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You can certainly get good ground manners from a horse without the use of a rope halter. However, a rope halter can help make up for a small deficit in horsemanship. If you are good at reading horses and have good timing, you can achieve the same things without a rope halter, whip/stick and round pen. These are aids, not mandatory equipment.

I posit, however, that if TimB had the skillset to read his horse, and had learned the timing and horsemanship necessary to get good ground manners from his horse without the use of a few tools/tricks/gimmicks (if you would like to call them that), he wouldn’t be here asking this question.

A rope halter, in this instance, would help get the horse’s attention on his handler. I didn’t mean to imply that everyone must use a rope halter to succeed.

I personally like rope halters because they are as firm or as gentle as a horse wants them to be. I use a light leadrope without snap/clip so as to not put additional weight on the nose of the horse. I have rope halters made of two different diameters of rope. I start a horse out with a wider rope, and switch to a narrower rope if he needs it. A horse certainly has the option of graduating out of a rope halter and into a web or leather halter.

I would not recommend using a rope halter under a bridle. Use a flat web or leather halter for that.

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First off, make sure you aren’t using a web/nylon halter when teaching ground manners. Use a rope halter! They aren’t all that hard to tie, and a horse is a lot more likely to not try to drag you around if they are wearing a rope halter.

Is he acting out because you are taking him away from his buddy? Being “buddy sour” is a type of spoiled and should be dealt with as such.

If he truly is acting out because he is afraid, there are two things that you need to work on 1.) desensitizing him to the things in the barnyard and 2.) building the horse’s trust in your leadership skills.

What is the specific behavior that he is exhibiting? That is, what does he do that makes you think that he is afraid in the barnyard? Trying to drag you? Bumping into you? Refusing to stand still?

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Excellent.

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Very nice! Do you have the horizontal piece for the plow bridle as well?

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I am considering riveting a couple of “4X4” emblems to the sides of my horses’ harnesses. I also saw “Heavy Duty” was available. Either one would apply.

We’ve got dual exhaust but last time I looked they weren’t chromed!! 😮

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What, doesn’t anyone like my flames idea? 😉

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Hmm, that’s an idea! I think my neighbor up the road has a router… maybe trade him some router work for some parsnips! He has some kind of worm in his soil that does a number on carrots and parsnips, so he can’t grow them.

Although, the thought of something permanently routered into the beam kind of alarms me. Paint is so much more… approachable. I could change it if I wanted to. I think I have a problem with commitment.

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We got a spot of sun today so I thought I’d drag old “Buttercup” out and take her portrait.

She’s an 8″ Oliver 10N with a brand-new red oak beam. The beam that was on her was completely dry-rotted, as well as riddled with powder-post beetle damage. It was still in one piece, though, and I used it as a template for this new beam.

The share and the landside are both pretty badly worn, so she isn’t the easiest-going plow ever put to soil, but it gets the job done.

I was at a plowing event last weekend and someone told me I needed to get some stenciling done on the side of the beam. Whaddaya think? Flames? Pinstripes? Valvoline logo? 😮 😀 Somehow I don’t think that was what he had in mind….

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If it is the folding of the ears that is offending your donk (which I wouldn’t blame her for – I’m told those ears are very sensitive), get/make yourself a snap-crown bridle. This is a bridle whose poll strap that has a snap on one end, eliminating the need to manhandle those beautiful ears. She should allow her ears to be handled, but I don’t think it would be unreasonable to take that little extra bit of care regarding her comfort.

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When working with an equine that is having problems being bridled, it always helps to break it down into the smaller components. The three main ones I work on separately are:

– lower the head when asked

– accept handling of the entire head (including ears) while keeping the head at an acceptable height for the handler

– accept a bit with good grace, while keeping the head at an acceptable height for the handler

Only after all three of these skills are solid do I actually try to put a bitted bridle on a horse. The tools I use during this process are: feed bag, halter, double-ended snaps, mullen-mouth loose ring snaffle bit, and a closed bridle without a bit.

Lowering of the head and accepting handling of the entire head and ears are as much a submission/respect/trust issue as anything else. They absolutely must learn these, regardless of whether you even use a bridle at all.

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I don’t use much biothane. I have bio lines in the matte granite finish, which I swear by. I would happily use biothane tugs as well. However, I like the stuff that touches my horse to be leather. It conforms in a way that nothing else can, and – if thoughtfully constructed – is easy on the hide.

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A leather sleeve would work just fine, assuming you kept any seams, edges, or splices away from the mare’s legs. The long seam on a sleeve should face outward, and the sleeve should be long enough that the beginning and end of it is away from all the action.

Not sure how you ought to go about securing the sleeve to the tug. Maybe try to find some photos of folks using chain traces with leather sleeves. My first inclination is to say not to affix it in a permanent fashion, but make it removeable.

A sleeve sounds kind of expensive to make, though – leather isn’t cheap. If everything were compatible, I would just swap out for the bio tugs, myself.

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This is a problem that is inherent to nylon.

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I know that there is a fair amount of controversy surrounding the practice of riding draft horses (for a variety of reasons that I don’t want to get into just now), but I would add that you can also expect that same horse to be able to also perform well under saddle, to the extent that his conformation allows him.

Call me crazy, but my best work horse happens to also my favorite saddle horse. She neck reins and responds nicely to leg pressure. She doesn’t have the most comfortable trot, nor is she the most nimble creature, but she’ll give me a nice slow jog or a good canter if I ask for it.

Horses are as versatile as you want them to be. All it takes is work.

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Absolutely.

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