horse hobbles

[aladatrot]

A couple of you guys mentioned hobbles, but the only hobbles I have any experience with are the kind you put on a mare to keep her from injuring the stud. Are y'all talking about latigo hobbles that attach with harness buckles or rawhide/rope ones?

I'm going to assume breaking a horse to the hobbles is best done in my round pen. Coop is pretty sensible. I figure maybe I can hobble him in there after a good ride and leave him to sort things out....

Cheers
M

[craig]

mandi
 hobbles can be made of leather, rope, rawhide, some even use an old burlap feed sack to make hobbles from.

use something strong and soft to start training , just hobble the front legs together about mid way below the knee and ground, most hobbles will work their way to the ankles if a horse is grazing while hobbled.

i make my own hobbles out of 2" leather, no buckles.

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

Leather hobbles, two rings with a buckle, inch and a half wide, harness leather. Jeff Wade in Oklahoma makes mine, best I have found.

To hobble break your horse, get a rope on a front foot and get him used to having the foot pulled around and picked up with the rope. Send him around the round pen and put some pressure on the rope, work toward the horse stopping when he feels the rope come tight and will turn to face and let you lead him by that rope on a front foot. I do all four feet that way until there is no pulling on the foot rope and they are good with stopping with the pressure all around. Then I will hobble them up with a soft cotton rope in the round pen on the sand. If you do too much to fast they are going to end up, up side down and can get hurt for sure.

[craig]

oops, i kinda went from start to finished and left out the getting them ready for hobbles part.

thanks for following up Paul

[cowcountryhogdogger]

I've used both harness leather and latigo for my hobbles.  Either works good but I prefer harness leather for myself.  I've worked in a saddle shop for 8-9 yrs now and have built my own stuff longer than that.  Most of the guys around me all use 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 harness.  If you're interested I can make you a set.  Hope this helps.
Ross

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

I have seen Ross's work and it is outstanding.

[craig]

these are some hobbles i made 5 or 6 yrs ago, i thought they were 2" but measured them this evening they are 1 1/2" wide,they will be hanging on my saddle every time you see me horseback.