Alternatives to baler twine

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skewbaldmillie

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Today my mare was tied up to baler twine (only one relatively thin piece) and she stepped over her lead rope as was eating and tied long. Being Millie she panicked and spun and ended up going down. She was stuck up against a rotten shed full of wood. Luckily there was a plank of wood wedged under her so we were able to roll her back over when she was stuck on her back.Throughout this the baler twine didn't break and my leadrope became stuck in it as it was gripping the ripe. Millie would have been fine if the baler twine had broken. Does anybody tie up to anything else, I know people very rarely have issues but have completely lost my nerve tieing up to it now.
 
I use a tube out of a vehicle tyre. I cut it up into rings and one tube makes lots of rings. You can make the rings as wide ie stronger or narrow ie weaker as you want. Then just thread them through the metal ring and loop them through themselves. If the horse gets into difficulty they break.
 
I use trailer ties, they have Velcro as a breakaway safety thing... I bought them from either Robinsons or ride away.. They are black with red Velcro end...
 
I've swapped all my outside tie up rings from bailer twine to the Idolo tether tie:

http://idolotethertie.com/

To save time we leave a suitable lead rein on the tether tie and just clip the horse on to it when we want to tie up, so far they've been excellent, no more twine to replace and since we got them last September I think we've only had one loose horse as they stop pulling before the rope comes completely free.
 
You do have to split balier twine these days. The current plastic stuff is just too tough. BHS say to split each length in half and the PC say in 1/3ds. It probably doesn't matter much which - but you do have to split it. We use a mix - I do use split balier twine. I also have a couple of equi-pings which are miles safer - but for some horses so safe they make a game out of breaking them. I also have an Idolo soft tie which I love - but would only use under supervision. Had OP's accident happened with a soft tie the result would have been the same or worse.
 
ThursdayNext said:
Thought: as all these mechanisms basically rely on the horse agreeing to stay tied would the safest thing not be too teach ground tying? Useful when no good point to tie to too. (I share so always use what owners want)
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Where's the 'like' button? Teach them not to pull back in the first place, like our counterparts across the pond. If an animal learns it can do something to it's advantage, it will do it.
 
ThursdayNext said:
Thought: as all these mechanisms basically rely on the horse agreeing to stay tied would the safest thing not be too teach ground tying? Useful when no good point to tie to too. (I share so always use what owners want)
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Mine ground tie - handy when the saddle slips and you need to readjust it on a hack :) also great for adjusting jumps when you don't have a jump bitch to help...
 
I had the same with a previous horse who was tied up to twine outside his stable. He was in the presence of other people when the accident happened. To be quite honest its a wonder he didn't kill himself but I was on a little yard divided from the main yard. THe yard of four stables was fully enclosed and fenced. This girl used to let her pony walk round the yard whilst others were tied up. I went to use the tap the on the other yard and her pony got behind my horse. She thought my horse was going to kick it (he wouldn't have dreamt of doing so) so she shouted at her pony. My horse (who was ultra sensitive as was very unused to getting shouted at as he was such an angel) leapt backwards in fright and pulled at the rope. The twine didn't give, but his headcollar snapped and he went over backwards landing on his withers and head and slipping down a slope to land with his head through a fence. She ran to find me and when we ran back my horse was stood spread legged looking very sorry for himself. Luckily the stables had top doors so I shoved him in the stable, shut the top door, switched the lights off and told everyone to shut up. I rang the vet and they came out on an emergency call out - he had quite nasty concussion, but lived to tell the tale.

Really funny about baling twine now.
 
applecart14 said:
I had the same with a previous horse who was tied up to twine outside his stable. He was in the presence of other people when the accident happened. To be quite honest its a wonder he didn't kill himself but I was on a little yard divided from the main yard. THe yard of four stables was fully enclosed and fenced. This girl used to let her pony walk round the yard whilst others were tied up. I went to use the tap the on the other yard and her pony got behind my horse. She thought my horse was going to kick it (he wouldn't have dreamt of doing so) so she shouted at her pony. My horse (who was ultra sensitive as was very unused to getting shouted at as he was such an angel) leapt backwards in fright and pulled at the rope. The twine didn't give, but his headcollar snapped and he went over backwards landing on his withers and head and slipping down a slope to land with his head through a fence. She ran to find me and when we ran back my horse was stood spread legged looking very sorry for himself. Luckily the stables had top doors so I shoved him in the stable, shut the top door, switched the lights off and told everyone to shut up. I rang the vet and they came out on an emergency call out - he had quite nasty concussion, but lived to tell the tale.

Really funny about baling twine now.
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Had a similar situation myself a few years ago. Our outcome was not so good. My mare was stood tied up, tacked up ready to ride, my old pony tied up beside her. Went to the car to get my hat. Heard a commotion in the yard. Rushed back (no more than 20 yards), to find her down and convulsing on the floor. With out going into too much detail, which is even now too painful to recall, she sustained a fractured skull and neck. Why she pulled back I'll never know. There was no apparent reason for her doing so. The baler twine must have held her tight, then finally broke. She went over backwards with enormous force, hitting her head on the block wall behind her. I got flashbacks for a long time. Time has helped, but I still shudder sometimes when I touch baler twine. My neds are now tied on the thinnest bit of string I can use. If they got loose - so be it. They won't go far. Better a horse loose on the yard than a dead one.
 
I use very thinned down bailer twine. I also have the bungee type ties with a normal clip on one end and a quick release snap clip on the other.

I rarely feed my horses when they are tied up but when I do I always unclip the rope so as to avoid the situation that the OP had with her horse putting a leg over the leadrope.
 
cowgirl16 said:
Had a similar situation myself a few years ago. Our outcome was not so good. My mare was stood tied up, tacked up ready to ride, my old pony tied up beside her. Went to the car to get my hat. Heard a commotion in the yard. Rushed back (no more than 20 yards), to find her down and convulsing on the floor. With out going into too much detail, which is even now too painful to recall, she sustained a fractured skull and neck. Why she pulled back I'll never know. There was no apparent reason for her doing so. The baler twine must have held her tight, then finally broke. She went over backwards with enormous force, hitting her head on the block wall behind her. I got flashbacks for a long time. Time has helped, but I still shudder sometimes when I touch baler twine. My neds are now tied on the thinnest bit of string I can use. If they got loose - so be it. They won't go far. Better a horse loose on the yard than a dead one.
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How horrendous for you. Yes, I guess we were very lucky. I won't tie directly onto anything now without thinned out bailer twine (usually take a couple of strands off) and although I leave baler twine on my hay manger from which I tie nets from, they still end up being tied directly to the manager when I am not there which is a recipe for disaster should a horse get caught up in a net, the whole lot would come down. On the one yard I was at I insisted on using tubs for my hay, so the staff could just chuck a tub over the stable door instead of tying a net which would invariably hang about six inches off the floor!!

I never use material head collars. If they have the strength (under tests) to pull a car, then they can cause untold damage. I always use leather head collars and on top of this I always have a quick release clip on my lead rope when in hand, tied up in the trailer or in/outside stable. I even use one on my dually!

I think when you have something like this happen, you become ultra aware of how dangerous some practices are and how some people don't see the dangers that you yourself see.
 
ThursdayNext said:
Thought: as all these mechanisms basically rely on the horse agreeing to stay tied would the safest thing not be too teach ground tying? Useful when no good point to tie to too. (I share so always use what owners want)
Click to expand...

How do you teach ground tying? I have a horse that just snaps the a baler twine with a flick of his neck if he fancies a wander so it would be good to learn another way.
 
Our pony jumped out over the side doors of an equi trek whilst tied on baler twine and was hung by his head as the twine didn't break. We've tried the equi ping and those elastic ties (a bit like a cable tie to look at). But they're useless! He'll be tied up, whip his head round to watch a car go down the road and they come undone instantly. So you can't even leave him unattended to empty a wheel barrow!! Thinned down baler twine we have found to be the best option
 
LouisCat said:
Our pony jumped out over the side doors of an equi trek whilst tied on baler twine and was hung by his head as the twine didn't break. We've tried the equi ping and those elastic ties (a bit like a cable tie to look at). But they're useless! He'll be tied up, whip his head round to watch a car go down the road and they come undone instantly. So you can't even leave him unattended to empty a wheel barrow!! Thinned down baler twine we have found to be the best option
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EventingMum said:
I've swapped all my outside tie up rings from bailer twine to the Idolo tether tie:

http://idolotethertie.com/

To save time we leave a suitable lead rein on the tether tie and just clip the horse on to it when we want to tie up, so far they've been excellent, no more twine to replace and since we got them last September I think we've only had one loose horse as they stop pulling before the rope comes completely free.
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I have just bought a series of Idolo ties, they look quite good. My horse tests the strength of the equi-ping / Velcro bungee / very thinned baler twice and tends to break them for fun. He is also a space cadet that likes to pull / push / grab things and then jump and pull back. He's very easily bored and a pain. Probably does a mild pull back every few weeks. I don't want him loose, but nor to I want the pulling back danger, or the poll and neck injuries.

Fingers crossed the Idolo ties look really good. The do release under pressure but only to slowly feed rope out, and my horse tends to be calm after knocking things over, before reaching the end of the rope. AND I think now he's not pulling back and hitting end string and exploding, he is calmer at just moving away n the slide mechanism. I am hoping this will solve his long running contact / connection / poll tightness and neck issues. He has been fab since chiro vet realised all the stuck neck and poll bits, and we changed ties, fingers crossed.
Read more at https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/alternatives-to-baler-twine.726542/#CoXxbLXDk1w1oX0A.99
 
I have a horse that panics when tied up. I use the Idolo tie with a very long lead rope. Its brilliant. Once she worked out that she could pull back and move away, she stopped trying to break free. I've seen a few nasty accidents with horses getting stuck because full strength baling twine didn't break, so I always keep scissors handy for when this happens on the yard. I also have a velcro loop tie which works well, but the Idolo is a superb gadget.
 
Quigley learned very quickly the expensive Velcro bungee tie would come apart with a bit of pressure. I used the nylon and Velcro shipping straps off a new memory foam mattress instead of bailer twine and they worked a treat.
 
Vodkagirly said:
How do you teach ground tying? I have a horse that just snaps the a baler twine with a flick of his neck if he fancies a wander so it would be good to learn another way.
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The Idolo is good for teaching horses not to snap twine. if you look on their website i think there are some videos. Essentially the horse can pull through so the twine doesn't snap and they don't get instant "reward" for pulling.

My lot are quite good but I still use the Idolo everywhere as I have seen too many accidents with bailing twine alone. I clip the end of the idolo to half thickness twine and the put a knot at the end of the lead rope so it is unlikely that they will get loose as they cant pull the lead rope all the way through but if they needed to run they would snap the twine
 
EventingMum said:
I've swapped all my outside tie up rings from bailer twine to the Idolo tether tie:

http://idolotethertie.com/

To save time we leave a suitable lead rein on the tether tie and just clip the horse on to it when we want to tie up, so far they've been excellent, no more twine to replace and since we got them last September I think we've only had one loose horse as they stop pulling before the rope comes completely free.
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Not all of them stop pulling. I had to go back to twine within days. Mine figured out far too quickly that he can simply walk away from Idolo ties. If your horse is clever and enjoys being an annoying bugger, this doesn't work. I tried different ropes, longer ropes, thicker ropes, all of them followed him as he wandered off around the yard.

I gave it to a friend. Her horse lasted about 4 months before figuring it out. Third horse has been using it happily for a few months and hasn't tried to escape but then he's the sort of horse who will happily stand all day long.
 
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