Out of strictly personal preference, I use nylon halters on my horses but I do have a rope halter that I keep in my saddle bags. I use that halter when I’m on the trail to tie my horse to a tree for lunchtime, or for use in case of an emergency and I need to 
get off and lead him.The first time I used a rope halter I had no idea how to correctly tie it; consequently at the first tug, off it came! The next attempt ended up with the tie ends poking my horse in the eye. In frustration with
myself, I finally got it right.When tying the rope halter, bring the loose end over the top of your horse’s poll and insert it from back to front through the side cheek loop. Take the tie end and wrap it behind the loop, going from
right to left, creating another loop. Bring the tie end through that loop, on top of the side cheek piece. Pull it tight and you now have a secure knot that won’t come loose.When putting any halter on your horse, make sure that the nose piece is high enough that it cannot slip down off the nose. It also should be about an inch below the point of the cheekbone. If you will notice in the last picture, this halter could be slightly lower on the horse’s nose. While this horse is in the crossties, that clip could rub on the end of the cheekbone.
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3 comments:
I saw Craig Cameron showing how to tie the rope halter, and this is just what he said. He also said to never, never cross tie your horse in the rope halter. He did not say why. Do you know why this may cause harm? Thanks
I'm not familiar with Craig Cameron, so I can't answer why he thinks crosstying with a rope halter is a bad idea.
However, I can see pros and cons to doing this:
Pros: softer for the horse than a nylon halter (doesn't rub as much); if the horse does spook, the rope halter is more likely to break - thus freeing the horse - than a nylon halter
Cons: not as sturdy of a halter as one which contains buckles; harder to use in the crossties since there aren't side buckles (if you do decide to crosstie a horse with a rope halter, be sure to clip BOTH sides underneath the noseband - NOT the sides)
Of course, before trying any type of tying with your horse, be sure they're never left unsupervised!
One of your pros is not correct. A rope halter will NOT break. This is why you should never cross-tie, trailer or turn a horse out with a rope halter-it could injure the horse. It is MORE sturdy than a halter with buckles as the buckles break before rope will.
Rope halters are better for training because a young horse won't be able to learn that it can break a halter by pulling.
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