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Veteran
Posts: 220
| Is it just me, or is becoming more and more common on horses having a setting back problem. I guess maybe because my mare recently started doing it, Im more aware of it? I see it more in horses for sale and at shows. But she sets back to get lose and wont stop til the halter breaks. |
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 Too Skinny
Posts: 8009
  
Location: LA Lower Alabama | I think we have lost a lot of the "old ways" which may have caused a bit of the flight/ fight but also breeding more fire tends to cause a bit more flight/ fight.
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | I've noticed it more, probably for the same reason. My mare recently began to do it... again. A few years back, she set back when lightening struck, broke the tie ring off the trailer and went for a spin. She realized she could get loose so would sit back every time I tied her. I then started tying her with two halters/leads and she quit. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, she set back when another horse backed up to her, flipped over when the halter broke on my saddle 
I've decided to just buy "tie blocker" rings. I don't coddle problem horses, but I love that mare. She's won me 5 buckles this past year and just won our first saddle two weeks ago. So if this is her one quirk, so be it.
Edited by ~BINGO~ 2017-09-27 10:53 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1599
| I think people don't sack horses out as much as they could. And teaching them to hobble helps a ton! I got a 6 year old mare that would set back violently, she's over it now and will stand tied to a trailer all day! |
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Veteran
Posts: 220
| With my mare, She will just randomly set back hard if she is pulled from my other mare or doesn't want to be tied. She is not doing it out of fear, she is just being a jerk. I always tie my horses where I can release lead rope to avoid wreck. And so before when I thought she was done I would go to release her and I be dang if she didn't set back harder. Its like she knows it will eventually break. Makes me so mad! But the more I see horses for sale on Facebook and on here I am seeing people are having the same issue. |
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 Queen Bee Cat Owner
Posts: 3629
Location: Way up North | I think it is just a really hard issue to fix and we are tying out overnight more often at races so you are probably going to see it more. I think some are caused by a bad attitude and some are from bad experiences which makes it a hard issue to fix.
I recently discovered my cowhorse will do it if the rope gets over the back of her head. She doesn't set back hard enough to break anything but it is still an annoying issue. I have been working trying to figure out how to fix it and discovered it isn't a tying issue as she will rear up if I put the rope behind her pole on purpose to work on her softening to that feel. She is a very soft, feely horse that has had a ton of training so I am not sure where this issue comes from. |
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Veteran
Posts: 220
| I have had some advice on breaking them hard if you know what I mean and have been warned you have to have a stomach for it and have to commit. Which I do not, I am almost scared it would make the problem worse to be honest. |
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Queen Bee Cat Owner
Posts: 3629
Location: Way up North | Firemanswife - 2017-09-27 11:12 AM I have had some advice on breaking them hard if you know what I mean and have been warned you have to have a stomach for it and have to commit. Which I do not, I am almost scared it would make the problem worse to be honest.
I think that's why a lot don't get fixed, hard to risk hurting a really nice horse over it. I also don't think most are really ever broke of it, if they get in a panic I think for a lot it is just in their nature for that to be their answer. |
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Expert
Posts: 2531
Location: WI | I have one that does it, but he spooks super easily. I use The Clip - I know I coddle him, but I have seen some terrible accidents and injuries from pulling back and/or flipping over. |
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 The Worst Seller Ever
Posts: 4138
Location: Oklahoma | I have one that will set back, but isn't fully commited to it anymore. He did it once and hurt himself pretty bad, by coming into a trailer and laying his chest open. |
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 The One
Posts: 7998
Location: South Georgia | Ugh, I have had a couple horses that were bad about it. I was never very successful at fixing the issue. I would just tie them loosely and it was always a pain in the neck because I couldnt leave them tied. I am so thankful my new mare does not do it. She is very cognicant of where her head is in terms of the rope and she is very careful not to reach the end when tied, even when she does freak about something. |
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Chi Chi Mama
Posts: 11212
Location: Spokompton, Wa | I just bought a new mare a little over a month ago. Owner told me the last people that tried her, she set back and broke the lead. But she had never done it before that. No sooner did I get her home and brushed her, she set back. And HARD. She was not giving up. So much that the rope halter came up into her mouth and cut the crap out her. She leaped forward two or three times and dented the fender on my trailer. I almost loaded her up and took her back. But, she is super nice and I figured worth the risk and I didn't pay very much. I now tie her up with a tie ring and lunge line since she likes to pull back so hard and far.  She's pulled back a couple more times since then. It might start bothering me though and we'll see how long I deal with it. lol |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| I have a gelding who's 23. He had several trailer accidents at a 6/7/8 year old in rapid succession. Just random things, like the trailer window falling on his head because it wasn't quite shut properly and one he pulled back, flew forward and broke a tooth on the side of the trailer. There were several others.
So he doesn't tie to the trailer. We gave up long before anyone thought of the tie ring and bought panels. He has a pen every single place we go, even if it's just for the day. He will now tie long enough to saddle as long as the pen is up. He's earned his keep over the years, but I never could sell him because I was always afraid of whoever got him wouldn't put up with it and sell him again or hurt him trying to fix it. |
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 Living within my means
Posts: 5128
Location: Randolph, Utah | My 3 year old randomly started it this summer. He's since spent a few days in the barn tied up with a rope around his belly, when he's set back it would tighten and he'd jump forward. So far he's been better.
My old mare did it her whole life, I refuse to deal with it again. Hopefully it was just a phase of not someone can buy him and deal with it.
What causes it who knows, my colt has been tied up daily all winter since he was weaned, never once offered. My mare had figured out how to break my toe rings and get away. That's why she kept it up. |
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Veteran
Posts: 217
| This is just my opinion. I think we are breeding smarter horses which is wonderful for training good habits but then they learn these bad habits just as easy. Pulling back hard enough, lets something break and they get to go eat fresh grass or get to run.
As stated before, we are breeding them hotter so they have more power, more speed, and that usually means their brain is more than likely firing at all times. So, they have to do something.
When I was a kid, my pony did it a couple times then learned her halter wasn't going to break and the post wasn't going to move and that phase was over quick. My new guy use to test the trailer every single time. Luckily the trailer, halter, and lead are super sturdy. I believe he learned this habit and what happened when he got loose.
This might be frowned on but he was being a real snot when bathing him. He rocked the trailer several inches just because he didn't want to have a bath and he didn't want his face washed. It was a ten minute battle and watching him jerk on the trailer. I got a little worried but he has a jock personality, he's a jerk. He finally kept all four feet on the ground and slack in the rope with 5 seconds of water on his face and I untied him. I can spray water on his face and he will not move when he's not tied (go figure), but I believe he learned a lesson that day. The gravel looks a little rough but he's been better at the trailer since. |
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Veteran
Posts: 220
| She set back so hard one day we rocked the trailer back, broke the D ring, and the trailer rocked back and forth a few times. Irritates the fire out of me. These animals we love, I swear.... |
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 Expert
Posts: 2135
Location: Somewhere else | I had one that not only pulled back but would run forward & crack his head open. He might stand tied to the trailer all day with no problem or it might be 2 minutes and he would freak out. I tried everything out their and the ONLY thing that worked was a 'gut rope' he tried it twice, figured it out and stopped. And what would drive me crazy was that I could tie him to anything else but the dang trailer. Finally sold him because it just got to be to stressful on me to take him off by myself. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| The last couple I have had would do it randomly (which is almost worse since you don't expect it). It is now a deal-breaker for me. I won't have one and if one starts it AFTER I own it, I'll use a tie ring so we both don't get hurt. NOBODY ever had this problem when I was growing up - I wonder why?? |
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Veteran
Posts: 286
| A very very smart horse I purchased last spring had an issue with setting back...which I wasn't informed of by the previous owner btw.
I think this gelding would pull back because he learned he could get loose when and if he pulled back. The previous owner tied her horses with those "special" tie rings...which I believe may contribute to the "epidemic" I also think is going on with a lot of horses right now.
I would like to say, thankfully, that months later, this very large very smart gelding has not set back in a long time. It took some "tough love" to get him to this point though. (And several Chiro adjustments,..but I do those regularly with my horses anyway.)
I first started tieing him overhead...I have a big Oak tree which I attached a long strong lead rope to and I also have a big beam in the barn which I put a tie line on just for him. It seems like it's safer and harder for the horse to pull back when tied over their head... I made sure there wasn't anything around him he could hurt himself on, etc. So, after the gelding stopped pulling back when he was tied like that, I moved on to tieing him to sturdy things that he couldn't hurt himself on. I tied him short and directly to tree trunks and to the stall wall,...and I tied him with a halter and a lead that wouldn't break if he set back. _No reward_ for pulling back if he wasn't able to get free... I also made sure to tie him for some length of time every single day so he got lots and lots of practice at being tied. Anyway, I am now able to tie him to my trailer and he has been doing great and he hasn't set back in a long time. But I still tie him up short and I tie him with out snaps, and with a good rope halter, etc because I don't want him to get loose if he should set back. I do, however, check on him a lot when he is tied to the horse trailer. Since he is such a big guy, it's the tie ring on the trailer that I now don't trust to stay attached to the trailer if he does set back, lol. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | lol, this thread reminds me.... I need to get a new tie ring for my trailer. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | To all the ones that have horses that set back watch out for your fingers when tieing. One set back on a fella so fast that he lost two fingers befor he knew it. |
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Veteran
Posts: 220
| That happened to my neighbor as well. He is missing half his thumb. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 695
Location: Windoming | Griz - 2017-09-28 10:07 AM The last couple I have had would do it randomly (which is almost worse since you don't expect it). It is now a deal-breaker for me. I won't have one and if one starts it AFTER I own it, I'll use a tie ring so we both don't get hurt. NOBODY ever had this problem when I was growing up - I wonder why??
I think there are a couple of reasons. One is the sheer number of horses being hauled now versus then. Two is I know I rode my horses a lot more back then than I do now. I would ride all day, versus now ride an hour or less a day. They were glad to be tied up! |
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | Silly filly nailed it.When I have one that wants to set back.I work them into a nice soaking wet lather. Then I tie up. Most of the time they learn it's easier to stand quiet vs setting back. When tied up short they don't get that full momentum pendulum to set back. They have to squat low to pull.less grain and more time in the saddle. |
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Setting Back