How do you teach a horse to ground tie?

My husband’s horse knows how to just stand there when he drops the lead rope or reins. My horse, Rusty, will stand if I set him up (like for halter class), however if I just drop the reins or lead rope, he moves around and starts to wonder off. Even with tied, he will move from side to side, so I am hoping that if he knows how to ground tie, I will solve two problems with one solution.
Thanks!

The way I taught my horse to ground tie involved him standing still while being tied. If you leave him standing tied to a heavy post for long enough he will just stand still. Eventually once he stands still long enough while tied to something you can just throw your reins across a fence and he thinks he is tied up. Then after a long time at this you wont have to drop it over anything. I thought my horse did this pretty well until about 4 months ago when i left him to stand while I went to knock on a door and he ate the neighbors flowers and knocked over the trash bin (he was trying to itch).

I start my horses to learn to stand in hobbles. After they are good and hobble broke I will start by tying a rein to the pastern short enough to when they try to walk off their is pressure. This simulates the hobbles and they will stop moving. After they are used to standing with the reins dropped and one rein tied to the pastern, they will pretty much think they are hobbled or tied if I just drop the reins.

I don't know if this method is used much, but it is the way I have always done it. I don't put too much stock in ground tying for long periods. If I do use it, I am only away from the horse for a minute or two. If it is longer, I will put the hobbles on. They know to stand then. I have seen too many horses that were ground tied decide to take off and leave the rider.

and if your horse knows how to untie itself??? He never leaves or goes very far, but the only way I can tie him is to tie the lead rope twice...the second time is out of his reach, lol

thats how everyone else I know does it NW, but I had to do it another way because I deal with race horses and their owners and they dont like hobbling because if it goes awry it makes a colt touchy about the feet and they'd rather not take the risk.

Ah hobbles, ok,,, then you must have known this was coming... so how do you start them with hobbles? If I just put them on, won't they fall? Or at least have a crash?

I have a pair of thick soft nylon hobbles with a ball knot (I think I got them from National Roper Supply many moons ago).

And, I wouldn't leave him for long, just to run either into the barn, horse trailer, garage etc. or even to drop the reins and check his hooves without moving around.

As always, thanks!

Hobbling is very simple to teach. Every horse I ride gets hobbled from the start. The main reason I teach hobbling is so if they ever get hung up in wire or something else, they won't panic. The calmer they stand when in wire, the less they get hurt.

I take a horse into an open area. I use a long lead rope attached to the halter. By long I mean 20-25". I take the lead rope and put the tail of it around an front lead and saw it back and forth up and down the leg to desensitize them. When they are standing quiet with that, I let the rope slide down to the pastern and pull the foot forward. I keep doing this until I can get them to lead by pulling on the leg rope. When they are good on one side, I switch and repeat that to the other side.

When they are good on both legs, I take the lead rope and figure 8 it around the front legs a couple of times. At this point, I stand beside them and reassure them. Don't stand in front, if they panic, they will lunge forward and on top of you. At this stage, don't tie anything, if they really panic, just let go. When they learn to stand and not fight the ropes, I will then place the leather hobbles on them. I then take the lead rope and tie it from the halter to the hobbles so that they cannot raise their head higher than their withers. I let them stand and graze like this. If their head is tied to the hobbles, they cann't run off. To run in hobbles a horse needs to throw their head up to get both feet off the ground. A horse in hobbles can run just as far and as fast as a horse without hobbles.

The first dozen or so times I hobble a horse, I always tie their head down. They then pretty much learn to stand and not run off. It takes me about 15 minutes to get a horse from having no hobbles to standing in them with their head tied. This is a pretty safe method and really works.

NW, I see what you are saying. OK,, I am going to try this. Rusty is good with ropes on his legs, as we started working with him before he was weaned in the event he got loose with a rope he wouldn't freak out and hurt himself.

I have a good visual on how to move forward.

Also, your note on how they can move even hobbled. I got some first hand knowledge of that this summer on our pack trip into the Wyoming wilderness. We had stopped to fish this late, and the horse I was riding "Ike" and the other horses just moved as they pleased. PS. I would have bought IKE in a second if the outfit would have let me!

LOL! That is a wonderful picture! This thread really fascinates me. I have always wanted to teach my horse to hobble but he's a real....ADD horse. I can lead him by both legs with just a leadrope. I can do everything with him. He's as solid and unflappable as they come. But you tie him up in crossties or tie him up at all and you see his little mind working "hmm what's that? Oh I'm tied. Let's see if my butt can touch this wall. Almost! The other wall? Oh man. What's this rope thing? Oh, oh yeah I'm tied. Yummmm brushes. I wonder what happens if I pull the rope. Oh hey look! It's whatsisname! Hey there! I wonder how this bar tastes. This wood is fun to lick. Oh yeah I'm tied. Deedle doo hey that cat is cool. Oh well. Oh it's my girlfriend! Hey when I shake my head up and down like this it makes a pretty cool sound! Hey, check this out, I can jingle! I hope we go for a trail ride today. Or get ridden in general. That mare is pretty. Oh yeah, I'm tied." And it's not necassrily him moving or calling out. He just moves his head a lot. Such a goon. I don't know if he'd have the attention span for hobbling or ground-tieng.

I pretty much do what NW does. For a horse who's learned how to move in them I use three way hobbles. That is where you not only hobble the front legs but one of the back legs also. I once had the same problem as you see in Cowboy's Restless Heart picture, and asked Buck Brannaman about it. He suggested three ways and said he uses them on all his horses. You'd go about it the same way- getting them used to a rope around their back legs first.

Paul

[ January 29, 2007, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: Paul ]

Three way hobbles work great. If I get one that really wants to be a runner, I will side line them. I just tie a back foot to the front foot on the same side. If I leave them overnight, it isn't quite as restricting as three ways.

For desensitizing purposes, I will hobble their hind feet. I have never left a horse any length of time in rear hobbles.