tying up alternatives for a horse that pulls back.

[ester]

Alternatives here please, in particular while tied to a trailer. ? tail bandage, possible safety implications of this? 2 bits of string?

Mare has always had an inclination to do this particularly if lorries drive past she worries, tenses and pulls back. breaks string but normally doesnt go anywhere. If you catch her at the right time (before she breaks string) and shout stand it normally works but she has to override her instincts to do this.

Thought we had cured it then someone decided to use their friends trailer next to ours to help them load a bad loader without mentioning it

cue horse kicking off big time in trailer which paniced mare and she pulled back. Since this episode she has been bad tied up to the trailer and has pulled back twice more, once when a lorry drove past and over the weekend at the beach when someone sent a kite up and I would prefer not to have a loose horse on 5 miles of beach.

so what would you do? She has already given herself a sore neck doing it.

 

[Slave2Magic]

It depends why she is doing it. My mare used to pull back and snap the string or pull the ring out of the wall. She wasn't doing it in a panic though. I tied her to a rubber cycle inner tube and as it gives instead of breaking she soon got bored of trying. If your horse is doing it in panic though I would be more inclined to thread a lunge line through the ring and hold the other end. That way you can give some slack if she pulls back giving her nothing to fight against. It will take abit of time and patience but should work.

 

[popsicle]

I also tie my horses to the trailer,

but eveything I have ever read says it is not safe to do this. Don't think you can really safely prevent her pulling away. Can't you leave her in the trailer till you need her?

 

[ester]

thanks guys,

unfortunately cant leave her in trailer as my boy demands to come out and see what is going on.

This is normally just in the time to tack untack. we never leave them unsupervised and I wont travel her tacked up as she isnt a good traveller

it is def an intial panic reaction but then she kinda worries when she finds herself unattached and wont go anywhere if my boy is also tied to the trailer. She had an accident with a big vehicle as a youngster before we got her and is def not 100% with big traffic. Her answer to everything if ridden is also to reverse.

 

[popsicle]

I wonder if it would work to use a breakaway cable attached to a length of breakable twine. So she will break away immediately and then be held by the twine, which would also break if she continued to panic. But before the twine held her, she may have calmed. Does that make sense?

 

[Tickles]

I use the lunge line threaded through but not tied thing with the share horsey (on the yard, never taken him anywhere with a trailer). If you are only tying her supervised (=good plan by the way!) then that should work fine. She won't feel 'trapped' by being tied and should get used to feeling free enough to go with the initial 'flight' instinct but realise she is still 'attached'.

Popsicle's idea sounds rather more sophisticated though

 

[soloequestrian]

Could you put up a little electric fence square around where you have her tied up? Poles if on grass, cones if not.
I make a harness that was designed for loading, but could also be used in this situation - you could have her tied up so that the pressure is exerted on her bum when she pulls back rather than her head. Look at www.soloequestrian.com.

 

[whizzica]

My Mare used to be exactly the same, slightest disturbance near her and back she went then panicked once she hit the end of the baler twine and broke free everytime. I used a bike inner tube and tied her rope to that so that when she panicked it gave enough for her to realise she wasn't trapped and stopped her breaking free. She hasn't even tried it for years now, I always use tubes on the yard and on all my tie ups on my trailer and tie all my horses to them - find they work brilliantly - have recommended them to many friends also that have had problems and it seems to work!!!