A clever and unique way to tie up your horse

Our reviewer found little to dislike about this interesting tether tie for her tricky-to-tie-up horse

The Idolo tether tie is described as a “unique knotless safety release system”. The ties are made in the UK from high grade industrial nylon. This gives the device excellent durability, as well as being rust proof.

The system is based on pressure and release. When the horse pulls back the tie will give them a bit of rope and release the pressure. When the pressure is released this will calm the horse but they will remain tied up.

See video below which illustrates the tie in use.

The tie is designed to have no knots in the rope you are using it with. So, in an emergency situation the rope would easily pass directly through the tether tie to free the horse. However, if there was a knot in the rope or extreme pressure was applied, the Tether Tie is designed to release/give above the shoulders. This safety feature ensures that the horse can be freed in an emergency situation.

Watch the video below.

The tie offers a choice of two pressures, and it is simple to adjust the pressure you wish to use by simply turning the Tether Tie over.

The tie comes in a variety of colours, and arrived with an instruction leaflet on how to use along with a clip. You can choose between an ‘easy double clip’ or ‘carabiner’ to attach your Idolo tether tie to your tie ring. Whichever option you choose the tie is easy to move to another tie ring. I have both clips and one point to note is that the ‘easy double clip’ did not open quite wide enough to fit on the tie rings of my lorry so I used the ‘carabiner’ for that and the ‘easy double clip’ for standard tie rings around the yard. See image below which shows the Idolo tether tie, easy double clip and instructional leaflet.

The tie is really simply to use push a loop of rope through the bottom ring and hook up over the shoulders of the tie, then clip to the tie ring.

The tether ties suggest they can be used with almost any type of leadrope. I however decided to use one of the ropes that the company sells as I thought it would be a good idea to start off with a longer rope to get my horse use to the tie. What I would say is that the ropes Idolo sell are a silkier thread and pull through easier than my standard leadrope, which is quite chunky (pictured, below).

At the age of 14 my horse should know how to stand nicely tied up. However, after many years of being tied to baler twine and other safety alternatives we have got into a bit of a pattern. Something happens he doesn’t like which could be something genuinely scary or it could be that he just doesn’t fancy being washed off, plaited up etc. When put into one of these situations he pulls back, sometimes the string or other safety device will break really easily he will either stand or just mooch off.

Other times more force is required and the headcollar or leadrope will break. On these occasions, he will have panicked that he hasn’t managed to break free straight away he will then tend to not be so keen to be caught or re-tied up.

I have tried a few other safety tie devices and have found they either break too easily or they don’t break unless under extreme pressure.

For years people have tied horses up to baler twine. Nowadays baler twine is of increased strength and when it fails to break this can lead to serious injuries for the horse. However, using thin baler twine has led to the situation I describe above, where, although my horse hasn’t caused injury he has learned he can escape the situation of being tied up by pulling back.

The first use

Off I went to the yard on a nice warm day to wash my horse’s tail armed with my tether tie to see what he made of it. I tied him up and groomed him and he stood quietly. When the water came out he started to get wet he pulled back as he normally would and the tether tie gave him his head, he stopped pulling and looked quite confused as to why he had his head but was still attached. He stood quietly for a while then had another go with the same result. On his third attempt, he started to get pretty grumpy that he couldn’t get free and gave up with pulling back and instead began pawing the ground to show his dislike. However, I managed to wash his tail and he didn’t get free once.

He is an intelligent horse and I am interested to see if after a few more uses he will find a way round it so I will be back to update this review in the near future.

Verdict

I’m hoping the tether tie will safely enable him to learn he has to stay tied up but that in a really emergency situation he can free himself.