I have a 10 yr old thoroughbred that won't stand tied. She has figured out that if she sets back just right she will break the halter. She has broke regular halters and rope halters. I don't know what to do with her. It is to the point where she is dangerous to herself and whoever is around her at the time. Please help me help her Posted via Mobile Device
I have had quite a lot of experience with a horse that sets back. Here is what I did.
I bought a lariet, a fairly stiff one not a soft one. I looped it over my mares back and ran the end through the lariat loop on her girth, brought that between her front legs and through the bottom of her halter. I then tied that just shorter than the rope she was tied with.
When your horse sets back, it will tighten the lasso around her girth and she will spring back forward, and the lasso will loosen (this is why you need a stiff one, not a soft one) thus effectively rewarding her by taking the pressure off. I have used this for cross tying as well as regular tying.
I would be very reluctant to use the technique described above using the lariat. I have seen many horse rope burned badly around the girth over the years from people attempting this.
There are safer methods of teaching a horse to stand tied. First you need to teach a horse to yield to the pressure of a halter before ever tying them solid too an object. Once they can yield to poll pressure I will tie them using a “Tie blocker ring” until they get comfortable being tied. The tie blocker allows them to pull back a few feet and release the pressure them self when they stop moving and the amount of friction on the rope can be adjusted depending on how you loop your rope on the ring. I start out with a 15’- 20’ lead to insure they will not pull the entire length of rope thru the ring, but seldom does one back up much more than 5 or 10 feet until they realize they can stop. I will also sac the horse out and desensitize them while they are tied this way. After a few weeks of this they typically will tie pretty good anywhere. With a real anxious horse I might even tie a calm horse next to them in the first weeks of training to build their confidence. You do what you need to do to set the horse up to succeed and build their confidence.
In some cases there are horses that flat out won't tie. Here are some alternative methods you can teach as opposed to tying.
Teach her to hobble. This way when you do tie her, she has a less likely chance of flying backwards because she has already learned that hobbles = don't move.
Teach her to ground tie. This is useful with police horses, once you drop the lead on the ground, the horse is taught to not move at all.
Not if you tie them high! The tie point needs to be higher than their withers.
When horses learn to sit back and just keep pulling back they need a darn good couple of whacks across their backsides to send them forward.
Years ago we had a horse that would pull back - way before there were nylon halters, we got around it by tying him where if he went back he had a wall behind him.
One day the old farrier was shoeing him in the shoeing area and the horse pulled back, I was behind him and lifted the prong I was carrying and he ran into it. I had tried to hit him over the backside with it but as I lifted it so he sat onto it. He had three puncture wounds one of which abscessed, when the vet came he said it was a warble fly!
Be very careful of using a rope halter to tie a horse. They have been know to sit back then suddenly spring forward, hitting the face on a wall and breaking their neck. The reason your horse is setting back is she's afraid she can't escape a hidden predator. Her sense of smell and hearing is 10x what ours is. What I do is use an extra long lead and put it over the horse's neck or back. As I groom I can still reach it if the horse decides to walk off. I just put it back and resume what I was doing. Oftentimes a horse will remain knowing it can flee if it has to. I also practise walking a little farther away after asking the horse to "stand" and holding my hand toward it's face like a stop sign. It gets a treat for waiting. Within 20 min I could walk a huge circle around the horse and it remained standing even at liberty in the pasture.
I really really think this horse would benefit from learning how to hobble. Sounds like this is a panic-y horse, hobbling will teach the horse not to panic so much and to relax more.
The first time this happened would have been should have been the last. Now you have two problems, the original tie issue and added to that the fact they now know how to break away. A horse acting like this would need to be raking in large piles of money, before I would be even bothered with it. At 10 this isnt their first rodeo and in reality you are only ever going to put a patch on the problem, as it will always be on the back burner. The lariat does work, but you have to keep in mind if you have a horse with no sense of self preservation, it may end with a dead horse. At this point, this horse should only be handled by a professional and if they choose to try the lariat as a last ditch effort then fine. Otherwise, if you dont know what you are doing, you are likely to get yourself hurt or worse yet someone else hurt. I certainly wouldnt be bothered with a problem like this, on an everyday pleasure type or even local show type horse.
The first time this happened would have been should have been the last. Now you have two problems, the original tie issue and added to that the fact they now know how to break away. A horse acting like this would need to be raking in large piles of money, before I would be even bothered with it. At 10 this isnt their first rodeo and in reality you are only ever going to put a patch on the problem, as it will always be on the back burner. The lariat does work, but you have to keep in mind if you have a horse with no sense of self preservation, it may end with a dead horse. At this point, this horse should only be handled by a professional and if they choose to try the lariat as a last ditch effort then fine. Otherwise, if you dont know what you are doing, you are likely to get yourself hurt or worse yet someone else hurt. I certainly wouldnt be bothered with a problem like this, on an everyday pleasure type or even local show type horse.
I have no other suggestions than what has already been said.
I am curious though, where did the rope halter break? I've seen some BIG horses pull back in a rope halter and have never seen one break. Posted via Mobile Device
^^That was my query as well
I wonder if maybe a better quality halter might help
Does the horse panic when it pulls back or is it very deliberate and controlled?
Please forgive my lack of communication since I originally posted this thread. These has been a lot of good advice and I do appreciate all of it. I will try to answer all of the questions asked. I have not tried a tie blocker ring. I am a little leary of trying the rope method, only because I know how she is. Most of the time when she is pulling back it is a flight type response to some unseen issue. We tied her in the farrier shed, which has a tie ring that is roughly wither high on her. The farrier was working on her, and she pulled back. My husband was close behind her at the time, she saw him lunged forward, saw the farrier and wall in front of her and reared. Something on the under side of the rope halter snapped. She flipped over backwards and landed on her hip/back. The odd thing is she will stand tied if I have worked or ridden her until she is tired. I can also throw her lead rope over something, not work her, and she does pretty good until she gets bored and tries to walk off. I have owned her 3 yrs now, but am pretty sure this was an issue before we got her. Of course we weren't told this was an issue of hers. If I need to send her to a trainer then that is what I need to do. I was just hoping this was an issue that I might be able to fix. Posted via Mobile Device
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
The Horse Forum
3.4M posts
92.8K members
Since 2006
A forum community dedicated to horse owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about breeding, grooming, reviews, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!