Neener neener! I would have gotten some enjoyment out of their failed escape plan.
1 Like
What about something like the sierra halters (or just a rope halter, with an o-ring and rope)? I have absolutely no experience with them, but I have seen youtube videos of Mustang Makeover trainers using this style of halter when teaching horses to tie. They do put the rope lower on the neck than google pictures show.
The bungee tie I had looked bigger-around than this one, but similar idea…
@StB.YM that thing looks really cool. I like that it moves the pressure off the sensitive poll area a bit, down to a meatier/stronger area of the neck.
@anon40672407 did you ever have problems with that halter getting near to getting in his mouth? Looks like where it hooks up if under tension it would get long - could just be the picture though.
Be careful with any elasticy tie. I watched a horse tied to a trailer with one set back. He was pulling really hard when either the clip or the rope broke, sending that horse-powered rope whipping back at the horse. It whacked him across the neck and face, narrowly missing his eye. Huge welt, but could have been much worse. Definitely had more force and did more damage than an ordinary broken rope would have (Which would have been bad enough!)
2 Likes
I used to live at a property where the owner bred Appaloosas. She was in her 80s, could not move very fast at all and really had no business handling unbroke horses that she had spoiled rotten. She was trying to “train” the 5 yr stallion and had him tied to the hitching post. I was watching this and after he had been left there for sometime he decided he wanted to leave, so started to walk off but got brought up short by the tied rope. He threw a huge tantrum, the old lady, her idiot daughter and the barn helper run out, stuff his face with treats, gently untie him, fuss over him, feed him sugar, then took him back to his turnout and gave him a huge meal of grain and hay. The next day, he’s tied again and as I watch he looks left, looks right, looks left again, shakes his head, stand still for a couple seconds and then pitches a hissy - rearing, kicking, striking, bucking and finally hurls himself backward to the end of the rope. And then he stepped a bit forward - enough to release pressure off his head, but still appear to be at the end max length of rope. Of course, they all rushed out shrieking and crying and once again, stuffed him with goodies and turned him out with lunch. Every day - lather, rinse, repeat.
AFAIK, he never learned to stand tied. And thus was still unbroke and hardly handled when he died.
7 Likes
I very strongly advise avoiding the bungee tie. They seem like a good idea but if anything breaks they become extremely dangerous. Non stretch ropes will snap back like a whip, bungees have a whole lot of extra kinetic energy stored by the time something breaks.
I saw a horse pull back on bungee cross ties. They didn’t break, but the horse’s feet slipped and she went right down.
After being squashed against the wall by a horse pulling back on cross ties where one side was a bungee tie (the fixed tie swung the horse over to that side where I was) I don’t feel there is any safe place to use bungee ties to tie a horse.
If you want to spread the load pressure on the horse’s neck consider a 2" wide cattle collar. Tie a second rope to the collar and thread it through the halter. If you tie it so that it doesn’t come into effect until she’s hit the end of the halter rope she’ll still have the halter pressure, but you can prevent the stretching or breaking of the halter.
11 Likes
That’s a good idea. I do want to split the load. I was thinking of threading a head bumper or something under there to soften it a bit.
I need no hardware because I need it not to break - she needs to learn this is not optional. But at the same time, I don’t want to hurt the gal.
Been a very long time, but the one I used to train my young horses was similar to this:
Think it was called “The Leader,” and it seemed to be even thicker than the above (which is larger in diameter than the usual bungee) - the overall appearance was of a very thick lead rope.
I wouldn’t use a thinner bungee, or one with a lot of stretch, feel it would be dangerous if/when it snapped.
ETA: found it, I think, from the description, but the photo doesn’t work for me:
1 Like
I think that’s the one I used. My horse was pretty determined about his tantrums and did not hold back. I was surprised and pleased when that thing held up under his hissy.
@endlessclimb This. Not bungee cords. I’ve also heard, although never seen, a solution that involved a rope halter, the collar, and then two lines (so if halter broke, collar was in play) attached to a heavy (and I do mean heavy, the person worked with railroad wreckers) rigging chain. It was unbreakable and the weight of the chain created both pressure and release. It might give the release of the blocker without ever letting her get anywhere. But, do you have chain rated to that around? You would want a dynamic rating of well over 10,000…?
1 Like
We have a tie wall with a logging chain. I’d like to avoid tying completely solid for the moment - I’m going to give the blocker a whirl with the longer rope and a collar+halter set up first.
If I used anything “bungee” it would be a tractor tire innertube with a chain on it. That will be if she flunks the blocker ring again, which I don’t think she will.
… fingers crossed …
6 Likes
Reading all these many and varied training steps, shared advice, being a determined horse, the fact horse MUST wear a breakaway halter, I do not think horse will stay trained to not pull back in the future. They just mull things over and try a new idea in the future, catching you by surprise. PROBABLY breaking something to get loose.
Score: horse 100% win, human 0 right now.
I am pretty old school, they tie hard and fast, no breakaway halter, no blocker rings. CERTAINLY NO bunge/springy tie devices!! I have seen them break and damage things when recoiling, no people or horses. Yet. Some VERY close recoil misses though. We use neck ropes or the cow collars with nylon halters when tying away from home. Heavy cotton ropes to tie with, strong hardware, in ring and snaps. No dog leash snaps EVER on tie ropes. Any surprises to startled horse will have the rope pull back on more muscular areas of the neck. No pull on the more fragile area where skull and spinal column join.
I saw way too many horses injured, damaged permanently, tying with only a halter on the head as a kid. That was pretty much how all horses were taught to tie where I lived. Some nice horses turned into wobblers stretching necks way out while throwing weight backwards. Some wry necks too. Those rope halters have to be cutting into the neck, going to hurt something with the force horse is using. There was a reason rope halters went out of use for 30 years, before these knotted, self-tie halters came back into fashion.
Not sure why OP doesn’t get behind jerking horse to hit her in the rump with a whip! Drive horse forward!! Bad behaviour gets punished, no fun! How many times has horse pulled free from the blocker ring (horse win each time!) WHILE OP watched?!! 25ft worth before getting free!
Yet no correction??
Pulling back has escalated to being a HUGE problem, with OP owner saying “horse must be able to tie” to use it. I am guessing she trail rides, so being able to saddle while tied to the trailer are the requirements.
We have a horse that takes a notion to try escaping while tied to the trailer. BIG, STRONG horse who gives it 100%. So far he has not succeeded, though he did damage a halter and cow collar enough so I had to get out the spares to retie him. He is unpredictable about it, just never know when he will try. He showed nothing of this when we went to try him as buyers. He was actually tied with a breakaway halter to a gate post with half-hitches, no quick release knot! Was tied there a long time being brushed, tacked up, nothing bothered him. It would have been a mess if he had pulled his antics then!!
He lives here, in a tie stall. He is stalled EVERY day, using the cow collar and a nylon halter, no pulling issues. Tying to the trailer side last fall was a different story, not nice. He will be getting some “remedial” tying trainng as soon as the ground dries up. I have a couple ideas to try that have worked for me in the past. They may be a bit old-fashioned, but horse CHOOSES to act in ways that have not rewarded him in the past. He understands that bad choices bring bad results. Very smart horse. He also “must tie” when we go places. We take hIm and his driving partner a lot of places to enjoy driving away from home.
I am just not seeing OP fixing her pulling horse problems permanently. Too many wins already in the horse column.
1 Like
Watch me. 
She pulled all 25 feet out in about 5 seconds. I can’t tie her and then run with a whip to try and get behind her while she’s flipping like a fish.
Next round, I already plan on having competent backup.
I’m guessing it was just a bad day. The horse is 5, she’ll be fine.
1 Like
As i stated before, this horse knows what poll pressure means.
My guess is that when she whacked her head on the ceiling she freaked herself out. Then her brain vacated her body and the training just wasn’t going to happen.
That said. Next time I need a 100% chance she isn’t getting loose. I got permission from the BO today to use the gigantic telephone poles lining the arena. I’m going to double the 14000# line around them and then put the blocker on that. One line to a doubled rope halter, one to a collar.
She will learn.
She’s set back before and had a correct reaction. It just was a bad night (I hope), we shall see.
Nope. Once he figured it out (took a couple pulls) he never pulled with it on. I can’t say it occurre to me to be worried about his mouth.
I second that notion. We got a bungee tie because Pony Club virtually wouldn’t allow anything else for a puller and this was a Pony Club horse. I’ve never liked them personally. He learned more about not pulling at home with the Be Nice halter and a proper rope than with the bungee tie.
Pony Club requires some form of break away (which the Be Nice isn’t). That it might be a snap-back bungee break away doesn’t seem to bother them.
2 Likes
Two 50’ ropes are in. Waiting on the collar then it’s tie-time.
The piece of hardware that I’m most nervous about is the carabiner on the blocker ring itself. I wonder if I can use a shackle instead.
When it’s all said and done, I’ll make some super nice leadropes out of one of the lengths. It’s soooo nice in the hand. Yacht line, navy and grey.
2 Likes
A little extra $$ later and Shayney’s halter will be removed for turnout from now on. That should prevent her from unlearning her tying lessons.
It’s funny - the Old Man NEVER breaks his halter, even though it’s a breakaway. In fact, we found him in the pasture like this one day, just shuffling along, grazing in the little circle his mouth could reach. Who knows how it happened or how long he had been like that, but the flysheet was 100% intact.
If that would have been Shayney? It would have looked like the Hulk tore out of it.
Different personalities, that’s for sure. 
4 Likes
