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 Expert
Posts: 1631
   
Location: Somewhere around here | I was hoping to take opinions on using a tiedown or a headsetter. I've been in barrel racing for about 10 years now and I've only used a tiedown on horses that push a little bit or I have felt they needed it for some reason, I haven't had them on all of my horses. The past couple of years I've heard from people that I shouldn't use one because your horse will start relying on it in a run and other reasons. As we all have seen though at the NFR there's a few ladies who use one, including Sherry Cervi on Stingray. So how are these horses different from our horses from using a tiedown/headsetter. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 956
Location: Washington | My personal take and I am sure some are going to disagree, and that is ok we each have our opinion. If your horse has the correct foundation they shouldn't need a Tie-Down or Headsetter. Also if the horse is using themselves correct they shouldn't need them. A lot of times they hinder a horse instead of help.
Like I said everybody has their opinion, and I personally can't stand either of them.
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | I use whatever equipment will allow my horse to perform at his best. Some horses work better with no tie down while others will work better in a tie down.
I start my colts as 2 year olds and the absolute soonest they will see a barrel is the fall of their 4 year old year. In all their early riding I spend a ton of time teaching them to collect and use their bodies properly & to be soft in the bridle. As well as a lot of miles out in the pastures working up & down hills on the cattle. I've got a background in showing so they are BROKE when I put them on the patterns (barrels, poles, mounted shooting.....). They all ride out without a tie down & can do all their foundation work softy & in frame but most of them do go into a tie down when it comes to finishing pattern work & competing.
Simple answer is to know your horse & use whatever equipment fits him the best. Don't worry about what other people think.
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 Blackbelt Babe
Posts: 9405
Location: South Georgia Good o'l USA | I agree with the above post...I've been training for over 30 years and for the first 10 years everything was started, reguardless, in a tie down...I used it as a short cut...so to speak. I had later found out that most don't need one and it was better to just put the little extra time in them and train them without...that said...some do require one due to their conformation and style. |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| My last 2 or 3 horses did not really need a tiedown but i put a loose on on incase i need one. They really cant get away from me. It is a just in case thing. |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | The trainer I mentor with the most is not afraid to put a tiedown or head setter on. She's also not afraid to take on off.
My gelding has a super nice handle, I don't NEED the tiedown on him, but he clocks faster with it. If it were a pretty contest, he would make the same runs without it. But it's a race and I got tired of losing three tenths and being in 2D crack land, when the tiedown snapped him up enough to pull 1D and top of 2D checks again. I don't use it at home.
My 6YO mare Zoom made a lot of her runs without a tiedown. She started with a tiedown and I took it off. Sometimes she would shake her head in a tiedown or in bits with curb chains- so I thought. Turns out, she was shaking her head because she had a chip in her stifle. Took the chip out, and she doesn't shake her head anymore with a tiedown or a curb chain. In fact, she's working amazing. I'm sure her pictures will be prettier without a tiedown but it's adjusted properly, she can run and turn without impediment, and it's there if I need it. |
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| I have a horse that doesn't really NEED a tiedown, but I feel he runs a little more confident in it. IF he happens to get a little strung out in a turn (due to bad ground or something), the tiedown just keeps him a little more "together."
I think that all horses are different and I am all for using whatever works..........as long as it is humane of course. :) |
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 As Good As I Once Was
Posts: 1211
Location: frozen tundra of pa | They are a tool nothing more and nothing less. if you feel your horse needs one use it, if not then dont and dont worry about what anybody thinks. I bet all the big dogs out there all worry about what we think of the equipment that they use, NOT! |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | phoenix - 2014-01-19 1:34 AM I have a horse that doesn't really NEED a tiedown, but I feel he runs a little more confident in it. IF he happens to get a little strung out in a turn (due to bad ground or something), the tiedown just keeps him a little more "together." I think that all horses are different and I am all for using whatever works..........as long as it is humane of course. :)
That's my gelding. I never put one on him at home and he can run without, but he's more confident with a tie-down so I put one on him for competition. He's not the first one I've had that was that way. I had another one that set really hard and would lose his butt on the first barrel in deep ground without a tie down, so he wore one in deep ground. Tiedowns are a tool like any other. Whatever works for my horse is what I'm going to use.
I train everything without, but during the seasoning process when they're learning how to be fast is when I might use one. Sometimes they work back out of them, sometimes they don't. Most often the ones that stay in a tiedown have funky necks, like a ewe neck. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| I see the ewe necks in horses who wear a tie down but haven't had a proper foundation put on them, or have other pain issues going on and the tie down was put on as pain was misinterpreted. Or the tie down is too tight. In any case, they are constantly braced against the tie down and that's what gives them the ewe neck - poor usage.
I use to make tie downs, but I got tired of seeing my work used in wrong, uneducated hands.
That being said, my horse wears a tie down. Only when we run, and the goal is to eventually not need it. He doesn't hit it except to balance in his turns. I started out in a traditional one, but swapped to a browband tie down a the end of last season. I felt like he had a tendency to get front endy in the turns and the browband tie down has helped him keep his shoulders up.
I had no role in my horse's foundation. I got him at 13 and he had very little formal training on him. I think we've gone back and patched most of the holes now. |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | What's an "ewe neck"? I've never heard that term before.  |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | mtcanchazer - 2014-01-19 12:25 PM What's an "ewe neck"? I've never heard that term before.
A neck that ties in low. When they raise their head, it looks upside down. You can build the muscle on the underside if one is trained/ridden wrong but that's not a ewe neck. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Here's one that's ewe necked. You can see how years of proper riding helped develop the muscle on top, but he still tied in low.
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You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Three 4 Luck - 2014-01-19 1:18 PM
mtcanchazer - 2014-01-19 12:25 PM What's an "ewe neck"? I've never heard that term before.
I've always known ewe necks to be a product of poor conformation, not of training. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | casualdust07 - 2014-01-19 1:25 PM
Three 4 Luck - 2014-01-19 1:18 PM
mtcanchazer - 2014-01-19 12:25 PM What's an "ewe neck"? I've never heard that term before.
I've always known ewe necks to be a product of poor conformation, not of training.
Exactly! |
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 Veteran
Posts: 253
Location: SoCal | All my horses run with a tie-down. Do they need them, not really, does it make them run quicker, you betcha. My young mare started in one pretty loose, and it did nothing, so I put her in a tighter one and she actually rarely touches it. It's like as soon as she knows that one is on, she automatically collects herself up and keeps her head where it should be. I can lope all day in it and it'll flap back and forth. She has a weird turning style, and no matter how much we work on staying collected she is young and can get a little stung out in bad ground, so with it on she tends to stay collected in bad or shifty ground. She just runs more confident and harder with it on, and even maintains a collected with it running. |
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Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | I see a ewe neck is having a horse with more muscle on the lower part on their neck and not enough muscle on the top of their neck. They get the irregular muscle by pushing a lot on a bit, on a tiedown, or having their nose in their air. |
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