pulls when tied -- help?

Magenta

Magenta

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Nov 6, 2007
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Hi!
Thanks for looking. =] I have a mare, a BIG mare, that I've only owned for a few months. She is perfectly fine when being led around...when I tie her up, though, and she feels the pull of the rope, she freaks out. She pulls back, hard, and breaks rope snaps, halters, she even bent the top of our trailer because my dad was holding her too tight.
I was so scared the other day. I had her in the arena and she got excited, I felt unsafe and so I dropped the line. She stepped on it and, feeling the pressure, pulled back. It was so scary to me. I had to run over and shove her silly self off the rope. Then she went on to eat.
-rolls eyes-
So, I've been working on releasing from pressure with her. She is wonderful. But, still, if she's tied and pulls -- she pulls harder. I can't show her because I can't leave her tied to the trailer. I could if I was in her sight the enitre time, but when I have to get dressed she turns into a nut case.

Any suggestions, please.
Thanks!
- Magenta
 
I'd go back to groundwork ..

Also, what kind of halter do you use? Perhaps try a rope halter .. great for pressure and release.

One tip I have is take her into a safe area .. like a roundyard, and do some work with her in there. Start by rubbing her head .. let her know its a safe enviroment, and you are safe to be around.

Also, try lowering her hear ... this means applying pressure with your right hand on the poll, and left hand on the bridge of the nose. She may freak out and pull her head up, or go backwards because of the pressure .. but it's okay. Try and stay with her. Once she relaxes and lowers her head .. lots of praise! Repeat over several weeks (daily is good) until she learns to move DOWN from the pressure, rather than freaking out. She'll soon understand that pressure isn't painful, or life threatening.
 
I have been doing exactly what you said since I've gotten her. She is wonderful with moving away from pressure, so long as it's me applying it.
It's only when she's tied or steps on it herself. -.-
 
Give the blocker tie-ring a go. It comes complete with all the training instructions and it's worth its weight in gold.

well, actually, I wouldn't know what its weight in gold is, thinking about it, cos I make them up out of $1 parts from the hardware store instead, but hey, the principle is the same !

It works because instead of pulling against something solid, and having to keep pulling to get a release, the rope slips through the ring with resistance - horse pulls, meets resistance, gets a little bit away from the wall, or whatever she's tied to ... then the very instant she stops pulling even a little bit, she gets a release of pressure. Then you just step in, pull the rope through again and you're back where you started.

Have a google of it, honestly, I've never bought a real one, but the little cheapie fakes are all I ever* tie to these days.

*except that time I didn't, obviously, and Summer broke me arm.
 
What I do with horses like this, or youngsters is this:

Put them in a pressure halter (I use a 'Be Nice'), but any type should do, and a lunge rein, then run the rein through a ring on the wall, but do not tie it. Hold the rope and gradually move away along the wall, letting out a couple of loops as you go. When the horse becomes restless you can take up the slack enough to let her feel the resistance from the halter. If she faffs around, you can 'play' her like a fish, allowing her to be held, but without her getting a solid pull and breaking the rope.

Whenever she settles you can tell her she's a good girl, move her back up so that she seems tied, and start the proceedure again. If you speak to her only when she settles, she will soon learn that she will achieve nothing as long as she's pulling, but will be praised as soon as she stands quietly. She'll not take long to come right.

When you then want to tie her, you can keep the rope through the first ring, then tie her to a second ring further along the wall, so that if she does try a pull, you can release the knot at the second ring but still have control, as described above, at the first ring.

Another way is to tie a rope between two rings, so that it is tight enough that it sags slightly in the middle, and then tie her to the middle of the rope. That way she doesn't get brought up short when she pulls back, as the rope gives just enough to prevent a breakage.

Do this in a safe area, wearing your safety gear, and only intervene if she gets herself into trouble. She will learn to stop doing it using these methods.
 
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AengusOg and I are describing basically the same training method actually. In the lungeline version, you have hold of the end of the line all the time, so you're controlling how much resistance there is to a pull-back. With the blocker tie-ring method (or the ring and snap from the hardware store method) the ring itself provides the resistance - but either way, you're allowing the horse to pull back a little, and then giving them the release when they stop pulling.

AengusOg, can you draw a diagram of the 'rope between two rings' method - I'm not seeing it yet.
 
KateWooten.....you're right....they amount to the same thing. I was actually given one of those blocker tie rings, recently, by my local tack shop owner; he's always asking me to try new stuff. I'm pretty sure it will be the same thing, this one is an American item. Unfortunately I don't have a pulling horse to test it on at the moment. I think the rope which was supplied with it may be rather short, I would be worried that a horse may pull the rope right through, but I would try it with a longer rope. I am interested to know how you make your version.

Don't know how to insert a diagram here (I'm in quick reply, does that make a difference?), However, if you imagine two tie-rings on a wall, six feet or so apart, with one end of a rope tied to one, and the other end tied to the other, with the horse tied to the middle of the rope instead of either of the rings. See it now?
 
Yep - I'm with you - so you've got kind of a pre-cue going on there, as the tie rope lifts, and then the rope-between-the-rings gets pressure on it next - kind of the way the western 'slobber straps' would work ?

I love my cheap-skate tie rings ... I don't have a pull-back horse either - but I tie to them all the time anyway for safety. For training, I put them on the long 14ft line that I'm using for groundwork. For regular tying, they're just on the leadropes they sell at co-op, which I think are longer than a typical UK leadrope (there always seems to be bunches of excess rope when I'm leading, and if I'm leading two, I invariably wrap some rope around my legs or his) ... but if I'm tying the horse then leaving him for a bit (like I often have one tied to the trailer while I'm riding the other in the arena) then I'll put a knot in the end of the line so he can't pull free.

Here's a piccie of my diy-jobbie - this is the latest 2007 incarnation - it's actually a diy version of 'Le Clip' which makes it even more fantastically useful ...

tieRing002.jpg


Here look - I could be a hand model :D ....

tieRing003.jpg


The leadrope loops round the back of the double-ended snap, and that causes enough resistance that the rope won't pull through easily - but will give enough that the horse doesn't feel claustrophobic.
 
Magenta are you tying the lead rope to bale string in the yard.

This way the bale string is more likely to break than the lead rope. Mine pulled back one day and it was quite frightening. He completely snapped his leather head collar. Mind leather head collars are designed so that under mega pressure the leather stretches and snaps. But at £25 a time you can't afford to bust them to often.

If you tie to bale string there is far more chance of the bale string snapping much safer.

Chunkys tends to pull back more if I leave the lead rope long when I tie him up. He seems to know that he can step back more to get purchase easier before pulling. So I tend to tie him up short.

I might try the blocker thing though and see how it goes.
 
oK, the thing about the bungie tie is that it is elastic .. .and it will not dissipate the energy that a horse has put into the pull-back. This is fine, as long as nothing gives. However, if the horse doesn't stop pulling, if he ever does get into an all-out panic .... you've got all that energy contained in the stretched elastic. If something then breaks - anywhere - it needn't be the elastic - then all that stored energy converts back into kinetic energy - movement. If the snap on the bungee tie breaks, for example, then you have a high-speed metal clip projectile near your horse's face. If the tie ring that you've tied to, comes loose from it's mooring, then you have a high-speed metal tie ring, this time flying straight AT your horse's face. If the halter breaks, then you've got a high-speed halted, with metal fittings, being ripped OFF your horse's face. None of these are safe options. Incorporating stretch into a tie system is not a safe option because although you've lessened the liklihood of structural failure, you've almost guaranteed catastrophic failure if any single part of the system fails.

Weaklinks, as chunky monkey suggests, ensure that failure of the system becomes predictable and manageable (that's a good thing - you know it will break at the baler-twine part) ... but they don't do much to discourage the pull-back behaviour because they still restrain the horse until the point of system failure, and right then he gets his release. ie. you're teaching him that if only he pulls back hard enough for long enough, then he WILL get free - if he hasn't got free yet, then he needs to pull harder.
 
I agree KateWooten...

A horse which habitually pulls back and breaks things is a total nuisance at the very least; more likely a danger to itself and others. Much better to teach him not to do it, rather than rely on what he's tied with.
 
Summer used to pull back, and by that i mean at least 3 times a day.. with no warning for no reason.
after I had worked with her for a while she stopped.. why?
1. because I taught her to go FORWARDS when ever she gets a fright.
2. I taught her to move away from pressure.
and 3 because I stopped tying her up.
now shes perfect to tie
 
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