Broodmares in Ky wear both a halter and a neck collar (in case the halter falls off — there at a ton a bay/chestnut horses out there and some of these mares only come to the farms for a month or two, so it is really important to be able to identify each horse).
From the lowliest to the multimillion $$$ horse, they all wear neck collars.
For these breeding farms, neck collars are fine — so I think you can use whichever you prefer.
FWIW StarPattern, the times I have tried to leave very light TO halters on my horses, they’ve developed rubs in just a few days. I’d love to not have them totally nekkid when the farm sitter is here, but it really just didn’t work. The halters were clean and soft and very light, but they usually go out without anything. Maybe I could have worked them up to halters full time? Just something to keep an eye on if you start keeping her “dressed” when she’s in the field. (And maybe have a back up plan if she does get rubs?)
Also, keeping a catch rope on a light turnout halter might just mean that she breaks it in the first few minutes. You want something easy to break in case she gets hung up, but it’ll just take one step on that rope and a jerk up to pop something on the halter. And really, if it doesn’t break, that’s kind of a problem, you know?
(Hmmm…as far as a neck strap goes, I wonder how one of these name bands would work. Lightweight, classy, no stitching at all. And cheap! I might try that for mine next time I go out of town!)
Get a man-made fake leather halter. They are SUPER cheap and break if you blow on them. I finally smartened up and stopped buying these for things like shipping and grooming because if the horse shook their head those suckers were breaking.
There are always people that will insist that having anything on a horse during turnout is an unacceptable risk, and those that think a halter designed to break is okay. I am with the latter camp; pick a halter with a breakaway strap or a cheap full leather one and check the paddock for hazards regularly.
You will always hear horror stories but unfortunately horses seem to be determined to kill themselves any way they can. Even the most helicopter horse parent can’t prevent everything, and you have a legitimate reason to leave a halter on for turnout.
I also know plenty of horses that lived in a halter 24/7 and were not driven mad by how “annoying” it was. Lots of dogs wear collars all the time so I don’t see it as any different. They will habituate to it, as long as you check regularly to make sure they aren’t getting rubs. Of course, it is nice for the horse to have breaks from the halter, but I wouldn’t worry too much about driving the horse crazy unless they seem bothered by it.
I’m assuming this isn’t your property and building a small catch pen within the pasture is out of the question?
I use a nylon halter with a leather head strap for turnout and for trailering. I think they are safe, especially in the kind of paddock OP described
If she leads really well once caught, you might be able to get away with catching her with a wadded up piece of baling twine in your hand or pocket. My hard to catch gelding many years ago would let me walk right up to him as long as I wasn’t carrying a halter, too, but once I was up close to him, I could pet him on the neck, slip an arm over his neck, and unfold a piece of twine like a collar. Not even tying it or anything, I’d just hold on to both ends and lead him up to his halter and put it on him.
Single-ply (no-stitching) leather, or a break-away nylon halter with a single-ply leather crown will be safest. Most leather halters sold are double or triple stitched, or padded, which makes them much too hard to rip for your situation.
I would use a SINGLE STITCHED cheap leather halter, and a short leather “stub” to grab onto if needed that won’t catch on anything.
I am not a fan of breakaway nylon halters. The couple things I have witnessed, is the leather poll portion did not break when it was supposed to. If I needed to leave a horse turned out 24/7 with a halter on, I want the whole thing cheap leather and cheap stitched, so that it has a greater chance of breaking if the horse gets caught on something.
If you do choose to use baling twine as a “stub” to grab onto, make sure it’s a kind that is going to break easily. Most of the plastic stuff is NOT going to break easily.
Just a sidenote on triple stitched leather halters… They’re more expensive, so it’s a shame to waste them that way, but the breaks tend to happen where the leather meets the hardware, and at that juncture they’re just as single ply as any other leather halter. Triple stitching doesn’t continue through the hardware.
I’ve used a triple stitched leather halter for turnout, and had the crown piece, throat latch, noseband, and one of the bottom noseband segments break. All at the points where it meets the hardware. So personally I feel pretty confident that it’ll break when needed. Also of note is that crown piece aside, the parts that broke on this halter would never have given way on a nylon halter with a breakaway crown piece.
If you usually wear a belt, just walk up to her, take off your belt, put it around her neck and lead her to the gate where her halter is. Or you could just pop a light little nylon dog lead or something like that in your pocket to slip around her neck just to get her to the gate. I personally wouldn’t leave anything on her in the pasture.
I would certainly think of doing this first. Does she lead easily? Nylon slip leads for dogs can totally fit in your pocket. Or try someone’s suggestion of baling twine, if you want to try something free first!
No halters or collars. That is safer. If you cannot catch your horse without a halter, you will also never catch him with halter.
I prefer collars to halters - less material to potentially get stuck on something, and they don’t cause rubs (except sometimes in the mane).
However, with a really hard to catch horse, you run the risk that she will become wise to your method and learn to stay just far enough away that you can’t get a hand on her halter/collar. The sneaky ones like that are the worst to deal with.
What Wayside said about carrying a wadded up bit of baling twine … IF the mare will let herself be led with a simple rope/cord looped over her neck (not every horse is amenable to that). Otherwise, I’d probably go with a simple leather halter and a short catch rope (I haven’t ever used a collar/neck strap, although they look like a good option, too).
I’m glad my girl is easy to catch. I would think that once you catch your mare a few times with an alternate method such as your belt or baling twine she may figure “well I’m not going to get anywhere near her because even though she isn’t carrying a halter I could get caught.” I do have a gelding who is sometimes hard to catch. I have to trick him. Tough situation, hope something will work for you.
I think a thinner leather, nylon halter or collar will all work. I’ve never seen a halter of any kind break anywhere but at the hardware or stitching.
On my yearling, who wears it 24-7, I have a thin leather halter and I don’t slip the end of the crown piece through the end of the buckle–I just put the tongue of the buckle in the hole and let it hang. That way it will be easy enough to come off should it get caught on something. I also keep the halter adjusted so there’s not much slack in the noseband or throat latch.
I opted for a cheap single stitched OLD leather halter. It cost me a whopping $5.
My mare is funny. For those of you who think I won’t be able to catch her with a halter, let me tell you a story - this mare is a retired racehorse who is accustomed to a halter meaning work. I have had her for over 6 years now and in those 6 years, she has always been hard to catch. If I go out with empty hands, she meets me at the gate. I can brush her, a farrier can do her feet, I can change blankets, I can do anything without a problem if I don’t walk in with a halter and lead rope. I can go out with a bucket of food as a bribe and she’s more than happy to let the other horses eat her treat if she spies a halter. I’ve proven this to people who don’t believe that she’s wary of the halter. I’ll bring them into the field with me and attempt to walk up to my mare with a halter slung over my shoulder. She stays just out of reach. If I lift the halter, click my tongue for her attention, drop the halter and step away, the mare comes right up to me. She knows that halter means she has to leave the pen, even though the extent of her life is simply being brushed, fed and getting cared for. I ride very sporadically and it’s only recently that this particular mare has even been broke to saddle. Her halter aversion was in place long before she ever wore a saddle.
The fact she wears a halter 24/7 means I can enter her paddock without anything else, walk straight up to her, grab her halter and lead her out. If my hands are empty, she comes to me. Even sliding a lead rope over her neck is difficult because she stays just out of reach. There have been times that I’ve used my shirt to catch her (I’ve started wearing multiples to the barn, in case I have to take one off to use as a catch rope). There just seems to be some quirk in her mind that says, “Human is carrying a halter and/or rope. Avoid, avoid, avoid!”
I figure I can circumvent that thought process for her by leaving the halter on and going in empty handed. I’ve tested this theory in the arena and round pen, and it works… so it should work in a big pen as well. I’ve had her long enough to know that she equates freedom to being naked, and once she has a halter on, she knows she’s not naked and free anymore. So hopefully, if my instincts are correct, wearing the halter will give her the impression that she’s always somewhat “in hand”.
Large mare bands, especially in Europe, wear neck collars with i.d. on them. Foals, of course, are famous for scratching so even a well fitted neck collar can catch a teeny little hoof.
Wouldn’t do to bring a mare in and inseminate the wrong one.
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