This is what I don’t get.
If the point of a rope halter is to position the knots over sensitive areas of the head (and do most people know where those are?) how is it better or kinder than a regular flat halter and chain?
Exactly
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Chains are a PITA. Especially trying to get one hooked properly on a big boisterous horse. Once one learns how to tie the knot behind the cheek, rope halters are really easy.
Also for some people it’s barn culture; at every dressage barn I have been to, a leather halter was expected - and usually a lead rope with a chain. Other barns want every horse to have a rope halter. The horses are used to a rope halter.
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Having never used them I ask; how is a rope halter, knot positioned properly, easier to get on boisterous horse than a regular flat halter and chain?
I have and use both chains and rope halters. I don’t apply a chain every single time I apply a halter so if I need one I have to go get it and apply it and believe me horses recognize when one is being looped in. If I’m in the business of ground work I can use a rope halter and it either applies pressure or doesn’t and I don’t have to add anything extra or deal with what to do with a chain when I don’t need it.
I personally feel a chain is more severe so I use them as a last resort when I really need to get a point across.
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They make these which are pretty nifty, if you don’t need to adjust the size for multiple horses it would eliminate the need to knot and unknot:
They also make rope halters with the hook integrated.
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Ice is harder than water if you slip and land on it. Steel chain links are harder than nylon rope knots if they bite into a horse’s sensitive facial areas.
There isn’t that much to unpack. The nylon is obviously kinder and gentler than the metal.
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Pressure is pressure, regardless of the material. The rope halter works because it concentrates the pressure, and makes it more uncomfortable for the horse.
What matters way more than “chain shank or rope halter” is what is the experience level of the human at the end of the rope?
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Some other posters have shared, but I’d also like to share that I like them for use with giraffes. I have a horse here who is well over 17h, and a saddlebred, so think LOOOONNNNNG neck, who is still learning that he should put his head down for haltering, as he learned the nifty trick of giraffing if he would prefer not to have his halter on prior to his arrival here.
I am tall, but I’m not THAT tall.
With a rope halter, I can take the top over the back of his neck, stick his nose in the loop, and ask him to lower his head to tie it. I already have control of him before I even have it tied. With a flat halter, I either have to get it over his ears (a feat best accomplished with a stepladder if he is being particularly recalcitrant) or I have to loop the lead rope around his neck, and juggle that with the halter until I can get his face in it. I don’t think I’ve got any control that way - maybe better people than I do, but I definitely don’t. And I don’t want him to learn he can pull away from me, since he’s already come with a large bag of tricks that I’m attempting to reprogram.
The chain, in my opinion, does not release as fast as a rope halter does. When there is no pressure on the knots, there is literally zero pressure. I can stick my finger in there and there’s nothing there (especially with a stiff one). With a chain, sometimes if you use it, if the horse is particularly pully, even wound around the noseband it will tighten. Then, it doesn’t slide back through smoothly so you’re kind of stuck in “on” mode.
Again, I will use one, particularly through the mouth, if need be - but the rope halter is usually enough.
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I absolutely love rope halters. After learning how to use one (not from a NH type trainer) I had way more control on the longe line. It was easier to move the shoulders and the hind end.
My last horse absolutely respected the chain. She would never blow through but would occasionally canter at a walking pace next to you while being led to her turnout. I kept a chain for these times. The rope halter was great for the barn staff during these moments she had. I didn’t trust them to not yank her face off with the chain or attach it properly.
I also find them useful for the wild types. Long ago I had a horse (I didn’t know at the time I was a kid) that did better on 24/7 turn out. Before realizing this, the horse would blast out of his stall on occasion. Way easier to get a rope halter on while he was standing up than a regular halter. He would also blast off the trailer when I hauled for lessons. It was much better for him to hit the rope halter than a chain. He eventually got better and I don’t think the progress would have been as quick with a regular flat halter and chain.
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Wait… do people not put flat halters on exactly as you describe with the rope halter? There is zero reason not to.
If adding a chain, yes, that is more complicated than slipping on a rope halter. But the correct way of putting on a web or leather halter is the crown piece over so you have control, then lower to put nose in. When there is a clip for the throatlatch, that is for grooming not halter on and off.
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I literally only buy halters with a throatlatch clip because I slide the halter over the ears so gonna have to disagree with you that there’s a specific way to do up a leather/nylon halter.
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Yeah, no. Stand more or less in front of horse offering halter. Horse shoves head into halter*. 
Do up clip. Attach lead if not already attached. I cannot abide undoing the crown piece each time and whacking myself in the face with it almost every time.
We don’t undo the crown of bridles to put them on. There’s no reason to regularly undo the crown of a halter - same as those that have adjustable noses - they are used to adjust the fit, not for off and on everyday unless the halter manufacturer couldn’t be arsed to put a clip on. And then, you’re going to have your BO asking you to buy a civilized halter that has a clip so it’s quicker to halter Fluffy every morning anyway.
*yes, I am too lazy to go into a stall, turn myself sideways to the horse and all that jazz. I open the door and stand there offering the halter for them to shove their head into. It’s a skill that gets learned very quickly. Bonus, if the horse wants out that badly, you’re going to start with a horse with a lowered neck and not be fighting with a head in the air hooligan to get the halter on. Extra bonus, for those of us that have little idiots that like to damage to various bits of their face (on nothing, no less), we get a full view of the entire face every time we halter them.
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Yes, crown pieces do unbuckle, however, the length of that leather crownpiece is much shorter, and this giraffe is muy giraffe. Sometimes I have to loop it about 8" from his withers when he’s being a particularly interesting horse. Imagine having a neck that sticks almost vertically from the withers, and then is 11 miles long. I need the length.
Plus, if he pulls away on that flat, it’s going to pop right out of my hand, because I’ll likely only be able to grasp it by my fingertips, and that flat leather isn’t going to say no. My fingertips are definitely not that strong. Maybe yours are? I don’t know, but I do know my arms are much stronger than my fingers.
I can get a full fist around the rope part on the crownpiece of a rope halter, and the rope has some bite if he attempts it, so he’s not going anywhere.
@sascha, I slip on most of mine too when they are wearing leather and they know what they are doing. I hate futzing with the strap, and the horses that I’ve worked generally do stick their noses in the halter. I have one that I use for boarders who come in with buckles on top because that extra few minutes to buckle it is ANNOYING when you’ve got multiple horses to turn in and out. Oh, and a floppy strap/halter is just the absolute worst.
That’s also why I request that my boarders buy blankets with snaps instead of buckles as well (always snapped facing the horse for safety). Those extra few minutes are precious when you’ve got a huge group to get in/out.
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Yup. I think it was my initial own laziness that led me to that method. Doing weekend chores for 20+ horses for years absolutely cemented it. One weekend of a small treat for “stick yer dang head in the fargin’ halter” was all it took to train them all.
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Yep. Have a new horse who is learning the "stick your face in the halter if you want to go out " trick. I’m not chasing you around a stall.
My other horses I hold the halter up like a matador flagging a bull and they stuff and go.
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I wish that the treat would work for the giraffe. Man is he a PITA. But he’s also a little special. One day after he first came here, he desperately wanted to come in, but was so close to the barn door (his paddock is attached to the barn) that his face was almost horizontal to the sky with his chest pressing against the door. I’ve never seen a horse do that particular maneuver before. He hadn’t learned to back up yet, so he was just stuck. I couldn’t reach his head to have any impact there. And he ignored all attempts at bribe.
Took me a minute to shove his shoulder over so he could take a step on his own and move himself away from the door. But I did say to him a few times - “dude, I guess you’re just going to have to live there for awhile, because unless you figure out this backing up thing, you’re hosed.”.
But he really is a special case. We theorize that he might have been oxygen deprived at birth due to a potential dystocia based on what I know from his breeder. I still am not sure I can crack this particular nut and make him a usable riding horse, but at least he’s able to do normal groundwork and can back up and lead like a champ now.
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I use rope halters without the extra nose knots even though I as given two.
I like the rope halter because 98% of the time my horse is just fine. 2% of the time he freaks out for various reasons and will try to run me over or bolt. Hell no. That percentage increased when he was younger. The rope halter gives me leverage that I wouldn’t have in a padded halter to say “NO” and mean it, and then get out of the pressure. Actually, I had a padded halter for about a year when I first got him, and he ignored it, broke out of cross-ties regularly, and I had no leverage to enforce much on the ground.
Rope halters convey information in groundwork that padded halters cannot. Rope halters basically just sit on the horse’s head and only come into play when the the horse puts them into play. The horse realizes that the unwelcomed behavior amounts to the horse making itself pretty uncomfortable. If the handler is a good handler and knows how to release the pressure, the horse quickly figures out that bad behavior involves pressure points on the head and good behavior involves no pressure. The success of a rope halter depends on the handler’s skill in horsemanship. Like I said, I don’t like or use the ones with extra knots (promoted by Clinton Anderson).
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Oh man!
Here’s some tips that I did with my horse that may or may not work for your giraffe!
I have taught him how to a) follow me and b) be led by the withers.
A) if I go to his right side, turn around and stand at his shoulders, he’ll follow me in a relaxed way. I had to train this.
B) If I approach his withers on the right side, put my hand on the withers and stand/walk behind the drive line, I can direct him to where I want to go. Yes, sometimes I’ll have to reach under his neck and push the neck to where he’s going. He lives on a gated farm and has warmer-weather grass in his personal pasture, so I let him free-graze on the property NOW without a halter. He has learned to walk back into his pasture with my hand on his withers.
Could something like this conditioning help teach your horse how to think differently about his set up? Can you teach him that he can actually follow your direction to get into a space of “release”? Make the wrong thing hard (apply pressure) and the right thing easy (no pressure). I suspect he’ll catch on! They all do (well 99% of them).
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Thank you!
He’s good now, and has largely figured it out. It was just super amazing when I first got him. He still plays “you can’t halter me” but he no longer tears off and he is figuring out that he doesn’t get to go in or out until he lowers his head and sticks his nose in - he just isn’t sure he wants to do that at first.
So it really does depend on my patience. We’re getting better every day.
He is also learning to yield based on a touch on his side. They were trying to ride this horse and he had no idea how to yield to pressure on his sides. No wonder he wouldn’t move! He couldn’t yield to the halter, didn’t know how to back up, I mean it was like they skipped everything!
On the bright side, he is a cheerful fellow. And very person oriented. Kind of a giant dorky puppy. I think once we get through the basics I’ll teach him some tricks. That way I can use this dorky energy for good!
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A slight sidetrack but the comments about Parelli and rope halters had me thinking when rope halters first slipped into my training lexicon. I have zero experience with Parelli, so it’s not because of them. I believe I bought my first rope halter at Equine Affaire in early 2000s because it was affordable and matched my XC colors.
I dont see a correlation between rope halter and NH practices specifically but I do see rope halters more common in horses used for pack disciplines or utility — which is more typical of western than english. I’ve seen a lot of NH and woowoo stuff (but no Parelli besides general exposure in magazines or other barns). It just seems like rope can be more versatile in the right situations, and it’s pretty cheap and easily made. I made my own rope halters after learning how to as a young teen in a 4H type class.
I think both have their own uses, chain and rope. I need a chain for major medical emergencies. Sometimes you have to twitch a bad patient and it’s easier in a chain lead. That being said I dislike chains as a daily use outside of stud duties, since I feel they really dull the horse when used regularly and I don’t like how when you release tension they don’t automatically release themselves. Other than that both live in my barn and both see use.
I will say the rope halter is the best thing ever for controlling fractious horses being ponied off of a lead horse. What I really like about them is I can leave them outside on the fence line and they don’t degrade in the weather the way leather does. I pretty much retire all my leather halters in the winter because the snow and cold just ruin them. The rope halters just keep trucking on and don’t lose condition the way leather does.
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