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Re: [RC] Forgiving Brass - Diane Trefethen

Here on Ridecamp, we often have discussions on the safety of our horses. Brass vs stainless steel, breakaway halter/lead vs non-breakaway, tie to trailer/portacorral/electric tape, blanket/sheet/nothing. Because there is no perfect answer to any question involving horses, it always comes down to a gamble where you figure your odds and then place your bet.

Some horses KNOW that if they are tied they cannot possibly get loose. Some horses when they hit the end of a rope go bananas and will fight literally to the death while most horses tie fairly well and are unlikely to panic. In deciding whether to buy a halter that has a breakaway feature, you need to first know which kind of horse you have. You place your bet. You bet either that loose, they might leave camp, get lost in the woods and never be found or you bet that they they accidently hook the halter on something and fight till they drop and choke to death. If you have horse #1 above, you can almost totally eliminate the worry of a pull back, no matter what happens. For such a horse, the primary concern is what would happen if it accidently put pressure on the halter and it broke. If it accidently got hooked on something, this horse will most likely just stand there and wait for you to rescue it. For this horse, the odds of dying in the woods are many times greater (though still small) than the odds of dropping and choking so this horse gets a non-breakaway halter. If you have horse #2, get it intensive, exhaustive training in being tied... but in the meanwhile, any time you leave this horse tied without a human right there, use something that will break. Getting loose, lost and dead is possible but choking to death if caught is a likelihood. Plus the chances that the horse will pullback are MUCH greater than the chances that it will a) break loose, b) take off into the woods and c) never be found. Go with the odds. For the horse that ties well but is not a rock about it, weighing the odds is more difficult, not a no-brainer like with the first two. Decide what the chances are of each bad thing happpening and then how likely your horse is to stand or panic. Based on what you know about your horse again, you place your bet. Most of us have horses in this group where the choice is not simple. We each have to decide for OUR horse given HIS/HER mind.


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Replies
[RC] Forgiving Brass, Bob Fletcher