Horse Training – Tying a Quick Release to a Trailer D Ring

From time to time when trailering horses from one place to another you’ll have reason to tie up your horse in order to do things. You probably want to have the trailer stopped before you tie your horse up to it, and un-tie him before you move the trailer again,.....come on that's supposed to be humor. Althought I've heard about a moron not closing his trailer door and losing a horse on the higway, I have never seen nor heard of someone driving off with the trailer and a horse tied to it. Anyway, most trailers have “D” rings, attached to the sides for ths purpose or for hanging buckets on, or, bars of a stock trailer can be used to tie a horse too.

I always tie horses either with a quick release, so in case that horse gets in trouble I can quickly get control, or as just a simple and fast way to un-tie.
I have also used snap-rings or The Clip type devices that feeds the rope around a stem or post that allows a gradual release of slack in case that horse pulls back.

In fact I have trained horses that pull back, not to be so ready to pull back by using one of these devices so when they do pull back they find a release and figure out that they didn’t need to pull back in the first place. Sometimes I'll intentionally spook a horse to faciliate him learning this. I like to think it teaches them to think.

I have used trailer bungees in the past, but will not use them again as they dry rot, the stiches come un-done and the hardware can break The idea is much the same as a snap-ring or The Clip. A horse can pull backs and the bungee stretches giving them time to think. But the bungee can break and fling a fast moving piece of hardware right at the horses head. Then you think the problems you had before with pulling back will be minor.

This is a better picture of The Clip, available at http://www.smarttieproducts.com/












Watch the video below to see my easy quick release knot on a Trailer D ring.

Tying Horse at Tie Rail with a Quick Release

Be around horses long enough and you’ll see some horse tied to a tie rail too long (with too much slack), where the horse steps over the lead line and pressure on the horse causing him to pull back and break something. You may have seen horses snubbed up too close to the rail. You may have seen someone tie knots that only a chainsaw could get it undone. I prefer to use quick release knots on my lead line so I can quickly and easily un-tie my horse.

Have you seen someone tying to a rail or fence using either one or both reins with the horse carrying a bit? Not good in either case. I’ve seen horses pull down fence panels or bang their teeth on bits pulling back. If you need to tie a bridled horse to a rail, then you should consider using a separate rope like a “get down” rope. If you are riding with mecate reins (sometimes called McCarthy reins because some people don’t pronounce Spanish words very well) then you have that extra 8 feet of rope to tie with.

The below video shows a simple knot I use when tying a horse to a tie rail. Remember that you may see the tie rail as a handy place to tie your horse,....he see's the rail and thinks "Ahh, a test for my strength or knot un-tying abilities".