with “picket hobbles” you can get here http://www.outfitterssupply.com/Hobbles-Picketing-Feed-Bags-amp-Buckets/products/11/ with chain or rope from Tractor Supply, Home Depot, or even marine supply stores (soft laid marine line works well in many equine applications).
If you Google “picketting a horse” you will get a lot of information. Not all of it is worthwhile so read and evaluate carefully.
These devices are not without without risk. Indeed, every equine restraint system carries an element of risk for the horse. Horses need to be trained to any system used.
G.
Here in Haiti, we tie out by a halter or better yet, by a neck collar. The horses do learn not to fight the rope when they (sooner or later) manage to get it tangled around a leg. However the occasional horse lost to an accident is considered ‘fate’. I’ve seen surprisingly few broken legs here all told. All these horses learn to tie out young and they are small-medium ponies.
I’ve been told that in our circumstances, a neck collar or a hind leg picket are usually the safest. Hoover is a bad puller and has a hitchy rear end, so in grazing season he gets tied out by a halter instead - someplace where people I know can watch him and help if he gets into trouble. I wouldn’t be doing that if I had an option to pasture him without people cutting our fences, but such is life in our area.
Have you tried hi-tying? or are you looking to specifically picket?
High lining on Forest or NPS land is fine, preferably using tree savers to anchor the high line. I use hobbles under supervision and high line overnight. I have friends who use pickets for grazing, encasing the rope in garden hose to prevent tangles. But highlining for overnight is standard unless folks bring portable electric corrals.
If you are worried your horse running in hobbles, tie one end of a short rope to the center piece and the other end to his halter. The rope should be no longer than 18". He won’t be able to get his head up to run so problem solved. I also high line at night and hobble during the day. Portable corrals are discouraged on USFS lands because if you have more than one horse the damage they do to a fragile ecosystem is intensified. If you think the area will repair itself in short order, not true. It would take many years for recovery.
Also don’t forget your weed free hay and cubes.
Stepping off my soap box.
