When packing in the high country we use
hobbles, during the day while the horse are grazing and
always keep a watchful eye out for them
and never turn all the stock out at the same time, that way one or two is
left back at camp and this lessens the chance that the others will take off down
the trail and head for the trail head where we left the truck and trailer!
If we go with our cousin and his pack mules he will routinely let some of his
mules loose at night and they wear bells. Mules are great for keeping
bears out of your camp, and you get used to the ding dong of the bells after
awhile.
One of our mares can really travel good with
hobbles on, heck she has even jumped a cattle guard with them on.
Our stock then gets brought in at near sundown and
they get a little feed in their bags and get put on the high line for the
night. We tie them short, but long enough so they can relax their head and
neck naturally. They can lay down if they want, but not all the way
down. I have experianced tieing them long and had them roll and then roll
right over their lead with a front leg and then panic to get up and that is not
a pretty sight. So if you high line, make sure they can't do
that.
If you hobble, make sure that you train at home in
a soft grassy or sandy area so that if the horse falls it won't get hurt.
Some horses take to hobbling very well, others (like another mare we have) think
that when she has the hobbles on she is frozen to the ground.
When using a stake to tie out on, make sure that
the horse is trained to this and I don't think they should be left
unattended. With it tied to their foot the chances if they get spooked and
run off and getting hurt is worse than tied to their halter. Another thing
to remember is that horses are very strong and one good yank could pull that
stake from the ground and then you may have a scared horse running away with a
rope and a stake chasing it....that wouldn't be good either!
Tieing to the trailer overnight, you can help
reduce the chance of them laying down and getting hurt by getting some plywood
cut to slip in between your fender wells of the trailer and your tires, thus
making a solid area so that the horse can't get its feet under.
But if you are just talking about an overnight
stay...tie to the trailer and tie short so they can't lay down. Horses can
sleep standing up just fine and this way you don't have to stay up all night
biting your nails wondering if every little bump you hear is your horse getting
stuck with its legs under the trailer!
