Why Tie Up Your Horse?

In this post I am going to share my journey and observations I have made with my horses over the years as well as a few training methods you can implement to improve your horse’s tie up.

For me the main reason I began was to help with feeding. I didn’t want my horses to fight over their food or one getting more than the rest of them, especially if they needed different food amounts. This reinforced being caught and tied up as a positive experience. This method really helped one of my horses who wasn’t very friendly and he was hard to catch. He turned into a horse that was easy to catch and ended up loving cuddles and people. They all learnt quickly that tying up was okay.

Some benefits I found from tying them up at dinner time.

It made them more friendly, being caught generally was associated with food. It helped with tying them up at events too. They were so used to being tied up that they were happy to hang around the float and eat hay or chill. While training my horses, it kept them out of the way. The paddock I use to train in is the same as their general paddock. I found it also teaches them patience but this does come with time and consistency! As a barefoot trimmer and usually not having anyone to hold my horses it really helps when they stand tied up.

 

Problems.
I have found a few problems can come with feeding them while tied up but also in general. Pawing and pacing are the main two that I associate with food. They like to get impatient especially if they know that dinner comes out as soon as they get tied up but then doesn’t. The other problem I have seen is pulling back when you walk away or they spook.

Pawing and some methods you can use to help solve it.

The two methods that I have used are step-back and park. Step back does need you to be close by them so if you are pressed for time at feeding I would recommend you train park first.

When your horse paws, step them back a step. As you begin to see improvement while you are next to them you can start moving further away. You may have to teach step-back from a wiggle of the rope if they don’t know it. They won’t be able to be tied up at the same time using this method.

Park can be useful in tying up but as well as riding. Park teaches them to stand still when you walk away or around them. They aren’t following your feet. If you knock something over when you are riding and have to hop off to pick it up and they just stand there instead of wandering off is very handy.

Another way you can help with your horses tying up is after a training session, you leave them for a bit.  This way you have taken all the beans out and they are more likely to stand still.

Pulling back or spooking while tied up.

There can be a few reasons this could happen. Your feet are the ‘go’ signal, they don’t have a good go response or they aren’t well desensitised. Park is great to teach them to not follow your feet.

Training the go response also helps. When they begin to feel pressure on their poll they associate it with stepping forward.

Desensitising is important but can also be hard if your can’t travel anywhere to desensitise them to different environments, however, you can do work with them with objects around their paddock or even bringing some ‘scary’ things to their training session. Even going for a walk with them up the road can help and you don’t even have to ride if you aren’t comfortable riding out with them.

I hope these thoughts and suggestions help you in your horse journey! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out! I would love to hear from you! Thanks for reading!