Best of FHOTD: Beginner mistakes that can kill your horse…
Nov 05 2009
REPUBLISHING this one from 5/11/09 by request, and because it’s always a good topic!
As I’ve posted before, I didn’t get a horse early into my riding career. I lived in the ‘burbs and my mother steadfastly declared that no way was she going to that smelly barn on a daily basis. So horse ownership had to wait until I had a driver’s license and as a result I was at least a mediocre owner, if not a good one, by the time I had something with four hooves to call my own. In the meantime, I took nine years of riding lessons. While my instructors were far from George Morris, I did acquire the basics and the ability to ride the “advanced” school horses – aka those given to frequent spooking, bolting, bucking and similar behaviors.
Still, I made a lot of dumb first-time owner mistakes. My horse lived in a tie stall for quite some time, something I feel guilty about to this day. I am lucky that the barn had a good farrier, because I wouldn’t have known good from bad. I’d read every horse book on earth, so that was somewhat helpful. Still, it is probably a very good thing I’d grown up in a barn full of adults all too happy to screech things like “pick up that lead rope, he’s going to step on it!” at me when my teenage brain had wandered.
Sadly, not all horses are fortunate and every day, horses get sold to rank beginners – people whose knowledge base is limited to having ridden a friend’s horse a few times or gone trail riding on vacation. They have a couple of acres, and their impression of a horse is that it is kind of like a big dog. It will mow the lawn and you can ride it. An amazing number of horses survive this kind of ownership, but the fact is, some do not. Few beginners understand how easy it is to kill a horse. I see these people on message boards daily, asking questions that make me want to march the streets campaigning for ownership licensing and a test. Sometimes it is too late and they are already posting about the loss of their horses.
Since I know that a lot of beginners do read this blog, today we are going to talk about the mistakes that really can kill your horse. Those of you who aren’t beginners, please add to my list!
1. Turnout in a halter that will not break – i.e. nylon or rope. If any of you have a stack of Western Horseman magazines from the 1970s, I need a favor. Can you scan that ad showing the dead horse hung up on the fence? They don’t use that ad anymore – I’m sure some parent sued for their child’s emotional distress – but it’s a damn shame because it got the message across. I am still, in 2009, reading message board posts from someone who turned out in a nylon or rope halter and came back to find a horse hung up with a broken neck. Even a horse who ties very well may panic when his head gets trapped unexpectedly. This can happen when he’s scratching an itchy spot on a t-post or something like a piece of loose metal on the barn (of course, that shouldn’t be there either). Some horses will even catch a back foot in their halter as they scratch themselves, and you can imagine the injuries that result. The solution is simple – either turn out with no halter (this is always the safest and if you can’t catch your horse, you have something to work on, don’t you?) or turn out with a breakaway halter.
A related problem – tying too long. When your horse is tied, a loop of lead rope that hangs down to your horse’s knee or further is absolutely too long. If the horse paws and hangs himself up, you’re likely to see a panicky episode that will scare you to death and can very well result in a severe injury to both the horse and any human who tries to free him. Tie with no more than 2-3 feet of rope between the horse’s nose and the tie rail or ring, tie with a quick release knot, and make sure you pull on the lead and check it before you walk off to ensure that the horse can’t get a few more feet of slack free with the first tug. This is particularly important when tying to the side of the trailer at a trail ride or other event – I always see horses with so much slack in the lead that it scares me. Tie high and short and keep hay nets high and short as well – nothing at leg level. Not ever. Don’t even get me started on “staking out” – yeah, I know there are .0005% of the horses in the world that someone has trained to do this and they’re just fine, but most of the time, it is a train wreck waiting to happen. Don’t do it.
A related problem – tying too long. When your horse is tied, a loop of lead rope that hangs down to your horse’s knee or further is absolutely too long. If the horse paws and hangs himself up, you’re likely to see a panicky episode that will scare you to death and can very well result in a severe injury to both the horse and any human who tries to free him. Tie with no more than 2-3 feet of rope between the horse’s nose and the tie rail or ring, tie with a quick release knot, and make sure you pull on the lead and check it before you walk off to ensure that the horse can’t get a few more feet of slack free with the first tug. This is particularly important when tying to the side of the trailer at a trail ride or other event – I always see horses with so much slack in the lead that it scares me. Tie high and short and keep hay nets high and short as well – nothing at leg level. Not ever. Don’t even get me started on “staking out” – yeah, I know there are .0005% of the horses in the world that someone has trained to do this and they’re just fine, but most of the time, it is a train wreck waiting to happen. Don’t do it.
2. Uncapped t-posts and other unsafe fencing. Your realtor is most likely NOT a horse expert. Every day, I see properties full of barbed wire and uncapped t-posts marketed as “turn-key horse farms.” While there’s a fairly easy and cheap fix – capping the posts and replacing the barbed wire with another form of fencing like electric rope or tape – beginners are often told “oh, it will be fine.” Look, I could publish gory pictures all day showing that it may not be fine. And while it’s true that horses hurt themselves on other kinds of fence, it’s simply not as common and the injuries are rarely as severe as the injuries from barbs that dig in and tear the flash. With regard to capping t-posts, I once almost lost a horse myself because I failed to do that. A horse who tries to jump out can impale himself on the top of an uncapped t-post, and a horse who is scratching may cut himself. Mine cut herself on the underside of her face, right between the cheekbones and right into her jugular vein. T-post caps are cheap and they slip right on. Go pick some up if you haven’t already.
3. Pasture obstacles. Horses are not, no matter what anybody tells you, “smart enough” to stay away from tractors, old cars, playground equipment, loose sheet metal, sinkholes and other pasture hazards. If there is a means of self-destruction in their turnout area, they are likely to find and use it. It is important to go out and physically walk your pastures looking for hazards before you ever put a horse out there. I’ve seen old farms where coils of old, rusty barbed wire hid in the weeds. A few years ago, there was a much-publicized case where a beautiful warmblood stallion fell into an old well on a property and broke his neck. You can read several cases on Netposse where the horse was found on the owner’s property stuck in a sinkhole or something similar. I’ve also seen cases where erosion has taken back the edge of a ditch to where the horse can fall in without ever getting outside of the fence. I’ve seen horses kill themselves on things like a rough piece of sheet metal coming off the back of a shed, a support cable for a telephone post, farm equipment that was parked in the pasture for just a day, and the list goes on. If you can’t immediately remove a hazard, shield it from the horses using a few corral panels. These are a quick way to build a barrier around something like an old well, a collapsed building, or some metal pipe to nowhere sticking up out of the ground.
4. Grass can kill your horse. To make a long explanation short, the sunny and warm days of spring raise the sugar content of grass pasture. This can render grass dangerous to eat – the sugars upset the normal balance in the horse’s digestive tract, resulting in toxins which lead to founder, aka laminitis. Founder is without a doubt one of the worst things that can happen to your horse. In its most severe form, the hooves are so badly affected that the horse must be euthanized. Even in milder forms, it is a management issue and the horse may require a lengthy rehab period, expensive special shoeing, and to be “dry lotted” – kept in a dirt field with no grass – the rest of his life. The classic situation is a beginner who purchases a horse from a boarding barn where it has only gone out in dirt paddocks, brings it home to the idyllic farm they just purchased and puts it out on lush green pasture. The horse looks happy – heck, the horse looks ecstatic – but days later it can hardly walk and by the end of the week, it is dead. Rule number one: Horses do not know what is good for them. They can also founder after getting into the grain – your grain should be kept in a locked room or a spare stall where a loose horse at 3 AM cannot get to it. If you purchase a horse who hasn’t been out on grass, introduce him to it slowly. Start with 15 minutes of grazing and then back into the stall/dirt paddock he goes. Work up by increasing the time a little bit daily until the horse it out 24/7 if that’s what you desire. He won’t like coming back in – but you’ll save yourself a four-figure vet bill and a lot of heartbreak. Another option is a grazing muzzle, which allows the horse to be turned out with the herd and drink but keeps his grass consumption to a minimum. If you’ve purchased a previously foundered horse (your vet can tell you), fencing in a dirt paddock is probably your safest bet.
FYI, grass clippings from the lawn are never safe for horses. They start to ferment almost immediately in a bag or pile. Hand-picking grass for your paddock kept horse is fine, but the leftover from the mower belongs in the trash heap.
5. Other horses can kill your horse. Some boarding barns are just not very smart about turnout. While a certain amount of roughhousing, nipping and the occasional kick is normal in a herd of horses, you will occasionally see a horse who is truly aggressive. He continually runs at other horses, ears pinned, teeth bared. He will start chasing another horse and it won’t end after three strides (that’s normal herd behavior – the chase ends when the submissive horse runs away) – he will chase that horse for laps around the pasture. This horse can kill your horse. This is how horses get so panicked that they do try to jump out of the fence. They can get cornered in a run-in shed or fence corner by a horse like this and kicked so severely they have to be euthanized. Absolutely do not allow your horse to be turned out with a horse like this, even if he does not seem to be the focus of the horse’s aggression. It’s much better that your horse go out in a small paddock by himself.
No, you don’t want to be the overprotective horse parent who has hysterics over a tiny nip mark, but if you’ve ever seen a truly aggressive horse like this in action, you know what I mean. You are the paying customer at a boarding barn, and you do have the right to demand your horse be kept as safe as possible – please don’t back down because someone scoffs at you and tries to make you feel like a stupid beginner. If you are going to make mistakes, erring on the side of caution is always best!
So, what else would you add to the discussion? What do you think are the most important things for first time owners to know – the things that absolutely CAN kill their horse if they don’t know them? I’m not talking about all of the fine points of tack fit – I’m talking about things that can result in life-threatening conditions.
115 comments to “Best of FHOTD: Beginner mistakes that can kill your horse…”
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“If I ever get another horse, it will be taught that…that if I am not in the saddle you STOP and you STAND…whether I got off intentionally or accidentally.”
Yes, Jennifer R! I believe every horse should be taught that.
Based on experience: think about any cute tricks you teach foals – about what that body language may mean, when the horse is grown. I couldn’t understand why my long yearling kept threatening to kick me, since otherwise he was a sweetheart. Turns out he likes having his tailhead scratched, and learned to present his butt for a good scratch. Yah, right. Walk in the stall, and he turns his butt towards you – makes you feel so safe and loved, doesn’t it? ::headdesk:: He still had the habit when I sold him. I hope, if his new owner sold him, she passed the info along.
Taking carrots out of your mouth – also not a good trick. At the least, it means you’ll get a sloppy kiss every time you smell of carrots. At the worst, someone could think the horse is trying to bite his/her face.
Taking things out of your pockets… I had a horse snatch a full, unopened box of mints out of my pocket and eat the whole thing, plastic wrap and all.
If my brain wasn’t so foggy today… I’m sure I could list a few more errors I’ve made!
Even if the horse reached around, grabbed your leg, and deliberately pulled you out of the saddle, do not punish him from the ground! This is the “flip side” of teaching them to stand still when you fall off or dismount. I rode a horse who, if you fell, would run until something (like a fence) stopped him. Complete panic. It was two years before he stopped when I fell – and that day, he stood still but all splayed out and shaking. You can bet he got lots of luvs for that!
Ruthie
I have a retired polo pony that I was given by a dear friend who plays amateur polo. One day I asked if a friend could ride her horse and I would ride mine on trail. She agreed. My horse is broke and bomb proof (he’s Argentine where when they break them, they really BREAK their spirits and it is to his credit that after 5 years of ownership he is beginning to feel like he can express some of his opinons). Anyway, I take the second horse, a mare and tie her to a pipe panel fence(!) This horse I know is head shy but we have tied her loosely before to polypropalene line that can break easily if the horse tosses its head. But I do not tie her to the line but to the pipe panel fence (!) The mare at some point panics, flips out with a western saddle on her back, pulls back and the lead line is tied to the pipe panel and she and the fence go back about 20 feet. She falls down and it the course of that split second, I get enough slack to loosen the line w/o having anotherfriend who comes running with a knife cut it.
TWO USEFULL Lessons to beginners! – carry a knife – this is one sport like sailing where having a knife that you can deploy fast is VERY IMPORTANT
Pipe panel is usually not PERMANENT so do not presume it will hold.
Avalonisle – Yeah, I’ve worked a lot of Argentine horses and it’s truly sad how traumatized most are. It’s getting better these days but 20 years ago, boy, every single one you met was freaked out of its mind. I remember one that it used to take me 10 min. to put the saddle pad on…every single time.
chamoiswillow says: Old bathtubs are often re-used as water troughs, but I know a horse that broke it’s neck because it got it’s halter hung up on the faucet that was never taken off! To this day, if I see a bathtub water trough with the faucet still on it I remove it myself and gently educate the owner. Most hadn’t thought of the danger and are grateful.
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Except a horse shouldn’t be turned out with a halter anyway, unless it’s the kind that will break away for the exact scenerio you described – if they get stuck on something.
In regards to trailers… thinking back to that accident I witnessed ten years ago, never, EVER take a steep turn too sharply. That’s apparently how the horses ended up upside down and dead in the ravine.
livexlovexrodeo: My horses wear their halters from stall to paddock and paddock to stall and that’s all! And naturally they have the fancy rubbermaid trough with drain valve for regular cleaning and heater in the winter. I just thought that the halter point had been made enough in the earlier comments. Even without a halter left on, a protruding hunk of metal is a bad thing. I know plenty of one-eyed horses! And sadly, some people insist on leaving halters on. I used to board at one such barn, so I bought all my horses thin leather breakable halters. Now they’re at home so my barn, my rules, and halters off except when being actively handled!
All of this makes me think… how do horses survive in nature?
I can see why some people say mustangs are smarter, heh.
A couple years ago I boarded one of my horses at a crazy woman’s place. I have many stories of her insane “rules,” but I’ll stick to one right now.
The horse’s each had a stall in the barn and a separate “all-weather” gravel turnout, shelter and 1/4 acre grass area. It was a really nice setup, but she wouldn’t let your horse onto the grass until she mowed it because “horses grazed unevenly.”
After my horse had been there 2 weeks, she finally mowed, but didn’t bag the clippings. I asked her when she was going to rake up the clippings so I could turn my horse out, she said she wasn’t going to. She insisted up and down that grass clippings were just like hay, she had worked at a vet, and they were fine for horses to eat.
Um, I don’t think so. The grass was green and wet and was already fermenting when I got there a few hours after she mowed.
I had to spend 3 hours raking up the clippings before my horse could go out. It was actually a good thing, because I was able to clean up all the baling twine, trash and other junk that had been hidden in the grass.
She’s going to break her lawn mower if there’s that kind of junk in her paddocks.
I DO believe in leaving a halter on in most cases in the stall, as long as it’s leather or breakway. It makes a huge difference to the chance of being able to successfully evacuate that horse if there is a fire. I do not believe in leaving one on in the paddock.
I agree on not punishing from the ground. The best punishment to aim at a horse that deliberately dumps you is, in my experience, extra work. The real key factor is that *somebody* should, if at *all* possible, get right back on that horse. If you can’t, and you’re at a boarding barn, ask the trainer or somebody, even if you have to bribe them to do it…otherwise a horse can rapidly learn that dumping a rider is a way to get out of work, and that’s outright dangerous. This goes for whether the dump was obviously deliberate/malicious or whether it was a pure accident. Unless the *horse* has managed to end up injured…
Make sure you tie at wither height or higher: otherwise he can injure his neck if he pulls back. Plus it’s easier for him to get a leg over a lower tied lead. And for Heaven’s sake, tie to the POST, not the PANEL.
If you are trail riding/driving with others, don’t be an a$$. If your horse is behaving like one, GO BACK. We went on a trail drive a few years ago, and this woman kept running her Mini up to us, then stopping and holding back until her friend caught up. She did this several times, we kept pulling off to the side, thinking she wanted to pass. Nope. Finally, her horse had enough and took off. Almost took out my guy, and cut right across my friend’s Mini, who jumped and then he exploded- his harness BROKE ( it was brand new!) and he promptly kicked the slats out of our brand new (to us) Meadowbrook cart. My friend got him stopped, she did not fall out. We got him unhitched and led him back to the parking area. Our drive lasted all of ten minutes. Ruined the whole day. The wench who caused the accident? She had a WONDERFUL time. Fortunately Dunny was cool when we put him back in harness a few weeks later. This was a 13YO been there, done that fella. Never assume….
Carry a knife at all times. Went to feed my young colts, everyone was fine. Came back three minutes later and Dartagnan has pierced his nostril with a bucket! He’s pulling back, the hole is stretching (I feared it would tear!) and he was not people friendly at that time, so approaching him was not an option. I reached over and cut the baling twine holding the bucket to the fence. I had the bucket in my hand and he was free in a second. I did catch him then to check him over and the hole had instantly closed. Barely any blood at all. It healed perfect and you can’t even tell which nostril.
If you use smooth high tensile wire, KEEP IT TAUT! Found another colt one evening just standing along the fence, didn’t want to come in for dinner. I looked out the other door, and he has a corner guy wire wrapped around a hind leg- don’t ask me how he did that! I had to physically pick up his hiney to free him. He stretched, then sauntered off to dinner, no worse for wear. No marks, nothing.
The best saying I ever heard: “Horses spend their entire lives trying to commit suicide”. Don’t give them any options….
I have had some experience with this one. It’s not just grass that can kill your horse– there are dozens of plants that are toxic to horses, ranging from mild stomach ache to near-instant death, from sunburn to serious neurological damage. Learn what plants in your area are toxic and check your field carefully! Plants can spread, too, (obviously) so if your neighbor has weeds, keep your eyes peeled for invasions. Healthy pastures are less likely to have weeds so good range management (preventing overgrazing, watering, and maybe fertilizing) is always important.
Fence – no more barbed wire for me! (Until I started reading this blog, I never knew anything was wrong with it – a few cuts, so what?)
My crippled sweetheart well-bred, well-built AQHA mare is crippled because of barbed wire, and ice. She was galloping in the pasture in winter, slipped on the ice, and ran into the fence. She was a yearling. She had a horrible cut right in the muscly part of her forearm, way into the muscle. She still has a good dent there – but the awfulness, and care, of that wound covered up the fact that she had a badly chipped knee. She was sound on it for a few years – never ridden. When we noticed something wrong, there was already arthritis all over it. The vet said, no riding, no breeding, and keep her thin, if we wanted her to last. She’s just ten, and we have maybe two years left. We have to move, and will put her down when we do. She’s a heartbreaker, all right. When she was still sound, she would run up to the fence and do a nice sliding stop – for fun. And let’s not talk about how sweet, and “bomb-proof,” she is by nature… now something has gotten into my eye. BRB.
Ruthie
I have a beginner question.
Has anyone ever heard of a horse casting in a three-sided run-in shelter? My BO was concerned about leaving the bottom of the shelter we are improving closed, but I have never seen one open at the bottom, and have been more concerned with building up the footing (dg, sand, and stall mats) so that the horses are not standing in mud all winter. If they won’t hang out in the shelter, I intend to have them fed in there to force some dry time.
If this is a concern, do I need to bank the sides? What is the easiest/best way to do this? It’s not a huge shelter to start with, so I don’t want to take up a lot of space.
Thanks!
Snohomish County Animal Control avoids seizing horses if at all possible. Although there are some caring officers, the management (shared with the comptrollers office) does not want the financial responsibility of seized horses. There also is an unfortunate focus on horses as livestock rather than companion animals. I fails to see any logic in that rationale.
Should charges be filed and the horses seized, the owner has fifteen days to notify the court whether they want to regain possession. For at least that two weeks AC must pay all the expenses of the animals. If the owner wants to fight for custody, AC must support the animals until the case goes to court. Rescues and individuals can offer to support the horses with no remuneration. With most rescues full, that leaves individuals to step up to the plate. I assure you there are not many appropriate foster homes available.
So, yes call them. Call them often! They won’t like it. Who cares? I believe my next call will be to the Monroe Monitor for a little follow up story to Judy Caton’s building being auctioned. Snohomish Animal Control won’t like that at all.
As for her buddy, 5minpins, you are enabling her with your support. I know she has assets that could readily be sold to buy hay. How about the truck? You do what you have to do when your animals need feed. Or you give them up. By the way, since those two vets support her horse care how about you share their names so we can ask them directly?
So it comes down to money. And social responsibility.