Using picket lines to let horses graze?

Garden hose would burn them worse than a cotton rope.. I would rather a soft cotton rope give me a rope burn than a rubber hose that pulls my skin and hair off with it at once..

I agree with the posted above that said a portable fencing system.. for a horse to learn where a rope is, its gotta be burned with it-- why do that to them? Why not just tye the horse to a highline picket, with a hay net?

You ever been around a horse that's been rope burned?.. they become scared of ropes, or anything that resembles a rope-- and there is a lot of re-training involved.. I suggest finding a trainer whos experienced to help you with this. :)

I watched a horse that was picketed by his halter completely hogtie himself with his nose to his legs and knocked himself completely off his feet in seconds, resulting in a nasty rope burn and a strained hip that took months to heal, all because he wasn't watching the rope while he was stuffing his face. And luckily his owner was there - she ended up having to cut the rope loose, he had it pulled so tightly. Not worth the risk, IMO. If you have to be there to watch them while picketed anyway, you might as well just hand graze them and not tie them out.

I would look into electric fencing....We bought twenty acres with no fences last year and I've got it all electric fenced now just running off a solar fence unit. The unit cost about two hundred dollars (Australian) and the tape and pickets probably cost about the same. Cheaper than a vet bill!
Plus the horse can go for a run/roll around etc. and you don't have to be supervising all the time.

I third electric. Do a search on portable electric corals used for camping. No stress, no training, no injuries.

I do see several horses around here tied up to graze around trees often, but they're emaciated and couldn't put up a fight if they wanted too.
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^^Yup, that's why you don't picket from a halter.

Ok thanks guys, I'll hand graze him when possible and maybe put up an electric fence sometime.

I agree with saving up for an electric fence and am glad you decided to hold off until you can do something like that.

I made the mistake of tying my horse out w/ a nylon lunge line, intending to leave him for "just a minute" while I ran to the barn to get something. Sure enough, he got a nasty nylon burn across the back of his foot.

It never completely healed despite putting all kinds of treatments on it and I could tell it was very sore most of the time. Scar tissue does not have elasticity so the area would become dry and cracked, which attracted flies, which then left it raw and scabby. I was so angry with myself to have caused the injury! It's not worth it.