Bank Robber’s Knot

Posted on 2506.13 by BlogPatty

By Patty Wilber

I have written about knots before, and came to the conclusion that the bowline (also known as the king of knots) was great for tying horses because although it is not a quick release, it does not tighten up when a horse sits back on it, so you can always get it undone. All the “quick release” knots I knew are worthless in an emergency because you can’t get to the knot when the horse is in the middle of a panic, and when the panic is over the quick release is too tight to release, so what’s the point?

Here is a nice video on the bowline vs. a quick release that a lot of folks use.

Another knot I sometimes use is shown below.  It doesn’t tighten too much if pulled on, but it also seems easy for horses to untie. Here is a bad diagram I tried to make.

The Overhand Knot. And Lucy (R) and Birdie (L) in Clovis,

I recently stumbled across the Bank Robber’s Knot.  (Also known as the Highwayman’s Knot.) This knot does not tighten up AND it is a quick release! It is my new favorite.

There are videos of this knot, but I thought this diagram was easier to follow, even though I was doing it wrong for a few days and had to review the diagram!

I still ALWAYS carry a sharp knife to cut my horse out of trouble if necessary!

A couple of other things to consider, which mostly were in the original knot post but I thought were worth repeating. 

  1. Do not tie to anything that will break. Horse sits back, thing breaks, horse runs off with broken thing chasing it.  Never good.
  2. Do not tie to anything that will move. Like a round pen panel or a two-horse trailer not hooked to a truck. Horse sits back, panel or whole round pen comes, too.  Trailer tips over. All bad.
  3. Do not tie to dead trees. Not even big ones that seem stable. They fall over.  Been there. Cometa did that by pushing on the tree. He didn’t even pull back.
  4. Do not tie so long or low the equine can get a foot over the lead rope.
  5. Do not tie so high the animal cannot hold its head in a natural position.

Happy safe tying!

 

 

 

 

 

 

About BlogPatty

Here's the skinny: I have a thing for horses. They make sense to me. I have a small horse training business (it's a "boutique" training business, not because it's super fancy, but because the horses get a lot of personal attention). I also go by Dr. Wilber, and teach biology full-time at a Central New Mexico Community college.
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2 Responses to Bank Robber’s Knot

  1. dorannadurgin says:
    2506.13 at 18:34

    Oh, this is the knot I used! I didn’t realize it had a name. An excellent name, at that.

  2. Timothy Norris says:
    2506.16 at 11:26

    I do not hard tie horses unless I’m going to be around. Tie rings such as the Blocker tie Ring offer enough resistance to keep the horse from hurting itself in a pull-back situation and the horse can usually recover, even if he goes down. (One needs to properly sack the horse out to the tie ring). Funny but once the horse knows they can get away, they are much less likely to try. Tying a horse hard, especially with a bowline knot, are too difficult to untie in a panic situation. The slip-release of a tie ring seems to calm the horse faster in a pull-back situation. A solid tie seems to induce more panic. We work cattle and live in very rural areas with lots of predators around (bear, mountain lions, badgers, wolves, etc.). Sometimes horses pull back with just a whiff of the other animals. We always have a knot wrench or two on our persons (knife) for emergencies. The bank robbers knot is a good knot for quick release. But one will still have to jerk it to get it free.

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