Major reason not to..Warning graphic pics..

[ontherisefarm]

I sold this colt when he was a weanling along with a bred mare. I had been checking in on them to see how they were doing. The mare last year had a really cute buttermilk buckskin colt sired by Samis Soap Suds that Tami now owns. Anyway I had seen him seen last fall and I told his new owner at that time he needed a new halter or take that one off as it was getting tight. Evidently I wasnt listened to. Went over there a couple of weeks ago and found this poor guy in serious need. At first when I found him it looked like he had soft manure stuck to the side of his face and boy did he smell BAD !!! I kept looking and OMG his halter had grown into his head. I couldnt get it off by normal means. I ended up calling a vet to sedate him. Had the halter cut off and him treated. His halter was in his poll 1 1/2 inches deep. His facial bones had dips in them where the halter had left impressions from his growth spurt. These pics were taken later on in the evening when the swelling started so the gap where the halter was had closed. Poor boy I felt so bad for him and the others.. It is quite a long and involved story but anyway the owner gave up ownership of the horses back to me to avoid legal trouble. They werent even transfered out of my name so I got the papers back and just have to register the foal who I might add was still nursing momma at 9 months old. Momma was in serious need of groceries. Anyway, I know most everyone on here is knowledgable enough to know this but for those who are new and dont know. Please..Please..Please do not leave halters on horses..Especially young ones who are growing who may in the blink of an eye get a growth spurt and find themselves in a painful position. Dancer is a 2 yr old this year.He is sired by Soap Suds and out of my mare Paperdoll. Thankfully it is healing nicely and I found the most awesome wound gel. It is called EMT gel and sold at TSC.. It really made a wonderful difference in his healing. He was on SMZ'z also for 10 days. He was a real trouper through it all.

 

[Riverdance]

The new owners obviously paid no attention to the horses, to have not noticed this. Thankfully you were checking up on them and saved your poor colt.

A halter should NEVER be left on any horse when it is turned out. Only put on when you are going to either haul them or walk them somewhere, and never left on them if unattended. I had one (Morgan) mare that was hard to catch, so I always turned her out with a halter. This one was an expensive Walsh leather halter with an adjustable nose band (I will never use those kind again!!).

I happened to look out in the pasture and saw my mare staggering around. I ran out to find that the adjustable noseband had gotten caught on something (though what I do not know as there is nothing out there to get it caught on) The adjustable nose band had been pulled so tight around her nose that it was cutting off her breathing. (horses can not breath through their mouths). I managed to catch her and take off the halter. She had white hair scars around her nose for the rest of her life.

I have also known big horses as well as Minis to get their halters caught and have strangled themselves.

It seems if the can find a way, they will.

 

[PaintedMeadows]

Oh no!

That is horrible!! I bought a stud a few years ago that was wearing a way too tight halter that we had to cut off of him. Left indents in his face that were there a year later. Poor boy. I never leave halters on any of my horses. My best friend is a vet and she has told me quite a few horror stories about them. I also want to add about keeping your horses' manes combed. I had one of my foals get their hoof stuck in the mane of another horse during play and got drug along before it came loose. Scarey thing to see and I promptly went out and combed everyone's mane and with never let them get like that again. So glad you have him now and he will llive a great life!

 

[Tami]

Those are 3 lucky horses to have you as their "angel" and save them from their bad situation.

I would LOVE to see my grandkids........

 

[Reble]

A halter should NEVER be left on any horse when it is turned out. Only put on when you are going to either haul them or walk them somewhere, and never left on them if unattended.

Good information for new owners,

When halters are on out in pasture with other horses, playing and rearing can get a hoof caught, or halter gets hooked on anything?

Train, train, train, so your horse is used to being caught without a halter and will except having it put on and off. First thing I like to teach my young.

So glad he is back home where he belongs, and it should heal up nicely for you.

 

[Genie]

I can't think of anything to say

 

[Magic]

That is HORRIBLE!

How in the world can people not NOTICE that? I agree with not leaving halters on horses (though I do with expectant mares, but these are the ones wearing the Equipage transmitter and on camera under close supervision; once the foal is born, the halter comes off).

I am just sickened..... that poor boy!! Kudos to you for saving him from that torture!

 

[minie812]

I had bought a mini donk jenny that was two yrs old and never worked with. When we went to get her in Nebraska of course we had a huge time loading (it was dark out ) when we got back home (I had left her in the trailer for the night since it was late) and in the morning went to get her out and OMG....same thing the halter had grown into the poll area and was imbedded.

We got her in a stall and thankfully was able to pry it out of her and put her on antibiotics with the use of some great stuff called "Heal a horse antibiotic spray" To this day she is very standoffish but is great as a Auntie to the foals and very protective of them.

It gives a new term to the work IDIOT

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

OMG

What a totally horrible experience for that little boy.

I can't even think of what to say. It's a terrible practice that nobody should use. There's no good reason that I've heard for leaving a halter on long-term. Only thing I can think of is pure lazy, lazy, lazy!

 

[SaddleTrail]

I normally never leave the halter on but I did last week because I was going back out to play with him. I got caught up in the phone calls from the kids, grandbabies wanting me to come pick them up. So I forgot about ShotGun having his halter on until the next morning when I hear this weird noise. Like water running??

He had some how hooked his halter on the water tap that I use for my trees and broke it off at the main pipe!

We were with out water for almost 3 days due to the fact now was the perfect time for me to get my hubby to fix my bathroom faucet right? wrong.......It ended up costing us so much more because of plumbing supplies, they dont make faucets for our old mobile home any more. So we had to end up buying and replacing all the plumbing in the bath room. We also did all the outside faucets that needed to be replaced. Things that have needed to be done for YEARS but I could never get hubby to do, well they are all done!!

I wouldn't recommend this method of getting some work done heheheh

All fixed now, my baby wasn't hurt at all and he will no longer have his halter left on, no matter how soon I return.

 

[Keri]

Wow! Poor guy!

Glad you got him and are giving him immediate medical attention.

 

[Basketmiss]

That is just plain disgusting that someone would leave a halter on that long!! That poor horse, it hurts me to see it...

I'm glad you got him back and are gonna take good care of him...

 

[ontherisefarm]

Yes it was a bad situation all the way around. His hooves hadnt been done,none of them had. They were fed but not enough.Thin but not emaciated. Kinda pushing the line on thier care all the way around. I never woulda thought it from the person I sold them to. I was so horrified . Thanks for the support. He is healing pretty well but need to wait until I can actually put a halter on him to trim his hooves which are atrocious. HIs weight is good now but I really need to get them all wormed as I dont think they have been done since I sold them.

Tami, I will email you some pics in a few days. You can see a pic of my 2 yr old smokey black filly by SS on my website. She is definitely a little Diva... She is a pretty nice filly. Gonna stay small, maybe 31" @ maturity.

 

[lilmiraclesfarm]

uh thats sickening. When I bought my mare her halter was crusted to her head. It at least fit her, but took an entire winter to get the indents off her face. The owners couldn't catch her so they just left it on her. I truly just don't understand people. Know wonder my only friends are my animals.

 

[Kawgirl]

I'm not in the habit of leaving halters on my horses. But, I did put a colt in the pasture once with a halter on, just long enough to get something from the house. When I came back, he had been scratching on the woven wire fence and got the hook on the throatlatch hung on the fence and couldn't move.

Thankfully he was very calm and stood patiently for me to get him loose. If you must leave a halter on, use a breakaway halter, or leave the crown piece loose enough that the halter will come off if it gets hung up on something. But, never leave a halter on with any kind of snaps!

 

[CyndiD]

OH MY!! Alicia it was HIS lucky day when you went over to check!!

What is WRONG with people..it would have taken 1 minute to take that halter off!!

I never leave a halter on, I remember when I was a little girl, my pony was put in his stall and the halter left on while I was at school. When I got home, I went into the barn and he was caught on a nail that had worked its way out of the boards along the back of his stall and there he stood, probably all day. The odds of that are amazing considering how far the nail was out of the wood and how hung up he was..but I never forgot the look on his face when he saw me..it was like HELP ME MOM!!!

 

[maplegum]

That poor horse! Makes you wonder how anyone can be trusted with horses you sell. I'm so glad you kept checking on your horses.

 

[ontherisefarm]

I like to know how they are doing so if I know where they are I like to check in on them or at least inquire about them.

Yes Cyndi, I am so glad I went over there and checked. Something kept telling me to do that. I have kinda learned to listen to that little voice in my head...The mare I got back was Rico's mom too.

He is doing really good. As of tonight you can barely tell where he is injured.It is just a thin line with a tiny bit of a scab. I really think that EMT gel works wonders... I know I will use it in the future for wounds..

Thanks all for looking at my thread,sometimes seeing things like this remind us of why certain things are important.

 

[midnight star stables]

I normally never leave the halter on but I did last week because I was going back out to play with him. I got caught up in the phone calls from the kids, grandbabies wanting me to come pick them up. So I forgot about ShotGun having his halter on until the next morning when I hear this weird noise. Like water running??He had some how hooked his halter on the water tap that I use for my trees and broke it off at the main pipe!

We were with out water for almost 3 days due to the fact now was the perfect time for me to get my hubby to fix my bathroom faucet right? wrong.......It ended up costing us so much more because of plumbing supplies, they dont make faucets for our old mobile home any more. So we had to end up buying and replacing all the plumbing in the bath room. We also did all the outside faucets that needed to be replaced. Things that have needed to be done for YEARS but I could never get hubby to do, well they are all done!!

I wouldn't recommend this method of getting some work done heheheh

All fixed now, my baby wasn't hurt at all and he will no longer have his halter left on, no matter how soon I return.

This may be a sad tread but this post did make me laugh

Glad hubby finally got is done

I'm on the fence about halters... I am not 100% either way... I often leave halters off, but not always. I DO try to keep halters off the young ones as much as possible, as I worry about them playing more then the old guys. But heck horses can hurt themselves bad on their water bucket with or without a halter

I think it IS a very good idea to keep them off, but sometimes certain circumstances just don't allow it - but that's your call to make, and your the one who has to deal with the out come

I'm very glad you checked on this boy! How scary!

My heart goes out to you and him

Poor guy.... What were these people thinking?

 

[wildoak]

Just awful. Hard to imagine people can be so unthinking and uncaring. I'm with you on the EMT gel, good stuff.

I've seen a couple of halter horror stories over the years too - a friend lost a nice QH colt that way. She left it on in the stall for just a few minutes, in which he managed to hang himself on something and break his neck. The other was a neighbor whose mare had foaled. They were really not horse people and were pretty clueless unless it came to their cows. They borrowed a foal halter from me when the filly was several months old, and I warned them - pointedly - not to leave it on her unsupervised. When he finally got around to returning the halter I heard the story - she was, of course, turned out with it on, snagged it somehow on a tractor and ended up ripping her leg and shoulder open in her struggle to get free. She recovered but always carried a horrible scar from it. They had no business having horses. They also let her dam founder badly, and when the vet said take her off grass they promptly locked her in a corral and gave her grain. She did not have a good ending.

Jan