my horse wont stand tied

Question
Dear Kyn,
My quarter horse mare won't stand tied when she is in her halter. The moment she starts to back and feels the lead pull tight she freaks. But she only does this with a halter and lead, she is fine if she's tied by her bridle. It makes it very difficult to tack up when i'm having to keep a hold of her lead and put all her tack on. I ride her western so it makes it even more difficult because of the breast collar etc. that needs to be fastened. I don't know what is wrong with her. I thought at first she might have had a bad experiance being tied, but since she only pulls this in a halter i don't think thats the case. I have to do something though because its a pain in the behind and she has broken 2 of my halters. What can i do?
                     Thanks,
                         erin

Answer
This can be a somewhat touchy problem to solve.  Your mare has learned to do this, now she has to un-learn it.  You can try a couple of different things.  One, go to a neck strap to tie her to prevent the pressure on the poll when she decides to test the lead.  The other, for me preferred thing, is to use a tie that gives.  Either one of the bungee cord-type ties or simply tying her to an old inner tube.  Something that she can pull on and will give.  You have to work with her when she does that to make her understand that pulling is unacceptable behavior.  You know your horse so hopefully you'll know how to do this with her.  Just remember that bad habits are far harder to break than anything else so you have to be prepared to invest some time with her to start.  Just make sure you've got a good halter on her that will take some pulling when she first opts to test the stretch of the tie.  Don't let her just pull and pull, make her stop, move forward to take the tension off and reward her each time she does it.  Depending upon the horse this may happen fast or take some time but she will come around.  Your time will be well worth it to get this problem corrected.