Keeping a tied horse standing still

Birker2020

Birker2020

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The yard that I have been at for 15 months has a new rule that we are not allowed to leave our horses unnattended whilst tied in the wash box. I understand the reasons why and cannot dispute the decision. However, we have no other tying area other than outside their stables and the yard is only about 7.5ft wide which means that when my horse is tied up outside the stable his bum comes into contact with the tack room door or the whip stand opposite his stable. This would be fine for a 'normal' horse but mine insists on leaning his bum on the door and I am worried he will break it or bend the metal framework. If I move him over he just finds something else to lean or rub against. He doesn't have sweet itch or any other allergies, so he's not rubbing or leaning for any other reason than this is what he always does. I have tried moving him countless times, shouted at him, smacked him, and last night tapped him with a whip but it makes no difference. I move him away and he does it again and again and again. This was whilst he had a tied net to occupy him.

I cannot muck out my horse with him stood in the box because there is not enough room, my shavings are too dusty when they are laid down or when they are moved and mucked out, and also because myhorse nearly died getting his leg stuck in the front of a wheelbarrow between the tyre and frame whilst I was at work a couple of years ago and dragged the wheelbarrow around the yard bashing into stables and nearly breaking his leg, so I will never take that risk.

My partner has said he will muck out for me whist I ride but we can't do this forever as he is moving house soon so won't be around to help so much and there will be days when I don't ride, or when we hack out together (he walks with me sometimes).
I used to cross tie him in the wash box whilst I mucked out, but like I say we can't do this now.

I love it at the yard and don't want to leave. How can I convince my horse not to lean on things! Its only been two days with the new rule and already I am tearing my hair out and losing my temper with my lovely horse, who looks at me with suprise when I shout at him!! :( (I am not really a shouty type of person - I prefer to be quiet around him and have never had much reason to shout at him before now).
 
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If he is too big to muck out round on a normal day then it sounds to me as if the stable is too small, on bedding down days why not muck out while he is in the field or ride then turn out leaving the stable until afterwards.
 
Allhorses should tie up in a box. Then teach him to move over as you muck out around him. As for getting caught up in a wheelbarrow, the correct way is do not take it into the stable but bring it to the door with the handles at stable door. Theres no danger of getting caught in it.
Im assuming by 'yard' only 7ft wide outside his stable you are meaning a passageway of some sort? Itd be more dangerous to tie a horse where people are going into the tack room,or to get a whip, than inside your stable. Nearly everone I know mucks out with their horse in the box.
 
I would either muck out while he is in the box or give the yard owner a letter stating that you will not be responsible for any damage done to the tack room due to the new rule about tying up as they have stopped you from taking your normal preventative action
 
Can you not change his bedding to something less dusty (miscanthus is inexpensive and generally pretty dust free), then if you're worried about the wheelbarrow, muck out into trugs. It's easy enough to muck out with a horse in the stable if you do it this way, and would be a more peaceful solution.
 
i can actually understand how annoying this is, i prefer to muck out minus horse too as have never found a bedding that doesnt make me cough slightly so i wouldnt want my horse in the stable every day whilst i mucked out either..........as a one off fine but not every day.

can you tie him a little further down the aisle, or tie him head to the tack room instead of arse, or can he go on the walker whilst you muck out?
 
thanks for your suggestions. I have never mucked out whilst he is in his box, nor even skipped out. It is dangerous because of the dust levels and I do not want to start doing this now. The box is well big enough for him, I just don't like mucking out with horses in their stables.

Unfortunately we don't have a walker at our yard so this is not possible, as I used to do this at the previous yard whilst mucking out.

I muck out down to the floor every day and my banks are at least two foot high so it is a big job. he is a very messy horse and because he's so big he tends to move around a lot and treads in the pooh and wee. We are not allowed rubber mats at our yard so reducing the volume of shavings isn't an option either.

In the summer its ideal because when I've finished riding I can shove him out in the field for the night and then muck out without having to worry about him being in the way, but they got changed around two weeks ago so they are now out during the day from about 7.30am - 3pm and when I get there after work of course he is in his stable having done around 14 hours worth of poohs and wees!

In about a month or two the YO will muck out for me during the day so it will only be skipping out for me to do but even because they only go out for two hours a day in the winter in the sandpit there is still a lot of pooh to shift so its still half a full muck out every night!
 
only other thing i can think of is putting something safe like a plastic dustbin behind him(in front of tack room) so he can shuffle back to that but not lean on tack room door/frame? for some reason mine all like to shuffle back and rest their hind fetlocks against the headcollar box or water containers when cross tied in my wash box, i dont think they care if its a door/wall or plastic box etc, its just resting against some item! so maybe plastic box/water container/dustbin in front of tack room?
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
only other thing i can think of is putting something safe like a plastic dustbin behind him(in front of tack room) so he can shuffle back to that but not lean on tack room door/frame? for some reason mine all like to shuffle back and rest their hind fetlocks against the headcollar box or water containers when cross tied in my wash box, i dont think they care if its a door/wall or plastic box etc, its just resting against some item! so maybe plastic box/water container/dustbin in front of tack room?
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thanks for the suggestion P33S.

Will try this. Maybe a strip of electric fencing connected to a battery would work well - or better still the metal door connected to a battery lol :)
 
equi said:
He is a horse not a robot. Be prepared and tie him elsewhere if you are worried.
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I have already explained in my OP that there is no where to tie him otherwise I would do so.

And where in my post do you get the idea that I am treating him like a robot? I am tying him up to prevent injury and dust inhalation. I am not treating him with disrespect or being unkind to him????
 
applecart14 said:
thanks for the suggestion P33S.

Will try this. Maybe a strip of electric fencing connected to a battery would work well - or better still the metal door connected to a battery lol :)
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I assume this is a joke, because if a horse is tied in a small area and gets zapped on the arse I expect he'll do a darn sight more damage than you expect.
 
If it is a problem for you it is bound to be a problem for others too so why not have a friendly chat with the YO about creating some safe tie up points elsewhere. Or are you allowed to turn out in a school or round pen for short periods?
 
Agree with Kat, whatever happened to a good old fashioned discussion?

Show the YO the horse tied up, explain what the problem is and that you are trying to look after their property, ask whether there is a possibility of other tie rings close by (paddock fence within view?)

Otherwise perhaps turn him out while you muck out?
 
I agree entirely with the yard owner, horses being mucked out shouldnt be tied up unattended in the wash-bay hogging it when others might want to use it for its intended purpose. Surely there must be other tie rings around the place?
I would be concerned, though that if your bedding is too dusty for the horse whilst you are mucking out, surely it must be too dusty when he lies down flat out to sleep and his nose is in it?
How does your YO muck him out?
 
I should imagine that the YO has brought in this rule because of horses being left tied up and unnattended, in an area which has a designated (other) purpose. I doubt if they will want other tie up points as this will also lead to horses being tied up, unnattended. Either muck out into a trug (I dislike horses being mucked out round personally) or turn him out again while you muck out.
 
sounds like a training issue to me. Train / educate him to stand still/not lean when tied or keep in stable. simples.

When I moved I knew my horse would not stand still initially so kept him in whilst mucking out, if I could not turn out as was to early. We have got it down to a T and now is auto pilot for us both, it is great education for spacial awareness for us both. Use skip buckets in the stable. Because of his size (15.3hh and 15.3hwide) I only ever tie on yard at quiet times and this is a respect thing for others. My horse is not kicky or fidgety but a lot of horse, and even now he is settled I still dont do it. We don't have the biggest stables either.

I would not expect yard to change the rule or anything in any aspect. We have common sense rules that NO horse should be left tied without supervision, even if nipping out of site for a quick we, you need to hand over the responsibility for horse watch !
 
9tails said:
I assume this is a joke, because if a horse is tied in a small area and gets zapped on the arse I expect he'll do a darn sight more damage than you expect.
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Yes its not to be taken literally it was a joke hence the smiley face. Good gracious do you really think I'd hook a metal door up to the mains?

The horse is within hearing distance at all times, about twelve foot away when tied up in the washbox. As for hogging the washbox - it is a very small yard with only three of us DIY's on and half the time we are not all there at the same time. People know I am happy to move him if they need the washbox for anything.

As for the good old fashioned discussion Kat/WelshD we are only two days in to the new rule so I will probably have a discussion with the YO in due course. I already spoke to her yesterday on day two to ask her if the rule applied whilst mucking out as he is literally twelve foot from his stable in the wash box.

Like I explained I am not annoyed about the rule as I understand things have been broken in the washbox - the main item was broken when I was away on holiday. He can't be turned out because his paddock is too far from the yard and he would be on his own out of sight of anything. i may ask if he can go in the sandpit or an empty stable although it is being filled in a few days.

The bedding is not too dusty it is dust extracted but like any dust extracted bedding it still has dust particles in it. His shavings are always mixed in, if they are laid on top of the bed he will cough. The bought shaving I have found have always been more dusty that the free ones we've been getting for the past 19 years but we've had to go onto bought ones now as my Dad cannot obtain them for me anymore.

The YO was asked to muck him out with him out of the stable and I am assuming that she is doing that as she seems a good YO who listens to your requests and can understand where I am coming from. Having nearly lost my horse with the wheelbarrow incident (whilst I was at work and he was at the previous yard) you can understand my concern.Rather than the merits of mucking out/not mucking out in a stable with a horse in it, I have already explained why this cannot be done. The horse will move over when asked in the stable and is happy to be tied up anywhere so that's not the issue. What is, is the danger and the health element.

What I was kind of hoping for was some suggestions about how to stop the said horse from doing what he is doing in the first place, i.e leaning on things.
 
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Could you attach a second tie rope on the wall opposite to your stable (where the whip rack/door is) and cross-tie him between the wall and your stable (his body parallel to your stable front)? That should make it harder for him to lean his bum against anything, and from what it sounds like, you wouldn't exactly be blocking the way any more than he does anyway when he's leaning against the opposite wall. He wouldn't have a hay net, but if he stood nicely in the cross ties in the wash box, hopefully he'd behave outside his stable too?
 
supsup said:
Could you attach a second tie rope on the wall opposite to your stable (where the whip rack/door is) and cross-tie him between the wall and your stable (his body parallel to your stable front)? That should make it harder for him to lean his bum against anything, and from what it sounds like, you wouldn't exactly be blocking the way any more than he does anyway when he's leaning against the opposite wall. He wouldn't have a hay net, but if he stood nicely in the cross ties in the wash box, hopefully he'd behave outside his stable too?
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Bingo I think you have hit the nail on the head! :)
Yes I will try that, I kept thinking of cross tying but across the stable door type of thing (with the same outcome). Actually maybe he could still have a haynet too, if I made the cross tie nearest the stable door short to his head.
Excellent I think we have the solution.
 
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are you serious about 2 hours turnout? even with exercise mine would go screwy being kept in that long, and if your shavings are in the least bit dusty, then if he is in that long no wonder he sometimes gets a cough, I would be moving yards I'm afraid.
 
unicornystar said:
are you serious about 2 hours turnout? even with exercise mine would go screwy being kept in that long, and if your shavings are in the least bit dusty, then if he is in that long no wonder he sometimes gets a cough, I would be moving yards I'm afraid.
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This is from October - April and is when the fields are muddy so they go in a sandpit with a net for two hours each. I know its not ideal and I would like him out for longer in the field before they come into the sandpit but I moved to the new yard there when my horse was injured and I believe it was a very important step in his healing process that he was no longer being chased through muddy fields by a pack of dogs at his old yard!

Everything else about the yard is ideal particuarly the location and hacking.
 
i dont always see eye to eye with the OP but have to say:

1. if your horse is quite dry in the stable, all shavings will eventually break down and become dusty. We have tried 3 different brands and eventually they all still make me cough. The horses dont cough as long as i dont muck out with them in the stable. Its a natural process beyond anyones control. Even the chopped rape straw or hemp bedding eventually breaks down in to dusty particles if theres not much wet to come out so not a high turnover of bedding.

2.some horses really dont mind about not going out all day. I prefer mine to be out all day, but would take 2 hours in a sand pit over 8 hours in a bog any day of the week! My 3yo has been in for 4 weeks solid as he is away to be backed and they have no stallion turnout........he has been 100% settled and happy, relaxed and easy going the entire time. I was worried, thought he would be frantic and over fresh but he pootles around completely at ease and they are now getting on him without even lunging before hand. so shoot me...........
 
Could you tie him outside the tack room so that if he's leaning against and blocking anything, it's your stable? I doubt very much he'll lean enough to do any damage ( I assume it's more a resting on than a full lean?) and at least if he's the other way round he's only blocking you into the stable as you muck out rather than getting in everybody else's way?

Or put him in the sandpit?
 
annagain said:
Could you tie him outside the tack room so that if he's leaning against and blocking anything, it's your stable? I doubt very much he'll lean enough to do any damage ( I assume it's more a resting on than a full lean?) and at least if he's the other way round he's only blocking you into the stable as you muck out rather than getting in everybody else's way?

Or put him in the sandpit?
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Yes, will consider putting him in the sandpit if the YO is in agreement to it. Unfortunately at the moment its full of pea shoots and needs topping, raking and rolling and there is a swimming pool in the other side which was made for the hot weather out of tarp and bales of hay (for people not horses lol). ONce this is done it will be easier all round. I guess I am stressing needlessly, just very worried about the cost of a new metal door if my horse pushes it out of shape.

tonight O/H has kindly agreed to muck out whilst I ride! God bless him x

Princess Sparkle, you took the words out of my mouth with the first sentence. I have got back off the floor now after suffering an attack of the vapours. :)
 
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