Antsy when tied up- please help!

[ribena73]

I have a 6 yr ol tb mare who is currently on box rest as she has a damaged tendon. When I bring her out of ther stable to muck out I tie her to the wall, always with a haynet to keep her occupied. But, if she gets distracted or by some miracle isn't hungry she gets really agitated and pulls back and has now on several occasions escaped by either breakng the baling twine or the headcollar. She is an ott tb and so has come from a racing yard where i guess she was tacked up etc in the stable and so isn't used to it, so it might take some time for her to get used to being tied to the wall, but I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem and whether they overcame it?

 

[girla]

If possible when she is pulling back give her a flick with the lunge whip. It will encourage her to stop pulling back and hopefully stand.

Patience will win her on this one, there is no need to belt her hard just give her an encouraging tap to go forward, i had a horse that done the same and after a while he soon learnt that if he kept pulling back a short sharp smack would be his punishment and he learnt very quickly.

 

[AmyMay]

My only advise would be simply to not bring her out of the stable. I suspect that it is the restriction in exercise that is making her like this. Muck out around her.

The idea of flicking a highly strung animal with a lunge whip is quite frankly asking for trouble.

 

[mintaka04]

You could always try clicker training her to stand still, but this would take time.

 

[ribena73]

She's been like this since I've had her (2 months now) but obviously I'm noticing it more now she is on box rest as she's being tied up twice a day. It's definitely an issue with her regardless of how little exercise she's getting, and I really need to help her get over it!

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

I had this problem with my cob and i used 2 leadropes on 2 seperate tyeup points. One was tighter than the other by about a foot. Then when he pulled back and broke the first he was very confused to find he was still tied up and after a few days gave up trying.

Our baby horse has started doing this recently if he gets bored and we upgraded to the stronger haylege baler twine which he cant break with a flick of his head and he tries a couple of times and then goes back to sucking his leadrope.

 

[ribena73]

How does clicker training work with horses? I've heard of it with dogs (we have a shar pei we tried with but she doesn't respond to any training that doesn't involve her sleeping on our bed lol!). With her on box rest I have the time.........

 

[kerilli]

i wouldn't take her out of the stable at all, no way.
i'd tie her up on one side, then on the other, so you can muck out round her. if she's frustrated about her box rest (as most horses are) she won't stand still, and flicking her with a schooling whip will either make her buck/lash out, pull back and run off, or something, that's the last thing i'd do. she needs reassurance, not punishment.

clicker training a horse is fun, you do it just like with a dog i guess. i started with the command "touch" and a small plastic cone, and a click and treat when she touched it with her nose (did it on a mare on box rest), and went on from there.

 

[mintaka04]

I played about with clicker training with my mare for a while, it's a useful "tool" to have in your box.
have a look at http://www.theclickercenter.com/
You can buy a clicker for a pound or so off e-bay. I started with the "touch" command too. It's amazing how quickly they cotton on, but to do more advanced stuff you would need to put in quite a bit of patience, work and time.

 

[oofadoofa]

Agree with above, keep her in the stable whilst you muck out. She probably isn't used to being tied up and doing it whilst she's on box rest isn't the ideal time to start.

 

[Fairy Lights]

Hi,

Heres a suggestion- wesar a pair of gloves. Take a lunge line, bring it through the tie up ring and then clip to the headcollar. Hold the other end in your hand. When teh horse goes to pull back, release some of the rope. When he stops, reel him back in to stand again. You will probably have to repeat a few times but basically they learn that pulling the rope will not get them loose. also, its not as much fun pulling back if theres nothing to pull against. If you have a friend who could hold the lunge rope and repear the abiove while you are doing something with the horse that you need it tied for, it works even better.

Once you have the horse standing better, switch to a lead rope again and start to tie up for routine things in the stable i.e. having feet picked out. Only tie for a short time and reward afterwards, building up to longer over time