Halters in the pasture. Whats YOUR opinion?

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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.

[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.

[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.

[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).