Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What a DAY! My problem child decided to get loose, drag the other 2 horses into it, and get lost in the woods from 8AM-6:30 PM. Ever so luckily I have very wonderful neighbors, and they avidly helped us search for them until finally we found them back in the woods on the corner of their property in a clearing of grass. Pistol decided to show us who's boss by taking "his herd" away from the barn and probably never coming back. Thankfully, they were a dream to catch. No one acted up or acted stupid, even though we were leading them on a super muddy road, by a truck (myself and my neighbor sat on the tailgate leading all three), through all kinds of mud and standing water (hey that's what they get for running away in the middle of this wet wet wet season!).
We've decided we're going to get them alllll ID tags to put on their halters after this cute little episode. Figures too. The one night the farrier calls and says he can come, the horses are missing! Doh!
Just wondering if anyone else has a story about their wild roamers

Interesting coincidence--my mare Prim and Kyle, her goat stablemate, got out yesterday morning. My husband interrupted my beauty sleep by running into the bedroom and yelling, "Prim and Kyle got out!" Five minutes later I was out the door (dressed, even--with carrots in my pocket--and I'm not a morning person). We have 20 acres and I don't know how long they were out (I'd forgotten to chain the gate of their pipe corral closed), but they hadn't gotten very far. Because one of the first commands I taught Prim was to come when I whistle, I whistled as soon as I saw her and held out the carrot. She came galloping towards me, Kyle gamely trying to keep up, and they both followed me into their pipe corral.

As I said in my earlier post: basic training. If this horse is too unreliable to ride at the moment (and he sounds as though he is), there's still a lot you can do with him--like teach him to respond to voice commands. You do need a corral or other enclosed space, though, so he can't decide he's had enough of you for the day and run off. I think somebody else suggested this also.

Rather than putting an ID tag on the halter, consider braiding one into a small piece of mane. I use Cow insect repelant tags and write info on them. The tags are cheap and can be bought at many ranch supply stores they are usually bright orange, so they are easy to spot. They also repel mosquitos and other insects. I write the info on them with permanent marker. Also, microchip ID is becoming more popular for horses. Tattooing and branding are also other choices. Freeze branding is usually prefered to hot iron for horses, but you have to make sure you can register the brand in your state first. There are many means of identification out there, temporary and permanent. Halters and tags can be removed on stolen horses, tattoos, brands and microchips are much more difficult to cover up.

I know it is common for people to leave halters on their horses, but I personally do not. I have seen horses get killed as a result of wearing halters all the time. It worries me especially if I see a foal with a halter on unsupervised. I have seen foals reach up with a hind leg to scratch their face and get the leg stuck in the halter. I have also seen horses get halters stuck in fencing, tractor equipment (think hay rake!!) and on branches of trees. It is a grizzly death for those horses.

-----
Downtime Training
Sammi Jo Stohler
Training all equines of all ages!
visit www.equidreams.info for more information!

I agree.
I know a man who had a foal that hung himself on some piping by having a halter on unsupervised.
A horse can get into quite a pickle with one of those on!!
If you insist on keeping one on, I suggest a leather halter with a break away strap.

Don't worry they have break-aways on. I don't want to brand, maybe tattooing would be the best bet. How do they do that, anyway? Sedate them? They must...

Yikes - what a scarey way to start the day! We've had some escapees but fortunately they like to flaunt their escapes and come up around the house to let us know they have gotten out. The few who escaped from their stalls or paddocks, went back to the pastures where everyone else was instead of running off. The closest we've had to a problem child was my father-in-laws mare who invariably headed toward the road when she tore down the fence - which she enjoyed doing WAY too much!!!! I put my foot down on keeping her though and no longer have to worry with that.

I agree on the halters though, we only keep halters on ours if they have just been turned out and there's a higher risk of me needing to be able to grab hold of something! After a couple of days they are taken off. When you do need to leave a halter on, even a breakaway, make sure it fits well. Where you run into the most problems - and this includes foals - is when the halter is loose on their head and is more prone to hanging on things or getting a foot caught in them. A snug fitting halter isn't as likely to get hung.
-----
PH Cody
HorseHobbyist Site Coordinator