Tying Up ... Trouble Free Or Terrifying?

Horseyard Editor

Jun 10 |21:30

Most horse owners have witnessed, at least one time, a horse that seriouslydoesn’t like to be tied up. Whether resulting in just a slight reaction from treading ontheir own lead rope or a serious pull back when tied to a fence, the underlying problem canbe extremely serious and in many cases dangerous, to the horse and anyone else within thevicinity.

No matter what kind of equine pursuit you favour, all of us at some time have to be able totie our horses up, even if just for a short moment to get a drink or answer the call ofnature. And as many of us have found out, those few seconds can be an eternity for a horsethat just won’t tie up.

Some horse owners deal with the problem by simply looping the lead rope over a rail, so thatif the horse pulls away he can get free … so whilst he’s being a good boy he’ll stand at therail, but if he tries to walk away he’s really not tied.

Other people deal with it by tying the horse to a piece of bailing twine ... once again thehorse may think he’s tied, but if he should pull back, he can break the string and getaway. Both of these techniques may work in the short term, however they also both mask thefact that there is a more serious issue that needs addressing ... the horse simply does nottie up. A 500kg horse on the end of a strong lead rope, putting all its strength and fearinto getting free, can be a terrifying sight. Especially if there is a small child nearbytrying to get the horse free, or it is tied to a horse float by the side of a busy highwaywhile the owner is changing a tyre. The fact is that you never know when you are going tohave to tie your horse up so, for your sake and that of your horse, you’d best make surethat he ties up properly.

Personally, I’ve traveled many, many miles with my horses, to thousands of locations and inall sorts of situations. Whilst I’m always looking out for the best interests of my horses,sometimes circumstances are not quite ideal and I’ve had to make sure my horse is securelytied to the most solid thing I can find. If I can’t put them in a secure yard and I have totie them for a time, I want to be sure that they’re going to be where I left them when I getback.

So ... why do many horses have issues with being tied up and what do we do about it?

The Cause
As with all things, instead of laying the blame on the horse, let's take a look at why somehorses have problems being tied up. Have you ever seen a horse stand quietly for a longtime, maybe even half an hour or more, or even many times in a row, without any hint of aproblem and then all of a sudden they pull back for all they’re worth? We then look aroundfrantically for what scared the horse to make him pull back. The fact is though, even ifthere may have been a scary thing somewhere (often there isn’t!) that explains why the horsestartled and got scared, it is not necessarily why he pulled back. A dog suddenly cominginto line of sight may startle a horse, but most horses aren’t so scared of a dog that theyneed to run away from it. If they were, there’d be a lot more people getting dragged aroundby their horses on the end of a lead rope or being run off with. Getting a fright is onething, pulling back is another. And I’m sure we’ve all seen a horse pulling back ‘for noreason’!

So yes ... fear may trigger it, but what is the cause? Remember, horses are veryintelligent creatures who have survived on this planet for millennia. As prey animals theyare incredibly efficient at survival because of their finely tuned instincts ... those toflee and to be aware of everything around them. Therefore, there is always a reason forwhat they do.

I refer in this case to an earlier article in the ‘Road to Horsemanship’ series, onSensitive Spots on the horse and, in particular in this case, to the Death Spot. The DeathSpot can be found immediately behind the ears of the horse and is where the spinal column isclosest to the outside of the horse. It is a very sensitive spot and horses instinctivelyknow that it is one of the prime locations that an attacking predator will strike. One goodswipe at this point can sever the spinal cord and disable the horse rendering him flightless... the worst thing that can happen to a horse. So, he will do whatever it takes to protectthis spot. Even if we use a really strong halter to tie him up and it may hurt him to pullon it, he’ll just panic even more when he feels pressure here and pull back harder in anattempt to get away and find release. Many young foals have been killed before they even geta chance in life, because the first time they felt pressure at this point from a foalingslip (foal halter), they reared up and flipped over, breaking their necks.

Most horses are happy to stand quietly with a halter on whilst it is just hanging thereinertly, but as soon as they feel a little pressure, their reaction can become quiteviolent. If you watch a horse that pulls back, often you’ll see in the first moment when heputs a bit of weight on the halter, that he is not overly fearful, until he feels thepressure increase and then things change very quickly. You’ll see the fear intensify in aninstant as the right-brain kicks in. This can explain why a horse can be standing quietlyone minute and then, without warning, become panic stricken the next, or why a horse seemsto have an exaggerated reaction to something seemingly not that scary.

The Cure
Covering up the problem by avoiding tying your horse up or tying to a piece of string willnot fix the problem. At best it will only mask it for the time being and, at worst, it willexacerbate the problem because any problem left untended tends to intensify. So, what doyou do to fix it?

We have two issues here to deal with. 1) confidence and 2) yielding to pressure. If a horseis confident in himself, in you and in his surroundings he will be less likely to feel theneed to escape and therefore pull back. The second issue is yielding to pressure. AtQuantum Savvy, one of our key principles is that horses always have options. So where, youmay ask, is the option in being tied up? We know we need to be able to tie our horse up,however tying up does take away the option to flee. Fleeing is a good option in the horseworld, but there are times in the human world, such as we’ve already mentioned, when fleeingis not such a good idea. So we need to teach the horse that he does have an option ... theoption to find comfort. Instead of finding it through fleeing, it can be found throughyielding to pressure. In other words, he needs to learn that he can find comfort byyielding to the halter instead of pulling back on it to try to escape. This will only workif you have also helped your horse to become confident at the same time. You can teach yourhorse to yield to pressure all you like, but if he is not confident, he won’t be able toyield to the halter and stand still ... he’ll still be scared and want to run away. Thesetypes of horses tend to run away (pull back) and then run right into the thing they weretied to.

To build your horses confidence, a good place to start is by desensitising him. Teach him,by using rhythm, timing and releasing when he tries, to be able to handle things all overhis body and in his personal space. (See Level One, Chapters Two and Three in the Road To Horsemanship series)

Get to where you can touch him anywhere on his body with your hands, a stick, your rope,plastic bags, anything you can think of and the more the better. Then do the same in hispersonal space, all around him. This will really help him to relax and not react so much tohis surroundings. Once you’ve done this, familiarize him with objects in his environmentthat may be scary ... tractors, burnt logs, motor bikes etc. Many horse owners will saythings like ‘my horse doesn’t like plastic bags / motor bikes / flapping objects' etc.Avoiding these ‘scary’ things won’t fix the problem, in fact it’ll make it worse as horsesare sceptical by nature and will become more so if never exposed to these things. Doingwhat we call the Flight Test will help here. (See Level Two, Chapters Five and Six in theRoad To Horsemanship series)

The other thing you’ll need to do is teach him to yield to pressure so that when he doesfeel the pressure of the halter, he won’t panic and become right-brained*. It is not anatural thing for a horse to yield to pressure on his body … his instinct is to push throughpressure and escape, so it may take a bit of practise. Teach him to yield from the pole andthe rest of his body too, as it is a concept that will help you in many situations. You’llneed to be patient, use your phases (apply pressure gradually ... see ‘Phases’ article fromthe RTH series) and release the pressure quickly when he tries. It’s the release thatteaches the horse, so this last point is crucial. (See Level One, Chapters Four and Fivein the Road To Horsemanship series)

Once you’ve done both of these things, you can test it out by looping the rope once over arail, to simulate your horse being tied up. Use a plastic bag or similar to gradually add abit of pressure to your horse, so that he backs into the halter and feels pressure at thepole. If he reacts and pulls back a little you can let the rope slide a bit but make surethe pressure stays the same. Remember it’s the release that teaches him so if you let gonow and he finds comfort you’ve just taught him to pull back. If he comes forward andreleases the pressure himself, even just a tiny bit, make sure you release too and stopwaving the bag straight away. Now you’ve taught him to think and yield to the pressure. Ifhe still has lot of trouble with this, then you have some more homework to do, so go back tothe beginning and do some more.

Yielding from pressure at the poll is a big deal for horses so expect a few reactions fromtime to time. However, if you are patient your reward will be a horse that you canconfidently tie up anywhere at anytime. So even if it takes you a few months, it’ll beworth it for years of trouble free tying up. Your horse may still get a fright from time totime when tied up … he may even test out the halter and rope you have him tied with, howeverif you’ve done a good job he’ll know how to find comfort and release and he’ll stay leftbrained and relax again. Well worth the investment of time and effort.

Do’s –
- Do teach your horse to be confident and yield to pressure so you can tie him up securely.You never know when the day will come that you have to be able to do this and you want tomake sure that your precious friend is going to be okay. You’d never forgive yourself if hegot loose and hurt someone, or got hit by a car etc.
- Do learn how to tie quick release knots so you can get him undone quickly if need be. Adda safety latch if you have a cluey horse.
- Do use a narrow, soft rope halter that is almost weightless to wear and that will applypressure should he pull back. He needs to feel the discomfort of pulling back so that hehas something to yield from. It will also give high comfort and release as soon as heyields.

Definite Don’ts –
- Don't tie your horse to an unhitched horse-float, or anything unsecured.
- Don’t tie him to a net fence or anything that can become a moveable barrier trap should hepull it away from its posts etc.
- Don’t tie your horse to an old or rickety fence or to a cross rail, unless its verysturdy. An upright post is the better part of a fence to tie to.
- Don’t tie him so long that he gets himself in trouble if he puts his head down to grazeand steps over his rope.
- Don’t tie him too short either, that he has nowhere to go. He should be able to reach theground but that’s enough.
- Don’t tie a complicated knot that takes forever to undo.
- Don’t tie your horse near a gate or to a gate.
- Don’t use a wide halter on your horse especially when tying him up. It may stop him fromgetting away however it won’t teach him anything. The wider and stronger a halter is, theeasier it is for a horse to pull back against as it distributes the weight being put on ittherefore having no pressure point. Even though it may stop him from escaping, it is morelikely to teach him to pull back and in many cases it’ll make the situation worse, as thehorse’s panic increases when he realises that he can’t escape nor can he find releaseanywhere. A narrow soft halter is a far better tool.

* See previous article in the Road ToHorsemanship series.

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