To the halter, but I don't use crossties, only use the panic snap in the trailer.

 

I've never seen it snapped on the wall, anywhere I have ever been it has been on the halter. Interesting thought though.

I've seen the panic snap give when the horse is in full panic mode so it's not like it doesn't give.

 

I have seen panic snaps give in a panic situation. I have always attached them to the halter. I have also seen horses break halters, leads and brass hardware in a panic. 1000 pounds of freaked out animal can do wonders in hind sight having the panic strap towards the wall would in theory at least give you something grab onto when the horse calms down and can be caught.

 

Never used them at all so I didn't know there was a debate as to where they were attached :shock:

 

See, I've looked at the mechanics of the snap. I'm pretty sure the clip on the snap has to be retacted to allow the release. Otherwise the rest of it is solid, so I don't see how the snap can "self release".
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I've seen it self give plenty of times. I used to have a mare who would flip the heck out when being hot shod. Tried half a dozen times and each time she sat on her butt flying backwards and the panic snaps self released at her halter and she was free. They gave before her leather halter gave.

 

I believe you, but I've always seen the halters break first. Either you have sturdy crown pieces or we have cheap ones! :lol:
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I usually see them attach to the halter. Only one place, that I can recall, had the panic snap on the wall end. Never heard a debate about which is correct though.
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Interesting, on Wikipedia (the worlds most credible source :wink that the advantage to such a snap is it's load baring capacity and the ability to release the snap under pressure. They also said it was used in dog sledding... Now why would they want it to release there?
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Interesting, on Wikipedia (the worlds most credible source :wink that the advantage to such a snap is it's load baring capacity and the ability to release the snap under pressure. They also said it was used in dog sledding... Now why would they want it to release there?
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When a dog team gets discombobulated, the lines and harness get tangled and tied in knots. The quick release allows you to disconnect each dog quickly and get things straightened out. It's also usually very, very cold, and your fingers don't like to cooperate. (I'm not a musher, but I know a couple.)

I've never really given much thought to which end connects to what. My first thought would be clip it to the wall so that when you release it, you still have a lead attached to the halter.

 

At my barn, the snaps are on the halter, and the bull clips are attached to baling twine tied to the walls. Not great if a horse is supposed to learn about tieing, I suppose, but when Deo fell asleep in the crossties and FELL OVER, I was happy to deal with broken baling twine instead of broken straps or halters. lol

 

The only place I use panic snaps is on trailer ties and when I first got my own trailer I fastened the panic snap to the halter like I'd always seen it done. Then one day I was getting ready to fasten my horse up and the thought hit me about why everyone does it that way when it would make more sense to fasten the panic snap to the tie ring in the trailer so that you would have a bit of a lead in case you needed to unfasten. I turned the trailer ties around and have used them that way since.

 

I have the panic snap attached to the halter. Reason being is that if a horse does go to town, it lets go and falls away from their face. If it's the other way around you then have a lump of metal on the end of a rope being flung around the place risking more upset and injury. Any worries about catching the horse afterwards can be prevented by leaving a rope attached to the halter and flipped over the horse's neck to keep it out of the way.

 

Now how would you get to a horses face of they are set back, thrashing, rearing, or whatever?
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I have a trailer tie with panic snap and it's designed to have the panic snap attached to the trailer's tie ring, not to the halter: https://www.smartpakequine.com/tiesafe-ties-1620p The other snap end of it won't even fit over the tie ring. It does say the panic snap will release in an emergency.

 

I this think tie (which is the majority of the ones we have now) pretty much proves the point. The catch strap on the the side with the regular snap, the panic snap is up by the wall.
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I wonder if panic snaps release on their own based more on torque than on weight put on them...

FWIW, I've had a horse bust a bull snap on me. He was tied to a metal hitching rail and I was grooming him. Went to brush his neck on the right side, he freaked, sat back, and the bull snap sheered in two. Lead rope was less than four months old and was always kept inside, too.

Guess my point is, no snap is infallible.
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It should not give under pressure and should be released by the human when necessary.

Always put the release end on the wall. If you have ever seen a horse freak out, you can't always get to their head. It makes no sense to attach it to the halter.
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Eh, I don't know, it seems to me that there are good and bad points to each way. If it's attached to the halter, then you have to put yourself in great danger to try to reach and release it.

If it's attached to the wall, it's easy to release, but then your horse will have a heavy chunk of metal swinging around on the end of a short lead when he's running away.

Growing up in the life I've lived, being around some of the horses we've had come through our barn, I've seen everything get broken; snaps (no matter how big/heavy), halters, buckles, lead ropes, tie rings, everything.

 

I'm not sure if mine are 'panic snaps' or something else of a quick release nature. Anyway, I used to put the quick release end on the wall because it made sense to have a lead rope there to use if I had to use it.

Then...my youngster panicked in the trailer and backed up. I had to pull the quick release to avert a disaster and the (then very stretched taut) lead snapped back hard. I was extremely lucky it didn't whack my horse in the face, but it was sufficient to illustrate to me why I should always put the panic end at the horse. Better a stretched rope snaps back away from a panicked horse than at it.

So, I am now with your farrier on this one.

 

I keep a set of pruning shears handy. It happened that a horse panicked in the trailer and was pulling back hard. The gal couldn't get near the snap under the jaw because of the head swinging. The pruning shears did a fine job of cutting the rope. The blade guard on the shears make them safer to use than a knife. They work best if there is a lot of tension on the rope.

 

When I trailer my horse, the panic snap attaches to the trailer (not my horse). I want to be able to reach it through a window if my horse would fall down or something like that.

For cross ties in the barn? Never really thought about it.

I have panic snaps on all my leadropes (I make them myself). Actually just had my horse get caught on something a few weeks ago and before I could even undo the panic snap, it "snapped" on its own under the pressure. He broke it too, but I don't mind one bit because I am happy it gave way and let him free. (He had a breakaway halter on his head ..... which didn't break ..... :? )

There's pro's and con's both ways. I think as long as you are using panic snaps, you are giving an emergency way to free your horse.

 

Or worse yet you get hit with with the flying end when you can't keep hold of the horse once you unsnap it. We've had a horse go down in a trailer, one of the drafts. I keep my felcos with me at all times in my bag (long story and not for horse use) and they were what saved the mare. Even tightened the quick release knot did what it was supposed to (after the fact) but it took effort. It was quicker to use the felcos. We use a quick release knot and hardware at the horse.

 

I use quick release/panic snaps in the trailer only. They are put on the trailer tie ring as I used the argument in my head that if I had to unhook in a situation, I would be able to reach through the window for sure but probably not be able to reach as far as the halter (my arms aren't that long).

After reading the posts, I'm rethinking that practice and I'm going to go with yet lighter material for the trailer ties. I would much rather have the tie break than the snap flailing around smacking horse faces. What I haven't quite decided on is whether I will continue to use the panic snaps or not????

 

I guess it's just to each their own there. When I tie outside a trailer, I tie solid with rope halter and tied on leads. No buckles or snaps to break. I don't tie solid in a trailer at all. When I tie at all then, I take a couple of wraps around the side grate (stock trailer). Just enough tension to keep them from moving around, but will easily pull loose with a bit of tension in an emergency.

I always carry a knife so if something gets stuck, I can cut the lead to get them loose. Not only do I NOT want my horses learning that they can get free by pulling, but I've seen a couple horses badly injured because something broke when they set back. Both ended up flipping over backward when the halter/snap/buckle broke. One fractured his withers and was never able to be ridden again. The other broke a rib, punctured a lung, and had to be put down.

At least with something solid, I can choose the best time to cut them loose to minimize the risk of a worse injury.

 

Panic snap. I have never heard the term before reading this thread but get the gist of it. I/we use a piece of bailing twine attached to the trailer as a loop and attach the lead rope to the loop It has enough strength to tell the horse it is tethered but will break if required.
Last thing one wants is the horse that has panicked to have it perceive it is further under threat by having its head tied and be unable to free itself which increases the state of panic. It can lead to the horse going down in the trailer which is very dangerous to deal with.

The quicker the tether breaks the quicker it will calm down and stop pulling against what ever is holding its head. As for shoeing, the lead rope is wound a few times around a rail which seems to be enough resistance against him pulling but will unwind if he pulls hard. It is also entertaining watching my horse trying to untie himself. When he has achieved that he will put his foot down and calmly walk away. Just to demonstrate who is in control.

Try bailing twine. From what I have seen with my horses once the twine has broken they stop pulling and very rearly have they moved more than a few yards. I say that because the original reason for the panic has passed, and the focus is on the head being tied so if that is released quickly the then reason for panic has gone and calm returns.

In the trailer I don't tie as the horse as it uses its head to balance. I have a chain or bar to stop it going forward or backwards and it can't self unload when the ramp goes down.

How much does a panic snap cost in relation to a piece of twine.

I have rambled on enough
Cheers every one.

 

Although it looked to me like the panic snap had to be released by me, as folks are saying how difficult it is to get near enough to release it if the horse is panicked, which was my reasoning as well........I have had it self release, so it must be the difference in my puny strength and Sonny's 1000 lbs of mostly muscle to make it work properly and self release. So now I'm thinking it's not a danger to clip it to the halter (you dont' have to get to it for the release)

But, I also found and use an 'equiping' device, which comes open with ?175 lbs (dont remember exactly) of pressure. It's about $14, but can be refastened if it pings open, so used over and over. I always clip to it when trailering. I just leave it on the halter all the time. I get lots of comments 'what's that purple thing on his halter?".

I would leave him untied in my 2horse straight load, but he turns his head around to look into the empty slot , gets it too far and then can't figure out how to get it back in place (difficult to describe--he must lift up and back to clear the divided that is a tiny bit further back than the manger,,,then gets stuck in this position)
. Goofy boy..so I need a little pressure to keep him from doing that.

Fay

 

I usually tie my guys in the trailer with a safety knot that I can quickly undo in case of an emergency....it's always worked great UNTILLL...my big paint gelding decided to suck back WHILE I was tying it. I couldn't get my hand away in time and my pinky finger ended up getting caught in the portion of the knot that is supposed to slide through itself. I ended up almost amputating my finger (3 weeks before my wedding!! And yes, I realize I should have been wearing gloves..)

I checked out the Blocker tie rings Blocker Tie Ring Horse Safety Clip Equestrian Supplies Lead Rope Ropes - Blocker Ranch, Inc

(FWIW my gelding does not have a history of sucking back while tied..such a fluke deal, but enough to stick in my mind and make me anxious now) but for the cost...it sounds like just using some baling twine would work well. I had never heard that until here at HF..good idea!

 

I just hate doing them/undoing them and prefer a regular snap and therefore put the panic snap on the wall lol. It may release better if near the horse but it will release either way. You would have something to hang on to or it may be something to rile up the horse more..