Baler twine - warning

hussar

hussar

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I had a horrific experience today that could have ended in disaster - all because a piece of baler twine didn't break. My horse was tied to the back of my trailer, already agitated because of the hundreds of flies that had suddenly descended. He started pawing the ground with his head down, got his foot over the rope and went into an extreme panic. He ended up on his side on the ground several times, smashed most of my buckets and stuff that was nearby, got trapped under the ramp for a few seconds, broke the trailer lights and bumper - and there was nothing we could do till eventually he half-strangled himself and stood still long enough for me to unclip the leadrope. He has cuts and bruises to all 4 legs and his head, and is lame on the leg that was over the rope, but apparently nothing serious although I won't be sure till he's checked out tomorrow when localised swelling has gone down. It could have been so much worse. I really thought he was going to break his neck or a leg.

In all that, nothing broke - not the headcollar, nor the rope, nor the clip, nor the baler twine - which was an old frayed piece that I thought was safe. I've tried quick-release ties before but he quickly learned that by simply leaning on them, not running back, they would give way. I think now I'm going to try cable ties which will break if put under stress such as today's!
 
Try shoe laces not cable ties - as these are made of plastic and probalby have a greater breaking point strength than bailing twine.

Whilst we are on the subject - why on earth do farmers use "yellow" or "beige" for the colour cant the use red or blue or purple. It would save me hours going through my hay and straw cos sometimes when its late and dark you cannot see the twine
 
Cable ties will only break under extreme stress way more than baler twine, why not thin the baler twine or buy some good old fashioned string twine
 
Another accident today, my friend is in hospital undergoing surgery to three fingers,pony spooked while being tied to a peice of baler twine, horrific.Hope everything has the best possible result, Jude.And to the original poster, best wishes to your pony.
JC
 
Eeek, how scary.

I use the thin cotton string (parcel string?) instead of baler twine, which seems to work well, esp. if you tease apart some of the individual strands of the string as this weakens it further.
 
which begs the question ...why do you tie up so slack as to allow a horse to put its head to the floor in the first place?

a hard and avoidable lesson learned i hope
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Well, I had thought my tatty old bit of baler twine was sufficiently weakened to be safe, but string now sounds like a much better idea.

As for the length of the lead rope - it had started out much shorter but he'd been so agitated, trying to escape the flies (despite fly sheet and repellent) that I think the rope (brand new and a bit slippery so quite difficult to tie tightly) had lengthened as he swung around on the end of it. I've been around horses long enough (40+years) to know not to deliberately leave them on a long rope.
 
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which begs the question ...why do you tie up so slack as to allow a horse to put its head to the floor in the first place?

a hard and avoidable lesson learned i hope
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Agree! Daughter had a similar accident with Poppy. She was tied to the gate with twine and got her foot over the lead rope. She panicked and eventually the head collar broke, but caused a nasty wound beneath her forelock (A big flap of skin came away). The vet took 1.5 hours to shave, clean and stitch it up. We were worried that if it didn't take she would be bald where the forelock was, forever!. Luckily £450 later she is fine and the forelock is growing again. Lesson learned and as well as tying her up short, we use these
http://www.robinsons-uk.com/products/search.asp?keyword=safety+tie&x=36&y=17#sku.57605
 
Christ that is awful
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My horse is forever breaking free when he is tied in the barn and then wanders off, he thinks it's funny when i come out of the tack room and he is outside grazing somewhere
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Thank god my twine always breaks, or now i have read this i will say touch wood mine always breaks

Hope poor ponio is not too sore in the morning
Hugs xx
 
Did he have a leather headcollar on? I find these usually break under pressure unlike nylon headcollars. Sounds like a horrible experience! don't try cable ties they are strong.
 
Always use garden string. i dont see how a properly tied rope could slide that much, but not passing any blame, just glad that horsey is pretty much OK.
 
Ive had that problem before, my last horse broke his headcollar and Lead rope, before the twine broke! Now I use equities, and when competing I have about 3 strands of Baler twine which brakes very easily, unfortunatley she has learned this, and disapeared last time!!!!

Hope your pony is ok in the morning
 
I've always tied to a few strands of bailing twine rather than the whole thickness of the string, it's always broken before headcollar/leadrope (or pony!) but doesn't go too easily either. Anyway, glad you all escaped relatively injury free today!..
 
i have never liked or see the idear of tieing horses up by this
i knew a horse that was tied up with twine and ended up breaking its neck because the twine did not break when horse paniced
i always use Quick Release Lead Extension very cheap and safe
i also had to agree with jm07
 
God i feel so sorry for you having to watch all that and being helpless, must have been awful. Glad to hear horse is generally ok, hope there's nothing more than a few bumps and scratches.

I find it's sort of sods law, as when you don't want it to break baler twine has been snapped dozens of times by horses who wanted to get to grass, but on the other hand when things like this happen it seems to be made of steel!

I guess the answer would be to use one of the many quick release safety ties available now.
 
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Did he have a leather headcollar on? I find these usually break under pressure unlike nylon headcollars. Sounds like a horrible experience! don't try cable ties they are strong.

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No it was nylon
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What a frightening experience, you and your horse must be so shaken up by this.

We always tie up with Equi-Ties and also have a couple in our pockets when out riding as in an emergency you can use them to tie up to gets, trees, anything really.
 
I started out using Equi-Ties but he quickly discovered that by simply walking forwards he could lean on the tie until it gave way ...

Can I just add that the purpose of this post was to alert others who use baler twine for tying up to the potential dangers, not to incur lectures on the length of leadropes? Some horses get stressed if you tie them too short and they feel trapped. And I have seen a horse tied on a relatively short rope that tried to scratch its head with a hind foot, got that foot caught on the rope, and hurt itself badly in consequence.

Someone mentioned a quick-release clip on the leadrope but in this case it wouldn't have helped as we simply couldn't get near enough to the horse until he literally ran out of breath. However, I think it's probably a very good idea in principle and will be getting one asap. I do have a quick-release trailer tie.
 
please don't use a cable tie, they're even stronger.
i'm pretty sure that good makes of headcollar have deliberate weak spots where they will break, better than horse's neck. i use twine, thinned out slightly usually, and will continue to do so. tied up pretty short (and this is essential) a horse can easily break it if it panics, as it is pulling it direct. i never tie mine loose enough to get their leg over it... once it has its leg over or has fallen over and is pulling indirectly, no way will the twine break.
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really hope he recovers quickly.
 
This is why baler twine should never ever be used in it's whole state. It must only ever be used once it has been split in half down the middle so that it breaks easily under pressure. In the 'old' days when we were taught to use bailer twine, it was when bailer twine was made from fibreous natural string, NOT the nylon, unbreakable type that is in use today.
 
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