Humane twitch

carthorse

carthorse

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In my say if a horse was difficult to clip or pull its mane we tried a twitch which was made by drilling a hole through the end of an old broom handle and putting a double loop of baling twine through.
I have never tried the humane twitch do they work well. There seem to be a few makes on ebay are any better than others
 
I haven't tried all of the different makes. A friend bought one - I have no idea which - and it was useless. I still use a loop of twine...

An idea - put a loop of twine inside a 3/4 loop of hosepipe (you need about 9 inches of hose and more like 15 inches of twine). This gives you a circle of twine, 3/4 of which is covered in hosepipe. Use the twine for a twitch, then clip the hose to the leadrope clip and it stays in place. Really simple and works well as you don't have to have someone holding the end. And cheaper than humane...
 
It's hard to describe, sorry! Imagine a circle of twine, using 15 inches of twine. The twine is threaded through a piece of hosepipe 9 inches long. So you have a loop of hose, but with a gap which is just twine. Then the twine in the gap is used for the twitch. You are left holding the loop of hosepipe which can be clipped to the leadrope.

Or PM me your email address and I will email a picture!
 
I opt for a hoofpick with a loop of baling twine, the pick bit hooks on to the head collar and holds it in place hands free.

Back to the original question, im not a fan of the humane ones. imo they come undone too easily and blimming hurt when the horse devides to whip round and smack you in the face with it!
 
Humane twitches are absolutely useless. I have about 3 of them lying around, gods knows why I ever bought them, but I never use them. Good old fashioned baler twine on a shovel handle is what I use. If doing something alone then I clip the handle to the headcollar.
 
Abacus said:
I haven't tried all of the different makes. A friend bought one - I have no idea which - and it was useless. I still use a loop of twine...

An idea - put a loop of twine inside a 3/4 loop of hosepipe (you need about 9 inches of hose and more like 15 inches of twine). This gives you a circle of twine, 3/4 of which is covered in hosepipe. Use the twine for a twitch, then clip the hose to the leadrope clip and it stays in place. Really simple and works well as you don't have to have someone holding the end. And cheaper than humane...
Click to expand...

Or just tuck it up inside the side of the head collar stays effective and secure heaving you with two hands
 
This is what you want with a slightly shorter stick
twitch2.jpg
 
Abacus said:
It's hard to describe, sorry! Imagine a circle of twine, using 15 inches of twine. The twine is threaded through a piece of hosepipe 9 inches long. So you have a loop of hose, but with a gap which is just twine. Then the twine in the gap is used for the twitch. You are left holding the loop of hosepipe which can be clipped to the leadrope.

Or PM me your email address and I will email a picture!
Click to expand...

How does it clip onto the headcollar?
 
never been able to get a humane twitch to stay on more than a couple of seconds ! I used to swear by the broom stick/drilled/baled twine version with my lad. he never batted an eyelid when I had to use it. AND it worked !

The bottom line is that you HAD to know how to use that twitch. But with the Humane twitch, who knows how you use it, it causes more distress by trying and failing to put it on.
 
I purchased a humane twitch when I needed to put ointment in my horses eye twice a day for a month when he had an ulcer. It was an absolute life saver and I was able to do his meds by myself. I admit, it took me a while to get it on properly to start with, but after a few attempts it worked perfectly and kept pony nice and calm while I was doing what I needed to do. Didn't fall off once.
 
I've found the humane twitch to be a waste of time, it just keeps coming off. I use a home made one with a piece of broom handle & either a piece of rope or the very thick bailing twine from the large bale haylage. I think the thin twine that comes off small bales of hay or haylage is far too thin & can do serious damage to a horses nose.
 
Best twitch i have ever seen was at the vets, had a wooden handle like the home made ones but had a chain to go around the nose, much kinder than baler twine as it cant cut the skin.
 
We have some rope threaded and tied up on the end of a mane brush handle! The rope isn't like lead rope, but thicker than twine. Works a treat. If that fails, just hang on tight with your hand! The vet taught me a technique to keep hold of their nose with your hand, I can't even begin to describe it, and it's not a horrible way, but it works very well! You essentially use your thumb and middle finger as pressure points, and squeeze with the rest.
 
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