Re: solutions to pulling

[mmmcrae@juno.com (Marie M McRae)]

The vertebrae in a horse's neck are very vulnerable to injury and
mis-alignment.  The Atlas and  Axis vertebrae in particular are right
behind the poll and they are the mechanism which allows the horse to flex
and turn the  head.  I want them to stay in good working order !!   If I
were to set a horse up with a strong rope and halter  and  ** let her
pull back til she learns**  as some people have advocated recently, and
as many people do,  I could end up with a dead horse.  I have seen it
happen and heard many more reports from my friends at the nearby vet
school.  If you absolutely must tie solid without retraining first at
least use a belly rope not a neck rope.

John Lyons demonstrates a good  method of teaching your horse to GIVE to
pressure on the poll.  Check out his videos.  RE-TRAIN  your puller !!
and then use the bungee cord as insurance to help prevent flashbacks. 
Don't expect the device to do the training.

If I have a horse which for some reason does experience a pulling session
(which can happen even with a well trained horse given the right
circumstances of fright) the first thing I do is put in a call to the
equine chiropractor to check out the extent of injury.

Just my 2 cents.

Marie McRae
in upstate NY

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