tying up

Sandstone1

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This might sound trival, but it's worrying me.
My friend always ties her horse up straight to the ring not using baler twine or anything. She also doesn't use a proper quick release knot.
This is a pet hate of mine. I've tried to tell her her horse could end up breaking its neck, but she doesn't take me seriously and doesn't think I tie up properly because I always use a equi ping thing and a quick release knot.
Tell me it's not me being fussy.
 

Micropony

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It's not you being fussy.
But people do odd things. Once knew a girl who would ride, take the reins over the horse's head, then buckle them directly through the tie ring and leave the horse standing on the yard while she toddled off to pick up droppings from the school or whatever. Apparently that was a perfectly normal thing to do where she and the horse came from (Poland I think).
 

FfionWinnie

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You do what you want and let her do what she wants?

I tie mine to a solid object. I never tie up to string. They *never* pull back because they know they cannot get free. They are properly trained to tie up. I have no idea if your friend's horse is trained or otherwise, but I often get snooty comments about my lack of string. Usually followed by a "oh aren't they well behaved, you are lucky" (actually no, it's not luck, I've trained them all to behave themselves!).
 

Sandstone1

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Yes, I do it properly, she doesn't. In my opinion it's not a case of being trained its a safety issue.
What happens on the occasion that something spooks the horse?
However well trained a horse is if it gets enough of a scare it's going to pull back.
What happens then? If you are using a synthetic headcollar what breaks first, the headcollar or the horses neck.

I do do what I want as does she, but to me it's a unnecessary risk.
However each to their own.it's not how I was taught though.
 

rara007

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A number of driving people I've been taught by tie up directly to the ring so they don't get off. I use string and only wouldn't go without unless using a leather headcollar but I don't think it's as clear cut as pony club would lead you to believe.
 

FfionWinnie

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Have you ever seen a horse with a broken neck from a head collar. A horse which has a basic understanding of pressure ie , if I pull the pressure tightens, if I do not it does not, will not be a problem tied to a solid object.

A horse which lacks training/understanding may choke it's self to death I suppose, through panic.

Break it's neck, highly unlikely.

More likely is part of the object it's tied to may dislodge and the horse break free with it attached - that would be the real danger. However the same could happen if the string didn't break. I have seen plenty of rotten tie up areas with sturdy bits of string - the owner kidding themselves that their horse is safe due to the string.

I have 6 horses here, they all tie up and they do not under any circumstances, pull back. They know that pulling back in to pressure doesn't get rid of the pressure, because I've taught them so.

That includes one that arrived two months ago and "couldn't be tied, led or indeed ridden". She's doing all those things happily now.
 

paddi22

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the amount of people that tie up with the newer bailer twine that doesn't break though is amazing..i've seen horse pull back against it and it just doesn't give.. one girl ended up having to run and get a scissors and cut it as the twine had pulled so tightly round the leadrope she couldn't free the leadrope. she always ties directly to the ring now as she says its easier to release the leadrope. having seen it happen I have to agree with her logic.

I always carry lengths of the bailer twine that i know breaks, in the back of the jeep.
 

huskydamage

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I don't use the string except for tying her up on my gate (so the gate doesn't get broken- it's old!) on the ring I don't want the string to break and my horse to run off. she has reared up before when a tractor went past and the leather head collar broke at the bottom but she was still tied up/secure! I also knew another pony that used to freak out sometimes and pull back on his rope, one time he was actually tied on string and the string didn't break but his nylon head collar did! I am of the opinion that the flimsy head collar will break before the horse does, but I really don't want my horse to get loose unless its in a properly enclosed yard. Unless the horse is going to fall over and strangle itself or something I can't see how the string helps much.
 

crabbymare

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You tie your horse your way and let her tie hers the way she wants. the clip on the leadrope will often break faster than the string the horse is tied to and if you go to yards where the horses have been trained to give to pressure they will normally be tied direct to the ring with no problems at all. she is not wrong and nor are you its just different methods of doing things
 

FfionWinnie

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The string thing is just ridiculous.

We do dangerous things with horses all the time. Fgs we ride them!

We put them in very flimsy boxes and tow them about.

Does no one consider what might happen if the horse suddenly gets a fright and smashes it's way out of a trailer while on the motorway?

What if it breaks the string and gallops off stands on the lead rope and breaks it's neck. Or the lead rope breaks it's leg?!

There are millions of what ifs and a bit of string ain't going to save your horses life whatever the pony club told you.

Credit your horse with a bit of sense. Train it to cope with life.
 

Pearlsasinger

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The string thing is just ridiculous.

We do dangerous things with horses all the time. Fgs we ride them!

We put them in very flimsy boxes and tow them about.

Does no one consider what might happen if the horse suddenly gets a fright and smashes it's way out of a trailer while on the motorway?

What if it breaks the string and gallops off stands on the lead rope and breaks it's neck. Or the lead rope breaks it's leg?!

There are millions of what ifs and a bit of string ain't going to save your horses life whatever the pony club told you.

Credit your horse with a bit of sense. Train it to cope with life.


What a brilliant post!

We train ours to ground tie.
 

twiggy2

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for all of you advocating tying to string, what string is it you use?

modern bailing string has a very high breaking strength, my horse is tied directly to the ring as the rope does not get entangled in anything when a horse pulls so remains easy to undo. at work they use an equiping and one horse just pulls away every time and gets loose, other people on the yarduse string and it does not break and then the lead rope is entagled and the quick release knot does not come undone.
If people want to keep the horse as safe as possible then tying to the ring with a properly tied and finished quick release knot, whilst never leaving the horse unattended is the best way to achieve that.
Me? I trust my mare to stay where I left her and behave when tied up as that is what she has been taught to do,
 

Sandstone1

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No, I have not seen a horse with a broken neck from trying to break away. I have However seen a horse break a fence, gallop round the field with part of the fence attached to the rope. The fence hitting the horse and getting caught round it's legs.
Horse was terrified. When it was eventually caught its legs were not a pretty sight.
That's why I never tie straight to the ring.
Each to their own, but to me it's not worth the risk. I use a equi ping not bailer twine.
 

alice.j

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The new bailing twine is, as others have said, very hard to break. Recently one of our just-backed ponies decided that some plastic was terrifying, and leapt backwards; even removing the offending item didn't stop him, and eventually the ring came off the wall. The twine was still intact.
We do a lot of work with youngsters where I ride, and so having something breakable (and not the wall!) is a necessity - babies don't always pay attention to pressure if they just want to get away from something. A couple we've had in just decide that being tied up is rubbish, and will pull and pull until something breaks. I'd rather it was the twine than the wall - flying bits of metal and wood are pretty dangerous!
 

FfionWinnie

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That's why I said solid object. A solid object isn't a mouldy old fence or a tie ring, it's something a horse cannot break free of.

Once they are trained, you could tie them to anything, they won't pull back.
 

emmarachaelp

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I've never seen anybody on my yard tie directly to the ring but I suppose it's okay as long as you're sure your horse will just stand there.

My horse has pulled back three times when I've tied her up to wash her. Twice the string broke and the third time the clip on the leadrope snapped in half and freed her.
 

wench

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Depends on the horse and the situation. If a horse has learnt all it has to do is pull and yank then it is free to leg it away from what you want it to do, then everytime you tie it up to string, or something that snaps, and horse pulls back and snaps the string, the negative behaviour is constantly being reinforced and the only way to stop it is to tie up solid
 

Auslander

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I tie directly to a ring. I don't leave horses tied up alone - so if it all goes horribly wrong, I can untie them with one tug (not easy with baler twine and a pulling horse). If a horse pulls back, I don't dive straight in to release it - I'd far rather they learned that pulling back doesn't work. If the horse is panicking, I don't think they are in place where they are learning anything, so I'll untie them before they hurt themselves, but for a mild loss of equilibrium, they can stay tied up and learn a useful lesson.
 

paddy555

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Sadly, yes. An unfortunate combination of a pony tied to a tree, a chicken and a vicar. Pony spooked, slipped, fell, broke its neck.

I teach mine to tie up, but always use a string.

not a broken neck but twice I have seen horses with very large wounds to the poll that required vet treatment. Both as a result of being tied to a ring. The ring didn't give and finally in their panic either the rope or headcollar broke. By that time there as so much force that when it broke they fell over backwards damaging themselves.

Accidents happen and I would always use a string that will break.

All those people who tie up to rings but have well trained horses why not use a string? If the horse is trained to tie up it is not going to break the string. If there was an incident you couldn't control for some reason and the horse pulled back at least it may not damage itself.
 

PolarSkye

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I tie my own horse up to string (always pre-frayed so that it will break if pulled hard) - but he's 99% perfect to tie (fidgets but doesn't routinely pull back) and respects the associated pressure. Also, he always wears a leather headcollar.

However, people need to tie up in the way that best suits their horse/environment - what works for one, doesn't always work for another, for many reasons. Improperly sunk post and rail or dodgy/rotting fencing might (for instance) influence whether I would tie up to the ring or the string. I have, before now, loosely tied directly to a (properly hung, good quality) gate while I tended to another emergency as I knew my boy would be fine for the 90 seconds he was secured . . . I wouldn't do it routinely, but needs must.

For me, this tying up debate is a little like the rugging one we always get at this time of the year . . . and it always boils down (in my head anyway) to owners doing the best for their horse in a particular circumstance.

FWIW, I think most owners try their hardest to do the very best they can for their horses (or the horses in their care) . . . I'm not getting at the OP, but I really do feel that owning and caring for horses is hard enough without having to worry about what every Tom Dick and Harry has to say about our management.

P
 

Enfys

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I tie mine to whatever is available, be that a fence post or a twig.
If I get off to do something, and hook the reins over the horn, my horse stays put, not my doing, she was trained when I got her.

I never use string by itself, cable ties as loops - yes I did that in the livery barn, and if string is used it should be threaded through a short length of pipe so that it doesn't tighten on the rope. I used to go around at my livery yard untying knots and re-tying them properly, I didn't care if someone was there or not, I figured that it was my barn and I didn't want to see bits of it flying down the drive attached to a horse.

Mostly I just throw the rope around a couple of times (yep, hitch rail style) when I do tie I always use a highwayman's knot -that is, a knot that when you pull the rope comes free from whatever it is tied around, it doesn't need to be pulled through a ring or whatever.

Tying is a life lesson and it is irresponsible of whomever is in charge of those first lessons not to teach it properly.
It isn't rocket science, yet it is one of the things that is frequently badly taught, ground tying should also be taught.

OP, you can't do anything if this person doesn't want to change her ways.
 

Equi

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I've used an equiping and immediately lost my horse down the yard and he went into the field rope dangling. He undos quick release knots of any type. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
 
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