Dear All
In some hope of encouraging my teenage daughter out of Scoubidou and on to more practical uses of knots (not that I’m implying Scoubidou can’t have it’s uses), please can anyone advise a range of knots which would be useful in the equestrian world? She’s considering helping out at a local charity stable, and I would like to show her how to turn her scoubi knowledge to other areas. She probably knows more about knotting than I do, all things considered, but it’s translating it into other situations.
Regards,
Glenys Chew
The following knots all have some use in the eqestrian world, there are more, but in real life not many are used:
Harness Bend - to tie two ends of straps or tape as a temporary repair
Cow Hitch/Ring Hitch - a general purpose knot to tie things to the plethora of rings in and around the stables
Clove Hitch - to tie a rope/leader/reins to a bar
Round Turn and Two Half Hitches - similar use to the clove hitch but where control over the load might be useful at the untying stage - like a frisky horse.
Halter Hitch - to secure a halter to a rail/post etc
Waggoner’s Hitch- to tie down a load on a trap or cart
Anglers Loop - An easy to tie good general purpose fixed loop
Honda Knot - To make a lasso
Then if you want to get really adventurous, the
Hackamore Knot and the Fiadore Knot to make up headgear with rope.
Gordon
I talked with a girl at work today, she used to ride and take care of horses.
In daily use the only knot that is used in a stable like the ones she used to go to is a simple quick release knot, and each stable will teach its own version.
An other friend made a horse ‘leash’ for her grand daugther.
Think about a dog lead without a loop at the one end, but with a snap-on hook on the other.
She used Macramé work, basicly one long salomonsbar.
But almost all dog-leash patterns can be used.
An other usefull craft might be making eye-splices.
Many of the storebought ropes in use in the stable have a clip-on hook on one end, and those are normally spliced onto the rope. If your daugther can splice she can make her own and save herself, or the stables she is helping out, a lot of money.
If she gets really horsecrazy she might want to look into the western style sadles and other horsegear, and evenmore the south American ones, they are very much decorated with braided and knotted strips of leather. (But as a beginner she will not likely be interested nor able to make a piece like that.)
I hope she will go to help with the horses, I never did as girl, and I still regret it a little.
Willeke
Thank you so much, Gordon and Willeke. That’s given me lots of things to talk to her about 
She’s said she would definitely like to go and help out - now we just have to pray that her mystery allergy doesn’t flare up at this stable, like it did at the last two.
Regards,
Glenys Chew
1 Corinthians 15:10