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couple o questions..

2K views 17 replies 13 participants last post by  trampis 
#1 ·
#1 How long is too long, when leaving the halter on?

Ideally I would like to put the halter on every time I work with my horse, and take it off afterwards. But, in the morning I have to get to work, so I don't have time to fool around if she doesn't want me to put it on. I don't want to feel like we ended on a bad note by not accomplishing anything. So, the past few days I have just left the halter on, because its a lot easier to only have to attach the lead rope.

My question is, how long is too long? Is there a such thing as too long?

#2 My horse likes to bite the fence and pull back, whats that about? She is over 2 y/o, so I think she should be well past cribbing. Is she doing this out of boredom? What are some ways I can get her to stop?

#3 What to do when horse wants to walk directly behind me? When we walk around sometimes she will get directly behind me, which is a no zone. I wil motion her back beside me, but she falls right back directly behind me. Tips, advice?

thanks for any input :)
 
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#2 ·
I have seen a lot of people leave halters on indefinately. I think it really depends on the situation. Just remember, it can be a safety issue. My friends horse got a front foot caught in it while rolling and broke her leg....so...just be careful that it is fitting correctly (not too tight or too loose) and that there is nothing to get it caught up on whether standing on all fours or rolling.

As for cribbing....true cribbing happens at any age and is usually started by boredom. If your horse is truly "cribbing" and not just chewing as foals do it WILL look like grabbing the fence and pulling away, if you look closer you will notice the horse is swallowing air. This does 2 things, it triggers endorphins and the horse actually gets "high" from it, but it also blows their stomach up with air which can cause colic and other health problems. Another thing, it will distort the look of the neck and cause it to sometimes be "upside down." I would definitely get a trainers or vets opinion on what your horse is truly doing, if it is REAL cribbing, you need to get a cribbing color or do other things to keep your horse from doing it. It is an addiction so you most likely will have to live with it the rest of your horses life.

With the leading, I would do about 20 min or so of ground work/halter refreshing with your horse. It sounds like she is forgetting where she should be.
 
#3 ·
The only reason that you would leave a halter on a horse when you were not working them or had them tied up is that you are lazy. It is dangerous, it can leave horrible blemishes and it is as good as putting up a sign saying "I don't know how to catch a horse". If you don't have time to mess with catching her then get her better at being caught or wake up earlier. Maybe you could sleep with your shoes on and that would save you enough time that you could put the halter on your horse.
 
#4 ·
I don't know, i leave my horses halters on alot and they are easy to catch. In 19 years of working with horses and doing a internship with a man who has been working with them for 40+ years we have never seen a dangerous accident with a halter. Sure we see some hair that had rubbed off every now and again.... oh well, opinions vary. By no means should you leave it on 24/7, I take mine off when they are in their stalls.

Why not at first everytime you catch her give her a treat? and then after awhile just reward her with a scratch.

For the fence put up one strand of electric wire on it. That will stop her, or try that spray you put on. Or a cribbing collar.

You have to be persistent and keep correcting her. You can't say, "oh will you please come up here and walk beside me" one day and give up another.
 
#5 ·
As a general rule, i leave my horses halters on. I never really thought about it. Not when stalled, but when outside. I've never had a problem, or an accident. I have more of an issue with Fly Masks leaving blemishes.

Different strokes i suppose.
 
#6 ·
If you are worried about leaving on a bad note not getting a halter on, you are already starting on a bad note by avoiding your first issue, you can't catch your horse properly. Focus on catching correctly. If you have trouble, find someone who knows what they are doing to help you. It takes only seconds to put a halter on properly. If I'm feeling lazy, I don't worry about the halter and take them to the pasture with a hand under their jaw.

Cribbing can start at any age and is commonly caused by ulcers rather than boredom. It can appear to be boredom because horses that don't have something to eat regularly (they are grazing animals) and are segregated (they are social animals), would have anxiety issues as well as stomach acid production issues that look like boredom and also cause ulcers. I have a mare that was a hard core cribber at 6 months due to an improper weaning. After careful management practices, she has stopped cribbing at age 4. I have another cribber that I'm still working on.

As far as walking behind you, keep the tail of your line in your left hand, keep your eyes in front of you, and when she falls behind swing the line around your body to tap her barrel. At the same time, guide her to be along side of you with your right hand. Use as much pressure as necessary yet release pressure when she gets to where you want her to go. Since you know she has this tendency, don't wait for the entire crime to be commited, as soon as she starts to drag, bump her up, don't wait for her to get completely behind you. Keep her attention and be exact, let her know precisely where she should be standing.
 
#9 ·
Cribbing can start at any age and is commonly caused by ulcers rather than boredom. It can appear to be boredom because horses that don't have something to eat regularly (they are grazing animals) and are segregated (they are social animals), would have anxiety issues as well as stomach acid production issues that look like boredom and also cause ulcers. I have a mare that was a hard core cribber at 6 months due to an improper weaning. After careful management practices, she has stopped cribbing at age 4. I have another cribber that I'm still working on.
I have never heard of cribbing being CAUSED by ulcers, I have always heard that the ulcers are common in cribbers but are caused by the windsucking of the cribbng drying out the stomach lining. But regardless, we both agree....you need to consult a vet for this one to make sure there is no medical reason for the cribbing, or that it has not caused any medical issues so far.
 
#7 ·
we leave our horses halters on all the time. if they get rubs we put fuzzies on them and theyre fine. we also use cheaper made turn out halter so if they DO get caught on something they will break. the nylon breakway halters are good. the crown piece is made of leather and will break. and you can buyt the replacement straps. it definitely doesnt hurt to turn them out without one on either. my personal mare - i take hers off everytime i turn her out. just cause i think its gotta get pretty annoying with that thing on her face all the time ya know?
 
#8 · (Edited)
Only leave the halter on in the field if it is leather, has a leather headpiece or breaking piece, or has some other form of breaking method in the event that she gets caught on something. It is not worth the risk of her getting caught, panicking, and not stopping until something breaks (and with a solid nylon halter, the first thing to break will likely be your horse)

Here is a field safe halter with velco breaking point
Amazon.com: Horseware Field Safe Halter: Sports & Outdoors

Here is a breakaway halter with leather crown
Amazon.com: Reinsman 1" Break-Away Nylon Halter with Leather Crown: Sports & Outdoors

Here is a breakaway halter with leather piece at the snap
Kensington Breakaway Halter with Lead from SmartPak Equine


About pulling back and other tying issues...my 13 year old does the same thing, he starts eating the post and pulling back. I can't do much about him biting everything in sight because he's just curious and HAS to be doing something...you could probably invest in McNasty or another no-chew spray on product, but she will likely find something else to do.
As far as pulling back, the only success I've had is to tie my horse in a rope halter with a long lead, like the kind all the NH trainers are using, and wrap the lead around the pole a lot of times to create a whole lot of resistance but also give slowly when he pulls back. The bigger bite of the rope halter discourages him from pulling, the wrapping allows him to have a tiny bit of give so he won't just keep panicking, and having the rope be so long allows me to wrap it a lot of times and he generally remains tied when he's done pulling. Definitely wouldn't leave a horse like that and walk away for a few hours, though, because you will want to be there to take the slack back up when they're done pulling back and also loosen the knot on the halter because it gets tight. (helps to get it a little bit wet, I keep a spray bottle with water in my grooming box)
 
#10 ·
I personally only use halters when working with my horses and remove them when i put them away. I noticed someone was a little negative on here... don't believe that is called for. Many people leave halters on all the time. I don't, simply because I have heard horror stories, and also I don't like the hair being rubbed off. Some horses love to come out and are easy catch, others make you work for it. The choice is totally up to you. But i do reccomend removing the halter when putting your horse away, accidents do happen.
 
#11 ·
There is nothing really wrong with leaving on a halter. It depends on the situation. If your horse is put out into the field for a period of the day and is in the stable for a period of the day, you could keep the halter on when in the field and take it off when in the stable. Just make sure that it is correctly fitted, not too tight or too loose.

The place I'm boarding at the horses are kept out 24/7, and only come in to eat, so they don't wear halters out in the field. Only when they are being handled we use the halters.

Flitterbug actually pointed something you should maybe think about. Are you struggling to catch your horse? If so, then maybe you should rather focus on catching and haltering your horse before you go onto anything else. If not, and you just find it time consuming, then my apologies. :smile:
 
#12 ·
I've no experience with break-aways so can't say they're foolproof. Even if they are, are they heavy/itchy/ otherwise uncomfortable for horse? Prob'ly! I can imagine a horse saying, "Take this thing off me overnight or I'll get you back!" Non-breakaways are a no-brainer because of the horror stories that've happened; the fact that they haven't happened to some only means that they've thus far been fortunate!
 
#13 ·
Yes I absolutely agree, personally I would never leave a horse's halter on in the field UNLESS I had just obtained this horse and he was not yet used to being caught. I would immediately begin working with him to get him used to it, but would definitely want to be able to get him out quickly in the case of an emergency, it would be smartest to leave it on until he was trained properly (not very long at all, generally). I'd probably get the velcro one; it seems easiest to break if needed so that he couldn't sustain any serious issues in the process of trying to break through something like leather.

But I know a lot of people feel differently and a lot of people want to leave them on either way, so all there really is to do is reccomend the smart, safe way to go. I urge anybody here who leaves a solid nylon halter on a horse in a field to either stop or replace the halter ASAP if they truly care for the welfare of their horse. With breakaway halters it's just as easy to grab them out, but it's safe.
 
#16 · (Edited)
This certainly, certainly does not mean that it will slip off as easily if the horse is awkwardly positioned somewhere and caught by the head.
I've never had a horse get out of a halter while panicking. They come off in the field because they and the other horses are fiddling with them. If a horse's halter is stuck on something, likely he'll do something more like the action of pulling back. Halters don't slip off when horses pull back unless they're extremely loose and ill-fitting...

It's not worth the risk.
$25 or so for a safe halter is a million times over worth the investment.
 
#15 ·
If you leave a halter on a horse that is still growing you will probably cause a groove in the nose bone and a permanent blemish. A horse I am riding right now had a halter put on as a two year old and by the time she was three she has a mark on her nose where the halter goes.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I never leave halters on when I am not working with my horses. I just don't even want to take a chance of them getting hung up and hurt. I notice my stocky little 14.2 hand tank of a mustang will take his back foot and scratch behind his ear like a dog! What if he were scratching and got his foot caught? And besides, I just think they look prettier "naked." :D And I've seen other people's horses with halter marks on their faces like Kevin'shorses said. How ugly and sad the horse is blemished that way. :-(

But if I did leave halters on, I would do the break-away type.

I have never had a horse that couldn't be caught by carrying treats. I know that some don't like that method, but my horse's come right up to me and let themselves be caught whether I actually have a treat in my pocket or not, because they know I am the bearer of good things. :lol:
 
#18 ·
Well I certainly appreciate everyones input. You have all made your points and left me with many things to consider.

For the time being I have chosen to leave the halter on for a few more days.

The main reason for this is because we are working cattle this week and I keep her in a pasture area that is near the chute. So when I need to catch her and pin her up for a while it is just easier.

You can call it lazy, I call it convenient for the time being.

I prefer not to leave it on, but while we are working cattle it seems to be in the better interest of everyone.

Example: She got pretty excited the other day while we were moving cattle and jumped the cattle guard getting into a MUCH larger paster. She had a blast having so much more room to run around in. I enjoyed watching her have fun, but when it came time to catch her, leaving that halter on was a good idea.

I do need to work more with her about getting the halter on. She has been doing really great with me so far, some days she is just a little more stubborn than others.

I don't keep her in a stable, just a little pasture area around the house with a barn that she can go under for cover where I feed her. There is a gate to under the barn so I can shut her up if I need to, but I usually let her have free roam. Unless we are working cattle of course.

Thank you all for the input. I'm sure I will have many more questions for you in the future. :D
 
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