tying a horse in the woods

[TaylorJohnson]

It all depends on the
day and the horse what I do . Some days they are different acting than
others for various reasons. I most generally drive them in to where I am
going to hook my load head first. I do this so if I am hooking they are
watching me and if they want to go they have to turn or go over me,this
would give me time to grab them. I then turn them and hook my drag. If I
have cutting to do or extended work I do tie them. Some days up here I
don’t get far because of the critters and what they are doing in the
area. Coyotes do not bother my horses at all but if there are wolves in
the area they are on high alert at all time and behave in way that you
better be on your toes or you will have head aches . Bears most of the
time do not bother them to bad ,I have had bears walk right up to the
fence in front of are house and my gelding just stand there and look at
them , we have a lot of bears and they are used to them for the most
part. All bears are not created equal some are very dominate in the scent
and dogs, horses, and mules will behave waaayyy different with these type of bears . They
know they are bad news.

One job I was on they
were acting all squirrelly and I knew their were no wolves in the area
because their were coyotes their in the pre dawn howling all the time if
there are coyotes there are no wolves . The horse were acting very
strange for about a week . Then one day I seen a big pile in the road
that looked like horse crap I drove up to it and it was from a bear. The
bear that made this pile was a big boy with a 6 inch back pad. I knew
right away why the boys were nerves
. I talked to some guys that hunt that area and they said they had been
hunting a big bear in that area that was as mean as a snake , those
types of bears should make a glass of water nerves . Wolves and bears
but mostly wolves are what I have to watch for the most on the job . Not
that there going to necessarily attack the horses but there scent makes
there modes swing a great deal. Taylor Johnson

[Joshua Kingsley]

I have been getting out some firewood with the Halflinger geldings recently. When I was in the woods on Tuesday they were wild eyed and crazy. They were blowing and acting nutty. I got out one hitch and headed back in for another when they really went nuts. The only thing I can figure is that they had gotten badly spooked by something. When the air changed a little there was a smell like I had never encountered before, a combination of skunk and rotting meat:confused:. I had been all over the woodlot the night before looking at what I was going to cut. The only thing I could figure was there was a Fisher-cat in there somewhere.
I took them out of the woods and for a long drive and they were great.
Yesterday when I got back to dragging out some wood they were nervous for the first hitch, calmer for the next two and almost dead quiet on the rest.

Is this a normal response when you encounter something like a Fisher? I have always worked my big horses in the woods and never had this type of reaction out of them.

Joshua

[grey]

I was visiting a friend while he trimmed hooves. The one he had in the stocks at the moment was an old retired mare he’d foaled and worked her entire life. Now she was old and stove-up, just eating and pooping the last of her days away in the pasture. Anyhow, she was having her spring pedicure when the barn cat (also old as dirt) came sauntering by. This battered old thing gets an ear infection from time to time for no reason anyone’s been able to discover. Smells horrid and doesn’t really respond to treatment. Just kind of comes and goes. Today it smelled particularly vile, and it put that old mare into a panic! She was shaking and sweating and snorting! She didn’t settle until we shoo’d the cat back off to the hay barn. Ten minutes or so later he was back and again the horse started shaking and sweating and snorting. The smell terrified her.

I found it rather odd, since my horses have never seemed to much mind rotting smells like dead deer, possums and raccoons by the roadside.

[TaylorJohnson]

I know that animals can smell dominance in another animal I bet they can smell sickness and other things as well. I have seen seasoned bear dogs that hit just the right bear and acted a whole lot more un easy , those bear are more aggressive and more of a dominate creature ,not big just bad new and the dogs know it. My horses know these animals two. All wolves come across like this to dogs , horses , and mules only some bears do. Keep in mind if you horse has never been exposed to these things they all will probably be a little intimidating to them . I wish we knew half as much as are horses about other animal , if I did I would be a great hunter for sure .
One more thing I really thought that was clever to put that dog leash on those lines , now that is thinking out side of the box . Taylor Johnson

[Claddagh Farms]

I worried about this question when I began using our new Belgian, Tony, to log. Not knowing how he would behave in the woods, or working single, or skidding logs I set out to make things as easy for both of us as possible….

My routine is to cut in the afternoon & get as many logs ready to skid to the landing as possible. This includes clearing brush into piles for the chipper and walking all skid trails looking for obstacles & potential snags. The following morning Tony & I head out and skid as many logs as we can at an nice easy pace. At first I used a small helper to hold the lines in case Tony decided to move forward while I was hooking choker. Gradually I worked on the old boy to respond to voice command almost as much as line signals.

Yesterday was the first day I actually tested him fully. We caught a pile of brush in the chain when Tony refused to go thru some evil looking mud. Don’t blame him at all. I stood him, dropped the lines and cleared all the brush from our return path and some more. When we got to the next log Tony was standing on brush I couldn’t move and he was fidgety. I just couldn’t get the choker set at the end of a 20ft chain. I took a big chance…again…with lines dropped…and told him to back. Three times he listened and reversed until I could get the choker set. I as pulling on the chain & thereby the tugs so that was another communication in itself. It all worked well.

I’m really proud of my boy! Working him like this is a necessity where I am because the field margins I’m logging & clearing have very few trees to tie horses to. We work some, then head to the trailer for water, feed & rest. I can tie him there without worrying he’s going to eat something in the woods he shouldn’t–one of the patches we’re clearing is full of every tree bad for horses…..

[Julie Clemons]

I thought I remembered hearing Les Barden at one point advocating neck straps to tie horses, rather than having halters under the bridles. He said “You don’t leave your pajamas on your children under their clothes do you?”

Thoughts? I kind of figure if it’s good enough for Les, it’s good enough for me, yet I never see anyone using neck straps on horses.

[dominiquer60]

If I had horses I would use Les’s idea, it seems more comfortable for the horse. With my cattle a neckstrap pinches under the yoke so I use a halter. Sam Rich uses collars to tie his horses up to his trailer, when he harnesses, he doesn’t have to fuss with taking the halter off before bridling. When he is ready he can unsnap or take the collar of depending on the situation.

Erika

[Claddagh Farms]

The old fella helping me learn insisted I remove halters before putting on bridles. It helps the bridle fit better, looks better and Boss Hoss likes the feel of the halter coming off. Elmin pointed out that the extra strap on my D-ring harness, attached to the saddle, is for tying the horse out while in harness. I’ve never used it, because I believe head control is horse control, but if I had to, it’s always there.

[jac]

over here we used to be able to get a halter made of thin webbing…same stuff that seat belts are made of and it could sit under the bridle with no problems at all. I know it may look better with just the bridle on but I prefer the knowledge that if I have a problem the team can be tied safely. I dont know how mine would react if tied by the back pad ?
John

[Carl Russell]

A collar is a reasonable solution, but I am pretty sure that if Les suggested using neck collars instead of halters he would not have endorsed hitching them to anything but a hitch-rail while still hitched into equipment.

Facing into a sturdy hitch-rail with a collar is much different than trying to hitch a team on the cart to a tree beside a trail. If one horse is not hitched the other is at serious risk of injury if the unexpected occurs.

I know I already posted this, but the time it takes to unhitch horses, remove bridles, apply halters and tie each horse off individually is insignificant compared to the potential for a nasty pile up. This is especially in the context of working in the woods, expecting to take some time felling, etc.

If you are looking for a break while spreading manure, or discing the garden, then collars and a sturdy hitch-rail is appropriate, but I will still say that it takes all of five minutes to unhitch, unbridle, halter, and tie off.

I am skeptical of any attempt to flirt with the safety of the horses as an excuse to save some time and effort on the part of the teamster.

Carl

[Anonymous]

I almost always un hook to tie hoses unless they are dead broke. If we are going to be using a landing for a couple of days or have a new horse I have a 20 foot chain on the truck that can be streched between two trees to make a picket line. Any new horses I like to tie with a rope around thier necks( that can’t slip tight) and runs through the ring on the halter. Its harder to slip of and a fail safe if the halter were to brake. I don’t think anyone mentioned spacing horses far enough apart so they can’t kick each other. Or to tie them with enough rope that if they were to get down that they don’t hang.

I really really don’t like halters under bridles but with only a few exceptions always have halters and tie ropes on any horses working in the woods. When I was in my late teens cutting for a horselogging contractor there was a bad accident. He was thinning a block close enough to his home to drive the horses to work on the forwarder ( 6 wheel wagon equiped with a log loader) like most of us he didn’t like halters under the bridles so the horses didn’t have any on. Around noon his wife was driving lunch in and had a head on smash up with a four wheeler right by the landing. Because the horses Charm and Tom couldn’t be tied in a hurry I was left to hold the lines leaving them one person short to deal with the the accident. luckly there was other men cutting to help. But what if you are working alone or with one other person and you are at the back of the trail and some one gets hurt. Then time wasted going to get halters and ropes could be a problem or lose horses in a already bad situation. So I like having the ropes at the ready to be able to quickly unhook and tie up

[Julie Clemons]

@Carl Russell 27200 wrote:

I am skeptical of any attempt to flirt with the safety of the horses as an excuse to save some time and effort on the part of the teamster.

Carl

Yes, normally I am lazy and careless of my horse’s safety. But in this particular case I am just desperately trying to think of ways I can work my horse a little more and mother a nursing baby at the same time.

[mitchmaine]

@Julie Clemons 27217 wrote:

Yes, normally I am lazy and careless of my horse’s safety. But in this particular case I am just desperately trying to think of ways I can work my horse a little more and mother a nursing baby at the same time.

hi julie,
i might be wrong but i can’t imagine there are too many here with expertise on your question, especially me. so humor me and this may be more of a question than answer, but little walker might be safer hooked to you than any part of the cart or horse. if any problem started to happen you might have free hands to avoid a situation or worse case you could get out of the way,both you and she together.
or you and john could swap off, and one drive the hoss and one take the baby. hope it works out for you.
best wishes, mitch

[Julie Clemons]

Hi Mitch,

No, Walker is not going to ride the horse, forecart or implement until she is big enough to jump off and roll. And at 20 pounds she is quite a burden in a baby carrier or backpack. I rarely ride my forecart when working, it’s just too bumpy around here, so I would be walking carrying the baby on my back, which even so poses safety risks and would limit me if Lil decided to run off (she never has, but you can’t rule it out ever). No, what I am trying to do here is be able to work with Lil while Walker is sleeping in the house. I have a baby monitor that works for quite a distance, so all I need is a safe, quick place to park Lil without unhitching if Walker wakes up unexpectedly. She naps anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours so you can see this is quite a range, but quite a chunk of time I COULD be using if I only knew how long I had.

Jonathan leaves for work at 7 in the morning and is rarely home before 6pm. Sometimes I feed Lil in the midafternoon and harness her (again, if I can work it out with the timing of Walker’s nap so Lil doesn’t have to stand in her stall harnessed half the day (although she can and does sometimes, I just don’t think it’s ideal). Then I can work with her when Jonathan gets home and after Walker goes to bed. That gives me an hour and a half sometimes. And of course we can get some work done on the weekends.

And yes, I would venture a guess that in most of the families represented on this board, the dad is the horsefarmer and the mom is, well, the mom. In this family I am both. Once Walker weans herself, Jonathan and I will be on more of an equal footing as parents. But right now he is the breadwinner and I am the mom, which doesn’t leave anyone to fill the horsefarmer position.

But we are a long way from tying horses in the woods and I don’t want to derail the conversation any further.

[Rick Alger]

Julie,

I leave the halters on under the bridles. When called to other duties, I cross tie the horse or horses between two trees facing away from the landing. If I have to leave for a while I also choke the single or the pair to a tree as well. I have often taken off the bridles and fed hay and water to them while they were restrained as I have described and have had no problems. I do loosen the lower hame straps a bit so they can stretch comfortably.

I leave the harnesses on for a full day every day I work them and have had no issues with galls or whatever.

I wouldn’t recommend putting a harnessed horse in a box stall because it might roll, but having a designated tie up near your worksite should allow you to do as planned.

Good luck.

On another note, I think I met your hubby at the College Grant a couple years ago. He was hunting, and pulled into the landing to check out my Suffolk mare.

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