I'm So Excited!

The stuff in the picture above cost me between $15-$17. With it I made a set of eighteen foot driving reins (for ground driving Chrome) that cost about $10-$12 with both together and I also made him a homemade rope halter for all of a whole DOLLAR!!! I'm so excited. I love making stuff and I love saving money. A single lunge line at the store cost $20 so I basically made two for the price of one. And a rope halter sells for around $13 and I made mine for $1. :) I still have around 45 feet of rope left that I can make a bigger halter out of when Chrome is done growing. :)

Here is a picture of the eighteen foot driving reins. I know that's probably a bit long, but I would rather they were too long than too short. :) This is the first step toward my ground driving goal this year. :D

Here are the ends.

Yes, I duct taped the ends. I'll do something nice to it later. It was getting late and I didn't want the ends to fray. :)

Here is the other end. The clamps were a bit tough to close with an enormous pair of channel locks, but I don't have a lot of arm strength lol. I made the clips changeable. You just slip the loop through the ring and then slip it over the clip/snap. Viola! Easy change clips/snaps in case one breaks. :)

Here is the finished rope halter. It took me around two hours to make. It would have gone a LOT faster if I weren't so knot dyslexic. I've never done a double overhand knot before so I had to practice a while before I got it right. :) Here is the link to the site where I found the instructions for making it. And to help you out here is the video I found on YouTube showing how to do the double overhand knot. It took me several tries to get it right. :) I think the halter turned out really well for my first attempt. What is cool is that you don't have to cut the rope at all and you don't need any hardware. I'm all for that. :) Since I paid $5 for 100 feet of the rope we calculated it up to costing approximately one dollar.

And here are the pictures of Chrome wearing his new halter. It even matches his old catch rope. :)

Begging for treats. Silly colt.

Again I duct taped the end. I'll sew it or something later on.

Brat wasn't cooperating with his ears lol. Front view.

I was so excited when I finished it last night that I had to run out and put it on him in the dark lol. I can't believe how nice it turned out. Except for the duct tape it looks just like the one I bought years and years ago (that I no longer have). :D If you're decent with a knot you should give this a shot. It's so easy once you figure it out. I might use this as a gift idea for horsey friends since I can get the rope so cheap. :)

P.S. I got the rope at Tractor Supply Company if you want to look for it there. I didn't get it cut. It was already cut 100 feet for $5. :)