alternatives to halters during turnout

[Mickie Newnam <akela@peoplepc.com>]

I'm a bit behind so if someone has already suggested this please ignore it.
All of our horses wear collars.  They lead, tie, and everything else with
them.  The only time they see a halter is for trailering, and for the vet or
blacksmith (most would be fine even without then but it's a courtesy).  The
collars are designed so that a horse just setting back against one won't
break it easily  -- as some have mentioned we don't want a horse to get in
the habit of that.  But if a horse gets into trouble the collar will break
before the horse.  The only time it won't is if there's a straight downward
pull, so there is a slight risk but in all the years of wearing them we've
only had that happen once.  And since most of our horses feel that if they
get stuck in something it's a human's job to fix it we don't have any
problem.  Akela's worn the same one day in and day out (taken off only for
washing and for rides when he wears his "going away clothes") for over 12
years...
I've always said that Arabs are like big dogs...
Mickie

Rides 2 Far wrote:

>
>  if you feel you *have* to do it, use a breakable leather
> halter.  The more dry rotted the better.
>