# Not again! Horse broke the cross ties



## GreySorrel (Mar 5, 2012)

I had a friend who had a few young stock like this so she put a very stout rubber inner tube to a tree, tied the lead rope to that and they learned, that no matter how hard the set back, or fought, they couldn't get loose, so in the end they learned to stand quietly. I am wondering that now that your mare knows that if she sets back hard enough, she can and has broken the snaps or ties and is loose. 

My own QH mare had a thing about being tied, didn't matter where or what or trying the inner tube, for her, it was the feeling of being "caught", she is a very sensitive and reactive mare, hates loud voices, anything that she may view as aggressive she reacts. I now just throw her lead over the fence if I am working with her, if she moves I make a noise or say "No" in a firm voice, put her back where I had her and she stays there. My farrier has tied her and she was okay with him, but he knows he has to be patient with her. 

Could you get some quietex and put that on her food, take the edge off, especially when she is in heat? I did this for a while with my gelding who when we got a new mare, thought he was the reincarnation of Valentino!! It took the edge off, he was a pleasure to work and ride and all was well. Or, smart pak has some wonderful calming pellets that work wonders, had a friend who's mare was reactive like yours, they put her on them and she became a whole new horse after about 6 weeks on the pellets.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Tie her to a "patience pole" and leave her there except for water breaks for an entire day, until she learns patience. Repeat for as many days as it takes. Make sure she's tied so she can't break loose. She's taught herself that if she sets back and pulls, she can get out. VERY bad habit and hard to break.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Okay, I skimmed the long story but read the short story.

She is not responding well to pressure so the best thing to do would be to work on that through groundwork. She won't connect lunging with her issues in the crossties. She will connect yielding of body parts, backing up on lead and stepping forward (to release pressure) when pressure is applied via lead to her issues in the crossties.

My horse had the same issue.. except it was crossties, halters, just pressure in general. A poke in the side would have him bolting and jumping and spooking away.

Work on the base issues and it'll become a lot better in other areas!


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## TerciopeladoCaballo (May 27, 2012)

I'm worried she knows it's only related to the cross ties :/ She doesn't haul when tied in her stall. I'm thinking I'd have to set up two "patience" poles and tie her between them to create the same feeling. Or tie between two trees. Not sure what to tie her with if she's broken off the snap of the usual tie (I recall a 50-60lb dog breaking the snap on one such tie), but I guess a lead rope or thick rope is stronger than plain cross ties... I was always worried about leaving her tied to something sturdy when she gets uncomfortable, because I thought she could hurt herself.


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## Samstead (Dec 13, 2011)

would these help? they're what we use at our barn in case a horse spooks and needs to be released for safety reasons http://www.nqhfs.com.au/images/Quick release clip.jpg


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## Samstead (Dec 13, 2011)

Samstead said:


> would these help? they're what we use at our barn in case a horse spooks and needs to be released for safety reasons http://www.nqhfs.com.au/images/Quick release clip.jpg


not for solving the problem but for it happens again, save yourself a crosstie


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

TerciopeladoCaballo said:


> Thoroughly done with her crap, I lunged her a full session and made her work hard.... 'cause you better be believing I am NOT going to let her act a nut in pasture after that incident,


This bit first, because it bothers me... Her 'crap' is obviously because she's scared & reactive in this situation. So lunging her hard (I assume you're doing it as punishment?) is not warranted or going to achieve anything there. Except that making her run hard is just going to keep that adrenaline/stress level high for longer, not calm her, & potentially also associate you working her with the fear.



> I don't think she's completely comfortable with being restrained, so how do I fix that? What do I do when she is hauling back on the cross ties, or about to do it? She is usually laid back and confident, but it seems that when she has the mind to, she'll break out of the cross ties.


Well the first statement's a bit of a no brainer!:lol: How do you fix it? By getting her comfortable & confident *in those situations, in a non-confrontational way*. What do you do when she's hauling back on x-ties? Think to yourself 'whoops, I shouldn't have put her in that situation before she was ready for it.' It sounds like a situation of, rather than 'when she has a mind to', it's when her 'mind' has gone AWOL for some reason & she's panicking & reacting. In that situation, she can't really think. One tool I have found helpful & portable to use when teaching horses to tie confidently(& something I use in the trailer for safety) is a 'Tie Ring' or such, with which you can teach a horse to restrained confidently, with a variety of different tensions, without them being 'stuck fast', so without risk of breakage, injury, further panic, etc.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Does you horse have to be in cross ties? Cannot be single tied?


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## TerciopeladoCaballo (May 27, 2012)

Doesn't have to be cross tied, though in the places I bring her to they require cross ties, no offered single tie area.

I tied her with a lead rope to the wash stand now, single; she walked and moved as much as she could with the length of rope available, looking careful not to pull on it, and in the end stood there with a hind leg resting. Figured I'd tie her secure this time and see what she would do, which, like the first time, gave nuthin. She's not excited, so is just standing there as usual. That's why I say when she's got a mind to she'll break out; she stays tied when I briefly secure her to a tree when we're out on a hack, and stands calm for the cross ties on a daily basis. It's just that when she get's hyped up, there's an issue. I can lead her, lunge her, ride her when she's excited, yet being confined and excited is different. She honestly did not look scared when she was pulling the cross ties yesterday, she broke both one at a time and headed straight for the pony--- she wanted out, and she got out. Prior to breaking out, she had been neighing to the pony and anxiously looking over at her. No whites of the eyes showing, tail switching, ear pinning, or blowing.

When I say I make her move, I mean on the lunge she is already energized after the incident and wants to take off, so I make her bend and work herself more properly than simply flying around and looking wherever she wants to.

I'm trying to get her into an excited mood again by having the pony out and her tied; the lead rope won't snap, I'd like her to figure that out when I expect it rather than that one time how many weeks or months later when she is hyped up again and decides to try the ties. I had quick release cross ties, but had to get rid of that feature, due to the fact that she figured out how to shake and toss her head to free herself and eat the grass next to the wash stand...


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

We get almost as many threads about horses that have tying problems as those that buck.
I will repeat what I've posted before on some of them.
First, she could use a couple of turnout sessions with a stout lead TIED, not hooked to a secure Hamilton Halter, but loose. Let her walk around, step on the lead and fight it and start to realize that she is in charge of spooking herself.
Next, I agree with above. You could do what I did with my geldings last year. I tied them up in the shade for 6 hours at a time while I gardened some 20-30 feet away. They have gotten really good at standing tied. AND, every time I have to de-burr them and my 7yo QH pulls back--he had some issues with tying in the past--I pull him back towards the post, no big deal, no emotion, just being the head broodmare.
*EVERY TIME she breaks the cross ties YOU are training her to do so.* If you think about it, if YOU were scared of being tied with one lead, two, much more restrictive, would be even more frightening.


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## TerciopeladoCaballo (May 27, 2012)

Corporal said:


> We get almost as many threads about horses that have tying problems as those that buck.
> I will repeat what I've posted before on some of them.
> First, she could use a couple of turnout sessions with a stout lead TIED, not hooked to a secure Hamilton Halter, but loose. Let her walk around, step on the lead and fight it and start to realize that she is in charge of spooking herself.
> Next, I agree with above. You could do what I did with my geldings last year. I tied them up in the shade for 6 hours at a time while I gardened some 20-30 feet away. They have gotten really good at standing tied. AND, every time I have to de-burr them and my 7yo QH pulls back--he had some issues with tying in the past--I pull him back towards the post, no big deal, no emotion, just being the head broodmare.
> *EVERY TIME she breaks the cross ties YOU are training her to do so.* If you think about it, if YOU were scared of being tied with one lead, two, much more restrictive, would be even more frightening.


I still wouldn't call it scary for her, but I see your point!

I went out to check her after tying her single to the washstand post, and found that the knot I made a little loose in order to be able to easily untie it later, she had pulled and made the length of rope loose enough to allow her to dig up the wet ground around the facets, looks like she chewed a corner of the rubber mat off, and went to work eating the weeds and grass within reach. So I re-tied her, with two lead ropes in cross tie fashion, and this time sat in the sunroom not far away to keep an eye on her. She stood there all still and fine until my neighbor drove up an acre away, and on we go to the escape efforts; I hadn't really intended it this way, but the end of one of the lead ropes has a snap, and I had just left it alone and tied a knot to the halter. With the snap dangling just an inch, she was able to poke and hit herself in the neck with it (did not harm her, I checked) whenever she tossed her head. Shortly after figuring that wasn't working, she tried going forward, tried turning, tried getting her teeth on the rope, all to no success, and finally stood there quiet again for another twenty minutes with her ears flopping sideways and her eyes closing, falling asleep. I just went out and let her go into the pony's pasture. As a total, she was tied for an hour and a half, the last half an hour being in cross tie set up.

Later I'll do the lead rope idea of leaving the lead on, but with her in her paddock; personally I'm not comfortable with the idea of her out at pasture with it just yet. I did it once before in her paddock thinking the same thing about pressure and release, but she kept stepping on it and would stand still, toss her head and pull when she found resistance, so I took it off and left her alone. Yep, figured I'd better nip this in the bud now before she breaks another set of ties, it's completely my responsibility to make sure she's trained. Here I was thinking that urinating on hard ground was the worst thing I could teach her accidentally ._." (If anyone's wondering, that did get fixed, putting the shavings outside her stall worked!)


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I agree that lunging her or roundpenning or anything else like that is a waste of time - other that it makes you feel better!!
By the time you've taken her out of there she's already forgotten why she's being raced around and sees no connection to doing that and breaking free of the cross ties.
If she only does it in cross ties then I'm wondering if she feels too restricted by them and that panics here - cant move her head or front legs from side to side as she can when single tied?
My horses had never cross tied before we came here and that thought worried me as with my barn layout they have to be cross tied for the farrier and for clipping. I've actually had no trouble with them but on advice from someone local I bought ties that are slightly elasticated so they do have a lot more head movement if they need it' I also use the quick release clips that someone else has posted - I prefer them to knots. They are like this but I have quick release clips at both ends
Dura-Tech® Safety Stretch Cross Tie 8' in Trailer Ties / Cross Ties at Schneider Saddlery


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

It would also help if you know someone with a seasoned horse that could be tied close to her. MAKE SURE that both are far enough away from each other that YOUR horse won't hurt the older one if she breaks the lead. I would, if possible, tie the older horse on the other side of the fence.
Also, I would just bring a chair and that book you've been meaning to read, hard cover or Kindle, and spend the afternoon letting her develop some patience. The pawing shows both fear and impatience.
We used our herd leader, "Tyke", who had had several careers including a TB lead pony, train our herd to accept all sorts of things. He was pushy, bossy and inspired confidence. Horses will do that for each other. The US Cavalry always paired the experienced horse with the green horse to break into work, bc the young horse learned from the older one, that the world wasn't gonna eat him.


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## TerciopeladoCaballo (May 27, 2012)

jaydee said:


> I agree that lunging her or roundpenning or anything else like that is a waste of time - other that it makes you feel better!!
> By the time you've taken her out of there she's already forgotten why she's being raced around and sees no connection to doing that and breaking free of the cross ties.
> If she only does it in cross ties then I'm wondering if she feels too restricted by them and that panics here - cant move her head or front legs from side to side as she can when single tied?
> My horses had never cross tied before we came here and that thought worried me as with my barn layout they have to be cross tied for the farrier and for clipping. I've actually had no trouble with them but on advice from someone local I bought ties that are slightly elasticated so they do have a lot more head movement if they need it' I also use the quick release clips that someone else has posted - I prefer them to knots. They are like this but I have quick release clips at both ends
> Dura-Tech® Safety Stretch Cross Tie 8' in Trailer Ties / Cross Ties at Schneider Saddlery


 
First time she broke one tie, I lunged her to take the energy off, I don't expect it's fair to ask her to go right back into the cross ties after having landed on her rump and being in an excited state. Second time, I was meaning to work her because she was so hot, had her in the ties so that I could groom and tack her up, so she absolutely needed the energy worn off some. Nope, I don't chase or punish her after the fact. I've tried some times to bop her nose with the halter or some such thing for being excited, it never worked, so I don't do that. Don't believe in yanking a horse's halter a billion times and backing them for spooking or being excited (yet as for aggressive charging someone, I would pop the halter and push them around mercilessly).


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

TerciopeladoCaballo said:


> Doesn't have to be cross tied, though in the places I bring her to they require cross ties, no offered single tie area.
> 
> I tied her with a lead rope to the wash stand now, single; she walked and moved as much as she could with the length of rope available, looking careful not to pull on it, and in the end stood there with a hind leg resting. Figured I'd tie her secure this time and see what she would do, which, like the first time, gave nuthin. She's not excited, so is just standing there as usual. That's why I say when she's got a mind to she'll break out; she stays tied when I briefly secure her to a tree when we're out on a hack, and stands calm for the cross ties on a daily basis. It's just that when she get's hyped up, there's an issue. I can lead her, lunge her, ride her when she's excited, yet being confined and excited is different. She honestly did not look scared when she was pulling the cross ties yesterday, she broke both one at a time and headed straight for the pony--- she wanted out, and she got out.* Prior to breaking out, she had been neighing to the pony and anxiously looking over at her*. No whites of the eyes showing, tail switching, ear pinning, or blowing.
> 
> ...


I must be the only one who has an issue with this behavior in the first place. When she is cross tied she should be paying attention to YOU. Not be worrying about another horse out in the field. Personally I would have been having words with her about that prior to ever having a cross tie issue at all. She is disrespecting you with all of her carrying on when you are with her. Plain and simple.

I do realize that there are situations where she may HAVE to be cross tied, but I personally am a great proponent of ground tying. If she is taught to ground tie she best NOT MOVE at all when you tell her to stand. There is no allowing a step here and there, fidgeting, etc. 

I will also say please DO NOT ever tie her and leave her as you did in your latest post. It was evident from her chewing the mat, etc, that you were not watching her. That is a very dangerous situation and honestly she could have broken her neck. If she continues to have tying issues I personally would get some professional help. Tying is a tough issue, and it scares the he!! out of me since they can get hurt so easily. Not for novices, IMO.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

franknbeans said:


> I must be the only one who has an issue with this behavior in the first place. When she is cross tied she should be paying attention to YOU. Not be worrying about another horse out in the field. Personally I would have been having words with her about that prior to ever having a cross tie issue at all. She is disrespecting you with all of her carrying on when you are with her. Plain and simple.


'Should' can be as difficult & unhelpful a term as 'respect' IMO tho. While I disagree with the way you put/see it, I absolutely agree 100% that it's 'what happens before' & addressing that behaviour... & reason for it should be the first focus. Addressing only the 'symptom/result' is sort of by the by.

That the horse is getting anxious and 'excited' in this manner sounds obvious that fear & reactivity is indeed the reason. That she isn't 'flattening ears, swishing tail' etc doesn't mean she's not. 

I agree also with Frankn that putting her in a 'sink or swim' situation as you did, and unsupervised, was not the way I'd do it, and potentially dangerous. If you are going to leave a horse tied firm, at least make sure it's tied high and short enough that injury is not as likely, to something unbreakable & pref elastic, with a wide, flat collar - rather than a halter, particularly a rope halter.

I do realize that there are situations where she may HAVE to be cross tied, but I personally am a great proponent of ground tying. If she is taught to ground tie she best NOT MOVE at all when you tell her to stand. There is no allowing a step here and there, fidgeting, etc. 

I will also say please DO NOT ever tie her and leave her as you did in your latest post. It was evident from her chewing the mat, etc, that you were not watching her. That is a very dangerous situation and honestly she could have broken her neck. If she continues to have tying issues I personally would get some professional help. Tying is a tough issue, and it scares the he!! out of me since they can get hurt so easily. Not for novices, IMO.[/QUOTE]


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

loosie said:


> 'Should' can be as difficult & unhelpful a term as 'respect' IMO tho. While I disagree with the way you put/see it, I absolutely agree 100% that it's 'what happens before' & addressing that behaviour... & reason for it should be the first focus. Addressing only the 'symptom/result' is sort of by the by.
> 
> *That the horse is getting anxious and 'excited' in this manner sounds obvious that fear & reactivity is indeed the reason. That she isn't 'flattening ears, swishing tail' etc doesn't mean she's not. *
> 
> Totally agree loosie - This is the point I was trying to make when I said that I think she may find the restriction of not being able to move her head at all in cross ties 'claustrophobic' and why I suggested using something elasticated or rubber that will 'give' a bit


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

This may be seen as a radical idea next to all the various common cures for this particular problem, but it's one that works for me. Instead of running her around as punishment or any of that nonsense, just try taking ahold of the lead rope about two feet from the snap, take the slack out of it in a forward direction (and hold, don't pull) and see what she does. If the response is anything other than to promptly and softly step forward as the slack is taken away from her, then you've identified why your horse doesn't tie. Most horses don't and either pull back, or just stand there and lean on it. All it should take is the weight of the rope being lifted if she truly understands what's expected of her when she feels herself restrained by a line attached to her face. 

If she passes this test then we could talk about some other things, but most don't. Any pull-back horse I've ever met had trouble with basic yielding to pressure like this, or if they knew anything about yielding it was usually in the context of someone working the crap outta them or making them 'come to Jesus'. That won't get her calm - just the opposite! The best you'll be able to do is to effect a temporary behavior change through using fatigue but tomorrow it'll be the same **** thing!


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

I use cross ties much of the time. A horse fighting in cross ties can be SO dangerous. I always attach the crossties to the beams using a couple layers of hay twine. That way, if a horse gets frantic, they will break LONG before the crossties do. Once a horse panics fighting crossties, they will remember that for a long time. 

When they break the twine and don't have to fight, they will learn there is nothng to panic about.....maybe.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

To me it doesn't sound like a tying issue. More of an excited young horse thing.
Yes the horse needs to respect you and yadda yadda, but at the same time you also need to have your thinking cap on at all times, especially around a young high strung horse. And now, around a young high strung horse who knows she is big and can break things when she's having a tantrum.
So on the days when you know she is high strung - pick your battles. Tie her in a stall, tack quickly and get working. Better yet, don't give her 5 days off and especially don't coop her up in her stall because you are afraid of a little mud.

I don't think that tying her out in this situation is going to fix anything. I think you just have to be more careful and pick your battles with the horse because she is winning too much of the time in battles that you are setting yourself up to lose in. Always set yourself up to win.

Good luck!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Ninamebo (May 25, 2013)

My horse broke 5 pairs of crossties and 2 halters and a fence (post tying) back in his day. Now, a herd of loose horses running past or a backfiring tractor can happen and he's not going anywhere. Why? I went back to basics, getting him more reactive to his pressure release cues (he's mega sensitive) and then started with threading a long rope through a very secure loop in the wall and letting him figure it out.

You have more leverage if they start to get weird but if it comes to it you can always just let it go to keep yourself safe. Then bring them back and start right over again. 
She probably doesn't try to backup in her stall because she knows she'll just hit a wall. Smart horse, but I say from now on you only work with her in the cross ties. The story of your second ordeal tells me she was just waiting for you to get out of the way so she could do her thing. 

Take her to the cross ties, mess around with her for, like, three minutes max. Maybe periodically give her a carrot or treat. Then praise her, take her out and walk around a little bit. Then come back around and do the same, gradually increase the time. This won't be a one day and it's solved thing, it will take a few weeks of diligence but she will start to realize that standing there she will eventually get praise and reward with a nice calm walk. 

If when you do this she backs up, go get her, bring her right back there again. She will start to learn that getting out of that situation won't be worth it. Proper lunging to get her listening to you won't help the situation, because it has nothing to do with it. She does listen to you, she showed that when she was thinking about backing in the ties and you stopped her. The only ground work that will be helpful in this situation is pressure and release. Getting her going backwards and forwards with next to no pressure necessary. 

I also think it does take some maturing. The last episode I had with Max, he was searching for things to spook at, then once he had broken the ties he stood there and had this look of "Now what?" on his face. Good luck with training!


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

~*~anebel~*~ said:


> I think you just have to be more careful and pick your battles with the horse because she is winning too much of the time in battles that you are setting yourself up to lose in. Always set yourself up to win.


Agree with picking battles & setting situations up to win, tho I also think it's important to set the horse up to win too, not 'lose'... sometimes takes a bit of thought to work out win/win situations:wink:


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Ninamebo said:


> ...started with threading a long rope through a very secure loop in the wall ...
> You have more leverage if they start to get weird but if it comes to it you can always just let it go to keep yourself safe. Then bring them back and start right over again. ...
> She will start to learn that getting out of that situation won't be worth it.


Ezacily! Also, being on the other end of a long rope & around a rail, ring, Tie Ring, The Clip or such, so it slides, reduces the likelihood of actual panic & fight, because she can move her feet a bit & get *gradually* used to firmer pressure. A long rope also greatly increases the chances that you'll retain control, that she won't actually get away & reinforce that lesson.

I also suggest starting very gradually, as was also said - aim to remove her from those situations that make her nervous *before* she gets really nervous & reactive. Teach her that it's a non-event & build her up gradually to being confident for gradually longer & more claustrophobic stuff.


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## Foxtail Ranch (Mar 10, 2012)

Clinton Anderson made a great video about dealing with claustrophobia. He tied a horse next to a solid wall and used another rope to "squeeze" the horse between the rope and the wall. With pressure and release the horse learns to be calm and still in tight spaces. 

My mare came to me with a bad habit of pulling back. I got a blocker tie ring and always used a long rope so if she pulled back, nothing was hurt or broken. That was several months ago. Now I can hard tie her because she doesn't react as severely. I also do the CA exercises described above.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

My filly sets back when tied on the odd occasion. When it STARTED, she didn't get the whole giving to pressure thing, so I taught her, and now she passes that test every time.

I tried the unbreakable halter/lead/tie point combination and she just injured herself. I do not tie to twine as I have had it cause more problems than it solves. So far she's broken two leads and four halters, and badly bent the chin ring on a fifth [which I can't bend back into shape even using machining tools!]. She has done it while I was underneath her trimming her feet, which is EXTREMELY dangerous and I'm very lucky I wasn't killed.

So I got a blocker ring and that was the end of that. I haven't really tested her yet with the hair spray [scary thing if you spray it up near her ears apparently] but what she used to do was spook, get to the end of the rope, and then just freak the heck out. With the blocker ring, she spooks, then meets resistance which GIVES, and that's okay.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

You need to see it from the horse's perspective. Tying a horse hard and fast removes it's ability to escape. Horses that do tie hard and fast are resigned to the fact they will die. It is best to teach the horse patience in a pen by removing the halter (liberty) and asking the horse to stand by using your hand as a stop sign. Place one hand on the horse and begin to circle but go only as far as the shoulder, turn away and circle around to in front and offer a treat if he stood still. Using this method, work your way around the horse, always with your hand on him. Always reinforce the "stop" sign each time. Then move just far enough off that you can't reach him. This is when he may move so go back and reinforce the stop. If you take your time to do this, before long your will be able to make huge circles without him moving. One of the reasons he will stand and wait is because he can escape the predator he knows is lurking out there somewhere. Reinforce this daily for 3 days in a row if you can. Then you will place a bucket of treats outside the pen, and teach him to stop as your walk to the gate. He may want to follow so you will have to direct him back to where you started. When he does wait, grab a treat and walk back. When this is solid, exit the pen, grab a treat and return. Now when you are in the barn aisle do the same stop sign without tying him, just flip his lead over his neck. I think you will find he will stand rock solid. I owned a sitter and as long as he wasn't tied I could introduce anything. If I needed some control a longer rope was used and run around a post or tie ring and I controlled the other end. He would test it and when he realized he wasn't tied hard he was fine. I'd just drop my end on the ground and he'd stand quietly.


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## TerciopeladoCaballo (May 27, 2012)

Blocker ring looks neat, but I wonder what about head tossing? Her sneaky method of getting out to eat the grass or loosen tied lines was to shake her head, not frantically, but bob up and down in various ways, attempting every now and then to stretch her neck down and out.

She's good on a 9 times out of 10 basis, that's what gets on my nerves; I've done small, manageable sessions of groundwork and sacking out every day for a week, and she will have minimal mistakes... we're talking one real misbehavior or mistake for the whole week, the rest small miscommunications from me or uncertainty on her part. It's a challenge finding something to spook her or excite her; some weeks ago I took a crinkly, empty feed bag and waved it all over and around her, she only blinked and lazily looked at me. I swished it over her rump and she bolted in the paddock, yet once I walked back up to her and did it all over again, that was it. We really don't have much recent experience working in high energy together, and I don't work with higher temperament horses. So on a side note, any tips for sacking out? Thus far the only things she consistently gets *stuck* with would be moving near crosswalks on a cloudy/darker day, and wind in her face. This is a thoroughly shown horse... doesn't have any issues with the process of loading and the classes with 50+ horses walking around, freaking out or whatnot. 

On the issue of her pulling out of the cross ties, or really, getting feisty and blocking me out, I think I'll get the blocker ties (I did have the cross ties tied with twine, but the old material on the snap broke first), and practice making her "stand quiet" mode perfect, along with "eyes on me" when exciting things are nearby.

Our groundwork lately has already been heavily centered on pressure-release; I am teaching her a cue to move her hind legs out and her nose in, getting a bend, and moving with exaggerated lateral footwork on a circle and on the straight.

Speaking of pressure and release... she just whipped the pony's butt. I had a big struggle with the pony today, pony taking aim at me several times and pushing right into me, but just recently I let her out with Genny and later found her with a big bite mark on her rump... now she moves away nicely to a light touch. Tried to do it with Genny, and Genny actually pinned her ears at me--- very unlike her. I'm thinking what I have to do is start working her with the pony, and working her away from the pony alternately to re-establish that the new addition to the herd hasn't made her the boss over me, just the pony.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Your horse sees and hears things a mile away. If it senses imminent danger, it will bolt while in crossties. It's not about traffic or gunny sacks, it is genuine fear. I'd be very careful with putting this horse in crossties because on that rare occasion they might not break and she goes up and over backwards. When this happens usually the withers and/or poll are smashed and it's game over.


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