Comments on the Functional Tie Ring and Horses Pulling Back

I receive e-mails when comments are posted on any videos I upload. Rather than answer each individual comment on YouTube, I'm choosing to use this website to answer many of the comments concerning using my Functional Tie Ring (FTR).

About 20 years ago I ran a large public barn, next to a military airbase with lots of activity including dogs, children, vehicles, hay deliveries, horse shoers,....you get the idea.  That's where in helping people with their horses I encountered many horses who pulled back, a lot due to unpredictable or controllable activity.  There was even a horse who flipped over on the shoeing stand when hard tied to cross ties.  So I started using a tie ring that became the FTR with these horses.  With many people wanting it, I started offering it commercially.  Even then, I made people aware that the FTR isn't designed to replace ground work or train your horse to stand. Your horse has to have learned how to give to pressure.

In a perfect world, the FTR is a solution to what is essentially a non-existent problem......for most horses,..........if sufficient ground work is done. Even then, the most bomb proof horse really isn't.  The whole idea is to give the horse the tools and experience to make that spook as benign as it can be.  However, most people can't or won't devout the time to establish solid ground training. A horse needs to know where "neutral" is on the lead rope - no feel on the lead at all and he learns that by accepting the changing feel of the lead to be able to move forward and back up. If you extend the ground training, which is really just a logically place to take it, a changing feel of the lead rope can further connect to the horse's feet and you can move his front end over in each direction and even draw his back feet to you. But before I would tie a horse, that horse has to be able to give to pressure.

The comments below were concerning a video where I tied a horse using a Functional Tie Ring and used a flag as a stimulus to spook him so he would pull back. The lead rope I was using starts to feed through the FTR at 15 lbs of pressure (pulling back), even then I didn't like doing this, and only did it once - no rehearsals or retakes, because basically that red roan horse in the video is never used, never tied and he is just living out his days with us after having been left by the owner.  He gets handled every day, but not ridden, although years ago I checked him out for the owner and ended up sacking him out to flag, among other things and riding him.

Anyway, Here are some of the comments, both good and bad, and my response:

"I can't get past him even THINKING of doing this without knowing how his horse handles a flag"
I pretty much knew how the horse would react to a flag, but more importantly how I presented it. That's why I used it, and used it only once in this case. Clinton Anderson demonstrates this often (with the Aussie Tie Ring), flagging a horse so the horse spooks and backs away. However, he carries this through many repetitions, each time with the horse reacting less and less.

"What I got from this video is someone teaching his horse to back up while tied. Not something I would want to teach my horse just so a video could be taken."
Teaching that horse to back up while tied, however not hard tied but tied with the FTR, that provides a controlled friction release, was what I was seeking. When a horse is spooked, his head come ups to gain elevation for observation to see the threat - it's akin to our startle reflex. If he is tied and the halter strap behind the poll becomes taunt (putting pressure on his poll) he will panic and pull back harder. With a tie ring, depending upon the diameter of the tie ring and the lead rope used, a horse spooking or backing away will get a greatly reduced presure on his poll. See my response to the comment below where I explain where and how the horse's find the release.

"The cowboy has his timing off. I agree with many others. You stay where you are and keep waving the flag (stimulus) until the horse relaxes.He is releasing the stimulus too soon. "
Actually, the comment about my timing is correct, however my intent was spook the horse into backing so the viewer could watch the relationship between the lead rope and halter and the point of suspension in the horse's feet. While some horses will back in a walk, a spooking horse will generally back at a trot which is a 2 beat footfalls on his diagonals. Momentarily, in between those feet hitting the ground and the next ones pushing off, there is a moment of suspension of the feet and reduced pressure to the horse's poll from the halter. When the horse back's and slows a bit, that reduced pressure is accentuated.



When I say that a horse should to give to pressure during ground training, he learns this by the handler getting into contact with the lead rope - in other words, the lead rope is taunt - then the horse leans into the lead rope reducing the pressure of the halter on his poll, and you build on this on. When I back one of my horses up from the ground using the feel of the lead rope, when that lead rope goes taunt the horse steps forward one step alleviating that pressure. That is giving to pressure.  In the beginning, once you get in contact with the lead rope, the horse will resist.  His head will go up. There is where people lose their temper and jerk on the lead rope, just making things worse.  If you start with very light contact and when the horse drops his head or nose then give him a release, you are teaching him that when he gives to pressure, he gets the release.  Your timing has got to accurate and you build on this.    

"very dangerous method I Will never use that EVER."
I hope the only people who use the FTR, or any tie ring for that matter, do their ground work and get the horse giving to pressure first. On a green horse once the lead goes taunt and the horse feels the pressure on the poll, the horse's head goes up increasing that pressure if the lead remains taunt. In an extreme case, some people leading a horse into a trailer will try to hold a horse when he trys to back out. Well, not even the Hulk can hold a lead line and keep a horse from backing away, and once that horse pulls the leads from your hands, his head jerks up and can hit the trailer roof. Some people even put those padded hats on horse's to keep them from hitting their head, when they should just get their horse's more soft and giving, and, broke to lead.

Anybody who has been around horses for a minute has observed, or maybe even did it themselves - as I have did - to my shame - a handler pulling and jerking a lead rope, which causes the horse's to learn to expect something bad when he feels pressure on the poll and then panic. Now, if my horses feel pressure on their poll they will drop their head a bit, or they will lean into the pressure (just a shift in their body weight) both relieving the poll pressure.  If those horse's were still alive, I'd formally apologize to them for ever jerking on the lead.  

I have had three local clients that told me the same thing: that "they would never use a tie ring'. That stayed true until their horse's spooked while being tied solid at events, one of them being hurt so he couldn't be ridden for a year. They all started using the tie ring. One of them bought seven of them. I have a client that competes at AQHA shows and every time I see her, she thanks me that the FTR she bought years ago. I was just on the phone with yet another client, who called and ordered his third FTR.

"Get a rope the same as you have there; put a Honda in one end; put the lasso around his girth; tie him up to a solid post or rail; give him a good tap on the nose; then watch him grunt when he tightens the rope right up around his girth (just make sure that the rope can readily loosen The pressure comes off); Do that a few times and that’ll stop his farting in church!"
I have had someone tell them they used a method similiar to what is described. I would not be comfortable doing something like that. The whole thing would end up with me being drug across the open desert.  I'd be digging cactus spines and goat heads out of my back and butt for weeks.  

"EXCELLENT teaching tool - gonna get a double ring asap"
I have had only one FTR returned. A lady bought one for her husband. He said "I don't need it." She sent it back and I refunded her plus the cost of shipping it back to me.

"Thank you for this video. I have several horses but one mare that sits back. The "sitting back" is a serious and dangerous problem. I use the blocker tie ring for saddling but need something more secure for trailer tying. I will be ordering one. Thanks again! "
I have been using the FTR to tie horses to the outside trailer D ring and inside the trailer when hauling. One of the questions I get about using the FTR is that - "if someone uses it for a long period of time, will their horses be un-learned or unable to be hard tied?" No, not in my experience. I reckon that one of my horses has been tied using the FTR for 6 or 7 years, pretty much exclusively, just because it easy to use. When I hard tied him for over 3 hours in a pen with a bunch of recently branded calves, he stayed tied, did not pull back despite all the commotion. I wasn't watching him the whole time, as we had bulls to haul to the next pasture, but I imagine he pulled back a little, a time or two, then step forward to relieve the pressure - after all that's what ground work and the FTR taught him. On another horse that I hard tied...he bent his head down to search the ground and when he brought his head up, the lead rope snagged on something. Feeling the pressure on his poll, he pulled up hard, but then dropped his head to reduce the pressure and waited for me to unhook the lead rope.

"I've got a horse no one on earth can fix. When tied, his eyes get three times normal size, and he shoots back like a Howitzer shell going off. Everything a horse can muster in a thousandth of a second. BAM!!! surprised he hasn't broken his own neck. it is not defiance or he doesn't want to work, it is sheer Terror that he is feeling. he thinks he's going to die horribly Untie him and all the fear of evaporates that moment and it's like nothing ever happened. it just shuts off like a light. I've had him four years and I tack him up just holding the lead rope. He's fine that way. I've tried at length to cure him but nothing will work. "
Had a couple horses like that. If I was to try to help your horse, I would use a halter and lead and while standing in front of him but off line a bit about 10 feet away, I would quietly and slowly take in the slack of the lead rope until it is taunt but not pulling on him. He may pull back. I'd begin again. I'd be looking for a change, however small, and at one point he would shift his weight forward and I would put slack into the lead rope and give him a pause to think about it. I'd start all over again.  At some point once you take in the slack of the lead rope the horse's head won't go up or the movement will be reduced. That progress is real evident.

The horses I worked with all got better. This does much more for a horse than just getting him giving to pressure.  As you continue a common issue will be the horse starting to buddy up (move to you) before you ask. Then you need to start working on him backing of a feel of the lead rope. On one difficult horse I was working with, rather than throw his head up and try to escape, he lunged forward and knocked me aside - good thing I was not standing directly in front of him, but off to the side a bit. I got him turned as he went past me. Then I started again. He was more of a difficult horse than normal, but in maybe 20 minutes he was giving to the lead, coming forward on and backing off a feel of the lead rope.

"You gonna get somebody hurt. All your doing is teaching him to be scared of your flag."
I used the flag in a manner to get a desired reaction. All my other horses would not give me a reaction of backing away like the little red roan.  Regarding flags, another common question I get is  - "I see you using a flag but how does the horse know when you want him to move his feet or stand still?" When I use a flag, I am either directing a horses feet to move or asking him to stand and accept the flag for which the movement and noise is scary in the beginning. The difference is the feel of the lead rope, your demeanor and body position relative to the horse. If the lead rope is in neutral (slack in the lead) I am asking the horse to stand. If the horse is moving when I want him to stand, I would maintain the movement of the flag until you get a change from the horse - that is standing, even momentarily, and build on that until he stands and accepts the flag. If you put a feel in the lead rope directing him forward or obliquely, the flag helps drive the horse in the direction.

For the record, I don't want anyone buying a Functional Tie Ring unless they have a need for it; are competent enough to use it; have a plan to use it; and, do the required ground work that every horse needs - most of the horses that receive good ground training won't need an FTR or other tie ring.
Safe Journey to everyone.    

Fixing Horses Who Pull Back

In the last 10 months or so, I have witnessed several horses who have pulled back from being tied hard and fast either breaking a lead rope snap, or having their feet go out underneath themselves and even pulling neck and back muscles in one case.

In one incident a young women who billed herself as a horse trainer tied her mare right next to my gelding. Her horse was not sacked out on being hard tied, especially in a strange arena, and soon pulled back getting that threatening pressure on her poll (behind the head) breaking the lead line snap. The young woman tied on the lead line and proceeded to lunge her horse thinking that if she gets tired or loses some energy she will be better. The way she went about lunging that horse just reinforced that mare's level of anxiety. Then the woman re-tied her horse, hard and fast, to a 30 foot gate that was on a wheel. Well, the horse pulled back again, this time pulling that gate on the wheel herself...repeating the process of pulling back, the gate chasing her, then pulling back again, and the gate chasing her, etc. I started walking over to the horse with the intent of disengaging her back end, while the young woman ran to a position between the horse and the gate, further spooking the horse who pulled back again slamming the gate into the back of the woman in a process that repeated itself until the horse paused long enough so the woman could get the lead rope untied. Then to make things worse for that mare, and likely in a fit of embarrassment and anger, the woman she started jerking on the lead rope yelling at her horse. All this could have been avoided if she had her horse good at tying in the first place,......oh yeah,..........and not tying to a gate!

One of the worst cases I saw was a horse being tied with a lead rope and a chain around the horse's nose. While the pressure, when pulling back, is on the horse's poll, if the horse get's his head up or has his feet go out from underneath him, substantial damage on the nose can occur. While I have used nose chains in the past, I won't ever use them again. I cringe when I see them and if I have a horse that can't be handled without a nose chain, well, I don't need to handle him then.

I have also had riders and their horses at my place asking for a pen for their horse as their horse won't stand tied. I always think "why don't they stand tied? Kind of minimizes what you can do and where you can go, now doesn't it?" I've had horses like that, and I've worked with the horse through most of the issues because I had to. And even if they are hobble broke, I'd still want my horses to be able to stand tied.

Horses are not born ready to tie. They must be taught this, or more appropriately they must have the time to learn that standing tied is a good deal - it's a resting spot. But all horses can be spooked and if spooked, can pull back, and if hard tied, will get that overwhelming pressure on their poll from either a webbing halter or a rope halter. This causes many of them to panic and pull back harder usually breaking a lead line snap, and if on a lead line tied into a rope halter, they can break a rope halter. This can be particular bad if inside a hard roofed trailer where the sudden release of a broken lead can send their head into the roof - and in some cases kill or badly hurt the horse.

17 years ago or so, in what later became my Functional Tie Ring (FTR), I started using a friction device in order to provide a measured friction release for a horse pulling back, with the lead line being fed by the horse's body weight through a ring. There have sure been some funny moments when a horse of mine, that was hooked through the tie ring on a 25 foot line continually pulled back while turning in a circle and ended up wrapping the lead line around his legs two or three times - unconcerned about the rope wrapping him up, it did not deter him from biting the value stems off two trailer tires. He stood for being wrapped up as I had sacked him out on ropes around his feet, hocks and legs....and was able to get him to lead with a rope around any foot.

So now days, while I occasionally hard tie a horse, I use the FTR when grooming, saddling or unsaddling, trailering someplace, and, I use cross ties with FTR's when I have horses on the shoeing stand or wash rack. But I only use the FTR when I have sacked that horse out on pulling back so they can learn they don't have to pull back or if they pull back, a pause in pulling back will give them that release from pressure, primarily on their poll, then they quit pulling back.  Boy, that's a mouthful.  

I'll hookup a lead line with the FTR, ensuring the halter is properly fitted and the lead line does not have much slack in it (to minimize the jerk when the horse pulls back initially). Then I'll back away then re-approach the horse with some stimulus such as a flag to get the horse to pull back so he finds a release when there is a pause in pulling back.  It's important to cease the spooking stimulus when the horse stops pulling back.  This is his reward.  Then I'll give him a break, rubbing on him, and when he is ready I'll cinch the lead rope back up and doing it all over again. Each time, the horse will react less and if done repeatedly, again giving a break and rubbing in between, the horse will eventually not pull back at all, or maybe just a slight head toss. This whole process may take 5 minutes or it may take 15 minutes. I can't remember a horse ever not getting a profound reduction in his pulling back behavior ever taking more than that.

In the video below I have a older horse, a pony really, who was left with us and has not been handled much in the past several years. His first encounter with the FTR was when we pushed the record button on the video camera. I had no idea on how he would do when tied with the FTR and given some horse spooking stimulus.

There are many tie rings on the market. The Clinton Anderson tie ring is a good tool as well, I just like my FTR better because you don't have to use a swing arm to keep the rope in place. If someone doesn't want to buy any particular tie ring, I'm sure an alike device can be fashioned and you may even save a few bucks. Make sure the rope you are using feeds easily through whatever tie ring you are using.

I hope this helps some of you.  I caution you if/when you try this.  Go slow. You can always increase the pressure, incrementally as needed. Better yet to get some help from someone who has done this before.  And it is always better to take all day getting it done as opposed to trying to get it done on some arbitrary time schedule and end up getting you or your horse hurt.  Don't do that. Please!
 

Safe Tying Solution - The Functional Tie Ring

Most of us had had a horse spook while tied. What normally happens, if the horse is tied hard and fast, is that the fear of whatever spooked him is exacerbated and/or replaced by the fear of being confined by the halter and the pressure of that halter on his poll (behind his ears), and sometimes pressure behind the jaw and on the nose if the halter is fitted right.

The weak spot in most halters is the metal snap connecting the lead rope to the halter - this usually breaks when a horse pulls back hard. If you are using a tied on lead rope, like on a rope halter, the halter itself can break.  Had that happen once.

If your horse is in a trailer when the halter or lead rope breaks, the horse can drive his head into the top of the trailer and sometimes with fatal results.

Have you ever seen a horse spook while cross tied? If the surface is slippery, the horse's feet can go out from underneath himself and a neck or leg injury is possible.

There are several tying devices on the market that allow the lead rope to be fed through a ring so when the horse pulls back a friction controlled release is obtained. The Clip is one such device. The reason I'm not fond if it, is that the ring (hole) that the lead rope is fed through is pretty small making it hard to fed larger diameter lead ropes through, and, one side of the clip has a rope channel with a knurled screw type device that is designed to be used to tighten the rope so it won't feed out if you prefer, but it can damaged lead ropes if you aren't careful or if the horse pulls back.

Another device is the Blocker Tie Ring or Aussie Tie Ring, which is pretty much the same purpose, but the design is a little different in that is uses a pivoting, magnetic arm for the rope to feed around.   

If you are not familiar with the Blocker or Aussie Tie Rings, it may be easier to go to the link to see them, but basically this device resembles half a snaffle bit. A lead line is fed through a ring and a pivoting arm is flipped up between the bite on the lead rope. A magnet on the pivoting arm holds the arm in place. I have seen a lot of these in use, but again the size of the hole is just a little bit small for my liking and it is possible to feed through a lead rope backwards so that when the horse pulls back the arm releases and frees the horse. To be fair, if someone isn't paying attention and "reverse ties" a horse then they probably have other problems as well. The main advantage with this tying device is that it can stay connected via a snap link while the lead line is fed through and the pivot arm flipped up into place.

For about 10 years now I have been using a different tie ring and after being asked repeatedly to make it available to others, I applied for a patent and received a provisional patent on what I call the Functional Tie Ring.

There are other uses for the Functional Tie Ring other than to quick tie horses.  Using the Functional Tie Ring you can teach your horse not to pull back but putting some pressure on him and causing him to pull back where his body weight pulling back feeds the lead rope through the tie ring in a controlled manner giving him a release.  When you repeat this the horse will pull back less and less, figuring out that he doesn't need to pull back at all.

If you use thicker three or four strand cotton ropes for leads ropes, they are easy to fit through the big hole and loop around the Functional Tie Ring, more so than if you use another tie ring with a smaller diameter hole.  And the Functional Tie Ring is reversible - you can hook the snap link to the bigger diameter hole and use the smaller hole to feed smaller lead ropes through, like if you are using the lead rope or get down rope portion of mecate reins. 

I use my tie rings on the cross ties on my shoeing stand and wash stand.  I've had horses pull back once in while but it is a minor event compared to what usually happens when a horse pulls back then feels that pressure from the halter and panics. 

I also use the Functional Tie Rings looped through a rope from my trailer to a tree or pole creating a high line to picket my horses on.  This provides a loop to snap or tie your leads onto.  And lastly a note on bungee trailer ties.  These are bungee cords with snaps and both ends and are designed to provide the horse a release when they pull back.  I advise never to use these. I have seen twice, maybe three times where a horse has pulled back, breaking the bungee or the snap and having that elastic cord snap back and hit the horse in the face.    

The video below helps explain how I use the Functional Tie Ring.  You can click on the link here to purchase a Functional Tie Ring, and these is a static link on the left hand side of the website. 

Safe Journey to you and your horses.