Horseback Riding - How to Untack a Horse

Hi, I am Connie and this is Sam and Bobby and today we are going to be untacking the horse. First thing you want to do when you come back from riding is get your halter and put the long piece on top of his neck so that you can secure the halter around the horses neck so that you can take his bridle off. So, you buckle that up and so you have the horse tied up to take the bridle off. You are going to pull from behind his ears, slide it over his ears and let him spit the bit out. Then you take the bridle, hang it up next to you on the hook and then unbuckle the halter again, keeping a hold of the piece on top of his neck and putting his nose in the hole where you have one piece on top of his nose and all the other pieces under his chin. Its kind of like sticking his head in a bucket and you buckle the halter up to where it is snug but not tight, so its still loose and you secure it on his head, then you take the cross-ties. He is tied up with one cross tie on one side. We are going to hook him with the other cross tie on the side. So, that he is tied up.

The next thing we do is take the saddle off. Youve got to untie the saddle with knot; you untie that knot loosing it up and then pull your straps around of your latigo strap to undo the saddle. Once you get it untied, you are to hang the latigo strap up, thats called a latigo carrier and it holds the strap. You then go to the other side of the horse. You throw the girth up on top of the saddle and put the stirrup that is on the same side as the girth on top of the saddle. Then you go back to the other side of the horse and grab the front and the back of the saddle and lift the saddle up and off. If the pad comes with the saddle you take it also and set it a side. You have now unsaddled your horse and had his halter on and he is ready to get re-brushed.