Horses Naturally - Home > Horse Training > Buying a halter
What to Look for in a Rope Halter
One of the most important pieces of tack that you’ll buy is a good quality rope halter. Horses lean into pressure naturally! It is for this reason we need to teach our horses how to “yield to pressure”, and how to “follow a feel”.
For maximum results, I use three different rope halters, not only in my training program, but also for the day to day handling of my personal horses.
Starting with a “Training Halter” I teach my horse how to become lighter and more responsive to my cues. For the next phase of training, I progress to a “Transition Halter”. For the broke horse I like to use the natural comfort of a “Pleasure Halter”.
Halters that are wide and flat or fat and fuzzy offer very little or no clear communication signals to the horse – in effect they teach the horse to become disrespectful by ignoring our cues.
Communication is the Seed – Confidence & Trust is what Grows!
All Rope Halters have a variety of features that make them uniquely effective for different reasons. So, before deciding on which rope halter to use, we should be aware of the following:
- The quality of the cord,
- The diameter of the cord,
- The stiffness or the softness of the cord,
- How many knots the halter has, and
- Where the knots are tied.
Here are some other interesting things. Rope halters...
- Mainly are used because they offer you more control of the horse,
- Discourage the horse from leaning into pressure,
- Encourage the horse to yield to pressure,
- Increase the desire to follow a feel,
- Can be tucked into your saddle bag and used when needed on trail rides,
- Are light and durable,
- Come in many different colors to choose from, and
- Are great gift idea for all horse lovers!
Click here to see the rope halters for sale in my Western Tack Store.