Mare breaking halter pulling back

[bward]

Anyone notice that its almost always Mares that pull back? I wonder why that it. Must be their female makeup.

Anyway, we had a Thoroughbred filly that would not tie and we did the belly rope like msscamp described and also used the halter rope. She was tied with two ropes.. the belly rope which would grab first and then the halter rope. She was tied to a solid fence around a 14 inch post, and tied with enough length to be able to eat off the ground and drink from a bucket.

We left her there for 3 days, and 3 nights. ( We fed and watered her several times a day)

After 3 days we examined her and found that she had soft swellings behind the poll and behind the withers and also between the front legs where the rope came through.

She had obviously been testing the ropes but was unable to break them.
She stood quiet until I went to untie the ropes and amazingly she pulled back for all she was worth and dug those ropes into all that sore tissue. I could not beleive it. You could tell by the look on her face that she was not enjoying pulling back but just couldn't help reacting.

She failed to learn and went down the road. I dont know what makes them like that. Her sister respected being tied from day one. ??

 

[3MR]

I woulldnt use a break away anything . They will just learn that pulling is rewarded. Id get the strongest lead/chain/whatever and halter I could get and just tie them up for years on end. Or at least until they learned they couldnt get free by pulling back.

I wouldnt sell her because of this. I dont think its going to be that hard for you to correct. She just need to learn that pulling isnt going to berewarded.

 

[randiliana]

I woulldnt use a break away anything . They will just learn that pulling is rewarded. Id get the strongest lead/chain/whatever and halter I could get and just tie them up for years on end. Or at least until they learned they couldnt get free by pulling back.

I wouldnt sell her because of this. I dont think its going to be that hard for you to correct. She just need to learn that pulling isnt going to berewarded.

Exactly!!

 

[hayray]

I've about had it. My mare has started pulling back and jerking the lead out of my hands. I tied her to a post and she sat back and snapped her halter. I tied the lead around her poll and nose and she sat back on that and broke that. I can't get the lead on her long enough to tie her. Any ideas before I just haul her sorry butt to the sale barn?

Once they learn this it is really hard to break. One thing you can do is to take the horse into a stall and use a long lunge line or rope and instead of tying her just loop the rope around a post so that when she pulls back she hits the back of the stall first and does not break anything. You can do the same thing outside at a post - have a couple long lines, one attatched to the halter and looped around a post and one from the halter to your hand and sit there on a chair and hang out for a while, if she pulls back yell whoa and the rope will slip because it is tied. - hopefully she does not realize the distance she is creating (that is another issue) but rather she has no pressure to lean against and snap the halter (horses natural instinct to lean against constant pressure - fly shaker response). Obviously the horse should lead and lunge well and stand will otherwise the whoa and line won't mean anything. In severe cases with wild type horses you could use two heavy duty nylon halters and a belly rope in addion to the lunge line. Lariat ropes are way stronger than lunge lines.

 

[horserider202]

Here is a suggestion I read about though I haven't had to try it with my horses. Tie one end of a long rope to a heavy truck tire. Throw the other end of the rope over a strong overhead beam. Attach to her halter and let her pull. When she pulls she will have to hold up the weight of the tire.She will get "tired" of holding the weight and quit pulling. It's a good idea to set this up to have a wall behind her so she can't keep backing up. Happy Horsing. Katht

 

[J&T Farm]

hey:

i would use a lip-chain on her my mare was running backwards when you would go to get on we used a lip-chain and she has
not done it since hope this helps you.


good luck!

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Stout neck rope always works for me. But I use neck ropes anyway. Getting tired of popping my reins in the cowpens or in the trailer.

 

[peg4x4]

I've about had it. My mare has started pulling back and jerking the lead out of my hands. I tied her to a post and she sat back and snapped her halter. I tied the lead around her poll and nose and she sat back on that and broke that. I can't get the lead on her long enough to tie her. Any ideas before I just haul her sorry butt to the sale barn?

Started,you say..why,and how did she get the idea she could? Had a colt,pony smart and arab hot,could rip the lead out of my hands..He'd spin,tuck his chin aginst his chest and take off! Smart enough he knew when I'd slipped the rope around a tree. I got a 3inch peice of metal pipe.hooked a stud chain into halter cheekpiece,ran it thro the pipe and thro the other cheekpiece---the chain hung down,didn't touch the horse atall,but when he ran off,the pipe nearly knocked him out..tied him to an overhead line with the rig..he tried all sorts of tricks,but he stood tied after a few weeks training

 

[circlet]

i agree with the person who advised you to get a rope halter. we had a mare who broke two halters and the rope halter cured her of it pretty easily.

when you tie her up, be aware that the struggle might get kinda ugly and there's always a chance that the horse could hurt themselves doing something like this, so take that into consideration first. and if the horse really goes crazy DON'T try to intervene and untie her or something like that. when my wife was a little girl she tried to untie a horse that was throwing a fit and she got her arm beat up between the trailer and the horse, even worse a little girl was killed around here about a year ago when she tried to calm down a stallion that was going crazy in a similar situation.

you also need to correct her ground manners.

 

[flaboy-]

I am just curious if this horse has been corrected yet. Haven't heard anything lately. I just bought a 3 YO gelding that had the same habit. The lady I bought him from said she just went out, found a light pole, tied him to it and left him there for two hours. She said he tried to pull that pole down for the first 15 minutes or so but gave up. He doesn't pull back anymore.

I say good ropes, good halters, and good poles are good training devices.

 

[MillIronQH]

Go to TSC or some other place that carries the knotted rope halters made out of 1/4" climbing rope. (Get someone to show you how to put it on right) Tie (don't snap) a good 3/4 inch cotton lead rope to it. I use a 10 ft lead but I make my own. The rope halter narrows the pressure across the poll and with the knots applying pressure to the side of her face she'll figure out real quick that it's isn't worth the effort. Tie her to something stout enough that she can't break it. Tie her higher then the top of her withers or she could pull her withers down (twist her neck). I've had 14-1600 pound horses and mules lay back on this type of rig hard and none of them has ever busted one yet. 99% of the time it's the hardware that breaks.

I've also used a 20 ft lead and looped it thru a heavy duty innertube tied to a tree limb about 8-10 ft above the ground. I take about three wraps and then encourage them to set back. The inner tube will give but it won't break and it maintains a steady pressure that is uncomfortable enough that they soon give to it.
The harder they sit back the more the pressure increases.Z

 

[sidney411]

Thanks everyone! I took her over to my friends house and she helped me work her. She tied her to an intertube and she didn't even pullthe rope tight, she hasn't acted up since then, but I haven't messed with her since I took her out to my friends either. I don't know, maybe she was in heat that day she was just being a b-i-t-c-h? I've never been around a mare before, only had geldings. How do you know when a mare is in heat?

 

[circlet]

some people will say it's obvious when she is, some say it's almost impossible to tell.

i think i can tell most of the time, the two ways are... first, if she's in there with any boys at all, they seem to pay some extra attention to her, (side-note, if you have a buddy-sour gelding who doesn't like to leave the pen, he may get worse about it if there's mares in heat).

more scientifically and specifically, she'll walk around with her tail just a little in the air and the vulva will flick and it's bright pink when it flicks, it also secretes some liquid sometimes.

why is it i feel like i'm in jr. high sex-ed class after i typed that last part?!?!

 

[BRUCE1]

The inner tube will work well, so do sand bags, she is spoiled and stuburn, you have not worked her enough, drastic measures are in order, before it gets worse, you need to let her know who is in charge: whos the boss: I have sugestions but moast animal lovers will think it crule, so I will let you take the comments listed and use it to inprove matters as you deem.