Tying Down a Horse

Tying a horse down settles him in one location. Tie your horse properly with the help of an equestrian trainer in this video

Hi. My name is Kimberly Dobin. I'm the trainer of Kimberly Dobin Dressage, located at the Classic Equestrian Center in Moorpark, California. I'm going to discuss with you how to tie your horse down while you're out on the trail. First, once you've located a nice tree--one that's a good size, not too small - then you're going to walk to your horse over to tree and tie your horse in. I will show you exactly what I'm going to do to make sure my horse is safe from harm while I'm tying him to the tree, so I can go have a picnic or enjoy the scenic area without my horse. First, I'm going to take the rope, going to wrap it around the tree and make a loop with the opposite end. Once I make my loop, I'm going to take it, go over the rope, up between the tree and the rope, and pull on both ends, until it is snug to the tree. The loose end of my rope is going to even out the size of my knot and my loop, and I'm going to then pull it through the loop. The loose end of the rope is going to go through the loop, and it's going to go, again, through another loop, pulling the loose end through the loop, and leaving it. So, if my horse happens to spook, then I can quickly release him from the tree by pulling on the loose end of the rope. But, I'm not finishing tying my horse. Now at this point, to make sure my horse is safe to walk away from, I'm going to tie up his reigns. Using my bridle, I'm going to release my throat latch, which is located near the horse's throat, wrap my reigns together, twisting them up until they are secure, putting the end of the reign around the horn, securing them, twisting them up, and now I'm going to take the throat latch between the reigns--the twisted up reigns--and lock it in. So just in case the horse wiggles around, the reigns don't get caught up on something and spook the horse. He is secure, and I am ready to go out on a picnic.