Teaching Youngster to Tie Up

I just started tying mine up & they kind of worked it out - guess it depends on the type/personality. sorry thats not particularly helpful is it?!! I'd be really interested in other opinions too though
 
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Our foal is now a officially a yearling and I'm darned if I can remember how we taught the last babies we bred about 10 years ago to tie up.

How do you go about teaching them?

[/ QUOTE ] We generally put a rope through the tie-up ring but NOT tied. Just hang on to the end of it in a relaxed loose manner. We then with the other hand do a bit of grooming for instance, and if the youngster pulls back, it won't break it's neck in a panic. It soon realises that if it goes forward a step, the pressure on the horse himself relaxes and after a couple of back and forths, tightening and loosening, they soon get the hang of it.
 
I do the same as penniless. I have a long rope threaded through the tie ring and hold the other end whilst handling them. if they go to pull back you can keep a gentle pressure without the risk of them panicking. I do this a few times then tie them up and haven't had any problems
 
I did the same as memo and peniless... not moved on to the actual tying up stage as not had him since he was a 6 months old colt, but may get him back soon so will progress to this
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By the time they are 3 months old, I like my foals to understand that if I pull on the leadrope, they step forward. Once they understand that, then tying up is no problem. But I do the long lead through tie-ring first as others do - and muck around with them a bit (picking up feet, grooming etc.) while holding the end.
 
I do the same as Penniless, but when it comes to actually tying my foal, I seperate just a tiny strand of baling twine from the loop and tie him to that so that if he does panic, it will snap. (I do this with my other horses too though, just to be on the safe side).
 
We don't to be honest - very rarely tying anything up under the age of two. We just seem to progress to it at some stage. It's never an issue, everything ties up happily - it's just not taught 'formally'.
 
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