Another very important lesson for an endurance horse is tying. They really need to be able to be tied to a variety of different things. Why? Well, let me tell you a story.
Many years ago on an endurance ride I heard a couple of horses galloping by my rig. It was about…oh, 4 a.m. I got up quickly and put shoes and a raincoat on. Of course it was raining!
My horses were both tied safely on their trailer ties. The loose horses came galloping past me again. They didn’t have halters on them. I was able to grab a couple of halters, ropes, and a bucket with some grain in it. Woke up a friend next to me and we went in pursuit of these loose horses. We were eventually able to catch them with the bucket of feed, and we got halters on them easily enough. Then we went to tie them up to a trailer so that we could go in search of who they belonged to.
The horses didn’t tie. They panicked, freaking out, slipping and falling all over the place. Did I mention that it was raining? The ground was wet and slippery. So, we gave up trying to tie the horses up and instead took them with us as we searched through camp to find where they belonged. We did eventually find an open and empty corral. When I knocked on the door of the trailer, the horse’s owner sleepily announced that those couldn’t possibly be his horses, as his were “right there in the corral”. Just what you want to hear after running around camp for twenty five minutes in the rain at 4 a.m. – NOT!
This was a ridecamp right next to a busy highway at the bottom of a hill where semi trucks run down it at high speeds. Had these horses headed that direction or let’s just say they broke free from being tied (had we been able to tie them up to begin with) it could have easily resulted in fatalities of both the human and equine kind. When I refer to having a horse that ties well, I mean that you can leave your horse tied up safely for hours and not worry about them trying to get loose (or injured in the process).
What is even worse, is that above experience has happened to me more than once, at rides in more then a couple of different regions. This is in part why it is so important that your own horse be as well trained as possible. It’s the best thing you can do to keep them safe as there will always be somebody that hasn’t taken the time to do the rope/hobble/tying lessons, etc.
A horse that has been trained to give to pressure, will not pull up and panic if they step on their lead rope, or reins.
The thing with having a horse that ties well is that you never know what might happen at an endurance ride that is totally out of your control. This is why I am going over some of these training lessons and giving examples of my experiences to show why this type of training is so very important.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to having a horse tie well. It takes time and repetition. As my disclaimer at the bottom states, these methods and opinions are mine and may or may not work for your horse.
If you are having trouble training your horse then please seek out a knowledgeable and experienced trainer. Sometimes getting help can make all the difference in the world. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you want to keep both yourself and your horse safe and free of injuries when doing any type of training.
My reason for covering these training basics is so that when you take your horse out in public (like to an endurance ride) your horse will be relatively safe and not likely to cause a wreck or get injured. Because trust me when I say – if a horse can find a way to get into something, they will. Endurance rides create thousands of opportunities for mishaps to occur. A horse that doesn’t tie (usually because he won’t give to pressure) is a proverbial accident waiting to happen.
Not a fan of bungees for tying horses in any way!
I have had horses that didn’t tie well when I got them. When I write the second part of this training article on tying I want to cover a lot of things that you should do as well as things that you should not do.
Top of the list of what NOT to do is to use something like a bungee to tie a horse with. Horses and bungees go together like gasoline and matches. DANGER! Think about it – when a bungee breaks, it will fly full speed like a weapon and can cause serious damage. I’ve seen wrists shattered from bungee ties breaking and I’ve heard about much worse happening. If a horse gets tangled up in a bungee, or pulls back hard enough it WILL break somewhere. My personal philosophy on this is that if you want your horse to tie safely and tie well 100% of the time you want your horse to give to pressure. Having a horse learn to pull on a bungee is not giving to pressure and reinforcing bad behavior. I have seen many times horses that have been kept on bungee ties later get tied with something that doesn’t give – and then a freak out panic attack is sure to ensue. The last thing you want is to have a horse that learns to pull (be he tied to a bungee, or a spring type tie on the trailer) and that is the kind of behavior that leads to bad things. I’ve seen this happen more times than I can keep track of. I know some people love bungees for tying their horses, and if you are comfortable with the risks involved then by all means use them. I’ve seen too many wrecks involving them to consider using them myself.
Disclaimer: These lessons I am covering are meant to be for endurance horses or for horses that travel that already have some training and conditioning base on them. They reflect my experience and opinions and are not guaranteed to be effective in the hands of others nor are they meant to be the only method or means of training a horse in order to accomplish the same things. Working with horses can be incredibly risky and dangerous. You should only try these methods with proper supervision or assistance from an experienced trainer or horse person that you trust, and at your own risk. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email
me or comment in my blog. Happy trails, Karen
Great refreshers for everyone, Karen. Thanks, as always. Cindy
THRILLED to read your post about bungees! I too have never understood why you would want to have the rope “give” when they pull back, rather than the HORSE give to pressure!
One small indicator I’ve seen at my barn that shows whether a horse has been trained to give to pressure… As much as possible I groom and hand-graze my horse with a halter and a dangling lead rope. If someone sees my horse stepping on the lead rope, they totally freak out and run up to me yelling “your horse is standing on his line!!!!”. My goodness, if your horse would freak out over the simple act of stepping on a lead rope, then I think I know the first lesson your horse needs to learn…
Boy oh boy! My first endurance horse could not be tied. Period. He was the kind of horse that went into a complete state of panic if an ounce of pressure was put behind his ears. He was the kind of horse that would break his neck if he were tied up. Every trainer I talked to said to just tie him up and he would learn. Learn what? How to break his neck? So I adapted to his issues. I competed that horse for four seasons and it was really, really tough. I competed another eight or so horses after him and they all tied and were so easy to deal with. So when I went shopping for a new horse earlier this year, I decided that my new horse must tie really, really well. And he does! Tying is non-negotiable for me. I have learned. And now, thanks to your articles, my new gelding is going to be hobble trained! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful information you share with us!
I remember that night!!! Glad there were two of us.