Fitting and Tying a Rope Horse Halter

Summary

The most common piece of equipment used to handle a horse, no matter the discipline, is a halter. In this tutorial, professional Horseman Brad Barkemeyer from Barkemeyer Performance Horses shows us how to properly fit and tie a specific type of halter know as a Rope Halter.

What you will need:

Rope Halter

Stand on the left side of the horse near his / her head.

Holding the left side of the halter in your left hand and the long strap around the right side of your horse’s head, place the large round hole of the rope halter around the horse’s muzzle. You will notice that there are two knots on the nose-piece of the rope halter that should sit on either side of your horse’s face. The nose-piece should sit roughly 2 fingers above the bridge of the horse's nose. You can feel the bridge of your horse's nose by running your fingers up the horse's face from the nostrils. When you feel a hard bone, you will know that you found the bridge.

While holding the left side of the halter in your left hand, with your right hand, take the long end (crown piece) of the rope halter with the silver tip end around the right side of your horse's head and place the strap on top of your horses’ pole (the highest point on top of the horse’s head right behind the ears.) Next, bring the leftover piece of long strap down towards your horse’s check.

While still holding the left side of the halter, thread the long strap with the silver tip end through the small loop of the halter. Pull the strap away from the horse’s face while pushing the loop gently towards your horse’s face just below his ear.

Take the long strap with the silver tip end and make a loop by placing it in between the horse’s face above the already looped halter piece. Next, bring the end through the loop you just made with the end pointing away from your horse’s eye. Finally pull gently until the knot is snug. You are all set!