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The Rope Halter: One question..

3K views 31 replies 10 participants last post by  aforred 
#1 ·
I recently went to take a lesson at anotoher barn to gain experience around other horses and get tips from a different trainer/instructor. Well I didn't care for it there because the lady didn't seem to know much at all.

She said one thing that sparked my interest though and it was:
"Never tie a horse with a rope halter because they could seriously hurt themselves around the poll area."

Is this true or was she just coming up with false logic?:? Because I have been tieing the horses I work with,with a rope halter for a long time and nothing bad has ever actually happened.
 
#2 ·
she is probably refering to if said horse spooks and pulls back. the pressure applyed by the rope is a lot more than if the horse was wearing a nylon/leather halter.

and if the peson hasnt fitted there rope halter correctly where the nose part is too low. horse pulls back, that slips over the nose and can go into the mouth, and said horse breaks it jaw (i have seen this happen).
 
#3 ·
No she clearly said that the horse's poll will bruise and break. Like I said she wasn't the most trustworthy trainer ever.
But now that you mentioned that incident... it makes me think about tieing my horses with them. I am very careful though of how I fit and tie my rope halters. That someone just made a very careless mistake it sounds like.
 
#8 ·
No she clearly said that the horse's poll will bruise and break.
like i said
"if said horse spooks and pulls back. the pressure applyed by the rope is a lot more than if the horse was wearing a nylon/leather halter" im talking about pressure applyed to the poll. so yes the horse will end up with a brusied poll.


and as for horses learning not to to pull back after feeling the pressure. this is a mith also. ive seen plently of horse pull after time and time again. i know of one horse that was known to pull back, pressure sure didnt stop this horse. the trainer wasnt told this, and the horse pulled back and thrashed almost injuring the trainer. horse thrashed some more and smashed it's skull into the metal beam in the tie up bay. horse didnt make it.


 
#4 ·
It also has to do with the fact that rope halters are one solid piece....no metal that breaks or comes apart. One time my TB stepped on his lead rope, and the snap popped right off. I was using a generic lead rope with a generic web halter.

If I had been using his current rope halter/lead combo, he could have seriously hurt himself because it would not have broken since its all one piece.
 
#5 ·
ive been taught always tie your horse with a rope halter. Always teach them to give to pressure first though, so if they pull back they will feel that pressure and give in. If my horse was stupid enough to pull back so hard to cause damage to herself I would be nervous that she was crazy.

But that's just my opinion :)
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#6 ·
If stepping on a lead rope seriously injures your horse you are not out very much.

If a horse pulls back in a rope halter then it may end up a little sore in the poll. I would think that would remind the horse to not pull back.
 
#7 ·
Exactly what Im thinking. My horses don't pull because they know to give to pressure and if they did decide to pull either the lead rope could break or they could learn a lesson to not pull and not act stupid(horses have their moments I know).

But everyone is welcome to their opinions I guess.
 
#12 ·
maybe try flagging him when he's attached solidly to a pole or something that won't budge, and if he pulls back and 'sits' flag him until he gives?
I've never done this, my trainer and BO have done it to some pretty loony horses, but I would maybe get a trainer to do it first, because you probably have to be pretty bang on with timing of it and stuff..... Lol
:)
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#13 ·
Yeah, he's not afraid of waving stuff or getting smacked in the butt. The last girl he spent a few weeks working with desensitized him to that completely. I preferred him when he had a healthy aversion to those things, not "haha, look at me move my butt away and thats all I'm gonna do"

The only thing I haven't done at this point is walloped him on the butt with one.
 
#14 ·
Not sure if this is totally on topic, but when a horse pulls back on a halter it is usually because they are spooked in some way, and as they pull back in reaction to their fear...it can just escalate into panic as they feel trapped. It has nothing to do with whether they have been trained to 'give in' to pressure in halter training. It is a totally different situation when they are spooked and panic.

This is why they should be tied with a quick release half hitch or equivelant knot. Or tied with just one loop around the post, so that they can "escape" if necessary. Better than them getting hurt.

I think there are better motivations for the horse to stay put than feeling the discomfort of pressure on the poll area, especially when tied up. Being desensitized to unnecessary and unrealistic spookiness might be the thing to work on.
 
#15 ·
They can definitely cause injury. Wildey was tied in a rope halter to a telegraph pole, via some twine. He tied very well and had never pulled back to my knowledge. Well, something spooked him and he pulled, then ran around the pole, the twine didn't break, and ended up wrapped around so tightly the rope cut into his head in numerous places, he went down on his knees and couldn't breathe. Dad had to cut the halter to get it off.

I still tie in rope halters as I believe that was a freak accident, but they do have the potential to cause injury.
 
#16 ·
justsambam: I'm pretty sure that's him showing you he doesn't have any respect :)

My horse has worked on spookiness, I can't find things ages afraid of anymore...(still looking!) but if she didn't release to pressure and just pulled away from it I would have a lot harder time getting her to trust me and follow me to the scary thing. I know nothing is dangorous that's around when I tie her ( I haven't actually tied her in the mountains yet) so if she's stupid enough (no offence to anyone!) to hurt herself over a plastic bag then my horse has a problem.
:)
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#17 ·
justsambam: I'm pretty sure that's him showing you he doesn't have any respect :)

My horse has worked on spookiness, I can't find things ages afraid of anymore...(still looking!) but if she didn't release to pressure and just pulled away from it I would have a lot harder time getting her to trust me and follow me to the scary thing. I know nothing is dangorous that's around when I tie her ( I haven't actually tied her in the mountains yet) so if she's stupid enough (no offence to anyone!) to hurt herself over a plastic bag then my horse has a problem.
:)
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#18 ·
justsambam: I'm pretty sure that's him showing you he doesn't have any respect :)

My horse has worked on spookiness, I can't find things ages afraid of anymore...(still looking!) but if she didn't release to pressure and just pulled away from it I would have a lot harder time getting her to trust me and follow me to the scary thing. I know nothing is dangorous that's around when I tie her ( I haven't actually tied her in the mountains yet) so if she's stupid enough (no offence to anyone!) to hurt herself over a plastic bag then my horse has a problem.
:)
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Oh I know. The problem is he doesn't respect a damn thing....he is super horse.

Before I could raise a stick at him and he'd go trotting off. Then the Parelli woman got ahold of him, and started waving everything around, and now what does he do? Follows you everywhere, licks and chews and that nice stuff, but you could probably light a fire under his butt, and he'd look at it like it was supposed to move.
 
#19 ·
haha well at least he's not to afraid! I would try making him realize to metal pole with the flag on the end (which, once he understands that, it will be you that he moves away from) is coming through and he better move or else the lead mare(you) is going to eat him up for breakfast! Lol :)
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#20 ·
My horse spooked one time when tied to a tree and pulled back and broke the reins. Then she just stood there for me to retrieve and calm down. It showed me I don't have to secure her so tightly. It is not her desire to get away from me.

But I'm thankful the reins broke instead of her getting hurt.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Or they will tear off and get hurt elsewhere. I use rope halters because when I tie a horse up I want it to stay there. I don't tie to things that will break or to unsafe things but that horse doesn't get away and learns to stand everywhere I tie it. Horses are not really reliable when it comes to making decisions under pressure so I wouldn't depend on a horse that pulls back hard enough to break something to stay around afterwards.
 
#23 ·
Exactly. So why trap them? :-|

They probably are more suceptible to fear when they are feeling "held captive"...with no way of escape. Especially in the bush. Just like how they will spook at things when a rider is on them...which they normally wouldn't even notice.

I think it is awesome when we can be aware of these things with our horses and work with them. They will feel safer with us.
 
#24 ·
Three of our horses are pretty young. We only use rope halters. At one point or the other they've all pulled back on their halter when tied & freaked. We give them their space & just let them work through whatever is upsetting them. It seems the more you try to calm them down the more up they get.
We always quick tie the horse though in case things get dangerous then we can let them loose fast. Thankfully so far, things have never gotten that bad.
 
#28 ·
I like to use the rope halters to tie so that I don't get loose horses running around the place. None of my horses pull back, but I would imagine it might be difficult to untie the halter knot if they were to pull back.
 
#30 ·
if they pull back I stand there and let them, I do use quick release knots, but I like to have my horse still there where I tied it when I come back, I trust my horse no to inure herself because she spooked at something like a plastic bag. :)
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#32 ·
I've had two horses with chronic tying issues.

The first was a mare that broke free when she was young. After that, whenever she decided she was done standing she would sit back and try to break whatever she was tied to. In one instance, she tried her darndest to pull the barn down. I was standing right there, and I can tell you that she hadn't spooked at anything, was not at all scared. She just didn't want to be tied up anymore.

The other was a gelding that also broke free when he was young. His issue later in life was popping tie rings off the trailer. When tied to a fence, wall, or post, he didn't even try anything. But you tie him to a trailer and every so often he would pop off a tie ring.

I wonder if they would still have tried that if they had been tied with rope halters instead of the nylon ones as youngsters.
 
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