sucking back when tied up

Question
I have a 7 yr QH gelding.  Well broke. The only problem I have is sometimes when he is tied up, he will run backwards and throw a fit for a few seconds. He doesn't do this all the time. I have gotten where I don't tie him jus wrap the lead rope while I am saddling him because I am afraid he will hurt himself.  After he does his litle running back fit he is fine.  I am afraid to tie him and leave him alone though because I am afraid he will get hurt.  How can I stop this behavior?  I have bought one of those "be nice halters" but just got it and I haven't used it yet.  Thank you.

Answer
Sandra,

Try the halter, it may well solve the problem.  This is a rather difficult one to solve since you don't know the reason he does this.  If that doesn't stop the behavior then you have a couple of options.

I don't know where you tie him so don't know the circumstances involved but if possible think about what's going on when he does this.  Something is triggering the behavior and if you can figure that out then you know what to look for and how to address this. You may want to get someone to "talk" to him.  I know this may seem really unbelieveable but there are animal communicators out there who can talk to animals and can be a real help with situations like this.  I've used one on occasion and had a lot of help from him.  

Another option is to, if possible, fasten a small inner tube to a post and tie him to that.  It will give when he pulls but not let him get away.  Horses will argue with this for a little while then give up.  The inner tube doesn't make it a rigid tie so they don't generally panic, just fight it a little while.  How long depends upon the horse and why it doesn't like being tied.  

I have one, old gelding who figured out that his break-away halter would let him get loose and would, occasionally, break it for no discernable reason. At least not to me.  I put a non-breaking halter on him and used this method and he's not done it for over a year now.  I had to tie him to the inner tube for about 3 mos. and let him experience not being able to just snap the halter a couple of times for him to get it through his head that he couldn't do that anymore.  If he starts again we'll have to go back to the inner tube once more.  In his case it's just the fact that he can do this.  He's a brat.  My animal communicator said he thinks it's funny that he can get loose and run around while the other horses can't.  He did this at feeding time when he got bored standing tied after he was finished with his food.  So, as you can see, there can be many reasons for this kind of thing.  Ahab wasn't interested in having the animal communicator tell him that this was bad behavior.  Like I said, he's a brat.  Very willful and obnoxious at times. That's why I resorted to the innertube.

Hopefully this will help you.  The "be nice" halter can be a big help and works with most horses unless there is a real, legitimate reason behind the behavior.  The animal communicator can help you there.  But, give it a try and see.

Lyn