Rope burn under tail?!

No, he's always been fine having his tail messed with, and he doesn't clamp it when you lift it. He's never spun around on the lunge line and gotten the rope under his tail.
It was my first lesson with her and she just explained it as "He needs to have it under his tail". He was good when she lunged him with it, but now that you mention it I find it weird that this was my first lesson with her. No riding, No horse care advice, just putting my horse in her round pen and cantering him around with the rope under his tail. It was my first time out at her barn too. I'm questioning whether or not I should go back, it was almost like she wanted to test a new exercise on my horse before she attempted it with her own.

I didn't read all the posts.....BUT I have seen a rope go under a horses tail accidentally and that mare clamped down on the rope with its tail and took off and the rider couldn't free the rope because the mare had clamped down so hard. I'd personally train a horse to get used to having something wedged up there....you never know when your going to need the use of a crupper or a rug strap breaks and it slips over and slides a strap up under the tail. Same with driving a horse in a lunge pattern and the rope sits on the hocks...

Essentially what I'm saying is if it can happen a horse will find a way to do it. I'd use a very soft cotton rope though. JMHO.

I agree that I would be wondering WTH if it was my first lesson with this person and that's the first thing she jumps to.


That's what concerns me most is that she didn't begin "lessons" with actual basic care/training/riding/handling. It's fine to teach someone a method like this after they've progressed to a certain point in their knowledge, but that, IMHO, is not first lesson material. It's not even 100th lesson material.