Expert: Solange Rian - 7/21/2009

Question
hi. thanks for reading this first off. my brother and his wife tie there horses up to the hitching post for hours at a time they have tied them for 4 hours one day and i got in a fight with them and asked them why he and she said it teaches your horse discipline. in my opinion its abuse. am i wrong. if i am please tell me what this does for the horse. i think it just causes them to have no respect and its bad horsemanship.

Answer
Hi Lesli!

You did not clearly say why these horses are tied to a post and left to stand.  Was it at the end of a trail ride and the riders were sitting close by just visiting or such and the horses had to wait?  Was it for pure training purposes to teach them to tie patiently?  Was it before a show or event and the rider tied them to keep them in a low head carriage mode...if this was it, this is just plain ignorant.

As a general rule I would have to say that leaving a horse tied for 4 hours is never necessary for any reason.  The longer a horse is tied the more time it has to get bored or antsy so therefore get into trouble, hurt itself or hurt someone else. If you are away from your barn and the horse has to wait for you, it should wait in the trailer with hay.  If you rode to someplace and the horse has to wait, do not tarry so long the horse is left to languish on a post.  It's just common sense and good horsemanship.  It's farther away from "abuse" and closer to just "unnecessarily unsafe".

I also never tie a horse to anything with the reins of it's bridle.  Yes, you may see such a thing in a movie.  Cowboy jumps off at the Saloon, ties his reins to the hitching post and goes inside.  But, that is a movie and not all amateurs horses ground tie patiently.  

If the bridle must be left on then simply put it's halter over the bridle, run the reins under the halter and leave them over his neck and then correctly attach any ties to the halter.  That way if the horse sucks back, he will tear the halter and just be free.  If he is tied by his reins, the bit can tear at his mouth and make things go very badly.

Any human inconsideration is unforgivable.  Taking the time to make sure your horse is well cared for safely before your own comfort is what separates the wanna-be know-it-alls from the real horse people.

Good luck and remember to always wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange