RE: [RC] Some horses can't be tied - Karen Standefer
But, just tying the horse so that it could
fight and not giving it incentive to NOT fight or NOT pull is different. This
pony had no incentive (nothing to gain) by not fighting and pulling on the
rope. He was just doing what he thought would get him loose……..what he had
done before.
I still think this pony could have been
taught to tie. But, it had to be more comfortable to “stand still” than to
fight. The situation was no set up that way. The situation was set up to let
him fight as long as he wanted. Being a strong, persistent sole, the pony fought
until he collapsed. I don’t believe this is training.
Just my $.02
Karen
From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Spottedracer@xxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006
4:18 AM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Some horses can't be
tied
I used to believe it
was all a matter of training as well.... Until another barn manager/owner
called me with a horrible story:
She had recently purchased two jump ponies for her schooling program. One was
perfect, the other could be groomed/saddled/etc standing 'free' - but would
freak out the second you tied her. Other than that, she was a PERFECT large
jump pony.
Out came the farrier, who also trains roping horses. He's an older trainer,
with LOTS of experience. The barn owner mentioned her problem - and he believed
that the pony had learned it could 'break ropes' and get out of what it didn't
want to do. So after he shod it, he tied it with a heavy halter and lead - and
told her to let it fight until it gave up. Well, he reset 10 other
mounts, and the pony was lathered and STILL fighting. Finally, it stood with
it's head down and quit fighting.
Then it starting heaving, shaking, it's eyes rolled back - and as the barn
owner was untying it to 'walk it out' - it collapsed. It was almost dead by the
time the vet arrived (20 min. from call). The vet said it was in severe shock
and have probably either had a stroke or heart attack due to extreme fear
(flight response).... Pony was humanely euthanized..
As trainers - both myself and the roping training farrier - learned a hard
lesson. Neither of us had ever heard/seen a horse dying due to it's flight
instinct being instigated by being tied... But it obviously can happen..
- LP
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