Tethering horses

This is a short post, because I have only one recommendation: don’t do it!

I can recall one story my mom still relates whenever we happen upon a tethered horse together. A neighbour and good childhood friend of hers used to tether her horse for a good 7 years, with never an incident. One day, the mare’s owners returned to find their beloved mare with a broken leg, courtesy of the rope. This was a horse who had been tethered SEVEN years! She was as rope-safe as they come! Yet she still somehow wound up with a broken leg – and dead.

Others I have heard tell stories of how they’ve returned home at times to find their tethered, very rope-savvy, horses with rope burns on their legs. Horses are still prey animals! You can do your best to teach them to think (though many of these people tethering, I find, aren’t), to release to pressure, and all about ropes, but there is always the possibility that they might spook and become entangled in the rope. You’re not there to guide them or to help them. Prior and proper preparation can go a long way, but by tethering a horse you are constantly putting your horse in a situation where he is at high risk of being injured and killed. The longer you do so, the greater the chance that some day something will happen. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow – maybe not even with your present horse. But those chances are still there, and it could happen one day. It’s just not a risk worth taking, so please re-consider it.

If you feel you just absolutely need to tether your horse, here are a few tips I can offer to perhaps help:

1. Use thick, cotton rope that breaks away at either the snap (Parelli rope snaps are designed to break in the case of an emergency) or at the tether post

2. Use a well-fitting halter done up snugly that can break in case of emergency

3. Supervise your horse(s) at all times

4. Practise practise practise! Teach your horse to move off of pressure, to think through situations, and to (directly) work through being tangled in ropes (in a controlled situation).

Otherwise, you can also use electric fencing stakes to fashion temporary grazing areas for your horses, with one or two lines of electric tape/line. You probably only have to have the fence running hot the first few times, and then only the odd time thereafter, before your horses respect it enough not to go through it; teach your horses to respect fences by releasing to pressure and don't leave them in an area so short on grass they are tempted to test the fence.

Leaving halters on

I have to go back on my word a bit in regards to leaving halters on hard-to-catch horses…there are special circumstances where I feel leaving the halter on can be ok. Special and rare, but they exist.

This comes about as I admit to leaving a halter on our newest horse, Cody. Where we are at for the month of September and part of October (until the Thanksgiving weekend), there are no facilities to make catching Cody easier. I cannot really lock him into a paddock as he would not have enough feed (the horses are on grass - hay out here isn't feasible/worthwhile; they'll be back on hay upon returning home) and he would have no water (not really feasible to pack it to him every day). In addition, even in a small paddock, it would probably take a good hour or more to get a rope on him. He remains suspicious of people (though he is coming around), but is particularly suspicious of ropes yet (we haven’t done too much work on it yet and will tackle it more directly once we return home). Working on ropes with him is something I want to take on while I have a rope and halter on him – doing so at liberty (unless in a roundpen, which we do not have right here but do have at home) would just result in him losing trust in me and then being impossible to catch. Anyways. So in the mean time, due to his substantial fear issues, I am leaving a rope halter on him – one that easily comes off in the event he catches himself on something (and it has come over an ear a few times). I do not advise someone to leave a halter on a horse who just doesn’t want to be caught (for whatever reason) – in that event, there is a lot you can do (usually): walking down the horse, cornering the horse, approach and retreat, using body language to have the horse face you, bribing the horse (short-term while you work on the issue from the other side – getting the horse to the point where he enjoys being with you so much he wants to be caught), etc etc. We’ve discussed leaving halters on horses and hard-to-catch horses in the past. Leaving a halter on a horse can be dangerous and is a last-resort option; it is also a temporary option as you work on a horse’s fear-based reactions. I still cringe when I see pastured horses with halters on, particularly foals (because they haven’t been taught to release to pressure or to think situations through). On the other hand, I can understand the odd time where leaving a halter on a horse is necessary. So, what can you do to make your horse as safe as possible while wearing her halter?

1. Either have the halter as loose as possible (while still staying on) or as tight as possible (while remaining comfortable to the horse) – not in between. It has always been a debate throughout my years with horses of which option was best (I think Pony Club usually recommended a snug halter), with pros and cons on either side of the fence. If you have the halter on snug, the possibility of a foot becoming entangled is reduced, yet if the horse gets his halter caught on anything, there is less chance of the halter coming off in the event of an emergency. However, a snug halter reduces the risk of something being caught in the first place. With a loose halter, there is more of a chance the horse could get a foot caught, but the halter can also come off the horse’s head in an emergency. Either way, use a breakaway halter or rig one by using a breakable tying material (thin baling twine, etc) to tie the halter together rather than doing it up as usual. This allows the halter to break apart in the event of a caught foot or other. My recommendation would probably be to have a snug, well-fitting halter that will break apart should the worst occur.

2. Check the pasture/paddock and remove anything (possible) the halter could be caught on.

3. Make it a temporary “solution” while you work out your horse’s catching issues – the longer that halter is on, the greater the risk your horse could be injured. The minute that horse starts being possible to catch (even if it takes 15min and takes some work), remove the halter. Be willing to do what it takes to catch that horse and to improve future catcheability.