by Grace Lambert
There are a variety of reasons a horse should be trained to give to the pressure they would feel when tied hard and fast to a hitching post, even if you never elect to tie them. One reason is that they do learn to give to that pressure, and not fight against it. If they fight against it, there is bound to be trouble, as you can see from this image of a horse resisting the pressure of a tight lead rope. A horse can hurt itself or its handler, or at the very least, be seriously traumatized by pulling back against pressure without finding any relief.
My horse (now Mary Tulin's horse, Magnum) was tied to a hitching rail when he was quite young, before being trained to give to pressure. He pulled back and ended up ripping the post right off the supports. He then ran off, the 8-foot long rail still tied to his lead rope dragging wildly behind him. When the rail caught on something and held fast, he was stopped and flipped over, upside down. Fortunately he wasn't hurt, nor were any bystanders injured. But this whole episode was completely avoidable simply by training him to be tied before tying him. That incident freaked him out and made it more challenging to train him to give to pressure than if he had never had that experience.
When a horse learns to give to pressure, there is still a chance of trouble, but far less. For example, I recently hauled a friend's horse to the farm. I don't usually tie horses hard and fast in the trailer and this time was no exception (I thought). I looped the lead over the tie rail in a way that I could quickly pull the end to release it. However, when I opened the trailer doors the horse backed out of the trailer immediately, and quickly. I could see that the lead rope was going to get caught up on that rail. I jumped into the trailer to release it, but by then it was too late... she had backed all the way out (all four feet were out of the trailer) and hit the pressure of being tied hard and fast. Fortunately, this mare has been very well-trained to give to pressure, so rather than fighting (and maybe falling down, possibly being seriously hurt), she pulled against the pressure for only a moment, and then leaped right back into the trailer (I could see it all shaping up and was safely nestled up in the corner). She knew, from her previous training, that moving into the pressure was the way to find relief.
There are many safe ways to teach a horse to give to pressure (which Mary Gallagher teaches), but this isn't a how-to article. It's simply a reminder that it is important to realize that unless your horse is trained to give to pressure, there is always the possibility that when they meet pressure they will fight against it (it is instinctual). Such horses should never be tied hard and fast.
