Teaching a pony to tie up nicely

[Leam_Carrie]

My mini Shetland is too used to being loose. When I tie him up so the big horse can be treated (acupuncture today) he throws a tantrum. Mainly waving a front foot around and generally looking cross. He’ll then usually manage to break free.

Tied right next to big horse he’s absolutely fine. Normally if just me he’d be loose. I put a headcollar on for farrier, when we go jogging etc.

Need to work on this as sadly will need to sell him at some point. Any tips on how I sort this?

 

[stangs]

Would he settle if he had a haynet to munch on?

 

[milliepops]

I had one on livery that used to pull back and break free. she didn't go anywhere fast, just made a point of doing it.
as well as lots of practice, one thing that helped to break the habit was tying her to multiple bits of string of different lengths, so she would pull back and break the first one, but the second one would still be intact, so she couldn't wander off. then if she broke that one, there was another one. and so on. after a couple of goes she figured that game was over.

i have seen people mention tying them to stretchy things like a bike inner tube but I didn't have one to try.

ETA distractions with food can work in the short term but there are occasions where you can't do that (e.g. if tied to lorry at a show) so it's useful to teach them to deal with being tied up properly IMO.

 

[Nasicus]

I had one on livery that used to pull back and break free. she didn't go anywhere fast, just made a point of doing it.
as well as lots of practice, one thing that helped to break the habit was tying her to multiple bits of string of different lengths, so she would pull back and break the first one, but the second one would still be intact, so she couldn't wander off. then if she broke that one, there was another one. and so on. after a couple of goes she figured that game was over.

Oooh, that's clever! For one that does it for fun, that sounds really effective!

 

[Leam_Carrie]

I had one on livery that used to pull back and break free. she didn't go anywhere fast, just made a point of doing it.
as well as lots of practice, one thing that helped to break the habit was tying her to multiple bits of string of different lengths, so she would pull back and break the first one, but the second one would still be intact, so she couldn't wander off. then if she broke that one, there was another one. and so on. after a couple of goes she figured that game was over.

i have seen people mention tying them to stretchy things like a bike inner tube but I didn't have one to try.

ETA distractions with food can work in the short term but there are occasions where you can't do that (e.g. if tied to lorry at a show) so it's useful to teach them to deal with being tied up properly IMO.

That sounds a plan. He doesn’t go anywhere far, just wants his own way.

 

[Cortez]

I have very strong rubber ties. I have never tied horses to breakable things - an extremely efficient way to train a horse to pull back - and make it a priority to train them to tie from foals.

 

[planete]

I tie up from something that is overhead like a beam. I have never had a horse manage to break loose or hurt himself tied this way. I put a rope over the beam and I tie the lead rope to a loop at the bottom of it..

 

[McFluff]

Mine can be cheeky and just break free but then stand there ( came like that). I got an idolo tether and a 12’ rope. Works a treat as he has nothing to pull back on, so doesn’t try. Is now fine on a conventional tie too. I just use the idolo at shows now.