# Other Pets > Horses >  Halters in the pasture. Whats YOUR opinion?

## MonitorLove

Whats your personal opinion on keeping halters on whilst a horse in in the pasture?

I have been always told. *No.* as in, if-you-put-your-horse-in-the-pasture-with-a-halter-on-it-will-probably-suffer-and-DIE kind of super-serious no. 
I always lead into the pasture, close the gate, remove halter, then exit. Never ever have I left a halter on, but I have occasionally seen horses out grazing with them on.

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## Freakie_frog

It depends on what my plans are for the horse. If I'm grooming it to go on a ride the next day I will leave it on. As for long term I don't. I just don't have a reason to leave it on my horses come when they are called from the field so catching them to ride isn't an issue.

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## gothkenny

In two stables I've rode at they left the halters on. I never really even thought about now leaving it on until I rode at the barn I do now. -shrug- I don't think its that big of a deal though.

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## wolfy-hound

I often left a halter on mine, but it was a rope halter, without buckles.  Buckles can catch on things easier than the slip on rope style.. but..
I did often have to go hunt down the halter, when one of them would rub a head against the fence/tree/post and manage to remove it.  My stud used to pick it up and carry it around because he was just weird.

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## Entropy

I'm not a fan of leaving halters on, I've seen first hand two serious injuries caused by doing so. 
First was a paint filly, they left her halter on (rope halter), she got her foot caught when she scratched. They found her a few hours later, she seriously messed up her rear leg and hip, went from being an awesome reining prospect to pet/broodmare only. 
Second was a appy gelding, they caught him that morning to get him ready for the farrier, turned him out with his halter on (nylon halter) so he'd be easy to catch, when the farrier got there a few hours later he'd gotten a front hoof caught in his halter, sliced his face up. Ended up losing his eye, somehow the nylon sliced into his heel almost to the bone and he'd pulled his shoulder really badly. He ended up healing up enough to be a good trail horse. 
So no, I'd never turn out with a halter on. And I'm not a fan of breakaway halters either because IMO that helps reinforce the bad behavior of pulling back. However, as is typical with horse owners ask twenty people get twenty different answers.  :Very Happy:

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## RichardA

I grew up on a 45 acre Appy ranch.

I voted mixed cuz if you have a horse that is super hard to catch and your place is pretty clear of debri......halter. If not on either then NO halter.

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## SlitherinSisters

I would rather not, but so many things have happened that makes me keep them on. We've got five horses on our farm, two of them are going to be 6 months old this month. The two babies don't have halters on, but all three mares do. My grandparents were nice enough to let me keep my horse there and we've gained a few in the last four years. Well anyway, beings that they are old and can't run around chasing the horses when they get loose we leave the halters on. The fences are really cruddy and if we don't pad lock the gate they get out.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  

We've had halters on in the pasture for the last 4 years and I've never had any thing bad happen. My horse is blind on one side and regularly looses her halter in the field. I'm not quite sure how they could get severely hurt if they can slip them off  :Confused:  She's never slipped it off while tied so it's not like it's a loose halter. The other mares have slipped their halters off as well.

But I would suggest getting proper fitting halters if you're going to leave them on out to pasture. Each one of our three mares uses a different sized halter and we never trade between them.

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## tweets_4611

I want to say that we never did when we had horses, but we also boarded horses and I don't remember what exactly we did with them. I know with the ones we trusted half the time we wouldn't even put a halter on them to get them from barn to pasture (they all came in every night/day depending on the time of the year). We would hook the lead around their neck, right behind their heads and lead them out there. With the borders I want to say we just took the halter off once we got them out there. They all knew they were getting grain when they came in so we never even had to call them...they would all be waiting at the gates when we went to get them.

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## Ginevive

Hee is my practice. I have two mares. One is a dream to catch, and will even ignore my other (dom) mare when I call her. The other mare is skittish and tends to shy away from me when I bring them in and make a game of it. I halter the nervous nelly in pasture, and leave my reliable girl nekked.  :Smile:  I think that it is just safer; they got out once, and I shudder to think of the nutty mare escaping easier if she had not been haltered (she was, and my hubby nabbed her halter just before she could take off.) I know that this could be said to be a training issue, but nut-mare is just that; a skittish horse. I always use breakaway halters for her though, for safety. Our pasture is free of debris, etc that she could catch on, and the halter fis properly with no sagginess (but not too tight.) 
I NEVER leave halters on when they're in their box stalls. Latches on the door.. hayracks.. wooden sides of the stalls.. no.

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## blackcrystal22

Right type of halter, perfect fit. That is very important. My barn has never had an incident with halters. But we always make sure they fit well, and usually if they are a good fit, it's difficult for them to get their foot caught in it.

Putting out to pasture for the day hours is not going to make sense for the farmhand to try to catch 25 horses. It's just a risk that can't be avoided sometimes.

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## Libitina

I personally have no reason right now to leave the halter on any of our horses.  They come running when they see us, so it isn't a problem to catch them.  When my mare, KaZhina, had a beebee, we put a halter on him so that he would get used to it.  He did fine and we only left it on for a month or two.  We would never leave the rope on, as horses WILL hurt themselves on a dangling rope.
I would personally find it really irritating if I were a horse, so I guess for me it's a comfort issue.  I want my horses to be comfortable.  Good post!

I didn't know this forum had a horse section, that's awesome!

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## Barn Babe

I've had the unfortunate experience of seeing a horse get it's nylon halter get stuck on something in a stall.  The horse panicked and a huge chunk of skin was ripped off in the process.  However, when we have severe weather, I feel more comfortable having halters with identification on my horses.  I used breakaway halters for this.  There is a happy medium.  :Good Job:

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## ADEE

nope.. when i was younger we kept halters on the horses all the time (the break away type with leather top part) but now seriously.. there is no reason for them to wear them in the pasture/turn out or in their stalls. if there is an emergency the haters are close by (hooked to stalls) and the turned out horses have their halters out at the gate. its a safety thing.. just not worth it.

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## blackcrystal22

> I've had the unfortunate experience of seeing a horse get it's nylon halter get stuck on something in a stall.  The horse panicked and a huge chunk of skin was ripped off in the process.  However, when we have severe weather, I feel more comfortable having halters with identification on my horses.  I used breakaway halters for this.  There is a happy medium.


Halters shouldn't be on in a stall anyway, that's just unnecessary.

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## Ginevive

I wold never leave halters on in-stall. (unless of course it were a tie-stall, but I don't use those.) Our barn closes up so that even if one of them got out of their stall, they would be stuck in the barn.  :Smile: 

I have started keeping the breakaway halters on my girls. In each one, is my number, in case one of them gets away. I just can't imagine one of them being found by someone, and not having a halter on, and the person coming within an inch of grabbing them, but there's no halter, and they're gone. I have had this happen in a few panicky situations; one time it was a big lightning storm, and I wanted to bring my mares in; I had no halters on them. I got within inches of my one mare, who spooked and lifted her head away, and was gone. Luckily they were ok through the storm, but i could have had them in and safe if she'd had a halter on. There are just smoe situations where a horse will panic and be unhalterable; surprise storms, gunshots.. a beesting. A mere second of clipping on a leadrope, and you can gain control better.
So I too, compromise. I use the breakaways. My one mare has broken hers a few times, and never has had an injury yet (actually she's out there right now halterless; I need to buy some more fuses for hers!) But I can't imagine shucking responsibility (even involuntarily) for my horses if they got away and heaven forbid, caused an accident or even just turned up in someone's yard, barn or pasture and did some damage to some plants or something. No ID would worry me. Granted, people do get their horses microchipped, but I have not.. 
I should add. Alot of the time that I am home and within short distance, I leave their halters off. I just feel safer with them on, when, say, it is winter and we might not get out to check on them for 8 hours or more. And in the summer I usually leave them off more often.. but winter, and fences shorting-out from 6-foot snowdrifts.. there is no choice in my opinion! I do find it irritating when people leave halters on allllllllllllll of the time, and the horse gets an indent in its hair (or worse, sores.) I do not let this happen, what with my schedule of stalling (and unhaltering) and just taking them off weekly for a grooming and checking-out.

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## alexOATH

I strongly advice anyone who has horses with shoes on their back feet to always take the halter off, no matter what. 

I used to work at a stable for many years and the owner lost two horses because of this. You know how sometimes a horse will scratch his head with his back foot almost like a dog? Well, her horses occasionally do this, and the shoe on the back foot was too long and the halter accidentally became trapped between the horses hoof and shoe in the night, inevidably pushing against the horses brain stem eventually killing it. Even if your horses halter is a perfect fit, if he has shoes on, I'd advice against it.

Although I know how hard some horses can be to catch so I definitely know why people leave the halters on.

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## tonkatoyman

> It depends on what my plans are for the horse. If I'm grooming it to go on a ride the next day I will leave it on. As for long term I don't. I just don't have a reason to leave it on my horses come when they are called from the field so catching them to ride isn't an issue.


Freaky is right. If we plan on being active with the horses over the next few days we will leave the halter on, just for the convienience. However as a general practice over a long period of time it can cause problems and possibly injury.

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## OFRD_GRL

My horse gets his halter off when he is turned out. As do the rest of the horses on property.

My only exception to this rule is if your horse is new to you and you want to see how it is about being caught in the field.. or if you know the horse hates being caught. 

At which point a breakaway halter should be used (in my opinion).

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