ridecamp@endurance.net: [endurance] Hitching overnight

[endurance] Hitching overnight

Wendy Milner (wendy@nsmdserv.cnd.hp.com)
Fri, 8 Sep 95 9:32:08 MDT

>
> I'm curious about how you tie your horses overnight.
> I cannot imagine this being allowed
> at any ride in the UK, let alone commonly used. Some places,
> such as police barracks, do
> stall their horses, which I guess is similar, but it is not
> normal. I think we would
> probably have more trouble with animal rights groups if it was
> commonly used - some
> people see endurance as cruel as it (people who don't know
> anything about it of course).
>
> What length rope do you use, and how much freedom does the
> horse have? I assume they can't
> lie down tied up, is this a problem? Our horses would normally
> lie down for several hours
> a night.
>
> Sue
> sue.cunningham@mcc.ac.uk
>
(Sue, try limiting the length of your lines to 65 characters.
Makes the posts easier to read and quote.)

Horses tied to the trailer over night do very well.

If a horse herd feels safe, you'll find that most horses will
lay down for a few hours at a time (longer for babies). But
there will always be one horse that remains standing. I've
watched into the long hours my little herd. Pharalina is always
standing over her baby. For about 3 months I don't think she
ever lays down. The kids take advantage of this. On the other
hand, whenever the bears come through (about now), the entire
herd (of 4) will remain standing for several nights in a row.

When tieing your horse up to the trailer, you need several things.
1. Hay net should be high enough that the horse cannot get a foot
through the net.
2. Water bucket should be tied so horse can't knock it over.
3. The tie should be long enough to allow the horse to stretch
its neck a bit and get to the hay and water. But it should
be short enough that the horse cannot get a foot over the
rope. This means, don't have hay on the ground.
4. Also, check the trailer for anything sharp. If you wouldn't
run your hand over everything, without gloves, then you don't
want your horse around it.

In the early morning, I'll hand walk my horse a bit to get any
stiffness out. Then I'll feed again. I grain prior to a ride
in addition to having hay available at all times. After he's
eaten, I'll walk about some more. Then tack up, walk under
saddle, trot a bit, and then head for the start line.
Even when I'm out for a pleasure ride for a weekend, I'll do
this. (Other than the start line:-). If I ride into camp,
then I'll set up a picket line to tie the horses to over night.
Same rules apply except I usually don't have hay with me.
Then I let them graze alot.

--
Wendy


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  Wendy Milner                     HPDesk:   wendy_milner@hp4000
  Training Development Engineer    HP-UX:    wendy@fc.hp.com
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