Baler twine loops = new idea?

I remember that my old copy of the 'Manual of Horsemanship' had an illustration of a pony tied straight on the metal ring, & as I thought my horse was fine when tied up I always did this.

BIG mistake! He pulled back once & even his frayed leadrope didn't break. He pulled the rail which the tie ring was attached to clean off & careered off round the yard in terror, taking me with him & the rail. Luckily I had my hat on as I got quite a hammering. I was lucky not to have the same outcome as the tragic owners who recently posted on their accident.

I also know of a slight TB who ran back during shoeing & although tied to twine, took the whole front of the stable & the farrier with him. Poor farrier ended up in hospital. I always use, & split twine now.
 
My (mostly sensible!) girl is always tied up via a piece of baler twine, however it is always thinned in half if the twine is brand new. (old, feeble looking twine as it is tends to be as weak as new stuff split in two!)

Also, when she's out and about and tied to the trailer, I always make sure her leadrope is tied to two separate pieces of twine. First is nice and short so she can reach her haynet and turn her head around, but not stick her nose down to the floor to munch grass and get her leadrope stuck under the light cluster at the corner (learn from experience, moi?!
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Then a further foot and a half length leadrope is left with the end tied up to the second piece of twine. This means if she is a numpty about something and snaps the first piece, I've a good chance she's not 100% free as she still has to break through the second piece too. It gives me a precious few seconds to react and grab her before it is snapped too.
 
Gosh! This is the most popular thread I've started by a long way... bit overwhelmed (in a good way) with different ideas - eye opening!

Quite comfortable with my breakable arrangements in yard with two separate gates between it and road (mostly just put lunge line through loop for (un)tacking, grooming etc anyway and don't leave him unattended) but thinking of getting some of those breakable tie things for joining lead rope to head collar just in case he ever pulls away from me when being lead. Cheaper than a leather head collar for a horse I don't own or, worst case, a new horse in the event of tripping!

Liking the idea or the double-levels of breakability when out & about too...
 
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Does the BHS really advise baler twine? I'd always assumed that it was ordinary twine as in gardening twine.... the stuff that looks like hairy string. It's made of.... not sure really, but it isn't nylon and therefore would break more easily.

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Good point here,being that baler twine used to be what we now see as garden twine, it never used to be this nylon stuff that we have now.

Maybe it's time those weighted blocks (sorry forgot what they are called ) were brought back?
I don't think it all comes down to what you have tied to either, but also how you tie, how long is the lead rope when tied up? I believe in the states they nearly always teach their youngsters by tying to something very solid.
Personally, I tie to whatever is available, I even ground tie sometimes.
 
When I started tying up horses, baler twine wasn't nearly as strong as it is now - it wasn't as plasticy at all, more like rafia. So when it first came about, typing to baler twine was 'safe', as it was pretty insubstantial, unlike nowadays.

We had a horse on the yard kill itself by pulling up and away when it was tied directly to a metal ring (owner decided to 'teach it to stand' by tying it to the ring and then left it, idiot, idiot, idiot) Horse tried to get free, genuinely paniced when it couldn't, and ended up dead. I will teach young horses to stand still by tying to a ring, but I ALWAYS stay with them, and the rope is in a proper quick release (not one where you rethread the rope through which is blooming useless in an emergency). Once the horse stands, it is always tied through seperated twine, whether in the stable, farriers stalls, horsebox etc. I've seen fences and gates broken by horses that have been tied to them, and a 5 bar gate dragged around a field (how it didn't break a leg I have no idea, but people forget that gates lift off pretty easily, and a traditional lift on gate will come off before twine breaks, so don't ever tie to a gate, twine or no twine). I've also seen the side of a horse box removed by a horse who was tied directly to it by a metal ring.

I think all horses should know how to tie up and stand still from a young age - the only ones I have ever had problems with are older horses where they have never learned to stand still when tied, and it is very frustrating to get a horse like that.

On another note - I had to free a horse from cross ties when I visited a riding school over here - the ties were lose enough that the horse could drink, but also loose enough that the horse could get its foreleg over the tie, but of course he was also tied on the other side, so he couldn't move his head around to free himself or balance himself once he was stuck. Luckily we were right there when he did it, and could get him out straight away. So all methods have their pitfalls.
 
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