strange d-ring predicament

[Rick Alger]

One little trick for those of us who tie front and rear is to tie them pointed in the direction they want to go. This will make it more likely that they won’t twist around, and more likely they will keep tension on the choker.

[grey]

When I need a parking brake, I hobble. I don’t like to tie their heads while bridled because mine will rub if I’m not there to yelp at them and the blinders and blinder stays will take a beating. I’m a big believer in hobble-breaking anyhow. It has served me well in various situations.

[Does’ Leap]

Grey, can you elaborate on what you use to hobble and how you went about breaking your horses to hobble? Do you hobble the team when they are hitched together? What problems have you had with this method?

Thanks.

George

[Donn Hewes]

Rick and Karl, Thanks a lot. I think one of my problems with the idea of hooking them to a tree or something, was no historical perspective. That helps a lot. When a horse is stand untied; or even tied, which way they face can make a big difference. Hooked to something they should face home. that makes sense.

Me thinking out loud now, obviously you can train a horse to anything, but I would think I would prefer them to be looking in the direction of the work (timber falling) instead of away from it? I am sure in time it wouldn’t make much difference.

[grey]

I use a stout and wide leather figure-8 hobble on their front cannons. I introduce this piece of equipment during the early stages of groundwork and harnessing, in the corral, as part of my overall “accept restraint” training. I rely on it to help teach the horse not to fight if they are trapped or entangled. I consider it a life skill that any horse needs to know. It just happens to carry over very usefully to horses in harness.

If I’ve got a green horse in my team and I need to do something to the equipment or harness that puts me in a potentially dangerous spot, I will hobble the green horse but not the seasoned horses, since I am right there.

If I need to be away from the lines and out of sight of the team, I will hobble both horses in a team and leave them hitched to the wagon or equipment, with the lines tied to the standard or in some similar fashion.

Potential problems include the very important fact that horses CAN run with their forelegs hobbled. I try very hard not to ever let a horse learn this fact, but any packer will tell you that most horses can gallop quite handily with his forelegs hobbled. I have not had a horse try to leave while hobbled and hitched, but I’m sure we can all envision what sort of mess could result if a hobbled team tried to take off while hitched. Best-case scenario is that they go down in a heap sooner rather than later.

I have had one badly spoilt horse gallop across the round pen with his front legs hobbled, and aim for the fence with the intent of going through. This is the only horse I’ve been forced to train without the benefit of being able to teach him to tie beforehand, so I’ve come to the conclusion that training to tie really ought to come before training to hobble. This particular horse still has not learned to tie, is not hobble-broke, and is still a work in progress. The only job I trust him on currently is harrowing. Lots and lots of harrowing. He is going to have to learn to tie before he can progress any farther in his training. But that’s another matter.

If there are flies or gnats, the horses can’t stamp their front legs to chase the pests away. They can fidget themselves cockeyed because they can shuffle backwards a few inches at a time but they don’t typically come forward at all. So if one is being bothered by bugs and the other isn’t, you’ll come back and find them cockeyed.

And then there’s user error. Once, I had them hobbled while hitched to a wagon for a lunch break. After lunch, my brain was somewhere else and I climbed aboard and was just about to gather the lines and ask them to go when someone else pointed out that I still had my “parking brake” on. That stuck with me for a while. I don’t think anything bad would have happened if I had asked them to move while hobbled. I think their heads would have come up and they might have given a hop before I remembered the hobbles. Not the end of the world but also not great for team morale.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by grey.

[grey]

I forgot to mention that the big problem that arises from your horses getting cockeyed is that the cross-check buckle can get sucked forward through the hame ring. I have stops at my cross-check buckles to prevent that from happening, but then they come up hard against the lines and start pulling on their mouths.

[grey]

My process for teaching hobbling is pretty involved and would take a long while to type up. I’m not saying I don’t want to do it… just that I might be reinventing the wheel unnecessarily.

There are some YouTube videos that show you various methods for teaching hobbling. There are a few different ways to go about it. Before you start, however, you have to think about your goal in hobble-breaking. My goal is to have a horse that will stand still when hobbled. Lots of other folks use chain-and-cuff hobbles just to slow a horse down while he is grazing. Your goal will determine your methods. I don’t want to encourage the horse to move around testing his hobbles and find a comfortable range of motion. I want him to test his hobbles (his decision to do so) and decide that it is easier to just stand still.

After the initial cotton rope desensitization portion, I use a figure-8 leather hobble and hobble him pretty close. Later, I put a web halter on the horse and eventually tie his head to his hobbled front feet to reinforce that if he tries to move around, he’s going to yank on himself. Other people cluck and smooch at their hobbled horse to encourage it to move around and find its range of motion. I don’t want to do that because I feel it conflicts with what he needs to learn when pulling a heavy load. I’m worried that I might make a horse that is easily discouraged in harness. Whether that is a valid concern or not, I don’t know for certain, but that’s how I approach hobbles.

I like my horses to accept all sorts of restraint, including a Scotch hobble and a pastern strap. I think it just makes them safer and easier to rescue in the event of a disaster, whether it is major or minor. But when I tell him to go, I want him to put his all into it.

[Carl Russell]

A few photos of hooks and neck yokes

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[wild millers]

Thanks Carl, Those pictures are really helpful. I like the look of the first hook pictured, though I assume they are not commercially available today? The hooks pictured at the bottom also look good and they look like they still have barcode stickers on them. Is that so? Do you remember where they came from?

The second hooks pictured look like the description Mark gave of the hooks the Meader’s carries. Anyone else have any thoughts of availability of these today?

[Carl Russell]

The second and third hook sets both came from Meaders.

The shiny ones are soft steel and I stretched one out….. That’s why they are not on the harness.

The first ones are salvaged from old harnesses. I have quite a few of them, and they can still be found here and there. They are a bit worm, but they still have a lot of life left in them.

Carl

[Mark Cowdrey]

Joel,
You are right. Those are the ones I got from Meaders. With a Dremel or such the sharp edges could probably be eased to make an (at least aesthetically) acceptable tool.
Carl,
By “shiny” do yo mean the ones w the paint & bare codes? Neither of those appear stretched.

When the wear notch in mine (as in photo @2) got concerningly large, I had my welder fill it w hard rod. Worked well.
Again, would be nice to find someone to cast some like the #2’s.
Does anyone feel the little hinged keeper rings are useful? I have lost a couple of mine and find it makes harnessing (slightly) more streamlined. They serve no purpose that I can tell on a properly adjusted D-ring harness. Perhaps a sidebacker harness, or some other harness w jockey yokes other than a D-ring, is rigged lose enough so their “safety” function would come into play?
Mark

[Carl Russell]

Yes the painted ones in pic #3…. I squeezed it back into shape, but not until I have gone back to the older style…. I’m keeping them as back-ups.

On another note, I have bought many pieces from Meader’s over the last few years that are inferior. Meader’s has been great, and stood by me, replacing, or compensated me the purchase price, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is hard to find well-made hardware.

Carl

[grey]

If the overseas operations would stop throwing lawn chairs, hubcaps and table lamps into the melting pots, we wouldn’t have these problems. Wish they’d move production back to the US and make good hardware.

[CharlyBonifaz]

would the Amish/Mennonite be making the hardware from scratch?

[Donn Hewes]

I have used these hooks from Meaders (black, painted). I wish there was something better, but will take them over the round inward facing snaps. Mark I don’t think the little keepers do much, but not sure I am ready to take them off with out cause. Some of them don’t even cover the opening. I think customizing the yokes you have will be pretty simple in most cases.

[Author]

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