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Re: [RC] the horse can't out pull you - tying and rolling the dice - Kathy Mayeda - Kitley, Carrie E Civ USAF AFSPC 30 MDSS/SGSLF

Hi Kathy -
I'm just curious -- what is your reasoning behind leaving your horses
untied in the trailer?  I'm not criticizing, just wondering.  I know if
I were a horse I wouldn't want to be tied in on a long trip, but being a
human, I worry about my horse not being tied in while traveling.  And
don't they come flying out before you're ready when you open the gate?
I don't know if I could get the halter on fast enough before my mare's
ready to back out.  Lol
Thanks, Kathy
Carrie



Before I knew any better (i.e. got "indoctrined" by Parelli), I was
party to "muscling" horses into trailers, and they generally load fine
afterwards.  It does indeed reflect a lot on the horses personality, and
a lot also on the relationship with the person "muscling" the horse into
the trailer.

I did have some good success also in teaching a horse to tie with a rope
halter without hardware, tied to a high ring welded onto a substantial
metal shed column.   It did entail some 2 minutes of struggle until the
horse figured out that he was hurting himself by setting back against
the thin nylon rope.  No tying problems since.  Usually it's the
hardware or stitching that breaks, not the rope or webbing unless it's
worn.  Yes, I know that this can set the horse back chiropractically -
I'll use different methods now.  It drives me crazy to see baling twine
lined up at the hitch racks at the boarding facility because that means
that the owners are training their horses to set back and get free.  I
do tie my horses tight with the lead rope and use rope halters
generally.

The same mare I had trouble trailer loading broke three snaps with a
regular nylon halter and lead rope while trying to tie her into the
trailer.  All that session did was reinforce her thought that she can
escape trailer loading and worsened the problem.


Sometimes we just need to take the time to teach the horse these things
properly, which is what "muscling in" and "tying them tight to let them
fight it out" are just shortcuts that may or may not work.

Aside from all that, I will not tie a horse into the trailer with a rope
halter because in case they need to brace they may bang themselves
against the rope halter which I think is a little cruel.  But that gets
into the tie or not tie in the trailer discussion (I don't tie.)  If
someone else is trailering them, I will send them off with a nylon web
halter.

K.




Carrie Kitley
30th Medical Group, Vandenberg AFB
DMLSS Database Sustainment Specialist (DSS)
CACI International Inc, www.caci.com
DSN:  276-1077
Fax: 805-606-1179



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