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Hi Diane
You might want to try using The Leader bungee cord type lead line-- the original and far more sturdy than the knock-offs. I have had horses that have pulled back when I first got them and some young ones that needed to learn tying. I have used the tire trick myself yet with an unfortunate result once-- a not-so-serious injury yet there was no need for it. Since I have been using the Leaders, I have had ZERO problems. I have had some stubborn babies pull back so far they were sitting down and I just watch as they figured out that if they moved forward it was instant release. Works great with baby's first bath!! And when I did a favor to help a friend transport her horse, she wasn't there and failed to tell me that the horse was a problem in loading. I didn't have any driving whips with me to tap, tap, tap on the hocks and I have also used a little dog chain leash across the gum as a lip chain and have never had to pull on it, just tighten ever so gently and release when there
was any forward motion-- also works great but had none with me. Also, didn't have much time (which I would have allowed had she told me her horse was a problem). So I got the mare as close to the trailer as possible, then tied her there with her lead. Then I stretched the bungee trailer hitch with all my might to attach it to her, released the lead line and stood back. She almost became one of those long giraffe necked halter horses yet within minutes she figured out that the line relaxed when she did and she soon was into the trailer-- then the rest was easy. 
The biggest debt I owe to Leader was in the rehab of Bunny when we needed him to exercise his legs, as he had been down so long. While in the sling, I attached leather "ankle bracelets" and then pulled the Leaders tight enough to exert mild pressure to his legs so that he would have resistance to move them forward to a more comfortable position. It worked great!  Eventually we were able to leave them just the right length and we found he would use them to exercise himself-- he was sooo smart!
Oh, and I get NO COMMISSION from extolling their virtues-- I am just sooo grateful to Tom Ferguson who came up with the idea.There have been cheaper copies and once in a pinch I bought one when the local store was out of Leaders -- yet the quality was not as good and the elastic soon broke-- and I want to MAKE SURE that doesn't happen!
Bette and Bunny, who owes a lot to Leaders
Bette Lamore
Whispering Oaks Arabians
Home of Bunny and 16.2h TLA Halynov
who lives on through his legacy Hal's Riverdance!
http://www.arabiansporthorse.com

"Life is not  a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely
in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming --WOW-- what
a ride !! "


Diane Trefethen wrote:
> I have had rotten luck with "quick release" knots.  If a horse is 
> pulling back hard either shaking its head or flailing with front hooves, 
> I wait till he settles down. By then the knot has absolutely no 
> "release" left in it, never mind the "quick" part.
>
> I once had a particularly strong-willed filly and made the mistake of 
> not teaching her to tie when I halter broke her.  Having waited, I was 
> afraid that she might hurt herself if she truly went to war with being 
> tied so I went to a shop that worked just on trucks and bought from them 
> a used truck inner tube.  At home, I tied the tube high from a really 
> solid tree and then tied the filly to the tube with a quick release 
> looped through the last loop.  I slowly worked up the time I left her 
> tied. I could tell if she had been at war because the knot would be 
> tight if she had pulled back.  She couldn't get away.  She couldn't get 
> tangled in anything.  She couldn't stretch the tube to its end so there 
> was always a bit more give no matter how hard she pulled.  When she 
> reached the point where she would stand quietly for several hours and 
> wouldn't move if I flapped things, I stopped the lessons.
>
> I do not think using a breakaway halter when you are teaching a horse to 
> tie is a good idea.  I would reserve them for horses that you either 
> didn't know if they had been trained to tie or whom you knew hadn't been 
> trained.  BTW, there is a difference between a horse that has always 
> just stood quietly tied and one who has been TRAINED to be tied.  The 
> former will be good until he isn't and then when he tries to get
> away and finds he can't, he can panic and pull till either he goes into 
> shock or something breaks.  A horse that has been trained to be tied has 
> been deliberately
> exposed to unnerving stimuli to get him to pull back.  He learns he 
> can't get away but never gets hurt in the process.  When you use a 
> halter that allows the horse to escape by pulling back then you are 
> teaching him to pull back.  What you want to teach him is that WHEN 
> something scares him, THINK first and stand his ground.  If he learns 
> that pulling back allows him to escape from scary things, he will never 
> learn to stop and think.
>
> Today I have a 16h Arab whom I trained to tie.  He happens to be a horse 
> who is highly sensitive to sounds and they can frighten him.  When he is 
> tied and something scary "threatens" him, sometimes he momentarily 
> blanks and pulls back but then almost immediately he stops to survey the 
> situation.  He has never been hurt while tied.  I cannot stop his 
> initial reaction but because he has been trained to tie, that first 
> moment of fear does not get compounded by either a violent war against 
> the tie or breaking away to run loose.
>
> Good luck with Scout.
>
> Diane
>
>
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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

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