This message is from: GAIL RUSSELL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Also did anyone ever hear tell of hooking the >snap in a side halter ring as opposed to under the chin? This method was >mentioned to me by an Appaloosa breeder friend of mine. I am used to >ordinary horses that lack the busy brain activities of the Fjord. (: ...the >stuff Storm does is priceless....I could write a book.
I can tell you one downside of hooking to a side halter ring. Our slant load trailer has drop down windows and rings directly above the center of the window (and the horse's "stall") in the trailer. I bought trailer ties with quick release snaps at the top, but they were for a straight load trailer and, consequently, too short to hook to the bottom halter ring and still allow the horse to get his head down. So... I hooked them to the upper side ring. Worked for quite a while....until the day Decaffe got his CHIN over the rope. So then the rope went DOWN from the tie ring above his head, UNDER his chin, and up to the upper halter ring on the other side. It rubbed him raw across the side of his face and over the top of his poll. Not to mention the fact that he was completely hysterical by the time I got off the freeway and opened the window to check on him. It took me a couple of weeks before I could even touch his poll again. Luckily, this was an older horse who had previous good experiences that helped him to, eventually, erase the bad one. Wanna know how HORRID it feels to have let this happen to him? I had a sleepness night or two! My basic rule is, find the cheapest ALL cotton 1/4-3/8 clothesline and tie it onto your tie rings. Then tie the horse to the clothes line. Of course, this is not really advisable when you are trying to teach the horse that "tied, means tied" - but it has saved me from the consequences of a couple of my mental lapses already. Speaking of mental lapses, - Jim and I hitched up the horse trailer the other day. I gallantly climbed in the truck to hook up the gooseneck, instead of waiting for him to do it. Did the safety chain and the electrical and hopped into the truck to go riding at the beach in the evening (Jean Ernest - are you listening? - fall riding around the time of the Turlock show around here is wonderful at the beach.). Well, about half way down the winding road to Bodega Bay, Jim asks me, did you latch the gooseneck hitch down? NOPE! So the only thing holding the gooseneck hitch on the ball in the truck was the weight of the gooseneck. Scary. Gail Russell Forestville CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
