How to hold the leadrope.... danger free !

If you are holding the middle of the rope and loop the end, the rope can tighten when pulled. If you hold the end first and then make a loop with the rest, you can let the loop go before it can tighten. I've done it several times. However, holding a rope that is folded is safer.
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I will gladly continue to (allegedly) risk my hand and hold my lead in one large loop for showmanship. I think it is ridiculous anyone would suggest those of us that are showing should do otherwise.

I never said it was wrong, I only said that holding it in a loop is more likely for bad things to happen with your hand.

I agree that the figure eight is the safer way to hold the lead rope, especially when teaching people new to horses how to lead. I'm no expert on showmanship, but my guess is that coiling the rope a) just looks nicer and b) shows that you trust the horse, that he's well trained. An experienced horse-person should know to drop that coil in the event of a spook, and it would take more effort to grip the lead than to drop it. As a general rule though, I always fold/figure eight the lead rope.

I hold my showmanship leadchain slack in a large loop or two depending on how much slack I have.

Why? Because I am rebel and I live life on the edge.

In the coast guard they emphasize a lot on rope handling. If you guys think a measley little horse is bad, try towing a boat in storm in rough seas. Basically the rope is held in your finger tips so if something goes wrong, your hand isn't crushed between the line dragging a boat and the sampsons post. That's the way I hold lead ropes with horses. I've got enough strength and skill in those fingertips to hold most horses but I know at any time I have the ability to let go. There's more to horses than horses, as I like to say. Sometimes you have to incorporate other skills, and I wish a lot of horsemen knew half as much as they did about rope as they do about identifying brand name tack or bloodlines.
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That thing in the video is crazy. Why the hell would anyone want to wear a suit and tie to run around with a horse in?

My great-grandfather lost his thumb similarly, as a little boy. His dad was in a small fishing boat in a storm and the rope snapped, he grabbed hold of it to stop it floating away and held on for dear life. Took his thumb off (but probably saved his father's life).

I can't give a toss about show rules as I have no interest in showing - having led a lot of very nutty horses that were more than happy to rear, bolt and prance on the end of a lead I always hold it in the figure-eight shape. And I prefer to use a 20ft lead rather than an 8 or 12ft one, if the horse spins and tries to rear it just gives you more distance between you and their front hooves without having to let go.

Well if your horse is a complete jackass on the ground, more power to you and your figure eight.

Bahahahahahahahaha!