Teaching your horse to tie safely or correcting a horse that has learned to pull back when tied can be frustrating, and at times dangerous to you and the horse. Keep in mind that horses by nature aren’t bred to yield to pressure. They’re bred to push into pressure, pull against it and fight it. It’s your job to teach your horse how to yield to pressure and use the thinking side of his brain. You teach him to do that by taking him through the Method, practicing the step-by-step exercises. When he knows how to use the thinking side of his brain and understands how to give and yield to pressure, he is ready to be tied. When tying a horse, I recommend using an Aussie Tie Ring. It’s a great tool that makes tying as safe as possible and actually teaches a horse to stand calmly. While the groundwork and training you do decreases the chance of your horse pulling back and fighting the pressure when tied, it doesn’t guarantee that he will never pull back. I use the Aussie Tie Ring whenever I tie any horse – a yearling, a 2-year-old colt or even a well-trained adult horse because the tie ring does two things: 1) it allows the horse to move his feet, and 2) keeps his panic to a minimum. Bungee cords, inner tubes and whatever else people use to tie their horses up with tend to cause problems because slack is created in the lead rope. The problem with bungee cords or inner tubes is when the horse stops pulling back, he doesn’t receive an instant relief of pressure. Instead, he has to go all the way back up to the fence before there’s any slack in the rope and the pressure behind his ears is taken away. With the tie ring, as soon as he stops pulling, all of the pressure is released. Every time he stops pulling back, he receives a small reward. With the tie ring, horses will actually teach themselves not to pull back. No matter the amount of training my horses have, I always use the Aussie Tie Ring when tying them up. To me, the tie ring is the cheapest insurance policy I’ll ever buy for my horses and the best tool when it comes to teaching them to tie safely and confidently.

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