How long would you leave your horse tied up if you weren't there?

I would NEVER leave a horse tied up unattended, an accident waiting to happen in my book. But then I rarely tie up anyway, I prefer to teach the horse to stand still. I do all that I have to do, except bathing, in the stable and think that if you're on a livery yard it's bad manners to tie up outside because you are almost bound to be in someone else's way. My horse ground ties, though.
 
I would never do that - far too many strangulations that way. I think the girl needs to have this pointed out - may not be obvious to her. Even when I tie up at home/shows etc I use a really good 'trailer tie' which breaks under pressure.
 
yesterday a livery left her horse tied up with the headcollar buckled round the horse's neck. He was really playing up while she was gone, for a good 5 minutes, and I felt it was my responsibility, made me so angry. :mad:
 
I'm very cautious about tying horses up, it's just so easy for something to go wrong however careful you are.

Our two geldings are very sensible - literally just stand there. So with them I do keep an eye on them but i'm not afraid to pop round the corner to the house to grab a coat / phone if I've forgotten it, and come back out - i know they'll still be exactly where I left them. I always make sure the string is cut into though, so snaps easily - and use a quick release knot, just incase.

My mare is a nightmare to tie up so I don't leave her unattended. I get all her tack / brushes out, line them up outside her door and make sure she's never unsupervised as she's always getting herself into trouble. She can untie herself, so wouldn't stay where i put her if I wandered off - but I'm more worried about the fact that she's a very active bouncy thing and throws her head about and paws the air, she's previously got her head caught under the rope which I'd tied quite short when I was stood right next to her - the string snapped instantly and before I could unclip her myself but it just shows how quickly things can happen. On the odd occasion where I've forgotten something from the tack room (literally about 4 feet from her door!) i've asked someone to stand there for me or just unclipped her and tied her back up.

Wouldn't be able to "do" a pony party without someone there to watch her with me I don't think, my late gelding was the same. I couldn't leave him unattended as he'd spook at whatever caught his fancy the moment my back was turned, and snap the string and leave! He would always stand nicely on the lorry for me though, bless him, so could go to get my number etc and then unload him.
Mare isn't the type to stand patiently on a lorry so will have to work on that aspect..

It always worries me when I see horses at events tied loosely from the lorry, eating the grass - on so many occasions I've had to untangle legs / unwrap ropes from round necks because the owners have been inside the car or lorry and not noticed, or not even been there at all - it's quite unsettling that people can be so relaxed about it when it can be so dangerous.
 
Many years ago my very calm, bombproof gelding was tied up, and I was standing with him. Something startled him, he jumped back and when he felt the headcollar pull tight, he panicked. In the time it took me to step forward and pull the quick release knot, he threw his front legs in the air and came down on his knees, cutting them quite badly. :(

So I'm very cautious about tying up, and wouldn't leave my nervous Mollie alone for a minute.
 
I expect mine to stand tied up without a fuss for as long as is required. But I would not clear off over the fields or way out of sight and leave them unattended. I do expect them to be tied whilst I go to and from tack room/another stable, but they are insight.

I suppose unless you have had the horse from a baby there is no way of telling if it has been taught to tie up without question or not. I also see a lot of horses tied with too much length on the rope enabling the horse to mess about.

One sight that will never leave me was witnessing an unattended pony run back when tied to a lorry at a county show. The side panel came off the lorry and the pony bolted with a sheet of alloy attached to him. The poor pony didn't go home.
 
I never tie up with my rope, I have one of those clip things ( don't know the name) and they are quite short, so no danger of getting tangled up!!

However I never leave him for longer than a toilet break, and tBH I generally make a friend of the person next door, and we take turns watching each others :)
 
AA I think you have put it well..

mum's mare pulls back.. has done since we got her, we are therefore more careful.

My lad.. I totally expect him to stay put where I left him, the only time he doesn't stand quietly (and munch if forage supplied ;) ) is if someone takes his girlfriend away. BUT horse+rope+ headcollar (abeit leather) = rather a lot of things that can go wrong IMO.. + haynet at a show = more. and IF something were to happen I could never forgive myself if I was not there to rectify it asap.
 
Only to nip into the tack room which is a few steps away from where I tie up, never for longer than that. A pony on a yard I used to be on was left tied up unattended with a feed, I rode past and noticed that he had choke - owner and her friends had wandered off to the local shop and were nowhere to be seen....
 
Never. Someone I know put his mare in the trailer after a show and just nipped to the loo there was a queue and when he got back the mare had hung herself:(
 
All our riding school ponies are tied up as is my own. I will leave her to go make her feed, even poo pick her field but only if there are other people on the yard as she has food to occupy her. She also ties for an hour at a time to bring her in off the grass as we are grass liveries there is no stable. I pootle about but do check on her, equally I will sit and have coffee but keep half an eye on her from the hay barn. Our yard really isn't suitable for horses that won't tie, mind you not found one that doesn't yet and we have lots of dealer horses go through.
 
I had a massive row once with someone who left their pony tied up in a turning area at the end of a road. They had left the very elderly pony tied up like that. I was walking past and a worried van driver stopped me. I waited with the pony for more than 20 minutes before they bothered to come back. I went off the deep end when they did reappear and reduced the owner to tears. Not proud of that but the sheer could not care less attitude of the owner made me see red. Many years later it still bugs me that someone would leave a really old horse tied up in a road and just leave it. Apparently it took ages to eat its feed!
 
I would only leave tied up if someone else is about and ask them if they wouldn't mind keeping an eye on horse, but would only be due to me getting tack (I usually get this first) or muck heap trip.

I've seen an accident where horse was left tied up got caught up in leadrope paniked ran back hitting head and galloping off round yard - that gates were left wide open and yard was v v close to main road.
 
wouldn't do it full stop. My first horse was killed in a car accident thanks to someone in the yard we were at tying her up and leaving her unattended :( 'Only for a minute' excuse is definitely something I never want to hear again.
 
Haha said:
Never. Someone I know put his mare in the trailer after a show and just nipped to the loo there was a queue and when he got back the mare had hung herself:(
Click to expand...

Oh, that's horrible :(:(

Whilst my boy is very good at standing still on the yard (regularly falls asleep in the fifteen minutes it takes me to groom and fetch tack :rolleyes:) I wouldn't leave him unattended for long either - just to get tack or check the arena is still free (both of which are admittedly still within eyesight of pony) or perhaps to the loo or muck heap.

On the rare occasion something has made him jump, the twine he ties to has always snapped (I've cut it ridiculously thin, and the knots undo under pressure) and as soon as he realises there's no pressure on his head he stands still again. Don't think he has worked out that 'no pressure' actually = 'freedom to go and graze' :p.


When we used to go to shows I never left him tied up alone anywhere; I was really quite paranoid.
 
and a photo to have you all throwing your hands up in horror.

cdaedf7f.jpg


Working horses the world over are trained to stand where they are put, for as long as they are put there.

Thinking about it, you all leave your horses tied for long periods of time in a trailer or lorry when you are travelling. Just because they can't move far doesn't alter the fact that they are tied.
 
PolarSkye said:
One of our liveries has two horses - one on loan and one hers - and she routinely leaves one tied up on the yard while she schools or hacks the other.

Am I just overprotective?

P
Click to expand...

I'm presuming OP from what you say that you're the YO here? Because I'm a YO and one of the things in the contract that I ask everyone to sign is to the effect that no horses are to be left tied up and unattended, full stop.

No, you are not being "overprotective"; as a YO you can, should, and must, I would respectfully suggest, tell this livery that she is NOT to leave her horse unattended for this length of time. It is completely unacceptable and totally irresponsible and unfair to everyone else in the yard to have to supervise her horse and get it out of whatever plight the poor creature has got itself into. I would tell her in no uncertain terms that she is to cease from the practice forthwith, OR find herself another yard.

The problem is with this sort of person is that IF something happens to her precious horse while she's left it tied up like this, then you can bet your bottom dollar she'll blaim everyone else and try to sue the pants off the YO.

Give it to her straight that this must stop, NOW, or she can go up the road. What worries me as well is the fact that she's got someone elses horse on loan - and they're probably blissfully unaware that she's leaving it tied up and going off like this.
 
Enfys said:
Working horses the world over are trained to stand where they are put, for as long as they are put there.

Thinking about it, you all leave your horses tied for long periods of time in a trailer or lorry when you are travelling. Just because they can't move far doesn't alter the fact that they are tied.
Click to expand...

You wonder how any horses ever survived when stalling was vastly more common than loose box stabling ;)

Don't really go off the yard when mine is tied, but he is expected (and does) stand quietly, with or without a haynet while I potter around the yard, and even - shock horror - while I have a cup of tea or put a couple of jumps up :)
 
I have left mine for 2 mins, to grab tack or nip to the loo. There is always someone on yard though.

If the yard was completely empty I'd shove him in a stable but we're quite a busy yard so not normally a problem.

I'd NEVER leave unattended at shows. Foolish imo. There is a lot going on, and it only takes something small to make already hyper-sensitive (from show atmosphere) horses go - as I found today at my first show with little'un!
 
you are right of course Enfys , i used to work in a trekking yard where the ponies were tied up fully tacked unless they were on a ride, thought nothing of it and they all knew the drill and just stood there.
it's only since having my ginger knobber that i have become more aware of what can happen when a horse objects to being tied up. He is fine if i am stood within reaching distance but throw a wobbly if i go out of sight:rolleyes:
now i treat them as individuals, i have a couple that would probably tie for hours if i was inclined to do so, but the couple that i don't have complete trust in i make sure i have everything i need to hand before i get them in and tie up.
 
As long as required.

Longest was approx hour and a half - went to put tack away, got distracted and went off to feed merchants. Remembered Sparks half way round the dog walk............Ooops - she was quietly dozing where I left her. :)
 
Enfys... it is a risk though isn't it, however well trained the horse is and I suspect it is a risk that many one horse owners prefer not to take given that generally it is a situation that is quite easily avoided.. unless you forget your horse of course sparks ;).

At a large xc even for example .. the air ambulance had to come down quite close to the box park.. I wouldn't want my animal to be unattended in that situation just in case.
 
I agree with Enfys
I teach youngsters to tie-up reliably from the start. There's nothing more useless than a horse than can't tie-up properly. In this country we do coddle our horses a lot more than other places.
 
No need to leaver tied up at home as everything bar washing is done in the stable. At competitions The Todmiester is left in the lorry tied up without any problmes. He munches his hay and watches the passing trade, this allows me to get food, walk lorry dogs, collect numbers, etc and can also watch other classes without having to hold a bored pony. Will not allow any of my ponies to graze at shows to avoid picking up anything nasty.
 
unfortunately we don't all get to train our horses as youngsters though.

and I don't think many people are saying that it isn't possible with their horse just that they choose not to with their horse. Its a bit like other horse husbandry choices you make.. fencing etc.
 
I virtually never tie mine up full stop. Only place I might is at a competition, if I have to leave him unattended I'd stick him back on the trailer (normally leave him tied with someone watching).

eta, for the record, they all tie up fine and could be left without fidgetting or nonsense. I just choose not to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top