No halter, rope or not, should be that loose :no:
I’ve seen plenty of regular leather and nylon halters adjusted much too loosely too, including on mares with foals at their side :eek: :no:
That said, the section that goes under the chin does have a bit more space than regular halters do. But still, there should never be so much room a foot could get through it.
Well I think we have a consensus! Rare for COTH, but lets celebrate it 
And as a result I will not be hauling or tying my boy with his rope halter. I have both a nylon breakaway halter - which I’m not a fan of, as well as a good leather halter which I will continue to use for hauling and tying. And since it is a heavier leather I also have the velcro trailer ties. Alls good!
I have always hauled my horse in a rope halter. I know…I’m bad. That said, she is tied with the Velcro trailer ties so there is a break away feature (and they do work!) or not tied at all. For being tied TO the trailer, I use a Blocker tie ring…never leave home without it. It doesn’t work well inside the trailer due to the arrangement of the tie rings (too low for the Blocker’s to work correctly) but the Velcro ties work very well
However, I have found a new halter that I absolutely love and probably won’t use my rope halter again.
It is called a hybrid halter
https://shop.horseeducation.com/prod…ybrid-halter-1
They make it in nylon, leather and leather breakaway. My horse works like a dream in it and her ground manners are even better. I initially ordered the nylon one and am going to order a leather one soon.
Susan
I’ve seen these at Equine Affaire and have been very tempted to get one. May just do that this year.
I only use leather halters. I don’t even own a nylon or rope halter. The only times I’ve really needed to use a chain is on studs.
I totally disagree with the posters who say they tie “hard and fast” no matter what. As someone who as a child witnessed a horse spook, pull back, slip on the rubber mats when it hit the end of the lead, and break it’s neck I will never, EVER, tie with something that won’t break.
Crap happens even with the most well trained horses. If someone needs a reminder about how to tie properly then use two halters, one as a breakaway just in case and one with a lead that you’re holding.
I will use a rope halter for general tying/handling under supervision. For overnight (i.e. camping) and trailering, I prefer to use a very close-fitting nylon halter so hooves can’t get stuck in it.
Another person here who always hard ties unless I’m using a tie-blocker ring on a horse learning to tie or with no issues. Hate bungees. Ever seen one break and launch a buckle at a horse or human’s head?
I’m more worried about the tie breaking suddenly and the horse flipping over backwards and breaking its withers or killing itself if a tie breaks. Leather halters never seem to break when they should.
I’ve seen more horses get lost in wilderness areas, run out in traffic etc than I ever have break their necks due to being tied. To me the risk of tying without breakaway is minimal.
I use rope halter everywhere, tying, leading, everything. The only exception is trailer.
When I tie a horse, I do NOT want them to breakaway. It is a sure way to teach the horses to pullback. That is why I use blocker tie ring at home, and everywhere I can control. At environment where I don’t have control, I tie them high and use quick release knot.
I’m sure it was horrible to see a horse break it’s neck, and I don’t discount that. My personal experience has tended towards horses running away after their halter broke (including the halter breaker I mentioned). Chasing my new horse down a road was not a great moment for me. Once I discovered his quirk, and realized 1/2 the time he was misbehaving and 1/2 the time he put himself into an actual panic, I would never tie him solid–he was in a rope halter attached to a blocker tie. There are definitely situations where I tie high and solid with a quick-release knot however.
We put rope halter under the leather halter, use the rope halter for handling, clip the trailer tie to the leather halter. Unload, you can leave the leather halter in the trailer and take the horse out into the exciting! New! Place!! With the control of the rope halter.
I stopped tying with rope halter and cotton lead rope because maresy could inch the lead rope longer and longer, but also jam the rope halter knot tight. Plus tying cotton leadrope to balind twine makes an impossible knot.
I tie with a trailer tie and nylon halter at the wash rack. I got a $29 (Can $) leather halter for the trailer use. I expect it will get ripped up though not necessarily by my horse.
It’s true maresy could bust off the trailer tie release if she really tried, and did it once, but doesn’t understand it’s a possibility. Whereas she totally understands fidgeting a rope lead until she can graze.
Now when I tie her up she relaxes. I use the leather halter and a trailer tie when I tie her to the trailer to tack up at our destination.
If I was at a place where true escape further than bolting around the show grounds or going five feet away to graze was a possibility Id be very careful monitoring her though.
Just the other day I had a friends half broke pony in my trailer. He went on well but panicked when the ramp shut. He scrambled and pulled and rocked the trailer then quieted down when he’d broken his leather halter in two places. We put another halter on him and continued. Although his halter broke he didn’t get to escape anywhere so I don’t think that taught him to pull back
I think if the halter hadn’t snapped he would have kept fighting and panicking.
Now if you needed to teach a horse to give to pressure you do it differently but in a controlled environment.
Another day recently I was trying to help load another horse who basically doesn’t give to pressure or has realized she weighs 900 lbs and can use it. The problems there were so basic we couldn’t get her loaded.
All this due to the fact I just got a truck and trailer and have learned how to use them so I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about trailer safety. My horse loads nicely but I’m aware you could mess it up any time and create a problem loader.
I expect to soon have whole bunch of anecdotes about other people’s problem loaders.
No consensus at all. COTH is mostly english riders and they often have a different set of what’s right or wrong.
I haul in a rope halter when going trail riding or camping. I have a metal tie ring incorporated onto the halter which I clip my trailer tie onto just in case.
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