An old-time way to tie a halter on a horse.

By CHUCK KING, originally published in the April 1984 issue of Western Horseman

Roger Lorenzi of Laramie, Wyo., is a professional horseshoer and a fine team-roping heeler. He won the Albany County (Wyo.) team roping last year for the third time in a row. Here’s an old-time way that Roger showed me.

He learned to tie this halter from Oscar Marsh of the Wooden Shoe Ranch in Laramie. Oscar, who is 87, learned the tie as a kid from his dad. They used it on broncs; when tied correctly, it stays in place real well. To tie it:

Tying a halter on a horse illustration

  1. Put an overhand knot loosely near one end of the rope.
  2. Slip the loop formed by the knot around the horse’s nose. The overhand knot is on the right side of the horse’s head.
  3. Take one end of the rope over the horse’s poll just behind the ears. Bring the rope down the left side of the horse’s head and take it under then over and under the nose loop.
  4. Tie the end of rope that was taken over the horse’s head to the lead shank part of the rope with a bowline knot and the halter is complete.

Roger may have used some knot other than the bowline, but I have tied this halter with a bowline, and it works real well. Oscar told Roger that he often used the horse’s mane tied in a knot (5) to hold the halter in place on top of the horse’s neck. The complete halter is shown in drawing No. 6

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