# How did you prevent someone from stealing your horse back in the day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565 "2015-01-22T12:51:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565/41 "2015-01-24T16:46:13Z")
Most early cars were open. Had doors later to fix the problem of having to crawl over the sides. When did side windows become the norm? When did keys become the thing? Well, after electric starters I presume. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565/42 "2015-01-24T17:57:39Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > When did keys become the thing? Well, after electric starters I presume. Previous [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=491539) with some discussion. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565/43 "2015-01-24T19:04:51Z")
[QUOTE=skdo23] That’s probably true in part, as you said, but the habit did not end once cars became mainstream. The impression I have is that many car owners used to view locking their car and carrying their keys around as an inconveniencethat became increasingly justified as auto theft rates increased. [/QUOTE] There’s also a little bit of the “you only have to outrun the other campers, not the bear” effect with theft prevention. You only have to make your car harder to steal than everyone else’s and so if everyone is leaving their keys in the ignition your chances of personally having your car stolen are still likely pretty low. I suspect that’s likely part of the answer to the OP-- if _nobody_ had a good means of securing their horse, your chances of your horse getting stolen would still be relatively low. Also sort of along those same lines, even though all but some of the earliest cars had ignition keys, they were trivially easy to hot wire by anyone with the most rudimentary mechanical knowledge. It wasn’t until things like column locks started becoming common in the 60’s that car security features started being a real deterrent. So I’d argue that for the first 5 decades or so of motoring, things weren’t _that_ far removed from horses tied to hitching posts. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565/44 "2015-01-25T01:59:06Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > When did keys become the thing? Well, after electric starters I presume. And drivers of early cars found it inconvenient to carry around the starter crank in their pockets. BTW, I think small airplanes followed that same evolution. Old planes weren’t keyed. You just flipped on a power switch and then pushed a button. (That was, of course, once planes had batteries and starter motors.) Later on, the power switch required a key. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565/45 "2015-01-25T06:00:43Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > People today in the West (western civilization, USA, Canada, Europe and Australia, etc.) live in a fool’s paradise. We forget that until recently, everything was “small town”. We lived in neighbourhoods where everyone knew everyone else’s business, an strangers were immediately noticed. In the days before autos, travel was limited to walking/riding speed unless you were rich enough to afford train travel. Police were similarly limited in their responses. You make it sound like people in the past lived in the fool’s paradise, doomed to destruction as population densities increased and improved travel made communities more diverse. ---
**Author:** ![LAV25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@LAV25](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LAV25)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565/46 "2015-01-25T16:07:50Z")
Its easy, you used the “Denver Boot,” which, unlike modern wheel locks, was originally a lockable boot that fit over the horses’ lower legs. Or so I always assumed :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565/47 "2015-01-25T17:25:31Z")
I think the most obvious answer, as has been suggested by other posters is: YOU DIDN’T! You didn’t have to. Horses were never unattended in cities for very long, and there were no horse thieves in the small farming communities most people lived in. (Willie Oleson could steal Pa Ingalls’ horse, but what would he DO with it?) Add to that the fact that penalties were harsh and success unlikely, I don’t think people took preventive measures. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565/48 "2015-01-25T18:32:12Z")
Interesting remarks here: > **[What's the deal with way they tie up horses in old Western movies?](https://ask.metafilter.com/221100/Whats-the-deal-with-way-they-tie-up-horses-in-old-Western-movies)** > > What's the deal with way they tie up horses in old Western movies? And a few contradictory ones, here: [http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php?127383-Hitching-quot-posts-quot-or-quot-rails-quot](http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php?127383-Hitching-quot-posts-quot-or-quot-rails-quot) on roping technique and on anchored eye rings and lawn jockeys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-prevent-someone-from-stealing-your-horse-back-in-the-day/710565.md?page=2)