Horse Security...

[TomoRider]

I know it may seem like a silly question, but how did they secure "parked" horses back in the so-called "Wild-wild West"? They didn't have The Club, but they must have had a more secure way than just a piece of rope. All the horses I have ever rode I have found to be very trusting. I would think it would be easy to steal a horse.:(

[at4101]

From what I have read, horse stealing was pretty common back in those days. In fact there were very famous horse thieves back then such as Dutch Henry Born. I've also read that it was pretty darn easy to steal horses for quite a while, so I am thinking maybe all they DID have was the rope.

[TheRider]

Pretty sure that the only thing that you had was a hitching post. Now one thing to remember is that in a city such as New York or Boston you likely didn't have a hitching post out front and would actually drop your horse off at a stable for them to take care of it.

Now out west the cities were much much smaller so if you stole a horse from a city you probably only got away with it once.

[brooklyn_21]

applying these horse stealing theories to more present day instead of tying to a post...i'm actually surprised more horses aren't stolen out of barns/stables. if i think back to my hometown, tons of people have horses that are close to the road. the gate could easily be opened in the middle of the night, horse taken down the road and loaded into a trailer.

[snowski1]

do you think this sort of thing really happens? I have never heard a story to this effect!

[miriameme]

Around here I've had two neighbors put motion sensors on their gates near the road. Had several false alarms, but that beats theft. The earlier padlocks were just cut or shot for meaness sake. The motion sensors aren't as obvious so they've been left alone. Must look like an electric shock device!!!

[cathmarmar]

I remembered this story and found it. http://www.netposse.com/horse_theft_attempt_sc.htm

Yes, it happens.