horse trailer tying, tying a horse to a trailer, should I tie horse to a trailer, how to tie horse to a trailer, horse trailer tying tips, horse trailer tying information
Trailer Clinic
To
BY REBECCA
Tie
GIMENEZ, PHD
or Not to T
Tying your horse
in the trailer is
supposed to help
prevent injury — but
does it? Here are
the pros and cons.
Recently, a friend’s horse died as
Q a result of being tied in a trailer.
When the trailer door was opened
before the horse was untied, he pulled
so hard that he broke the tie, flew out
of the trailer, flipped over, and broke
his neck. I know this tragedy could have
been avoided. Can you discuss the pros
and cons of tying a horse in a trailer?
— Randy Winter
via e-mail
A In the Technical Large Animal
Emergency Rescue course I teach
with Tomas Gimenez, MVZ, Dr. Med.
Vet, we partly focus on preventing incidents
such as you describe. As we travel
around the country giving seminars
and workshops, too many people tell
us about tragic trailer-related accidents.
As you have observed, far too many of
those injuries occur while the trailer is
not even in motion!
Here, I’ll give you some trailer-tying
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MARYLAND NATIONAL CAPITAL PARK POLICE
pros and cons, plus six safety tips.
Trailer-tying pros: Tying a horse is
supposed to prevent him from hurting
himself in the trailer, such as turning
around or biting/disturbing a neighboring
horse. A loose horse can really hurt
another one that cannot defend himself
and can cause a wreck as the injured
horse seeks to escape from the attack.
Tying a horse also prevents a horse
lying down, crawling under a divider,
or from putting his head down under a
barrier, then panicking when he raises
his head. Tying also controls the head of
fractious or aggressive horses and stallions,
and prevents horses from reaching
down to get hay/feed off the floor.
10
PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. REBECCA GIMENEZ
“This is how horses are attached in professional hauler
vans,” notes Dr. Rebecca Gimenez. “They use chains
on the halter. They are betting against an accident —
nothing in this photo will break.”
Trailer-tying cons: The biggest trailertying
con is that the horse can catch
a foot (or a trailer obstacle) in the tie
rope, then panic and injure himself. You
can tie a horse tightly enough to prevent
him from catching a foot (and annoying
his traveling buddy), yet still give him
enough slack to balance himself.
Another con is the one you described.
It is extremely important to untie a horse
before opening the trailer door.
Trailering Safety Tips
Here are several trailering safety tips,
related to tying your horse in the trailer.
Provide feed carefully. In the wild,
a horse eats for 18 to 20 hours per
To avoid a trailertying
tragedy, use
a tie rope that
will break under
pressure, such as
one made from a
hay string (shown),
leather, or a
high-tech option.
Shown is the safe
tie method used
by the Maryland
National Capital
Park Police.
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