New horse won't stand tied....someone is going to get hurt! HELP!!

rather-b-riding

rather-b-riding

New Member
Oct 7, 2005
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New Jersey, USA
I'll try to make this as brief as I can! I purchased a thoroughbred (ex racer) from a therapeutic riding facility about a week and a half ago. He is sweet as can be, great with kids, under saddle etc etc..He was on crossties when I first went to see him and stood quiet as could be, this was inside in the barn isle. I board him at a farm that has lots of other animals he has probably never see...llamas, pigs, donkeys and more. I gave him time to adjust, walked him around in hand for a few days and let him take it all in.

After about 4 days I put him on cross ties(outside) to groom. He panicked and broke free. I figured he was still a bit nervous of his new surroundings and calmly brought him back and only attached him to one tie. Again and again he would break free but wasn't spooking, just pulling back and breaking free and just stnading there looking at me as if to say "Ha! You can't make me stand if I don't want to!"I ended that grooming session by tying him one more time, brushing a few minutes before he had the chance to break free again, praised him for standing and led him back to his paddock. This has been ongoing for the last few days since that first time. Today, I didn't tie him but left the lead rope untied so he would have some "give"....he pulled back and as I grabbed for the rope it slipped through my fingers and he took off running back to his paddock, panicking the whole way because the lead rope was swinging around him. Thank God there was no one around at the time, there are usually lots of kids there in the afternoon and someone could have seriously gotten hurt!

I am at my wits end! It has been suggested to tie him to something that will not break (like a tree) and let him stand there and panick and freak out and eventually he will accept it and settle down. Is this my last resort? When I grab for the lead rope as he's pulling back he pulls back more, but when I am walking around with him he respects me and will give to pressure, even when he is trying to go for grass! Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!
 
I wouldnt go down the tree route (haha get it ;)) its very dangerous for the horse and isnt going to make him less panicked about being tied up but more. Does he have a companion you can tie up with him?? Hattie is exactly the same. When i saw her at her old home she was tied up on her own stood perfectly. At mine she wont stand still and is frantic if in on her own but if i bring my other horse in with her and tie them close together she stands perfectly. She's just worried about her new surroundings...and me as she doesnt know me yet. Im going to bring her in with my othe rmare till she feels totally happy with that and then try again bringing her in on her own.
 
I'd also warn of being careful, whilst it may seem the horse will settle it may not and could become dangerous for you to step in and free it, or worse still hurt itself.
Have you spoken to the centre you got her from about this? it may be something they worked on and that working in their methods triggers her memory.. and that it's not so scary.

I have a yearling who ran on the forest and hadn't been handled by a human (apart from being forced on and off lorries) till january. I still don't tie him up, but can now groom in or out of stable with head collar and lead rein. lead rein in my hand, or looped through string with me holding the end.
in honesty i could let go of the lead rein, and he wouldn't go anywhere now but we are still working on lifting feet so i like to have the rope in case.

Whenever he's panicked in the past and pulled back, i've allowed the rope to slide through if calming him hasn't worked, but now just telling him it's ok and getting him to take a pace forward again is working a treat :)
 
I bought an ex polo pony 2 years ago and had exactly the same problem. He just panicked when tied up and would pull back but then panic more as the rope got tight until he also would break free. I started tying him to an old bike innertube so that as he pulled back the elastic of it gave so as not to jerk or strain his neck etc. This did work as he realised he couldn't break free but also he couldn;t hurt himself. Don't leave him tied up alone tho just in case he really panics. After a short while he would stand still and was fine probably as he got to know me as well. He also hated being on his own sh I had to bring the other horse in as well. He also wouldn't stand for me to mount he was an absolute nightmare. Now two years on he is perfect and I wouldn't swop him for the world but it did take 12 mths of patience and persistence to get him to this level. Good luk hope you manage to sort it.
 
I definately wouldn't tie him to anything else, other than string. He could seriously hurt himself.

Are there other horses nearby when he's tied up?
If this isn't an option, I'd either tie him up in his stable (if you can trust him to be good), or tie him up with a haynet. I do hate to see horses tied up with haynets, but sometimes its the only way. You could always wean him off of it, in time to come.
 
Thanks everyone...I did hear of the bicycle tube tying and will give that a try. I also have ordered a special tie ring from Clinton Anderson that will actually give when the horse pulls so they won't panic when they realize they can't go anywhere.
 
A horse at my former stable was like that. They had a 3-sided area that they used to tack him up so he was facing out but there was a wall behind him and he knew that he could not pull back. He was fine with that arrangement.
 
I would get a Blocker Tie Ring. It is great to teach young horses not to pull. Depending on how you put the rope in it you can adjust how much pull it takes for the rope to give a little. If you check out this site, it discusses how you use it to train the horse not to pull. I saw a live demonstration with a colt and it worked great. We have about 5 of them around our barn and use them all the time. I want to get some for our trailer too.

Cisco usually stands very quietly, but the other day he was tied to a Blocker ring in the round pen and a friend was leading Snuffy past him. Snuffy pinned his ears and nipped at Cisco a bit. The ring allowed Cisco to jump back by releasing a bit of rope, otherwise he may have injured his poll or nose from the pull of the rope halter.

http://www.equineelite.com/tiering.html

http://www.equineelite.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=EEL&Product_Code=BTR&Category_Code=Tools
 
rather-b-riding said:
Thanks everyone...I did hear of the bicycle tube tying and will give that a try. I also have ordered a special tie ring from Clinton Anderson that will actually give when the horse pulls so they won't panic when they realize they can't go anywhere.
Click to expand...

Oops, I just noticed that you ordered a Blocker Tie ring already. :p
 
I would personally use Purple Hugs method, and groom him without tying up at all until he gets used to you i.e. keep the lead rope in your hand and give him a groom, just a short one first of all and then put him back/turn him out/ride him. Just get his trust and confidence. Cross-ties in my eyes would make a nervous flight animal even more panicky (but that could be just me)

Ditto the others re another horse. This should help calm him. Haynets worked wonderfully with my fidgeter. Now he'll stand still whatever as that's 'his' spot and nice things happen there.

I imagine it will take you a good while to get through to him but taking steps like speaking to the rescue centre could help speed up the process. Horses always test us when we first get them... new surroundings, new friends, new routines, new smells... bwaaaaaaaaaagh, SCAREY! Just keep consistently calm.

Good luck!
 
Thanks..I did email his previous owners about this and they said he only broke free of the cross ties once. When at shows they just held him by the lead rope. I will progress sloooowly and take baby steps with him. I praise him profusely when he stands quietly, and I try to stay as calm as I can when he breaks free. I don't yell or hit, just walk (wrestle) him back up to the post.

Will let you know how he does with the tie ring.
 
rather-b-riding said:
I will progress sloooowly and take baby steps with him. I praise him profusely when he stands quietly, and I try to stay as calm as I can when he breaks free. I don't yell or hit, just walk (wrestle) him back up to the post
Click to expand...

if you have the patience, then I am sure you can get through this. He just needs some confidence in you. You may just have to work around this problem for the rest of his days though. Maybe a NHS person could help you understand more, but basically, it just sounds like something horrid happened when he was tied up.

As with all our horsey foibles, you will learn to get over this as will he.. maybe not perfectly, but he will learn to stand still most times. It's their natural instinct after all, to flee things that scare them!
 
When I teach youngsters to tie up, I use a lunge line, fed through the tie up ring. When they pull back, the lunge line gives them enough rope to take quite a few steps back, but enough for me to either reel them in or calm them down and retrieve them via reeling them gently, so they know they haven't escaped.
 
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