Am I being picky?

smokey

smokey

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Tied my horse up today to wash her many feet. Two of the youngsters were tacking up next to her, then went off to ride. Both of them left their lead ropes tied up, and dropped the head collars, still attached on the ground. I picked them up, and when they came back mentioned that it was me who had moved them, as it could be dangerous if my horse stepped into one. They looked at me like I was mad!
Then noticed that one of the other liveries had gone off to ride, leaving her two others in the paddock, with a lead rope tied up, and the head collar on the ground!
I'm not a h&s freak, but I thought this was pretty basic!
What do others think?
 
Only time I pick someone else's head collar off the ground is when it's raining and muddy. Otherwise I just hang my own up.
I am slightly picky about the outside of my stables though and will quite happily clean up after everyone else who uses that area.
 
horserider said:
Only time I pick someone else's head collar off the ground is when it's raining and muddy. Otherwise I just hang my own up.
I am slightly picky about the outside my stables though and will quite happily clean up after everyone else who uses that area.
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So would you leave it lying if your horse was standing close enough to get caught up in it? I'm not picky about a lot, but basic safety issues are different.
ETS - I left the other girls lying, her horses, her lookout I figure, and she's an adult, I guess the kids just didn't think, but an adult surely should set an example?
 
I do this all the time with mine , everyone does it at the stables ! You were just helping out but afraid a lot of people do this with their head collars
 
smokey said:
So would you leave it lying if your horse was standing close enough to get caught up in it? I'm not picky about a lot, but basic safety issues are different.
ETS - I left the other girls lying, her horses, her lookout I figure, and she's an adult, I guess the kids just didn't think, but an adult surely should set an example?
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LOL ! yep. My horses are adults and not that stupid.

They are bright enough to have worked out that if they get tangled with a lunge line/lead rope, they stand still while I unravel them.
 
horse.love92 said:
I do this all the time with mine , everyone does it at the stables ! You were just helping out but afraid a lot of people do this with their head collars
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That's my point though, I wasn't helping out, if they want to leave them lying, fine, but my horse was next to them, and I thought it was a safety issue
 
I know what you're saying, and wouldn't leave a headcollar on the ground personally, however sensible my horses were, but each to their own, I guess. If the fact that their headcollars on the floor next to your horse was a worry, I would say that the tie up areas are too close together??
 
I would have left them if they weren't in the way, but as they were in this case, I probably would have picked it up but not said anything. I'm sure they would have known it was you who moved them as you were tied up next to them and would have got the hint.
 
Im with you smokey, i find it irritating too. I think some people are just too lazy to take a few seconds to put them safely out of harms way. Those same people would be cross if your horse accidentally knocked over a bucket of water and they came back to wet headcollars!

There is no point in running around after other people picking things up behind them unless you feel it will directly affect you or your horse.
 
I think you sound sensible, and being a somewhat clumsy person myself :redface3:, I don't think that leaving lead ropes tied up in one end and the other end attached to a head collar lying on the ground, only sounds like a danger to those on four legs.

Walking home from having been to a lake for a swim with my three bitches, I noticed several paddocks where next to the gate were several lead ropes and head collars securely tied/wrapped up around a post, nothing there for anyone to risk getting tangled up in.
 
Mm - depends on how long you have been around horses I think. The older you are, the more often you have seen or heard of horrific accidents that could have been prevented by a bit of forethought. It is quite amazing the horses' ability to get itself into trouble, as we know.

Headcollars, wheelbarrows, tools, taps, haynets are all potentially (horse) life threatening. Yes, pick them up.
 
I'd pick them up too. Some of the youngsters on our yard leave things lying about which I think are hazards and I'll just pick them up and put them to one side (the hazards, not the youngsters). Mollie's not a very sensible mare, and tends to panic so I wouldn't risk her getting her foot in stuck a headcollar. :rolleyes3:
 
I would pick them up, and say something to the yard owner! Quite apart from the safety issue, it just winds me up when people leave stuff lying around. I also hate headcollars left attached to gates, after having to rescue a youngster who put her foot through a noseband and pulled back. I dont think of myself as a H&S Nazi, but a lot of things I do automatically are safety related/common sense. Horses are so good at self-harming without our help, that we dont need to help them along!
 
I would have picked them up - it is basic horsemanship to know that you don't leave anything lying around the horse can become entangled in.
They manage to injure themselves easily enough without help!. I would have pointed out the risks to any owner not aware of this too.
 
I'd have been livid, OP and probably would have picked them up and put them somewhere rather more difficult to find than just back over their own stable doors. This kind of thing drives me mad. I was taught (many years ago) never to leave equipment lying around where a horse or person could injure themselves on it. I hate to see wheelbarrows in the same space as horses (either field or stable) and as for tools! I don't really think that you have to have much experience of horses to know that if they can injure themselves, they will.
It's a good job I'm not on a livery yard.
 
Yes, I'm always picking safety hazards up - after working on horse yards for years and seeing how wrong it can go/ being shouted at for every tiny indiscretion, I'm afraid it is just force of habit. I never tell people though or particularly get annoyed, ime it's a waste of energy.
 
So glad I'm not the only one! I'm new on the yard, it's lovely and very informal, but there's a difference between informal and unsafe.
If others want to be unsafe, I'll let them carry on, unless it will affect my horse, or it's a child who may not realise.
 
I'll be honest, we leave our headcollars tied to twine and hanging when we go off to ride - but if ours were so long they were lying on the floor our horses wouldn't be tied up tight enough!! I second that if your horse is close enough to their headcollar to get feet caught, then your tie up places are ridiculously close together... one thing if tying a another horse up where a headcollar is already hanging, but if your tie up places are far enough apart to prevent kicking she shouldn't be getting her feet caught? And if she's one that breaks off and then gets caught, then I would say put her in a stable rather than tell everyone else off...

This is a very common thing to do, and quite honestly I'd be a bit peeved if a new livery on my yard moved my headcollar while I was riding and told me I was being unsafe.
 
My boss always leaves her headcollar attached to the string but hanging down after she goes riding. I just pick it up out the way from habit, even if there are no other horses around that couldn't possibly stand in it!
 
khalswitz said:
I'll be honest, we leave our headcollars tied to twine and hanging when we go off to ride - but if ours were so long they were lying on the floor our horses wouldn't be tied up tight enough!! I second that if your horse is close enough to their headcollar to get feet caught, then your tie up places are ridiculously close together... one thing if tying a another horse up where a headcollar is already hanging, but if your tie up places are far enough apart to prevent kicking she shouldn't be getting her feet caught? And if she's one that breaks off and then gets caught, then I would say put her in a stable rather than tell everyone else off...

This is a very common thing to do, and quite honestly I'd be a bit peeved if a new livery on my yard moved my headcollar while I was riding and told me I was being unsafe.
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We don't have allocated tying up places, so as soon as you move your horse, another one's likely to be tied at the same place. I move headcollars out of the way if they're left dangling and usually put it on the door of the horse it belongs to. I don't think anyone's offended. :)
 
I do it all the time. Would probably find it rather humorous if someone felt the need to move my head collar and tell me about it. I would probably be in tears if they went as far as running to the yard owner.
 
khalswitz said:
I'll be honest, we leave our headcollars tied to twine and hanging when we go off to ride - but if ours were so long they were lying on the floor our horses wouldn't be tied up tight enough!! I second that if your horse is close enough to their headcollar to get feet caught, then your tie up places are ridiculously close together... one thing if tying a another horse up where a headcollar is already hanging, but if your tie up places are far enough apart to prevent kicking she shouldn't be getting her feet caught? And if she's one that breaks off and then gets caught, then I would say put her in a stable rather than tell everyone else off...

This is a very common thing to do, and quite honestly I'd be a bit peeved if a new livery on my yard moved my headcollar while I was riding and told me I was being unsafe.
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Thank goodness you said that. I was thinking commonsense had left the building.

I'd be a little peeved if people started moving random headcollars while the horses were away being ridden. It's not very H&S to be wandering around looking for a headcollar that someone has decided to move while you have a horse in tow.
If its a problem to anyone, then secure the headcollar and wrap the lead rope in the correct way but leave it where it is.
 
Why are your horses tied up so loose? Our headcollars hang about a foot off the floor if they're untied, and there's no way another horse could get to it short of untying itself and walking over and pawing at them...

Tbh, I'd have probably raised my eyebrows and said thanks, but not really taken in anything other than "wow".
 
I routinely move stuff my neighbouring livery in the barn has left on the floor near my stable so my mare can't get caught in them - bridles, saddles, rugs, those feed buckets that go over doors, you name it she leaves it lying about; worst thing is the woman's training to be a BHS RI and really should know better. She left her expensive schooling whip on the floor the other day, a farrier drove over it and broke it and she had a go at him !!
 
Lol, I've not been on many livery yards. I keep reading all these threads about things going missing, but reading this now, if people leave things lying around where others are supposed to tie up, no wonder things get moved and lost or broken!!
 
OP i am fully behind you, it is not just the safety, its the tidiness of the yard, its general basic care of ones stuff, but seems like people have more money than sense these days or they just couldnt give a toss, and you and i are the idiots for careing. When in Rome do as the Romans do lol
 
I leave mine hanging down but I am on a private yard atm. If I was on a livery yard with shared tying up spaces, I'd make more of an effort to pick it up and leave it in 'my' area.
 
I have my horses at home, it drives me mad when grandchildren, in their early teens who should know better, leave headcollars dangling, brushes on the floor, having to hunt for leadropes etc etc, last summer, my lad got totally tangled in a haynet, having to have it cut from his foot, the children didn't panic and I was so proud of them, so why are they making stupid mistakes now, drives me mad
 
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