Safety tips - things you've learned

moleskinsmum said:
When I worked with TB youngstock, we always used just a plain piece of rope looped through like this. That way there was nothing to spring back and hit either you or the horse if they got free and if they stood on the rope, it would just slide out of the headcollar. We were also instructed to let go if there was any danger of being damaged!
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I came unstuck with similar to this, bringing my horse in from the field, didn't bother with headcollar just looped lead rope round his neck, something startled him and he pulled back, my automatic reaction was to hang on BUT the clip opened in my hand,ouch!!!! visit to a & e needed, very painful!!!!
 
If your yard is near a main road, identify a 'safe' area with good grass they can't normally get to, and allow them to graze it as a treat after riding etc. That way if they get loose they'll head there and eat, rather than go out onto the road.
 
never hold the leadrope in a loop around your hand, if the horse spooks etc it will just tighten around your hand and potentially cause nasty accidents. Instead, if you need to, take up the slack by folding the lead rope. Hope that makes sense!
 
Paint Myrrh Proud said:
never hold the leadrope in a loop around your hand, if the horse spooks etc it will just tighten around your hand and potentially cause nasty accidents. Instead, if you need to, take up the slack by folding the lead rope. Hope that makes sense!
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that and lunge lines as well. Also never leave a leadrope with a standard clip within reach of a horse when it's not attached to it. Seen a nasty accident resulting in the horse ripping half it's face off after the horse rubbed against where the leadrope was hanging. It managed to get caught in the corner of the horses eye resulting in the horse pulling back sharply. Thankfully horse healed fine with stitches.
 
Never ask a male non horsey friend for a leg up. He will show off his 'manly' strength off and leg you up so high you will go straight over the top of your horse and end up sitting on the floor on the other side :-)
 
Have a sufficient number of regularly serviced fire extinguishers around and make sure people know how to use them
Have a sharp knife in a known safe place for cutting headcollars/bridles/ropes in an emergency.
Make sure you have a fire evacuation plan for somewhere safe to put the horses in the event of a fire
Make sure everyone knows the postcode and proper address for the yard for the fire brigade
(Many fire brigades will offer free advice and guidance)
 
Teach your horse that every time you dismount you will give them a treat, build this up to jumping off mid hack and lying down, the theory being that when you fall off the horse will stay with you (or mug you then bog off)!

Bridle your horse without hanging on to the front of their face, hold your right hand away and use your left to guide the bit, there is no pressure for the horse to push against so you tend not to get the evasion that can be a problem (and get you a smack in the face).

Never get into a trailer or lorry without a guaranteed exit if you are alone. A friend got into her single horse trailer whilst alone, the jockey slammed and jammed, she tried to climb over the back ramp. Not a nasty horse, she can't remember what happened but must have fallen under his hind feet.

Which leads on to...
When you are alone around horses, always have your mobile on you, easily to hand. When I practice loading my young horse on my own hat, gloves, mobile are my bare minimum safety requirements.

Be aware that those nice big round metal loops on the back of your headcollar noseband are the perfect size to slot over the bolt/catch latches on Ifor 505 and 510 trailers, and a sweaty horse is guaranteed to get hung up on one! Luckily for me my 22 year old just glared at me balefully until i realised he was trapped and swiftly released him...
 
Always keep you elbow close to the horse at its shoulder when leading. This is the safest place to be, as if your horse rears you can step/push away, are less likely to be stepped on, you have time to react if they try to bite, if they cow kick your inline with their front leg so they would kick themselves before you. If they spook they are less like to stand on you and you will be pushed out of the way if the spook towards you instead of hit by their head or clotheslined by the lead.

This comes from my extensive experience with TB yearlings....
 
If a horse pecks on landing or rears, when you lean forward try to fold either to the left or right a bit. Saves you from getting smashed by the top of their head if they fling it up.

Take your feet out of the stirrups if they start rearing.
 
Cragrat said:
Got to be one of the best new tips - thank you:)

(Not that the others aren't good, but I knew most of them - still good to be reminded though)
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The problem with knives is men.... apparently an unshakeable belief that one can use a knife in all situations comes with testicles. See also, yeah of course I can ride a motorcycle.
 
Never carry a bucket around horses with the handle over your arm. A gruesome accident happened on the yard when a horse put its head in a bucket someone was carrying like this. It then pulled back and the hooked end of the handle went in by the elbow and skinned the arm back to the wrist. Horrible and took and awful lot of stitching back together.
 
Oooh, I am Mrs Health and Safety!

Never have normal clip leadropes on the place, the clip is too likely to clip onto human or horse. I use the panic release ones, or for leading out and about the sort that is also panic release but you need to swivel it round to do so, so no accidental release. Also no normal length lead ropes, they are the correct length to sweep you underneath if the horse launches upwards.

No normal buckets with bent metal handles, in the yard we have Trugs, and in the box B and Q buckets have no exposed metal to catch on a headcollar.

Have an App on your phone which uses the screen orientation device to detect if you stop moving, and it will text your contact and show them on a map where you are, so they can call you and if you do not answer they can come and find you!

ALWAYS wear High Viz on the road in every weather condition. Even in good light you are SO much more visible.

Have vet number attached to a wall, as well as alternative numbers for transport in case your own lets you down when you need a vet visit! Have the same list in the lorry.

Fire extinguishers, especially in the lorry.

Cross tie when travelling.

NEVER use any kind of a lead rope with elastic. If the horse pulls back, it tensions, and you let go, or if the clip breaks free of the wall, the elastic will cause the metal clip to ping back to the horse, possible blinding him or you.

Always have 2 "things" to stop the horse getting loose onto the road. For instance a stable door and a yard gate. Or in the field we are always double fenced to the road. When leading he has me holding him and a yard gate. If tied in the yard he usually has the tie up and 2 yard gates, but the minimum is the tie up and one yard gate if we are in and out putting jumps in the school or whatever. The only exception is when out with me on the road.

Always have scissors about the place for cutting loose.

Don't keep anything in the stable that should not be there.

Most of all train the horse to not panic. For instance on occasion I have dropped his reins (clumsy mum) and people have screamed at me that he has trodden on his reins. Yep, he has been trained for that. Starting with teaching to be light on the rope, then have me pin the rope to the floor with my foot, then he treads on the rope...... He knows when trapped to stand still and await rescue. I have done this with my past three horses, two of whom were very sharp, and it just stops danger escalating if there is an accident.

He also has learned to stop off a lunge rein around a rear pastern, no panic, a rope pulling around his leg means stop, not try to break loose. That may help if he is ever caught up in something. In fact when he is super fresh he has bucked his back legs over the lunge rein, and as soon as that happens he realises, and his training kicks in, and he slows and stops and awaits rescue.

Similarly I have taught him to pull a barrel, so if he gets caught up on something he will stop, even if it is "chasing him". I did consider teaching him to harrow the school, but he learned the stop and await rescue idea so well when the barrel chases him he...stops and awaits rescue, and I did not want to un-train that. He will also back up with a small barrel tied to his headcollar, and he would much rather stop and await rescue.

I have also done a lot of work with flags, plastic, fitness balls, things going under him, over him the fitness ball can bounce off his head.... he copes with banging bin lids, skipping ropes..... the proof of the pudding came this year when I was plaiting up at the regionals and the barrel I was standing on collapsed and flipped both me and him under his legs in the lorry. I was fully expecting some reaction as the barrel hit him quite hard and I was wrapped round his legs, but he just stood still and awaited rescue....

So, I guess my last one would be if plaiting up in the lorry don't stand on a barrel with the lid on top, as the lid can collapse into the barrel and cause everything to fall under the horse!!!
 
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bakewell said:
The problem with knives is men.... apparently an unshakeable belief that one can use a knife in all situations comes with testicles. See also, yeah of course I can ride a motorcycle.
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While you are running back to the yard or rummaging in your hand bag for a seat belt cutter, I'd have the head collar off with the razor sharp pen knife I always have in my pocket.

I also have my excuse ready for the cops that it is a "tool of trade" and permitted! I would feel naked with out it! It has saved me on many occasions. Try opening a large bale of haylage without one. :D
 
Gloi said:
Never carry a bucket around horses with the handle over your arm. A gruesome accident happened on the yard when a horse put its head in a bucket someone was carrying like this. It then pulled back and the hooked end of the handle went in by the elbow and skinned the arm back to the wrist. Horrible and took and awful lot of stitching back together.
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Ouch!

I would go further and say never use feed buckets with handles, and especially don't put them down for the horses. My friend lost her horse when he put his foot in the bucket and the end of the handle dug into his fetlock.
 
Wagtail said:
Ouch!

I would go further and say never use feed buckets with handles, and especially don't put them down for the horses. My friend lost her horse when he put his foot in the bucket and the end of the handle dug into his fetlock.
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And when Asda sell small trugs (perfect feed sized) for £2 - you don't need the expensive rubber ones
 
Make sure you have the curved end of the breast bar on an Ifor Williams 505 on the central partition and the straight end on the outside so the bar can drop down easily if you have to remove the bolts that hold on the outside bracket in an emergency.

Remove the dome headed bolts that attach this bracket that come with the trailer and replace with barrel headed bolts. The domed headed ones can become burred and difficult to undo in a hurry (as I discovered from experience), the barrel headed ones are much better. And don't forget to keep an Allen key for those bolts somewhere in the vehicle.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M8-x-20-S..._Material_Nails_Fixing_MJ&hash=item3358c8c233
 
Dry Rot said:
While you are running back to the yard or rummaging in your hand bag for a seat belt cutter, I'd have the head collar off with the razor sharp pen knife I always have in my pocket.

I also have my excuse ready for the cops that it is a "tool of trade" and permitted! I would feel naked with out it! It has saved me on many occasions. Try opening a large bale of haylage without one. :D
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Yes, in the hands of experienced people in non-panicked situations knives can be fine. I shoot deer; the use there is probably analogous to haylage gralloch.

I've yet to see an injury or mischief resulting from a seat belt cutter though.
Additionally they are not desirable to pilfer so can be left in prominent positions and will always be there. If anyone else uses your yard knives, scissors and biros will always grow legs!
 
Listen to your gut, if it says you should get off and lunge instead then get off and lunge.
I fell off and head butted the school gate last week because I didn't listen to my gut.
My saddle is out if action so I hopped on bare back (done this many times before)
As soon as I got on I could feel my pony was more on her toes than normal...at that point I should have got off and lunged her, but I continued.
We walked, trotted and cantered just fine, but near the end if the session she did a massive buck and shot off like a scalded cat. I was at the point of no return anyway but when we did the corner at speed I fired out the side door and nutted the school gate: new hat time.
Fortunately I has enough time to shout 'sh**t!' loudly before I hit the deck to alert others I was in trouble.
 
Hack out in a running martingale, even if your horse is good. You have an extra level of control plus a handy neck strap in case of any interesting spooks!
 
Lunge in full tack, or bridle at the very least. I shudder when I see people lunging on a headcollar - where is your control if it all goes pear shaped?
 
Dry Rot said:
Make sure you have the curved end of the breast bar on an Ifor Williams 505 on the central partition and the straight end on the outside so the bar can drop down easily if you have to remove the bolts that hold on the outside bracket in an emergency.

Remove the dome headed bolts that attach this bracket that come with the trailer and replace with barrel headed bolts. The domed headed ones can become burred and difficult to undo in a hurry (as I discovered from experience), the barrel headed ones are much better. And don't forget to keep an Allen key for those bolts somewhere in the vehicle.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M8-x-20-S..._Material_Nails_Fixing_MJ&hash=item3358c8c233
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Thanks for that, DR! Have ordered some. :)
 
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