The Most Used Tack In The Barn, The Halter!

Proper Halter Fit

The halter is one of the most used horse tack item you will have in your barn. It is important to have it fit well without causing pain to the tear bones (the bone on the face slightly below and to the side of the eyes.  The halter rings should be 2 fingers below the tear bone when buckled in the correct position. The tear bones are very sensitive and if the rings of the halter are touching the tear bones it can cause your horse a lot of pain and cause them to not lead correctly. The strap around the nose should be loose enough that the horse can open and close his mouth without the strap rubbing and causing sores when eating. A halter is used with a lead rope attached to the lead ring.

For Most In-Hand Work

When grooming, shoeing, trimming, cleaning, bathing, transporting and any other in hand activity will be preformed with the halter and lead on to gain control of your horse. Some leads have a chain end on them which can be run through the halter side ring, over, under or through the mouth and clipped to the opposite ring for greater control and reprimanding when not behaving. The chain in this position can cause severe pain if misused. With a properly trained horse this probably won’t be necessary and at the most a sharp snap of the lead without the chain will usually get your horses attention and cause him to behave.

Safety Concerns

Some people will leave the halter on when turned out in the pasture or corral to make it easier to catch your horse. I don’t recommend this because horses will scratch their face with their hind foot. Then tend to do this more with the halter on. The danger is that the horse could get their hind foot caught in the halter when scratching and have been know to break their neck. Teach your horse to be caught. This will come with work, handling and a lot of patients. Check out my horse training tips for more information about catching your horse. Make sure your horse is tie safe before tying your horse with the lead. If your horse is not tie safe he could panic and pull back breaking your halter or lead in the very least. Horses have been know to do much worse, hurting themselves fatally and hurting people around them. A horse that is tied and panics is very dangerous. A strong halter and lead with good hardware is important but some people resort to a breakaway halter which is designed to break at the poll if the horse panics. I recommend that you get a good quality halter and lead for your horse and teach him to be tie safe.