What are people’s favorite techniques for keeping the horse securely next to you while you’re putting on the bridle at the trailhead? My horse likes to make a dash for points unknown the second I slip her halter off (I have the reins around her neck and that’s enough to restrain her, barely, but that’s just because she does have some manners. If she really wanted to be gone, she would be). I suppose I could just put the bridle on over a rope halter, or get a halter/bridle combo. But, what are others’ techniques?
Put the bridle on while the horse is in the trailer when you arrive. Or trailer with the bridle on with the halter over it. And use snap-on reins.
They can get away with just the reins around their necks. Ask me how I know. :lol: Generally mine reserve that trick for arriving at a hunt meet - which is why mine now wear their bridles and halters going to a gathering, and just the halter when traveling back home.
Exactly what 5chestnuts said… halter over bridle in the trailer.
Actually, I bought a halter-bridle combo and I love it :winkgrin: even when I’m not hauling somewhere!
Well, instead of trying to figure out a method at the trail head, I would work at home to teach the horse how to properly stand for being bridled.
I ride in a halter…problem solved.
I would work on teaching my horse to stand quietly if that were an issue. I often don’t even tie mine for tacking/untacking. They know the drill.
[QUOTE=tabula rashah;6107860]
Well, instead of trying to figure out a method at the trail head, I would work at home to teach the horse how to properly stand for being bridled.[/QUOTE]
You can’t simulate at home the excitement of different places with activity that causes the type of problem the OP is experiencing with the horse. A halter over the bridle is a long establish “best option” for trailering to places where the horse may be nervous/excited upon arrival and if you are going to be jumping into the saddle right after unloading. That halter can save you a lot of headaces…and loose horses! 
Also would not trailer in just the halter/bridle combos - if horse breaks it you have nothing.
Within the past week or so there was a link to a halter that can be assembled and disassembled with the bridle on - I think it was in the Off Course forum. Looked like good quality leather for around $80 - which is what a decent leather halter costs anyway.
Hope that helps!
Dee
this post makes me glad that I have always been able to tack up at the trail head pretty easily. Good suggestions here. If I had a difficult horse I would try them.
I have biothane halter bridles, I use it as my halter for the trailer etc and when we are ready to ride I just throw my hackamore on and go!
[QUOTE=5chestnuts;6107929]
You can’t simulate at home the excitement of different places with activity that causes the type of problem the OP is experiencing with the horse. A halter over the bridle is a long establish “best option” for trailering to places where the horse may be nervous/excited upon arrival and if you are going to be jumping into the saddle right after unloading. That halter can save you a lot of headaces…and loose horses!
Also would not trailer in just the halter/bridle combos - if horse breaks it you have nothing.[/QUOTE]
If you know what you are doing and train your horse properly, yes they should be doing as you ask regardless of the situation. All of my horses learn to ground tie- it’s one of the first things I teach a new horse that I get. I think it is quite dangerous to have a horse that thinks the moment you slip the halter off of them they have leave to pull away. IMHO it’s bad horsemanship to put a bandaid on the problem rather than actually fix it.
The first, and best, thing you can do is train your horse not to bolt or react in any way when you remove the halter. Then you don’t have to worry about all kinds of “tricks” to keep control.
If you are going to remove the halter then one way taught by the Army (and used by a lot of people everywhere) is to loosen the crown piece, drop the nose band off the nose, and slide the halter back on the horse’s neck and refasten it (it now hangs below the neck). Then place the reins over the neck and halter the horse. Now you can unfasten the crown piece and you’re good to go.
This is a training problem, not a “how to” tack problem. Train your horse.
G.
What G and TR said: train your horse. Bridling at a trailhead is not a big deal unless you are barely getting them bridled at home. I don’t love a halter under the bridle - their heads get so itchy and on my walkers the poll piece wants to slip down the neck. Train your horse to stand like a rock for bridling and you’ll be good to go. That’s my ‘technique’, I suppose.
[QUOTE=5chestnuts;6107929]
You can’t simulate at home the excitement of different places with activity that causes the type of problem the OP is experiencing with the horse. A halter over the bridle is a long establish “best option” for trailering to places where the horse may be nervous/excited upon arrival and if you are going to be jumping into the saddle right after unloading. That halter can save you a lot of headaces…and loose horses!
Also would not trailer in just the halter/bridle combos - if horse breaks it you have nothing.[/QUOTE]
I do think that it’s hard to prepare a horse for a new/different situation at their home barn. Even if they handle all kinds of things calmly in one setting, they might not handle the same things so well in an unfamiliar or chaotic environment. I think the whole tacking up thing is easy for us because we trailer out frequently (3-4 times many weeks), and as a result, the horses aren’t likely to get all wound up. It’s probably another one of those practice makes perfect situations. If you trailer out infrequently, then the bandaid approach is probably fine. If you are going to make it a habit, I would work pretty hard at teaching my horse how to handle the situation.
Neck ropes are great for situations like this:
http://www.perrisleather.com/product/202817/495/_/White_Cotton_Neck_Rope
Use it like a regular lead until you go to put the bridle on, then snap it around the horse’s neck when you need to take the halter off to put the bridle on.
I have to agree 100% with 5chestnuts - no matter how much you train at home, when you go to a place full of excitement and different things an excitable horse IS going to be looking and checking things out. If you can’t bridle fast and smooth while a horsey brain is overflowing with horsey warning signals, it can turn into a PITA.
Sometimes it helps to unload and just let the horse relax, eat grass, eat some treats, walk around and chill out. Once the brain starts to say “OK, everything here is fine” the urge to “run away run away!!” deflates. Then is the time to put the bridle on with a treat to further calm the horse.
Reins around the neck, halter around the neck, a neck rope - good, but not foolproof as once the horse turns its head and goes, ain’t nothing gonna hold it if it’s determined to leave the scene. Best to just work with putting a halter over the bridle for traveling, and make ‘worry about getting away’ a non-issue when you unload to ride. Foxhunters do this religiously…some for the safety, but mostly because they are notoriously bad for forgetting their bridles at home! :lol:
How about using a neck rope instead of a plain lead rope. Here is a pic of a very basic one sold for cattle:
http://cheshirehorse.com/Livestock-Adjustable-Poly-Neck-Rope-P10206.aspx but there are very simple to make using 2 same sized metal rings and a decent, long, smooth lead rope. You use it like a regular lead rope with it just snapped to the halter ring but when you are ready to bridle your horse you unclip it from the halter and fasten it around your horses neck. The rings are moveable and you can adjust them so they are in just the right place on the lead for your horses neck. They can be moved up and down the lead but they do not slide on their own and the rope will not tighten on your horses neck. You can use a single ring and just use a single overhand knot to tie it onto the lead but I like to use 2 rings.
The rings need to be the same size and be similar to the ring on the bottom of a standard halter that you clip a lead rope to. The need to be big enough in diameter for the lead rope to go thru a single ring twice but not toooo big or they might slip.
Of course, you could just untie your lead from the trailer but leave it run thru the trailer tie ring, then unbuckle the crown piece, slip the noseband off your horses nose then buckle the crown piece again so the halter is buckled around your horses neck “like” a neck rope. Then retie the rope. I always recommend untying a lead from the trailer when you are moving a halter off the nose like this in case your horse chooses just that moment to back away from the trailer. You can follow the horse’s move and capture them with the halter if the lead isn’t tied hard to the trailer.
Anyway, making a “neck rope” out of a nice lead is handy to have and your horse can wear it while you are trail riding and you can tie to a tree and remove the bridle if you want to take a lunch break or do some trail clearing.
If you try searching to get a good pic of a neck rope about all you’ll find is ones made for cattle or for ropers, neither of which are what I’m trying to describe.
Bonnie
Well, yes, any horse is going to be somewhat more “apprehensive” and “alert” in a new place. But to say that this means you can’t transfer lessons from home is just wrong. If it were true then no horse could ever be moved, anywhere at any time.
Training, properly done, properly reinforced training, is the most portable of Good Things you can do with your horse. But it’s the duty of the horse’s owner to ensure that it’s properly done.
G.
You can also use a collar – like a broodmare type collar, so he can stay tied to trailer while you bridle.
If I was worried about my horse getting away or pulling something like that I would…
- have a serious come to jesus moment the first time they tried this…there are NO excuses for bolting when the halter comes off.
- use a thin rope halter and put the bridle over that or
- get the horse used to and responsive to a neck collar and use that as some extra “security”.
But IMO, this is a training issue and nothing else. I’ve had horses plenty excited to “get going” and they all stood just fine while bridling.
Best of luck!
