rope halter sizes

Hi so I made a rope halter today, and I am not sure of the size. It measures 8" at the noseband between the the noseband knots and 8" at the cheek between the knots. What size would that be? It is a bit too small for my long yearling.

Foal? It doesn't appear to be tied right though....
Posted via Mobile Device

Standard halter sizes:
The first measurement is for the noseband/cheek/throatlatch, the second is for chin straps, and the third is for gullet. You'll notice the pattern ;)

Foal: 8", 6", 5"
Yearling: 9", 7", 6"
Arab/Cob: 10", 8", 7"
Horse: 11"; 9", 8"
Large Horse: 12", 10", 9"

The knots are in the right positions and your overhand knots are ok. Many halters are tied that way, but the best halters use blood knots. Your fiador knot looks great, and is nice and even, but try to leave about a 3" loop so it's easy to clip on a lead and you have a little wiggle room if you need to make an adjustment.

(I make and sell tack, including rope halters)

Thanks! I would like to learn how to make blood knots. I worked on that fiador knot for days before I finally did it right. How do you make blood knots?

If you want to tie your own halters, I really recommend getting the book "Halter-Tying Success" by Diane Longanecker. This is the book I learned from, plus a few tricks from my mentor (who sold me this book). This will get you tying really high quality halters with correct dimensions and excellent knots. I really like their explanation of doing the fiador knot - it's pretty simple and I have it memorized now. It also shows you how to measure your horse for custom sized halters and how to finish the ends.

Halter-Tying Success, Second Edition: A Step-by-Step Guide for Making Hand ... - Diane Longanecker - Google Books

If you're interested and can't find it online, I can put you in touch with the people I got it from. I think I paid $35 - VERY well spent. It only costs me $8 for rope (which I get from the same people), and I have better quality halters than anyone else I know. AND they actually fit correctly. I cannot say enough good things about this book :)

I use the same rope as is in your $40 CA halter - but since I tie it myself (and do a better job since it actually fits my horse), I got my money back with the first halter I made - not to mention launched a fairly profitable business with this and other tack that I make and sell.

Here's my first halter. It's junk rope and siZed for a lil mini witha big head. Never used it though. Pony sold before we could. I bought better rope and have made a few though.
Posted via Mobile Device

Does it matter what kind of rope you use? I used 3/8 in poly rope.

To a lot of people, no. Any rope will technically work for a rope halter. Heck, you could make one out of wire - but there are obvious reasons why you wouldn't want to do that. It all comes down to personal choice in the quality you're willing to accept. For me, I really like the rope I use. I can get it in soft, medium, or really stiff for training halters, and I can get it in almost any color. It'll outlast most other types of rope out there, and it's polyester so it won't cause rubs as easily as nylon. It doesn't fade in the sun and keeps it strength, which can't be said for many other types of rope.

So, when it comes down to it, the rope you're probably using is fine, especially if you don't intend on selling them. However, I'd rather invest in an American-made, high quality rope.

The down side to this is I can't buy the $9 halter/lead combos anymore. They're crap. And now that I know what is good quality, what makes it good quality, and why I should want good quality, I can't bring myself to buy crap anymore. I'm glad I make my own tack, because I couldn't afford to pay what I charge as retail right now. For instance...

It costs me $8.80 to make a simple rope halter, just in rope alone. Add on what I have to pay for shipping and the special tools and supplies I bought to finish the ends for a quality retail product, and I'd be losing money if I sold my halters for anything less than $11-12. Add in the time I take to order all this, perfect my technique, and then actually make the halter and market it, and you can see why high-quality halters sell for $20-30. I price my basic halters at $23. So, for me, it's much cheaper to invest the time to tie my $11-12 halter than pay for the quality that I would want now that I know better than to buy the cheap stuff. (by the way, in costs alone, it's $22 for an 8' lead rope - so again, I'm glad I'm paying the at-cost price rather than retail, because they sell for $40)