Re: horse pulling back when tied

[K S Swigart <katswig@deltanet.com>]

On Sun, 26 Apr 1998, spencer wrote:

> My green broke 9 yo Arab mare still has days when she pulls back all the
> way on the halter when tied to solid post, etc.  Anyone have any ideas or
> experience to correct it so we don't look too uncivilized at the endurance
> rides?  If a pressure is placed on the lead rope or halter she pulls all
> the way to the end and this am managed to fall down in the process. 

If you search back in the archives you will (or may, I don't know if
EVERYTHING is archived) find a similar answer to this question that I have
given before; but felt it appropriate to answer it again since I have had
the opportunity to read some of the responses that have been given to this
question so far.

To start with, there is a difference between teaching a young horse to
stand tied and teaching an adult confirmed puller to stand tied, and I
will address the latter only, since that is what you asked about. 

"This am" when your horse managed to fall down in the process, if she
didn't hurt herself, she most certainly scared herself.  So you now (which
you probably did before) have a horse that is afraid to be tied up, and
afraid of reaching the end of the rope....at which point her "flight"
instinct will prevail and she will pull until something gives.

I am personally of the opinion that tying a horse up in such a way
(whether it be bungies, or inner tubes, or posts, or trees, or whatever)
as it cannot get loose and then is given no choice but to struggle until
it gives up, as a way of teaching it to "stand tied" is......

....barbaric.

Rather like "curing" a person with claustrophobia (and make no mistake,
claustrophobia is what a horse that is afraid of the confinement of being
tied has) by putting them in a straight jacket, closing them in a small
padded room so that there is no way that they can get out, but no way that
they can hurt themselves either.

I find it far more effective to teach the horse that being tied does not
mean that it can't get away.

So...what I do (and I have had to do this with MANY horses who have come
to my place to be taught not to pull back when tied) is to tie them up to
a metal hitching post by looping the lead rope (a cotton one) over the
rail 2 or 3 times so that if she pulls back a little bit, she knows she is
tied.  If she pulls back hard, she comes loose easily--no struggle, no
fight--she just comes loose.

Then you pick up the rope (and she probably stopped as soon as the
pressure went away) bring her back forward and loop it around again.

Over time, what the horse learns is that being tied up is not frightening,
is not confining, does not steal from her the first line of defense; while
at the same time learning that being tied (i.e. a bit of tension on the
lead rope) means "Oh, I am supposed to stay here."

I have retrained 1200 lb mares who have broken unbreakable ropes and
halters, knocked themselves out with the pressure from "rope halters",
pulled up trees, broken telephone poles, and flipped over backwards to
stand tied with nothing more that the reins looped over the fence
rail....and they will stand there tied for hours.  Why?  Because they know
that if they want to, they can always get away (which they knew before, it
just required more effort :)).  Could they break the reins if they pulled
back??? Yes, but then, they could also break the halter, the lead rope,
the snap, or the fence too.

You don't want to teach the horse to test every piece of equipment that is
used for tying it up to see if it will really hold....and you don't want
to "break" the horse of pulling in such a way that it has completely lost
the will to try.  You want to teach the horse that being tied is a mild
request on your part of asking it to stay put  Being tied is not
frightening, it is not confining...it is an opportunity to stand around
and do nothing :).  Eat. Drink. Be groomed.  Whatever.

kat
Orange County, Calif.