[BonnieM]

I have a thread in Horse Chat about an episode yesterday where a friend's horse was badly injured in a pull back while tied to a trailer. Unhappy end to a trail ride today.

My hubby and I are determined to help the friend with the horse when she is able... and are planning to begin with groundwork to teach her to give to pressure, which she does not know.

Clinton Anderson has a device he calls an Aussie Tie Up which we have seen him use in his RFD TV program, that seems to work...It gives the horse some relief when it pulls back, thus helping it to realize that being tied is not a bad thing. He sells them for $20. Have any of you used this method? Any input there?

OR, can you suggest other ways to teach her to tie? We are into training methods that give the horse a better deal. We will not use any method that would harm or frighten her any more than she already is.

Thanks for any suggestions and input you can give! We have a little time to work on this and think it through, because she just had 20 stitches & will need time to heal before we begin working with her.

BonnieM

[Goonhorse]

I have the tie ring, but haven't used it yet--the barn isn't finished so there's no place to put it.

Other than a rope halter and teaching her to give to pressure, I'm not sure what else I would do. I'm sure somebody else has more input in this than I do.

[LuckyAshley]

Originally Posted by Goonhorse

I have the tie ring, but haven't used it yet--the barn isn't finished so there's no place to put it.

Other than a rope halter and teaching her to give to pressure, I'm not sure what else I would do. I'm sure somebody else has more input in this than I do.

Don't tie with the rope halter though, that could cause some serious damage if the horse pulls back with that.
-Ashley

[BklynCwgrl]

Honestly...I stand with my horses who have done that...and I basically scare them into NOT pulling back by making it scarier behind them...if that makes sense. When they start to pull back I yell at them and I have tapped them on the butt with the crop. I don't know if any of those other tools work...and I don't know if what I do ALWAYS works...but it has worked for me. My old mare used to pull back so badly she'd be laying down hanging by the head! Oh it was HORRIBLE. We had to do what you guys did and cut her rope! STUPID MARE!!!

[dr2202]

my horse has broken a number or halters, and cross ties by pulling back..
once they get the knack of it it seems to be a hard habit to break..
i went the route of a rope halter...he pulled back a few times the first time i used it, he stopped pulling very quickly though..(pressure points)
i used it for about 3 months... it seems to have done the trick...

[Truce]

Wrap a inner tube of a bike tire around the hitching post and tie the leadrope thru the tire tube.

Once they pull back, it "gives" and they don't panik about being "solid" tied and also don't hurt their necks. I it has worked with ours and also with the foal!
I agree with the above posts, they do have to know how to give to pressure first...

Good luck!

[BonnieM]

Thanks everyone! Some good thoughts here. Keep 'em coming.

We do plan to do groundwork first with a rope haltar. I think she is a tough enough case that we are going to need to work with some other methods after she learns to give to pressure.

THANKS...Any more ideas?

BonnieM

[Haas Horse Farm]

Originally Posted by LuckyAshley

Don't tie with the rope halter though, that could cause some serious damage if the horse pulls back with that.
-Ashley

And you know this from personal experience? Sorry I use rope halters almost 100% of the time. Many horses would never have a pull back problem if they were never in any other kind of halter. Pulling back and breaking halters becomes a game for some horses... using breakable halters is how you create the problem. If you start the horse in a halter that creates respect and holds up to resistance you then will not have this issue. Once the horse is very well trained to stand tied and you choose to use an easy break halter if the horse is on a walker or something... that is different from what I am talking about.

I have spent several days at the barn with a yearling filly tied to the wall because my daughter chose to do what you suggested and not use a rope halter. The filly pulled back and broke the halter. I put a shipping halter on her and put her back on the wall with a lariat rope around her midsection up through her front legs and through the halter Tied both of them off so that if she broke the lead rope she would still be tied to the wall.

The first day she probably spent as many hours on the floor as she did on the wall. Like a kindergarten age child I let her throw her tantrums and lay on the floor. I had her tied long enough that she could hit the floor without choking herself to death. I would guess that she might have been up and down 10 or 15 times in the four hours I had her there. I just ignored her other than making sure the ropes were where they would not hurt her.

That night I left her in a stall instead of letting her go back in the pasture with her buddies. Day two she was back on the wall still in a shipping halter but no lariet rope. She still pawed a moved sideways but she did not go down and I tied her shorter this day as short as I would a normally.

Today is day three... I told my daughter to put her on the wall this morning... with the shipping halter... She put her on the wall and the filly was probably on the wall for an hour of two when I got there... Guess what she was standing, not pawing, almost resting. I got a brush and brushed her off and she almost went to sleep while I was brushing her tail out.

We changed halters and I took some photos. You can see that she had lost a little hide in a few spots but she now stands tied perfectly and respects a rope and the handler.

[Goonhorse]

Originally Posted by LuckyAshley

Don't tie with the rope halter though, that could cause some serious damage if the horse pulls back with that.
-Ashley

I agree with Haas Horse Farm. I really think that a horse will stop pulling before it actually hurts itself seriously. I think that a horse can cause just as much muscle/bone damage to itself with a nylon halter as it does with a rope halter. In fact, maybe more with a nylon halter because it can comfortably pull harder with the nylon halter, whereas with the rope halter, it will start losing hair and skin and eventually stop. Hair and skin isn't a big deal if the horse is dumb enough to continue pulling back.

[BonnieM]

Good one, Mary! I think I can "sell" this approach.

We'll talk!
BonnieM