05/05/2022
While I personally moved away from using rope halters on my own horses some years back, this is important content for all horse owners. No matter what we ultimately choose to use, we still need to ensure it is fitted and used correctly.
I’m seeing so many halters—or head collars, depending on your locale—adjusted wrongly, both online and in real life. I’m not sure if people are not being taught the hows and the whys of haltering horses but as this simple piece of equipment is what we most use on our horses—and on their heads, no less—it might be worthy of discussion.
Whether or not we use flat leather, or nylon web, or tied rope halters, their fitting will be much the same. This means that when the halter is on and fastened, the nose piece will lie two fingers below the cheek bones of the horse’s face. See the left hand picture. No higher, because the halter will rub against this very sensitive, unpadded area and no lower, because the farther we go down a horse’s head, the more we are actually ‘manhandling’ him. Low on the nose, we have more leverage… There are a lot of nerves in the sensitive lower parts of a horse’s face… The noseband, designed to fit higher up on the horse, becomes too loose and more prone to becoming a hazard.
This ‘two finger’ guideline means that we are centring our horse’s head gear on a strong and stable area of his face. While it is dangerous to use generalizations, we see many Western riders (especially those wide bronc nosebands) fastening too high and many English riders fastening their halters too low. I think there is a feeling that ‘low and loose’ is kinder and more comfortable but anyone who has worn a loose and floppy back pack will argue this.
The noseband of a halter should be of a size that the horse can chew and yawn comfortably but not much looser… simply because the roomier it is, the easier a horse will get hooked on something. If they can get caught up in a tragic story, horses certainly will!
If you’ve been around horses long enough, you will likely have learned the hard way that horses should never be left alone with their halters on during turnout, or in their stalls. ‘Just for a few minutes, because he is tricky to catch’ have been famous last words uttered by many. Because I have known my share of horses to have choked or lost an eye due to their halters being left on, I am mindful to make sure that my horses are easy to catch. Foals are especially vulnerable, as they scratch their heads a lot with their hind legs.
I have bought many hard-to-catch horses but they don’t generally stay that way, not if this becomes something to which we are paying attention. The issue seems always to stem in something ‘unrelated’, such as a dread of working, or a fear of being trapped in a corner or a history of being roughly handled about the head… all things we can work on if we are willing.
Leather halters are lovely but they must be kept conditioned. A disadvantage is that if they begin to crack or dry out, they can rub a horse and will easily break. Their advantages are that they are probably the most comfortable for the horse and they can be repaired or even made to a customized fit by a saddler.
Nylon web is perhaps the most affordable and always easily found. It is very strong. Nylon web’s drawbacks can be that it is only as strong as the quality of its hardware and if a horse does become hung up, it will be unlikely to ever give way. I have found it hard to cut nylon web, in an emergency, with any sort of knife. I have also noted that a horse with poor ground manners is, for reasons I will keep to myself here, one who is usually haltered in nylon web.
Rope halters come in a wide array of quality. Flimsy, soft rope is cheap but difficult to tie quickly and has a knack for tightening impossibly, should a horse ever pull back. For that reason, I spend a fair bit to buy halters with a certain amount of ‘body’ or stiffness to the rope, for these last many years and do not tighten as drastically when a horse sits down while tied. I do not use rope halters for long hauls, for my horses’ comfort and safety… though I will warn that few horses in a trailer wreck, no matter their head gear's breakaway feature, will be able to break free once they are tied.
When we are hauling—or any time we are tying horses—we must get in the habit of carrying a sharp knife. I don’t use breakaways because they can cause a whole other slew of issues should the horse break his halter. That said, I don’t leave my horses haltered unless I am somewhere around them. When in doubt, if the horse is really wild, a real question mark, I will haul him untied in either a loose box or stock trailer.
Improperly tying rope halters is still something we see quite a lot. Remember, the rope goes around BELOW the loop and NOT ABOVE, see the top right photo. When we are done, the tail end should be pointing towards the rear of the horse and not towards his eye. A long tail is neatly and easily tucked into the jowl strap of the halter. The knot, itself, should lie very flat, almost like a weave.
Rope halters are dismissed by many as too harsh for their horses’ heads. In my experience, few horses will lean or push on a rope halter, as they do upon a flat web or leather one, so it is never an issue. This means that when I am having to reschool a poorly mannered horse, I will automatically reach for a rope halter. I also realize that where we live in this world will have a great deal to do with our opinions! I hail from a horsemanship background that sees many stabled horses from English disciplines, as well as those from the cowboy culture, so I try to acknowledge the pros and cons of all the gear.
Each type of halter has its place. In sales photos, my horses are shown wearing lovely leather with brass fittings. When the buyer comes to pick a horse up, it will be sent away in a new nylon web halter and shank. At home for schooling and day to day use, I have my favourite few halters of firm rope, no matter of the breed of pony or horse. Like my favourite bridles, they are here to stay.
Sometimes, especially if we have an ‘in between’ size of horse, a regular horse halter is too large and a pony halter is too small. Cob sizes are not found off-the-rack in most western or feed stores. In this case, it’s an effective ‘hack’ to tie even farther below the loop, as shown here in the lower right photo. This method will shorten up the halter’s cheeks enough that we can still adhere to the ‘two finger’ rule, keeping our horses safe and comfortable.
Hope this helps.
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I am sharing a link to a little-known method of tying a rope halter that will not tighten, no matter how much a horse might pull back. No matter your haltering preferences, this, too, is a worthy bit of knowledge to add to your tool box.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+tie+a+rope+halter+that+won%27t+tighten&oq=how+to+tie+a+rope+halter+that+won%27t+tighten&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i21.5274j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 =_h_dvYojCLuTE0PEPiK61wA019
