Page 51 - The Pocket Guide to Equine Knots

discomfort, though I’m often asked about that.
As with the sawbuck, when hitching to such a riding saddle, find the center of a long rope

and tie a clove hitch at that center point to the saddle horn. Then it’s simply a matter of
creating the large loop and threading the end of the rope back through the hole in the cantle
from outside in, then proceeding to hitch the load as described. Lacking the hole in the
cantle, the entire cantle can be encircled from rear, around and down. This works,
especially if the riding saddle is fairly high backed.

Riding saddle rigged for basket hitch using clove hitch on horn.

A riding saddle that does not have such holes in the cantle but is intended for frequent
service as a packsaddle could be modified by addition of heavy D-rings located just behind
and to the side of the cantle. You’d need to tell the saddle maker of the intended use so he

or she would reinforce the attachment appropriately, because with a heavy load, the strain
on the D-ring could be considerable. The D-ring would have to anchor securely to the tree
of the riding saddle. Then, you’d simply thread the free end of the hitch rope through the D-
ring from outside in to create the hitch.

Mantied Loads
The basket hitch works extremely well with mantied loads. The word “manty,” adapted from

the Spanish word for blanket, is a handy one, serving as both a verb and a noun. “To manty”
means to tie a bundle in a particular way using a manty tarp. The word also names the
bundle itself as well as the completed load.

Author with mantied packs.

During my lifetime in south-central Montana, I’ve seen the Decker/manty method of

packing grow in popularity among those who frequent the backcountry. Now it’s a little less