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QUESTION:

I have a 16 hand Quarter/Clydesdale mix. She is 6 years old. I got her about a year ago. She had always been ridden English. I have taken her on one trail ride and she did fine as far as riding. But when on the trail ride you stop for awhile you can not tie her to anything, and when back at camp she will not stay tied to the trailer etc. She will break a normal cotton lead rope very easily, so I tried to tie her up close with a lariat rope and a good steel snap. She first broke the snap. Then I took off the snap and ran the lariat through her halter, then she broke it.

I fear if she keeps getting away with breaking away I will never stop her. Everyone tells me not to use anything like a chain that I might not be able to get loose in case of emergency.

Someone told me to use an old innertube, cut in half, tied between her and the post to cause some spring back after she pulls on it. She is also a little weird about being held too close. If I give her all her lead she will walk with me no problem, but if I hold it tight up by the halter she shakes her head. I think this has somthing to do with her being tied up also.

Hope you can help me.

- K. N.

ANSWER:
 
Here's an approach that may help: Take a sturdy lariat and loop it around her belly, then run the line through the ring on her halter and tie it securely (but with a knot you can release quickly after she has pulled it extremely tight) to an immovable post. 

As she pulls away from the post, the rope tightens around her belly. It would be an unusual horse that could tolerate the amount of pain involved before the rope got close to breaking. 

The photos at the right show the technique in actual practice. Fanny had just fought a lead rope, pulling so hard that she broke the snap -- just like your horse did. That's the broken lead rope on the ground in the photo. 

In addition to the lariat, I used a "Be Nice" halter on her. The combination had her standing as nicely as you could want within a minute... even when I gave her a sacking-out.

Fanny hitched with a lasso looped around her belly

Fanny being sacked out while standing hitched


Happy Horse Training!

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