Page 32 - The Pocket Guide to Equine Knots

3. TRAIL KNOTS

Now it’s time to get in the saddle, hit the trail, and use some of the knots we’ve discussed,
perhaps learning a few more on the way. I emphasize the trail, because if you were the sort
who only rides in an arena or on manicured bridle paths and has a groom (heaven forbid) to

take care of all equine details for you, you would probably not be reading this book.
Knowledge of knots is for the horseman or horsewoman who gets outside, goes places,
and does things with his or her horse.

Tying Your Horse
Let’s start with some basics. Your horse, no matter how well trained, would be by choice a
free-roaming creature, constantly searching for the most delicious bite of grass, ever aware

of danger and ready to run should something suspicious present itself. Water a horse in a
creek and you’ll notice that he rarely drinks his fill in one shot. Several times he’ll raise his
head quickly, look around, and then resume drinking. The waterhole is nature’s ambush
setup, where predators patiently wait, and your horse, no matter his thousand years of

domestication, knows it.
Training changes all this, at least to a degree. But fundamental to your use of him is his
willingness to stand tied, to comply with your wishes rather than with his instinct to run free.
And for tying we need halters, lead ropes, and something solid to which to tie.

I emphasize “solid,” because an ill-advised trend is now making the rounds involving
“breakaway” systems for tying horses. The theory is that should a horse pull too hard it
might hurt itself. So, at a certain point these breakaway halters or leads are designed to
give way and allow the horse to leave the premises. One marketer of such systems hails

from England, where, I suspect, a horse loose in a small paddock doesn’t pose a huge
problem. But traditionally, in the huge expanses of American West, and even today, “being
afoot” could actually cost you your life.
Bluntly put, whoever came up with this breakaway idea had never taken Psychology 101

and had never met a horse like Rosie (whose pull-back problem I discussed in the
introduction). And he or she had certainly never had to walk five miles back to the home
ranch because a saddle horse got away. A breakaway system will simply train your horse
to pull back. The first time he frees himself may be an accident, a slight spook that results

in a bit of a jerk, a release, followed by a taste of freedom (positive reinforcement). The
next one will be deliberate—that grass tasted so good. From then on, he’ll be a confirmed
puller, to your distress and to his own peril. (Remember that busy highway or set of railroad