Another reason to train for all
types of tying situations is the following.
When I bought my
two-year old TWH, Beeper, the barn she came from taught her to stand
in cross-ties only. She was restless and moved around and pulled
occasionally. I don't use them at my house, so I taught her to stand tied
to a large tree using two lead ropes (and a sharp knife handy in
case I needed to cut her loose). When she pulled back, she didn't get
loose and eventually learned to stand quietly with one lead rope. I would
reward her with carrots every 10 min. she stood quietly. Beep is now a
six-year old broodmare, in foal, and I do still tie her to a tree for
tune-up training occasionally. (She was green broke when I bought her and
I've never ridden her) Yesterday, I turned her loose in my yard of which I
can see two-thirds of it. I call myself keeping a horse-safe yard
so I wasn't really worried and I look out of the window every few minutes
to keep an eye on Beeper. She had been out of her corral in the yard about
two hours, and when I didn't see her on one such look, I grabbed a couple of
carrots and went outside to check. What I saw made my heart lurch and
almost stop!!! Beeper had put her head through my grandkids swing set, and
got the swing chains wrapped around her neck. She was standing there
waiting for me to release her. If she had pulled back, she would have
pulled the swing set over onto herself, and I'm sure she would have bolted and
caused a terrible wreck dragging that set behind her. I thanked God over
& over for looking out for Beeper & me and for my training her to stand
quietly tied and wait for me to release her.
