Page 12 - The Pocket Guide to Equine Knots
P. 12
Square knot, step 1.
Square knot, step 2.
Then pull both strands on each side tight. The knot looks nice and symmetrical, appearing
as a loop catching another loop. After pressure the knot can still be untied, though
sometimes with effort, meeting that other crucial qualification of a “good” knot.
Granny Knot
Do it wrong, going opposite with the second hitch, and you get a useless knot with an
insulting name, the “granny knot.” Note that on the granny knot the two strands coming out
of each side of the knot do not come out together—one is over the loop strand, one under.
This knot will not hold, and if it does, pressure will leave it virtually impossible to untie. A
sailor probably named it in contempt of all landlubber things (“Looks like a knot my granny
would tie”), forgetting that his grandmother in those times with her knitting, sewing, and
other skills probably knew as many knots as he did.
