Making a Rope Halter and Lead Rope
If you work with young horses, making a rope halter and lead rope is one way to make your own specialized gear.
Tools can make all the difference when it comes to getting a job done. With the right tool, you can complete tasks with so much ease that it can seem like cheating. Wrong tool? Well, we’ve probably all been there. I’d be surprised if I’m the only one who has ever tried to use a wrench for a hammer. Sometimes we do have to do the best we can with what we got. There’s nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, if we have the time to get our hands on the right tool for the next time, we might be wise to try and prepare a little better. Making a rope halter and lead rope is one way you can create your own tools that allow you to start your colts more easily.
Realistically, rope halters don’t have to be fancy to start colts in. I’ve honestly started hundreds of colts in plain-old rope halters and got along just fine. However, after a friend let me borrow a well-made rope halter, I knew I wanted one for myself. I instantly realized that it was a tool that would allow me to more effectively communicate with my horse. The biggest advantage is the stiffness a quality rope halter provides. Those plain-old rope halters that I used to use we ok, but they are often made of soft material with a large diameter. For us, that’s fine when we’re catching and riding older horses. However, young horses can benefit from a little more clarity of the stiffness. To be clear, I’m not talking about punishment, I’m talking about sending clear signals. If it helps you to understand the difference, you might imagine it like a pair of spurs. Spurs are made of metal so that when the rider signals the horse, the signal is communicated clearly. If spurs were made of flexible rubber, you would lose that communication. In fact, they’d pretty much be pointless to wear. That’s maybe a good way to explain the difference between a good rope halter and the plain oldies hanging in my tack room.
When it comes to making a rope halter, it really is pretty simple. All it takes is about 22’ of halter cord, some shrink tape, and a cutting tool. Although I will write about them, knots are generally best learned by watching. Check out this video I made of the process.
Materials
For this project, here is my materials list:
-Oil Tan Leather Popper
To make your own rope training halter, you’ll need to know a few knots. First, is the basic overhand knot. This is used to make the buttons on the noseband. Second, you’ll need to know the double overhand knot. Essentially, this is the same knot done twice. Lastly, you’ll need to know the fiador knot. A little complicated, the fiador is tied at the bottom of the rope halter where the snap attaches.
To go along with the video, here are the basic steps for tying a rope halter.
0:13 - Overhand knots on noseband roughly 13” apart.
0:40 - Tying the fiador. Loops on the bottom for the halter snap should be about 2.5” and the distance to the nose button knot should be about 7”.
2:12 - Double overhand knot under the jaw roughly 7” from the fiador.
2:45 - Overhand knot on left side of halter roughly 10” from the knot under the jaw.
3:00 - Double overhand knot to create tie loop.
3:20 - Double overhand knot back into the nose button knot roughly 11” from previous knot.
3:50 - Double overhand knot to the other nose button knot.
4:15 - Overhand knot on right side that matches the knot on the left side.
4:32 - Double overhand knot.
5:02 - Cutting the pole strap to 27”.
5:15 - Melting the ends.
I also found that standard lead ropes are just a bit short for effective groundwork. Part of that is getting the horse freed up and moving forward. A big teaching point is getting the colt to transition calmly between the walk, trot, and lope. I’ve found that 8’ or even 10’ cotton lead ropes work ok, but I often found myself wishing I had a few more feet of rope. On the other hand, I’ve worked really long lead ropes and found that too much rope is just in the way. Trial and error has led me to a 12’ lead rope. For me, it allows the horse to get separation and space while doing groundwork but isn’t excessive and hard to keep organized.
To make a lead rope for your roping training halter, you can use a variety of materials. Of course, 100% cotton is tried and true and is a good value. However, if you’ve got a few extra bucks to spend, this double-braid yacht rope is good stuff. Sailing people are pretty serious rope people and the double-braid polyester rope that has come out of that industry is really effective. I like it for its weight, durability, and it’s aversion to snagging. Also, this rope doesn’t tighten down like a cotton lead will if a horse happens to pull back. All in all, it’s good stuff, especially for halter training or ground working colts.
Making a lead rope is a little bit tricky. You’ll need to apply different techniques to both ends of the rope. The rope with the snap on it can be braided into a loop. This is done by extracting the core of the rope, eliminating some of the mass of the core and cover, weaving it through itself, and then “milking” the cover back over the core. If you do it correctly, you’ll have a seamless loop at the snap end of the lead rope.
On the opposite side, you’ll also want to finish the popper end. In this process, you’ll also want to remove the core from the cover, reduce the mass, and essentially have the tail of the rope eat itself. Watch the video beginning at 11:05 to get the idea.
Although I personally enjoy working with traditional materials like leather and rawhide, I can’t hide from the fact that these modern materials are very effective. Although I suspect that I’ll always have a soft spot for natural materials, I can also own up to the fact that in some cases I can be most effective with modern materials. In the end, making a rope halter and lead rope still carries on the old tradition of making the gear you need. The only difference is that unlike rawhiding, the material does come at a cost. However, that additional cost does have an instant benefit when it comes to teaching a horse, particularly a colt. If teaching is what you are trying to do, it’s important to remember that education is about the student, not the teacher. By sending clear signals with a good rope training halter, I can help the process and help the colt. In the end, I suppose that’s what we’re all trying to do.