Teaching a horse to cross-tie

Blacklight, often when a person leads a horse by the cheek strap the horse winds up bearing the weight of the arm which makes it uncomfortable behind the ears. Attach your line under the jaw and allow an arm's length of lead. This actually helps the horse not lean in to you or crowd you. By holding the hand close to the clip should something startle the horse and it scoots forward it's shoulder will hit you and possibly knock you down. 3 or 4 ft of lead gives the horse enough room to move ahead without hitting you. Loosie, in North America it's box stalls only for race horses.

Initially when we teach to cross tie, we use one cross tie and hang the lead rope where the other tie is on the wall. We proceed with grooming, tackin, sweeping up, etc to get the horse used to the idea. Short sessions at first.

There are however some horses that cannot tolerate being cross tied. I view it as the human equivalent of being claustrophobic. My husband has a mare that will stand straight tied all day. As soon as she is put in cross ties, she starts to jiggle and dance - it escalates from there to a panic attack. Not worth the potential damage to her or anything else - so we don't even try any more.

Palomine, she is nowhere near hot at all. She is quite calm, except when introduced to new things that might eat her but calms rather quickly to my voice. Also, if she has had too much sweet feed, she gets extra bouncy, and I can tell the difference very easily and handle her accordingly.

I am nowhere near afraid of her, nor am I timid with her. I have handled bigger and badder than her and know how to handle a horse. She does not take advantage of me in any way, and when she tries, she is put in her place. She can be testy, as I expect, but otherwise, she is very respectful.

And yes, I do hold her by the side of her halter, and it is only to lead her out of her stall. I am well aware of the dangers in doing so, but I do it because I can, and because I want to get her used to being held in such a way. If there is ever an emergency, and I don't have the chance or the time to grab a lead, it's good - at least in my book - to teach her how to be led with just her halter. If I didn't think I could do it, I wouldn't.

Thank you saddlebag. I do not hold her tightly on her halter, and barely even have to tug to get her moving (All I really have to do is turn and she starts walking). And, as I said before, it is only when leading her out of her stall and then I grab her lead and lead her on.

Mls - I am beginning to think it might be a claustrophobic thing because she ties beautifully when tied to a post outside.

Thank you all very much for the advice given as it is very appreciated, and I will try the different methods and see if they work. If indeed it is a claustrophobia thing, then I will not cross tie her anymore, it's that simple. This is not a requirement, but a learning experience for her.