Hitching Post Dipping

By Lori Hall-McNary

One of my pet peeve’s is when a horse is tied to the hitching post or trailer and the person suddenly dips underneath the horse’s head and pops up on the opposite side of the horse. The surprised horse startles, pulls back on the leadline to flee the sudden movement they could not track with their eyes. Even worse reaction from the frightened horse is he strikes with his front hooves knocking the seemly innocent offender to the ground.

I’ve witnessed accidents at shows because the horse owner forgot Equine Vision 101: Directly in front of the horse they use binocular vision, directly beneath their head, blind spot, both sides of the horse-monocular vision, pass his flank-marginal vision, directly behind the horse-blind spot.   

Remember horses are flight animals, when restrained by their halter and a tied leadrope the only option a frightened horse has is to fight, strike with their hooves. Stay safe and leave hitching post dipping as the next rodeo dance craze.