Horse Tip-Bringing Horses In With Just A Rope

Do you bring your horse in from the field or take him out with just a rope around his neck?

Many people do and I used to, but I don’t anymore and I haven’t in a long time. I’ll tell you why I stopped doing it.

I have always insisted that my horses have good ground manners and listen to me both on the lead and loose. They get so well mannered that I tend to get complacent and forget sometimes that things can get out of hand in a blink of an eye. Let me share a story of an incident that fortunately didn’t happen to me, but I witnessed.

At this one stable I was boarding at a woman was bringing in her well mannered horse like she had done countless times before. She just had the rope around his neck as usual. He wasn’t rushing or pulling her. He was walking calmly as usual when all of a sudden something fell behind him. Though this horse wasn’t one that spooked at everything, this did scare him. He lunged forward and because she didn’t have control of his head she wasn’t able to turn him. This scared him more and he knocked her down. It gets worse. Now the horse is running back to his stall. Her 3 year old son was standing off to the side by some buckets and a wheel barrow. He was not in the way, but it didn’t matter. The horse headed straight for him as the direct line to the stall.

The horse ran full tilt into the area the little boy was in. Buckets, wheel barrow and what seemed like the little boy went flying in all directions. Thankfully the little guy wasn’t hurt, just terrified. We think the buckets and wheel barrow hit him, but the horse missed him. It could have been a lot worse, but to me and all who witnessed it, it taught us all a valuable lesson. Always spend a little extra time to put a halter and a lead rope on when leading your horse. It only takes a few seconds and it is ultimately safer. If she had a halter on her horse she may have been able to get him turned and slowed before he would have bolted and picked up any speed causing the horse to run blindly through the barn.

Now I understand the accident could have happened anyway even with a halter on, but we all know you have no control whatsoever with just a rope around the neck. So please, for everyone’s safety in the barn, including your own, don’t fall into a lazy habit. Spend the extra few seconds it takes to put a halter on and lead your horse in properly. I do now.