Anyone ever had a horse refuse to tie up?

[Fly_By_Wire]

Hi

My horse has developed a really habit/problem which I really can't understand, and I can't think how to solve it either.

To put it simply, whenever I tie him up outside his box or to a fence, within about a minute he pulls back until he's broken the string (and often a leadrope or headcollar too). He doesn't do it out of fear, once he's broken free he'll just stand, but won't go back towards the tie up ring.

He did this to me the other day, when I thought that since it was nice and sunny for once I'd groom him outside. Within 30 seconds he'd pulled away and broken the string (he had to lean his whole weight on his hocks to do this). I couldn't get him back into his box, as that involved going past the tie up ring, so I unclipped his now broken leadrope and stood him in the middle of the yard in just a headcollar. I groomed and tacked him up out there, and he just stood, as good as gold, while I walked around him grooming and even walked back and forth from his stable and the tack room. He just stood there as though he was tied up, even though he was in the middle of the yard at least 10m away from any fences or places that he could think he was tied up to, even though there was hammering and drilling going on in the barn next to the stables. I will never understand horses sometimes

I have a feeling that this started when he genuinly did get scared once while he was tied up (to a fairly weak fence). He pulled back and took half the fence down with him, but then jsut stood a few feet away, as always.

Has anyone ever had something like this before? Any ideas on how I could fix it?

Thanks for reading

That got quite long in the end lol

 

[ForeverBroke_]

Me, sort of

He had a spook when he ended up towing something around the farm when it didn't break. To build his confidence up I just didn't actually tie him up, just pull the rope through. Then he didn't scare himself by needing it to break, etc etc

 

[Sparkles]

He's not ex-racer at all is he?

Might get flamed for saying this but what does he do say if you grabbed the leadrope before he broke the string...would he be prone to be panicking more?

Does he do the same on both a short tie up, or a longer range tie up?

 

[Fly_By_Wire]

nope, irish tb x connemara.

I grabbed the leadrope last time he did this, I pulled forward on it in short tugs, almost like a few very firm half halts, but on his headcollar. He eventually stopped pulling and walked forwards, but the leadrope was already broken and pulled so tight around the string it was beyond repair. If I just hold and pull he tends to panic more. I've never really tried tying him up at different lengths, I usually tie him up fairly short.

 

[daydreambeliever]

I think Fleabite's suggestion is good, just put the leadrope through the string. if you feel he is pulling back due to his scare, then work on rebuilding his trust gradually. Start with the rope through the string, give him a treat and then remove his rope and walk him away from the tie up before he has time to panic. As he becomes more comfortable extend the length of time, groom his shoulder then pick out a hoof and so on.

Good luck

 

[Tickles]

Sounds like he is either scared or bored.

If you tie up for long periods w/out doing anything with him (e.g. whilst you muck out) I have a simple suggestion: don't! (or at least give him some hay/apple in water bucket/whatever)

If he is scared (which sounds likely given the incident you mention) try
- tying, praising, untying (gradually extending the tied up period)
and/or
- slipping a lunge line through the twine without knotting so he can pull back w/out breaking anything but remain 'tied'

Share horsey gets bored very quick and seems to have been roughly treated when tied in the past, can get very stressed (think rearing, panicing) by being told off when tied. But the above have calmed him a lot

 

[Fly_By_Wire]

good idea with the lunge line, I'd be quite interested to see how far back he'd slip it through before deciding that he was 'free' and calming down

 

[Irishlife]

Two things going on here, clearly he is upset/bored/impatient about being tied up, then goes and proves the point to himself again by pulling back and no doubt hurting himself and scaring himself by pulling backwards. There will be a length of rope he will tolerate and be happy with. So as previous posters have said, use a lunging rope to slip through the tie ring then he will have nothing to pull against. We use this methods with all the foals and young horses and never let them feel the pressure of the rein unless we are applying the pressure and releasing. Never had a tie up problem using this method. Also always ground tie one mare who pulls back for sheer devilment and breaks everything (powerful warmblood), she stands like a lamb. Interestingly, she CAN be tied conventionally if she is not staring at a wall and can see what is going on. So that is another little aspect to take into account

 

[Fly_By_Wire]

Yep, that mare sounds exactly like him, sometimes I think he's just doing it because he can. I'll try giving him a haynet or something to look at

 

[Haniki]

You can get a rubber bungee type tie up rope from Fieldguard. These are good for teaching horses to tie up.

 

[MurphysMinder]

When we went to see Murph before we bought him we were very impressed how his then owner could just throw the rope over his neck and he stood there, even for blood test at vetting. We found out why when we got him home and tried to tie him up

He constantly pulled back and broke the string. Someone told us to tie him up to a loop of tail bandage, this gives when they pull back so it confuses them, they think they should be free but they aren't. Although he is not 100% to tie up still he is much better, so definitely worth giving a try with your lad.

 

[whizzica]

I tie up to bicycle inner tubes instead of string with all my horses now - I have a mare (have had her for 14yrs now) that would pull back and break everything and then stand there also, using the tube allowed her to pull back without the dead stop at the end - she just boinged!!! and back she goes to stand as good as gold - never had a problem since then unless I forget and tie her to string when we go somewhere else and she pulls back immediately!!!!!

I have them on the tie ups on my trailers inside and out as well. Interestingly she was always a pain to load as she pulled back on the rope(not afraid), once she hit the end and it didn't give she panicked- resulting in one disappearing horse(not funny when trying to get somewhere). On a friends advice, I used a bungy rope to load and she has been fine eversince - haven't had a problem in years now

 

[jens]

Just a thought but have you had his eyes checked?

My mare was always fine to tie up then out of the blue she started doing what you describe. She would lean her whole weight back and sometimes practically sit down untill something broke and she was free. Then she wouldnt run off or anything but just stand looking a bit bewildered.

We had the vet out and she was begining to form cateracts and was obviously seeing 'shadows' when ties to a ring in the wall. She also became more spooky on rides.

Her eyes eventually stabilized and she stopped spooking and pulling back.

Hope this isnt the case for you but just a thought.