TIE-DOWNS

[L.E. Stevens]

Can anyone tell me the purpose of a tie-down (other than every arena roper uses one)?

[Team1roper]

We use tie downs to control horses who like to throw their head around or up to high to avoid the pull on the bit

[theHiredMansWife]

From what i've heard, it's supposed to keep the horses's face in the control range of your reins. Ie, a tie down prevents him from throwing his head up and ignoring you (and possibly running away). But of course if your horse is always doing this, fine tuning his training is a better choice than a mechanical aid anyway...

[Faster horses]

Horses that tend to toss their heads are generally ridden with a tie-down. You can say they aren't broke well, or whatever. A tie-down is a crutch of a sort to make up for a bad habit a horse has. Most people don't care to ride them outside because it can make things like crossing a creek or a bog dangerous. (Please notice, I didn't say it would, I said it can...).

I see arena ropers (heelers mostly) use way to tight of a tie-down and not undo it when the run is over. Can you imagine how tired that horses neck must get? I do understand why tie-downs are used in roping events. It is a bit of insurance that might save a split second on a run that can make the difference in getting to the pay window or not.

Tie-downs don't interfere with release as there is nothing connected to the reins or the horses mouth. Running martingales do interfere with release at the proper time because there is a drag when the reins run through the rings, thus the release cannot be fast enough.

Pat Parelli says our hands open slowly and close quickly. Just the opposite of what we need to do when riding horses. The drag on the reins when using a martingale keeps the release from being as quick as it could be.

All this is JMHO, of course.

[Heel Fly]

You know I have seen a lot but the one that kills me is when people use them outside the arena. A horse has a neck for balance and if you tie that down it's like you walking a tight rope with no hands. I do a far amount of ropeing, heeling and I don't see the need.Teach your horse what you want him to do and you won't need one. Most of the time they are like martingales a quick fix for someone who either doesn't know what they're doing or doesn't have the time to train they're horses. Maybe those two go toghether. My pennies anyway..

[RoperAB]

[Brad S]

I tend to agree that well finnished horses don't need a tie down, but team ropers say "it gives the horse something to brace against." I'll grant that quality horsemanship is a bit scarce amongst teamropers, there are some skilled horsemen that use tiedowns. I admit I don't understand why, and I'm not buying into the braceoff stuff too much.


A tiedown will drown a horse in the real world - when I hear about this happening, I usually suspect insurance fraud.

[floyd]

Think part of the roper /tiedown thing could be" everyone else uses em so I better too?"

Folks just put overchecks on horses in harness. Same deal. Show folks like the leg action that comes from making the horse hold it's head up.
Farmers say so they wont eat.

I say little training goes a long way. Damn human beings awful hard to train though

[katrina]

I agree with heelfly on this one....

[EastTexasGal]

What I was taught, a high hand makes a high head, lower the hand lower the head. Also, in the tie-down scenerio, it was used by calf ropers, as Heeler I think it was said for leverage, it gave the horse something to brace against in stopping and holding. Some just misunderstood the reason behind it and started thinking it was a head setting device. I have seen so many horses ruined by the use of a tie-down. I am like you FH about the use...and this happens to be a pet peeve of mine. Misuse of equipment on horses...guess I studied way to much growing up under different trainers. But, I remember Monte Foreman telling us that to not use something that will develop bad habits in our horses. A lot of his theories and studying has been misunderstood on what he meant by them..he would roll over in his grave over a lot of things being done in the show ring now.

Again just my 2 cents worth, and yes I know how much that seems to be worth lmao..but, like I said this one is just something that is a pet peeve of mine.

Easty

[L.E. Stevens]

Thanks to all that replied. I'd pretty much heard the "bracing" reason from the local ropers, but I grew up riding outside the pen & didn't understand the bracing concept. I just looked at it as a breakdown in training, a crutch like someone said, but I'm always into learning more.
Thanks again.

[Silver]