Afraid of Tieing horses

[babyblue]

I agree with wellsummerchicks. if they horses is not broke and trained to do something, why expect them to be good and ok with it. also with the idea that horses should stand tied for hours. even as some one who did qh and western type stuff. give the horse a break, take them for walks if there are no stalls. no one including a horse wants to stand in one spot for hours. because the rope needs to be short enough for the horse not to get hung or hurt so there is not a whole lot of moving to be done.

 

[Celtic Hill]

Wels, Thanks!!!

Wanna know what scares me? At work their cross ties are chains and they don't break away. D: I bring my own clips that i tie bailing twine onto and then clip them so there is some break away. I had a horse set back throw her head up and hit it on the ceiling and break a tooth the other day. I FREAKED out, Calmly.

 

[welsummerchicks]

What I used to do is bring a couple quick releases. If you use baling twine, that either breaks when you don't want it to, or it don't break when you need it to.

Also - practice with the quick releases. Get familiar with how they work and what direction to hook 'em up in. Keep in mind you usually have to release the quick release yourself - it's not going to always release when you want it to.

Some say to put the quick releases at the wall, some at the halter end of the tie. There are arguments to each side.

Me, I prefer a quick release at the halter. It can be hard to get to and reach in some melt downs, but I generally prefer that to having a horse running around with some cross tie slapping him in the face, which tends to just keep them running around longer AND make them harder to catch.

I think this was the place you were talking about before? Watch out for your body language and movements, some of this horses sound a little twitchy.

I start to look MIGHTY SLOW around horses like that. Lots of slow, easy movements and lots of takin' your time reaching for them and such things.

We had one horse that was just AWFUL to start and jerk back when tied up. Taught him to stand still when the lead rope was thrown over his neck, he would pretty much stand there all day with his eyes closed, LOL, of course if there was a little hay nearby he might wander over to it, LOL. I clipped him without even tying him up, LOL.

What I really like to do is teach them there is a PLACE to stand still, rather than a piece of gear that makes them stand still or restrains them. I just correct them every time they wander off and put them back in the same spot with their feet in the same place.

When a friend was over she was laughing her head off watching my horse just start to SHIFT his weight to start walking away, and look at me and I'd say, 'ah-ah' and he would shift his weight back and stand still. She thought that was the funniest thing.

 

[Celtic Hill]

Yeah it is, I started almost crying (and i never break down) because i was so frustrated that the horses kept throwing there head up and i go slow and such. There getting better with me a little.

 

[genuck]

Lots of good advice here. I would caution against putting a horse that pulls back in a trailer to stand all day. A trailer freak out accident is a lot more scary than a safe tie freak out accident. If your mount won't stand tied safely at a show and they don't have stalls, you will have a buddy all day as far as I'm concerned. Training is something to do at home, you don't want him to get hurt at a show. Bring a friend or two and have a fun day of it.

Don't give up hope on training an adult horse to tie, sometimes it just takes a lot of patience. I had a 6 yr old gelding that would freak out and pull back, he broke a few snaps and scared the bejeezus out of me more than once. Eventually after a lot of work ( a few years of work!) I felt safe tying him. Don't give up, just stay safe.