How to correctly connect your horse to a trailer with a rope. Now that is a pretty simple deal most of the time, but lotsa people tie their horses up using knots and connections that’s dangerous to themselves and their horses.

There’s a couple factors to consider when you go to tyin’ your horse up. First, can I get him untied easily? Then, can I get him untied without having to have the rope go through the tie ring? How about how long it takes to do the tyin’?

Think about it like this. If ya’d have to get him untied quick, and I mean right now, can ya do it with that knot ya use? Most of the knots I see require two hands to undo. Some of those knots look like one of them rap singers hairdos. Now that ain’t no good in a wreck. So how ‘bout a knot that takes one hand to untie and the end of the rope don’t go through the tie ring? Yeah, there is one. It was taught to me by my old buddy Ben Throde, back in…well, a long time ago.

Take the lead rope and make a small bend about three feet from the halter. Feed that small bend into the tie ring. Grab hold of the bend with your fingers, (DON”T put your finger through the loop formed in the bend), and pull it out until it’s about eighteen inches long, keepin about three feet tween the tie ring and the halter . Now take hold of the rope between the horse and the tie ring and make a figure nine with it. For those who know, that is a half hitch. Take the loop that ya sent through the tie ring and run it down through the half hitch. Push the half hitch up to the tie ring and pull on the rope between the horse and the ring. It should hold tight. If it don’t, then turn the half hitch over.

Now all you have to do to free up your cayouse is to pull on the end of the rope. Now if ya got a horse like mine that can untie ‘em faster than you can tie ‘em, all ya have to do is put a half hitch in the tag end around that loop and ya’ve got him.

Now this is a quick knot to tie and untie. Old Ben Throde told me it was used by old timey bank robbers. Seems he was pretty familiar with that knot.