Why Our Horses Are Naked
Posted by Mikki on Feb 05 2007 at 02:44 pm | Tagged as: Horse Health, Tack
We’ve mentioned in several earlier posts that we don’t keep halters on our horses while they’re out in the pasture, and promised to explain why. Well, now we finally will.
We often see horses in pastures wearing a halter, and many of our friends keep their horses haltered all the time. In the movies, certainly, the horses are always wearing something or another. We loved the fancy halters in “Racing Stripes,” for instance - they were dark leather with a brass nameplate on the side. And it makes sense, don’t you think, to have a halter on your horse? That way, if you need to catch a horse in a hurry, all you do is grab it and snap on a lead rope. So why don’t we leave halters on our horses?
Well, we leave them bare for safety reasons. There’s our paranoia about theft, of course - why make it easier for a horse thief to nab your horse? But that’s a very minor consideration, really. The biggest thing is that the halter is so easy to catch on things. Our pasture is very woodsy, and the horses love to wander through the trails between the trees. It would only be a matter of time before one of them snagged a branch with the halter, panicked and injured him- or herself.
Another scenario we’ve read about is horses getting a hoof caught in the halter when scratching themselves. I’ve seen my horse rubbing his chin with a rear hoof, believe it or not, and halters are pretty loose in that area. It seems like a remote possibility that he could get his hoof caught, but a possibility nonetheless.
And, last but not least, there’s the fact that our horses cannot leave anything on themselves or each other alone. When we got their fancy new personalized halters and went out into the pasture to try them on the horses, Moonshine did her best to pull Valentine’s off. (Yet another reason why blankets wouldn’t work out for our horses.)
So they’ll just go around in the buff. Better safe than sorry - which pretty much sums up our horsekeeping doctrine.
I completely understand and completely agree. I would love to keep halters on mine but it is not to be. We had one stalled for “doctoring” and were treating her every four hours. So, I was keeping a halter on her to hook to her easily and lead her out to doctor. In that four hour time span, she gashed her face with the halter and then we had SOMETHING else to doctor! Lesson learned the hard way!
I completely agree, we have never ever left the halters on any of our horses there are just too many possibilities and horses are quite curious creatures. My old horse that we had to put down was especially bad, if he was the slightest bit warm he would rub his head against whatever possible so he rarely had a halter on (he was also good enough to just stand there unhaltered and let you do anything you needed to do to him).
You’re quite right, it’s better not to turn horses out with halters on. Mine, all 26 that get turned out, go out without. Not only are some expert at removing their own halters on fences, one older Lipizzaner enjoys removing his neighbours’ halters. (He does that in the barn too. I hear them clumping around at night. When I get out to the barn, there they are with their heads down in the manger, pretending to be tied up.) Seriously, though, we had our lesson. I sent the herd out to pasture in the forest with a boy as herdsman. (This being Eastern Europe, a herdsman is quite affordable - and useful.) One horse, a 13 hand Huzul, did have a halter, and he did get a hind foot stuck in his halter when he scratched his chin. Being sensible as Huzuls are, he stayed still until rescued by the herdsman, however other horses might not have been so lucky. I was more careful removing halters after that.
One of a trainer’s is on a mission to stop people from turning out horses with halters. If he sees a horse turned out with a halter he will kindly knock on the owner’s door and explain the danger. He’s very passionate on the subject. So beware, if you turn your horse out with a halter on you may just get a knock on your door!
Pony Tail Club, that sounds like the start of a horse legend right there. I like how you put it - “…beware, if you turn your horse out with a halter on you may just get a knock on your door!” I wonder if kids who get their first horse 100 years from now will hear that from their parents.
But seriously, I’m new to all this so far be it from me to tell people what’s right and what’s wrong but I remember finding it odd that so many horses we see in pastures around here all have halters on, all day long. For us, this is a safety issue, plain and simple, due to all the trees and things to get hooked on in our pasture. So thankfully, we should receive no such chastising visits from the horse trainer spirit!
Your photo made me laugh out loud
I’ve always been taught you never turn out horses with halters on, and you are spot on–it just isn’t safe. For those hard-to-catch characters, a cheap leather or breakaway halter might be an option (but that’s a problem to fix with training, really).
I’m wondering if it’s something to do with the area in which you live? In our area, here on Vancouver Island, BC Canada, no one that I know puts their horses out with halters on. Well maybe some do, but I’m not aware of it. I don’t even feel comfortable putting blankets on our horses because of the same reasons you mentioned about halters. The chance of them getting their legs caught up in the blankets, trying to take one another’s blankets off etc.. But of course we have one very mischevious young horse, and he will play/chew/tug on anything, even his stall mate’s harness! Ha ha!
By the way, our family enjoys reading your blog. We are also first time horse owners for the past 19 months now.
It’s quite true…they do pose a threat. That said…both of my girls are wearing them.
Sunny is still wild, and until a couple days ago was dragging a lead rope by which to catch her. She somehow has removed the lead, and hopefully I’ll be able to get close enough to catch her up again sometime over the weekend. Then the lead will go back on…but perhaps one with a different snap?
Quiet Storm, on the other hand, is being a complete and total poopy head with Darling Daughter, so the halter is back on for a few more days. Normally she’s quite easy going, but occasionally gets it in her silly little head that she’s a wild thing and she gets all obnoxious. After her ‘time in’ (in the halter), she’ll revert to being a nice girl once more and be able to go halter topless
I really enjoyed stopping by your blog. It is refreshing to find other families who have a passion for developing a strong safe relationship with the horse. Our family has shared the same feelings, which lead us the development and manufacturing safe and durable American-made quality leather horse tack & equipment. So many riders do not realize the importance of inspection and safety of their saddles and tack. The unbridled power of a horse can be so explosive.
Thank you, John Brand aka: Buckaroo John