Re: horse pulling back when tied

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

OK, I'll go along with that, and I do agree to some extent that it would
be cruel to just tie up a horse that was truly frightened of being
tied---along with the idea of sacking out horses until they're so
exhausted they let you do anything to them (and I don't mean the NH way
of approach, retreat and reward, I mean the old cowboy way of letting
them fight themselves into terrified exhaustion).

Most of the time, how you describe tying (just a loop or two around with
no knot) is how I tie Cato and if he does go wandering off, it's not a
major catastrophe, he's not going to go far.  However, I can't do this
at rides---he HAS gotten loose in the past (not through breaking
anything, he just untied the knot) and went merrily sailing down the
trail.  He'd already done the fifty the day before, was apparently
putting on a two-day 100 all by himself and when I caught up with him he
was halfway across the river heading for yesterday's out-trail.  He
wasn't frightened, he just thought he'd go for a little joyride, and I'd
be chasing him all over kingdom come if I didn't tie him securely.

I can't speak for anyone else's horse, but Cato doesn't get frightened
(or at least isn't terrorized) when he sets back.  Sometimes he just
bounces around and if he gets brought up short by an unyielding rope,
it'll startle him and he responds by setting back.  If the rope has no
give to it, he continues to fight---not endlessly, but for at least a
few seconds, which is more than I like.  If I have a bungee rope on him,
he doesn't get brought up short, so never sets back against it.

However, I will agree that just letting them fight isn't the best
solution, especially if the horse is truly frightened by something
(including just being tied) and a little education goes a long ways. 
John Lyons covers tying very nicely in his videos, including re-teaching
confirmed pullers, and as soon as I get some room to breathe, then
that'll be on the agenda for old Catoface.

Susan

K S Swigart wrote:
> 
> 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.