General Discussion

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

SunsetHalters — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:41:58 GMT

Yep, it sure is :) Thank you! It's amazing how similar he is to Punkin Pie. That's Punkin's 'old' saddle on him, and it fits him great- yaaa! Although I will say they move totally different ;) This guy has got some loooooooong legs on him ;)

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

SunsetHalters — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:39:14 GMT

Thanks

The most recent (good) pictures I have of them would be from last summer. Right now they're wearing their mud encrusted blankets ;)

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

Solaris — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:22:49 GMT

I know, amber, I was hoping for that too! Karen, is that Wings II in your sig? Looks fabulous!

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

amberp11703 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:05:11 GMT

SH: Totally off topic but I am so glad to see you around here again. It's been a long time. How about some updated pictures on your babies?

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

SunsetHalters — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:02:57 GMT

You're welcome! :)

That rope with the swivel snap is the same rope that Clinton Anderson uses-- Samson's EQ braid. Great rope, that's for sure! And yes, as long as it's not hard spliced on, very easy to change out ;) I know both he and Parelli use to hard splice those snaps on. It does look more streamline, but once the snap broke, you didn't have alot of options left :P

It is scary when your horses are running foot loose and fancy free Glad you were able to catch them before they took off for the road. Why does it seem they're always drawn to the road?

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

txspots — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:04:14 GMT

Anne W:

"Anyways, no worries about me buying any either, I'm set on leads for a while and even then won't be spending that kind of money on one!"

You are probably right that we spent too much money, but it was advertised as a combination lead/lunge rope and it is longer than a normal lead rope. I bought a number of videos as well and they were very helpful. This particular lead was used for desensitizing the horse by throwing it over his back, under his stomach, around his legs, etc. The only thing I didn't like about the collar clip was (as someone else pointed out) I had to use two hands. But, until it failed without warning, I was mostly happy with it. It appears to be well made and I think it would be next to impossible for a horse to break it. I've had horses pull on a regular snap clip and bend the entire thing open--I don't think they could do that with this other design. BUT, between the two styles, I would definitely use a well made snap clip from now on!

I apologize Anne, I certainly did not mean to imply you spent too much money, that's none of my business! I'm sure it is well made and is the right tool for the job. What I should have said was I have enough lead ropes around for right now and as one of my goals is to cut back on unnecessary spending, especially on the horses, I shouldn't be buying anymore.

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope resolved

Anne W — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:58:41 GMT

Since I complained about Customer Service for Downunder Horsemanship, I wanted to make sure that I let everyone know that they did come through. I spoke with them again this morning and they offered to send me two of the new style clips for $10. If I had purchased them myself, it would have been $40 plus shipping.

So, I am happy with the outcome and I do want to stress that all of the other products we've purchased have been fine. I have been especially happy with the videos and I actually got a yearling in 2004 and started him in 2005 using "Starting Colts Under Saddle." (Hope that's right.) I had never trained a horse before and I actually did this myself and ended by riding him, with my husband ponying us around on his older horse in an indoor. Then I took him to a real trainer! (The horse, not my husband!!)

Thank you everyone for your input. (I'm still going to get some good bolt snaps!)

Anne

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

Anne W — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:21:08 GMT

"Are you talking about this twist snap? It's a great snap, but once the spring in it wears out, it's pretty much toast :( Sounds like that's what's happened with your snap."

Thank you so much for your input and the pictures. Really, everyone has been very helpful and I'm grateful for all the input. My rope looks just like the one on the bolt snap. On the twist snap, I know there has to be a ball baring and as you twist the collar around there is a point where it kind of "snaps" into place. I tried it again yesterday (seemed to work fine once it was warm) and discovered that with a little more effort I could actually twist the collar in either direction, so I'm guessing there is a small spring in there somewhere that keeps it in place (when it works).

So I can easily replace the snap and that's what I will do. I guess I'm more worked up about this whole thing than I would have been if I wasn't trying to get hold of horses running loose. You know how it is, they are galloping around and I'm having visions of them heading down the road, etc. I talked to another horse friend about this whole thing and she said she would have been upset, too. The design on the collar snap is faulty. While I did use one of the lead ropes quite a bit, the other was not used much at all. Besides ground work in the round pen, I used this lead to load my horses onto their trailer and I can just imagine the clip falling open when we were away from home. Thank goodness, it didn't.

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

Anne W — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:05:44 GMT

"Anyways, no worries about me buying any either, I'm set on leads for a while and even then won't be spending that kind of money on one!"

You are probably right that we spent too much money, but it was advertised as a combination lead/lunge rope and it is longer than a normal lead rope. I bought a number of videos as well and they were very helpful. This particular lead was used for desensitizing the horse by throwing it over his back, under his stomach, around his legs, etc. The only thing I didn't like about the collar clip was (as someone else pointed out) I had to use two hands. But, until it failed without warning, I was mostly happy with it. It appears to be well made and I think it would be next to impossible for a horse to break it. I've had horses pull on a regular snap clip and bend the entire thing open--I don't think they could do that with this other design. BUT, between the two styles, I would definitely use a well made snap clip from now on!

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

Anne W — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:58:15 GMT

I think I'm confused. I probably called it a "swivel" snap because I was referring to the collar that you swivel in order to open and close the hinged head. Anyway, I think the snap that was shown in one of the images is much better and will probably replace the ones that don't work with that. I just want Customer Service to be up front with me. I cannot imagine that I'm the only one who had problems with that "collar" design.

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

SunsetHalters — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:54:35 GMT

That's for sure! The swivel snap may not be 'fancy', but sure is a sturdy snap :)

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

txspots — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:20:49 GMT

and it's so easy to work with one hand!

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

SunsetHalters — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:41:20 GMT

Are you talking about this twist snap? It's a great snap, but once the spring in it wears out, it's pretty much toast :( Sounds like that's what's happened with your snap. We sell a ton of these snaps. But have had a few that broke right off the bat. Since we don't hard splice these snaps on, it's easy to send a replacement snap. Honestly, I prefer the simplicity of the swivel snap (aka bolt snap) shown below. I can't think of a time that we've ever had a complaint about that snap, and it's less expensive :)

Is your snap hard spliced onto your lead (no way to change it), or does it look like this? If it looks like this, it's easy to change out the hardware. If not, you're kind of stuck :(

Although you could have someone splice a loop in your lead (as shown to your left), but that'd make your lead about two feet shorter.

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

txspots — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:19:29 GMT

nikelodeon79:

This might be the key... perhaps Clinton didn't have problems with the lead because he doesn't regularly use it in the cold?

Good point Nik, although he just recently moved to Stephenville, TX from I think it was Ohio? Not sure but would think it got pretty cold there - ? Anyways, no worries about me buying any either, I'm set on leads for a while and even then won't be spending that kind of money on one!

Re: Problem with swivel clip on lead rope

nikelodeon79 — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:15:14 GMT

Anne W:
What is happening to both clips is they are no longer locking (at least when they are cold)

This might be the key... perhaps Clinton didn't have problems with the lead because he doesn't regularly use it in the cold?

Personally, I'm not a fan of either design, and will stick with the "old fashioned" leads.