Re: RC: Fw: Fwd: re:fighting horses

[Jim Holland <lanconn@tds.net>]

From: Merryben@aol.com 

>Sort of like do you tie your horse in the trailer or not.....maryben 

>Again, one of those things I think is essential-the horse should be able to be >tied, no matter where you put them......that's why I am against breakaway >halters-once a horse breaks one while tied-they learn they don't HAVE
>to be tied.  Mine are expected to tie in the stock trailer, in whatever order I >decide to do that day, even the baby......

I agree. Teaching your horse to tie is one of the most important of
ground matters. If I don't KNOW that a horse will tie without pulling
back, he NEVER gets tied to anything movable with less than a bulldozer
and with a rope halter and a lead line he can't break. It's dangerous!
After I had taught Sunny to lead and give to pressure on the halter, one
of the training "things" I used was to tie him for gradually increasing
periods of time to a telephone pole with hay and water readily available
in something he COULDN'T break.  Being young, I knew that sooner or
later, he would get impatient and give it a shot.  I wanted it to be the
"right" experience.  He KNEW better, but since I wasn't "looking", he
tried...sitting on his butt a few times! I just ignored him and let him
figure it out.

It's important that you teach leading and giving FIRST, so he won't
continue to fight and hurt himself. For the first year, he wore a rope
halter under his bridle for just that purpose.  Now I can tie him to a
twig with a string....as soon as he feels the pressure, he moves
FORWARD....and even spooked he will not pull back. Then you move on from
there to ground tieing and leading without pressure. 

I once watched a lady tie her horse to the ring on the back of a pickup
bedliner. Then she came running over with a big fluffy white towel to
wipe his face.  The horse yanked the bedliner out of the truck and I
think was skiing on it for awhile.  Not pretty....  
        
>They are expected, also to accept strange horses without fuss....at the vet the >other day, I had 4 horses getting their teeth checked. A mare of one of the vets >needed a ride home, so we squeezed her in with my other 4 with no >problem.......and I drove her home.
>       (saved me $30 off my vet charges!)

Don't care how many horses are in the pasture, or who is in charge, or
who the Chief B$t$h in Charge is, when I show up, I'm in charge....and
they better know it!  An attitude gets you some round pen time for the
next few hours/days/weeks/months working on the problem until you get
the message. 

However.....I wouldn't want to "squeeze" in another horse with mine in
all cases. I know what MY horse is gonna do...but I DON'T know what the
OTHER horse is gonna do!
        
       Karen

Jim and Sun of Dimanche