Page 73 - The Pocket Guide to Equine Knots

7. SIMPLE KNOTS AND SPLICES

Eye Splice
The eye splice is the first one I’d recommend learning, because it’s handy in so many ways.

You can use it to make a lead rope, to make a loop at the end of a picket rope that’s easily
attached to a rock or tree—just pull the end of the rope through the loop around the object
—and you can improvise a lasso with it should one be needed.

It’s easy to make an eye splice with three-strand rope. Just unravel six inches or so and
loop the intact portion of the rope around into the size eye splice you want (step 1).
It can be helpful to put a wrap of electrical tape around the standing portion of the rope
as a divider between it and the unraveled portion. The tape prevents additional unraveling

while you’re working. And, if you’re using a natural fiber rope, you might want to put a wrap
of tape around the end of each unraveled strand to make them easier to insert under
strands of the standing portion. With synthetic rope you may wish to burn each end, but
with care—melted synthetic strands can be dangerously hot until they cool.

Eye splice, step 1.

First insert the middle strand of those you’ve unraveled under one strand of the standing
portion (step 2). This first tuck determines the size of the “eye.” Then rotate the rope to one

side and insert the second strand over the same strand but under the next (step 3).