Pulling back when tied up

Fools Motto

Fools Motto

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I understand this can happen when 'something' startles the horse, but what if nothing does, and it's become a habit.
My own horse does this, but I manage, she is now 20, and won't change.
However, a pony at work also does this, and it is beyond annoying. She needs to be tied at some point, but just leans back, and jerks her head then panics and off she goes! She did this about 5 times in about 2 mins earlier today. 3 of us managed to all keep our cool, re-tie her and continue. In the end she was held.

What would you do to stop this? (she can be tied in the stable without any issue, just outside needs work)
 
Trev used to do this all the time...he'd break his own rope, then I'd swap to Adrian's rope & he'd break that too within a few days, then I'd use my old mare's which he'd also break, then I'd buy 3 more, etc.

The local tack shop suggested a stretchy rope...it looks like a normal rope, the round sort, but thicker & stretchy. When he pulled back, it would stretch just enough to give him space to calm down. I was v dubious, but 5 years on & a lot of strops later...we're still on that same rope! He has more or less stopped pulling back, & if he does have a sudden attack of the vapours, it will stretch & then after a few seconds he will stop panicking.

Might be worth a try?

T x
 
why not try putting a lung line on instead of a lead rope and thread it through the tie ring(not the string) and someone holds the other end so it is about the same length as if she is tied up. then as she pulls back you can give and take but don't let her get loose..if you keep doing this she may accept that she cant run off.. a bit time consuming for someone but may help...
 
You could try 2 peices of twine rather than 1! One longer one tied normally and a totally separate (not linked with other piece twine) tied shorter. Put rope through both, horse will pull back and break shorter one first but still be attached by longer one! Hopefully this may be enough to make it think breaking twine doesn't equal freedom! However if horse totally panics second one will break.
 
My Charlie did this a few times when I first got him, not to run off, just because he could. so, I got 4 lead ropes, on 4 pieces of string to the same ring and his headcollar, each one a bit longer than the first. We hid behind the shed and watched him and he broke the first string and went to walk off, found he was still attached, he broke the second one, a found he was still attached. He didn't break number 3. I did this for a couple of days whenI tied him up, he broke number 1 a couple of times then afterwards didn't bother. Have not had to do this again.
 
I think it depends why they do it. Sounds to me that the pony knows they can get away with it. I might get shot down for this, but I would just be tempted to tie directly to the ring a couple of times whilst keeping a close eye. I wouldn't do this if they were nervy about things. my old mare used to panic if she was tied up so I would just loop the rope through the tie so that there was no resistance. But if they are doing it because they can and are pretty chilled and methodical about it, then sometimes a quick lesson helps.
 
Fools Motto said:
I understand this can happen when 'something' startles the horse, but what if nothing does, and it's become a habit.
My own horse does this, but I manage, she is now 20, and won't change.
However, a pony at work also does this, and it is beyond annoying. She needs to be tied at some point, but just leans back, and jerks her head then panics and off she goes! She did this about 5 times in about 2 mins earlier today. 3 of us managed to all keep our cool, re-tie her and continue. In the end she was held.

What would you do to stop this? (she can be tied in the stable without any issue, just outside needs work)
Click to expand...

We have had many do this, only one of them mine and she was loosing vision so I taught her to stand not tied up.
http://thinklikeahorse.org/index-6.html

Try googling it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNd7oyopX9w
 
Years ago I had a book by an Australian lady, the first one I had read which used empathy and logic to devise solutions. She suggested you continued the lead rope around the horses quarters, under the tail, and back to the headcollar so that when they pulled back they pulled against themselves - must have had some sort of breeching support to stop it dropping around feet though. You could work on that idea?
I dislike some quick release gadgets that are too easy, horses just learn to release with them. Good old baling string does it for me - it will break but takes a fair bit of pull to do it.
 
Dreckly said:
My Charlie did this a few times when I first got him, not to run off, just because he could. so, I got 4 lead ropes, on 4 pieces of string to the same ring and his headcollar, each one a bit longer than the first. We hid behind the shed and watched him and he broke the first string and went to walk off, found he was still attached, he broke the second one, a found he was still attached. He didn't break number 3. I did this for a couple of days whenI tied him up, he broke number 1 a couple of times then afterwards didn't bother. Have not had to do this again.
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what a crafty, brilliant idea
 
Mine learned to do it. He would go backwards till the point of tension then quickly flick his head up and ping the string would break. So I doubled the string and he tried again with no success so sort of grumbled to himself and walked forward again. Left him with the double string and he did try a few more times but gave up and stopped trying. Probably not the right thing to do but he wasn't panicking pulling back just knew he could brake the string and do his own thing.
 
I "taught" one of ours to do it when advised to use those stretchy tie loops not baling twine and it is very irritating. I am going to try the 4 ropes trick, many thanks for the suggestion.
 
Enfys said:
I was just reading about tying up on FB.
I train my babies to give to pressure, tying up just comes naturally after that.

Anyway, the FB article ( Good Horsemanship - Ross Jacobs) including 2 videos showing differing methods:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=754338024666669&id=275719312528545&fref=nf
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This ^^^^.

I believe on the other side of the pond, they do not understand our fetish for tieing up with strands of baler twine designed to break. I am not sure I do either!:)
 
Dry Rot said:
This ^^^^.

I believe on the other side of the pond, they do not understand our fetish for tieing up with strands of baler twine designed to break. I am not sure I do either!:)
Click to expand...

No, you would get laughed at. Not a thing you see, in fact the only time I have seen it is with ex-pats :D
Horses are tied up and expected to stand, and mostly they do, they are also taught to ground tie generally, I can drop a rein and mine would stand all night, in fact when we camp we tie up all night without a thought. I expect my horses to stand, and if they arse around (fidget, or paw etc, not talking about pulling back) they stay tied up until they quit.

We use cross ties far more often here too. I rarely saw that it in the UK, maybe because there were less places to tie a cross tie at the front of a traditional stable.

When I had the livery barn I did actually use baler twine, but as I loathe and detest those silly loops that tighten about a rope I threaded the twine through bits of hose, so it was a proper loop. My reasoning was that most of my owners were novices, couldn't tie a release knot, and also because I didn't want a horse pulling my barn down around it's head, or worse, breaking it's neck.
 
What about using a line & sinker?
The rope is attached to a block of wood that hangs on the end of rope. Then thread the rope through the ring and attach to horse.

We tied the ponies that way when at camp so they can drink & graze etc. without getting them caught in rope. Also stopped the more crafty ponies from escaping! Might be worth a try. Other wise if he is stepping back enought to break rope if you stand behind with a brush and tickle his heels with the bristles everytime he goes to step back. Teaches them to stand still! :)
 
splashgirl45 said:
why not try putting a lung line on instead of a lead rope and thread it through the tie ring(not the string) and someone holds the other end so it is about the same length as if she is tied up. then as she pulls back you can give and take but don't let her get loose..if you keep doing this she may accept that she cant run off.. a bit time consuming for someone but may help...
Click to expand...

This!

It's how I teach my youngsters to tie up. They have a lunge line that goes through the ring and a person holding - but the person holding is having no interaction at all with the horse. They can pull back safely but can't get away - for youngsters it normally takes a few sessions before they get it but I've never had any issues.
 
If just pulling back for the sake of it tie to something solid. Should soon learn not to pull and yank... But make sure horse understands pressure and release
 
I have one that does this. He's 20, and knows better, but he does it to be a PITA. The other ponies ignore him, even if they're tied to the same rail - they give him the 'you thick or what?' look.
He has been known to exhibit the same behaviour when he's not even tied up - presumably habit - pulling back so violently that he almost falls over his own legs and sits down, but only occasionally.

I like mine to experience being tied to something fixed, because you never know what you'll need to tie to when out and about.
For a slipping rope (like the Aussie gadget above), I just wrap the rope around a hitching post/gate a couple of times without knotting it.
 
My pony used to do this whenever I stepped outside, initially he would untie himself so I changed the knot, then he would just pull back to break the string, not motivated by panic, but the fact that he had learned how to how to open the feed bin of one of the other ponies, obviously totally unacceptable!
He was a bit of a character.,
 
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