ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Horses tied to trailers

Re: Horses tied to trailers

Susan F. Evans (suendavid@worldnet.att.net)
Wed, 12 Mar 1997 12:19:51 -0800

If horse is tied to or with anything that will
> break, will be very dangerous to people and equipment. If horse is unable
> to break rope, halter or post, he may break his neck (not kidding)

When I got Robert Miller DVM's video on imprint training foals, when he
demonstrates teaching to tie, he says tying a horse low will trigger a
sit-back-and-fight-til-you-die response, while tying up high is much
less so. I have an older TB mare that is extremely herdbound and
occasionally takes it into her head to sit back and fight when tied. If
I tie her up high and use one of the Be-Nice Halters instead of regular
nylon web halter, and use an inner tube, she doesn't seem to feel the
need to "fight" when she hits the end of the rope. I was hoping that
other the past year she had maybe just learned to stand tied better (she
previously belonged to a woman who just let her get away with it and
just never tied her, ever. Great) but sure enough, the other day, I
wasn't being very bright and not thinking, tied her with a regular rope
and halter. Sure enough, she stepped back enough so the rope tightened,
set back and fought until the rope snap broke, which luckily it did.
Off she went, I retrieved her, put on the Be-Nice halter and inner-tube
rope, she hit the end again and didn't fight it. Live and learn.

Susan

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