“Some people tie horses with a stretchy bungee-type cord thinking that if a horse pulls back, it’ll give, but not break,” says Linda Tellington-Jones. “However, there’s always the danger that the hardware will snap under extreme pressure, resulting in a dangerous whiplash to any horse or person in the flight path.
“So-called ?panic snaps’ have their drawbacks, as well,” she continues. “If the horse is flailing about when you are trying to reach the snap, the situation is potentially dangerous.”
Tellington-Jones uses the Blocker Tie Ring (www.blockerranch.com), which resembles a half-snaffle bit. It works by allowing a small amount of slippage on the lead rope if your horse pulls back, but not so much that he breaks free.
“Horses seem less claustrophobic with this device, which can also be used as a trailer tie,” she notes. “A mare I’d worked with who’d broken several halters, leads, and hardware never pulled again from the first time she was tied with this simple ? and portable ? device.”
For Tellington-Jones’ four-step method to teach your horse to stand tied, see “Stand Tied,” The Joy of Riding, The Trail Rider, January/February ’12.
