Leadropes getting thinner.

[Meowy Catkin]

I have bought Shires leadropes for years as they are lovely and thick, so easy to grip. I bought a new one recently and it's much thinner than the old ones, yet it was the thickest in the tack shop. Are there any makes that do cotton, twisted leadropes that are thick ropes rather than thin, string like jobs?

 

[nikkimariet]

Esperado do longer flat ropes that are a nice handful but still flexible enough that they are easy to use.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I'll look them up.

 

[flirtygerty]

It's not just leadropes, I'm finding that gloves are very flimsy these days, I was battling my mare , had gloves on and the lead rope was just sliding through the gloves, still ended up with a blister, now infected

 

[FireFly29]

Not twisted cotton, but Thorowgood long life leadropes are great.
Had mine for over 2.5 years of daily use, stuck on a gate in all weather's etc and its still going strong and even smart enough for show use.
http://www.rideaway.co.uk/thorowgood-long-life-lead-rope

 

[Kallibear]

Shires do two kinds of rope. A standard and a heavy. The heavy is very chunky, soft rope with a looser twist than the standard. They also come in normal and long length. I've got a couple of the heavy long ones. Lovely to hold and work with. PITA for getting wet and dirty!

 

[Rollin]

I think lead ropes are positvely dangerous. I have some extra long about 10 years old which have now frayed but 30% of the lead ropes I bought last year have broken.

Trigger clips which are no longer brass and pull through, ropes which snap.

It is the same with rugs. I cut off all the straps from 12 year old rugs to use for repairs, they are better quality than the new rugs we are buying.

 

[popsdosh]

It called making to a price ! It goes on in all walks of life as the majority still want the cheapest they can get .

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I have photographed an old Shires rope (the pink one) next to the newer one. I have not tilted the camera to distort the ropes. I was surprised that the newer one looks about as tatty as the old one which was bought about 5 years ago.

It's just so frustrating as I have used these ropes for years, both the long and the standard length versions and they have been fab and now they've changed them. They were still thicker than the Wessex and Rhinegold ropes that were also in the tack shop.

Grrr - I really do need to buy a couple more too, as there have been some very sad leadrope deaths at the yard recently (not caused by my horses I should add).

 

[tashcat]

I have a lovely horseware head collar and lead rope set which is really thick.

Its a really smart brown colour too, with a small bit of fur lining for comfort.

I know exactly how you feel about silly ropes these days!

 

[NZJenny]

I acutally prefer a thinner lead rope, but find the bought ones frustratingly short. These days I buy yachting rope and make my own - not flash but fine for around home.

 

[happyclappy]

Leadropes, like everything else, come in amazing options these days, thick, thin, short, long, plaited, braided, coloured, plain and so on.

 

[iconique]

I've found they seem to be getting thinner and shorter! But found these (you might want to shop around as it's the first description I found and I bought mine in countrywide) but thick enough for arthritic fingers!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Extra-Thick-choose-colours-purple/dp/B00EDKLZVG

 

[diamonddogs]

Odd - I had the opposite problem when I thought I'd lost my thinner leadrope the other week! My favourite one (a Cottage Craft) is too thick to go through the tether tie, and I went in several local shops to replace it without success. Luckily it turned up.

Maybe we should buy and swap!

I'd like a longer one, but they all seem to be standard two metres.

 

[holeymoley]

Yes new lead ropes are rubbish . Fall to pieces and the clips are pretty dodgy too !

 

[B&J]

I bought quite a thick one from Fast tack direct for about £5 a couple of months ago, it does the job and is much thicker than the slippery ones that seem to be everywhere at the moment

 

[3OldPonies]

Glad someone brought this up. I'd noticed that new ropes tend to be thinner and the fittings not so good as they used to be I had to buy two last year and they were nowhere near as thick as the ones they were replacing.

A couple of years ago I bought a matching headcollar and rope set by a well known show jumper and the rope quite frankly is rubbish. It quick releases all by itself as it is too stiff and slippery to knot properly and is way, way too long. The catch is the best bit about it. I've dumped the thing now in the 'use only when nothing else is around bin' and have bought a new rope to use with the headcollar (which is brilliant btw - it's just the rope that was useless).

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Almost everything now is being made cheaper & from inferior materials than it was years ago. Manufacturers don't want to make things to last as they did long ago because they don't make as much money if you never have to mreplace or only replace rarely. This is not just Equine stuff, it's everything you buy.

Regarding lead ropes I try & buy flat lead ropes with a 'walsall clip'. I find them easier to hold & knot & the clips don't snap like the trigger clips, but these are getting hard to find.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Oh carp. I've got some lovely old stuff that is showing it's age, I guess I'll have a real challenge replacing it with equal quality.

I did have an issue a while back when I wanted to get some new grooming brushes. So much cheap, nasty, brightly coloured tat is out there that couldn't remove dry sand from a summer coat.

 

[ozpoz]

Yes, not only are they thinner, the dyes don't last long at all. A couuple of months and they are faded and miserable looking ( and I'm someone who is fussy about rolling up lead ropes as soon as they are used).

 

[L&M]

I have recently bought some Horseware ones in Newmarket colours - although they were a little more expensive (£5.50 ish), they are are lot thicker and slightly longer than the cheaper ones.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I'll have a look at the Horseware ropes.

 

[nuttychestnut]

I've got a Newmarket one, it's just the right thickness and length. Though I expect I'll have to replace it sooner than I would like. Thinking about just buying a natural horsemanship style rope, they seem to last for years

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I like the extra thick Hy ones (cotton) from Equestrian Clearance.

 

[EmmasMummy]

How weird. I was just thinking this to! We bought a BRAND new shires one .....Weedy sec a managed to snap it pulling back , he didn't pull overtly hard but it just came apart. The fibres felt so much looser/Softer than I ever remember them being

 

[Meowy Catkin]

If a Sec A can break it without trying, it's not really fit for purpose. Grrrrr!

 

[sasquatch]

Oh no!

I loved the older Shires ones, I have two that are about 2/3 years old and are thicker. Dyes have stayed, and they've survived greedy cob who's current trick is to pull back when tied up to make the baller twine snap if he can't undo the knot himself.

I'm not a fan of the more American-style thin ropes, have used one occasionally and I got awful rope burn.

Shocked to see how much they've changed and how awful some of the new ropes are

 

[SpringArising]

I have photographed an old Shires rope (the pink one) next to the newer one. I have not tilted the camera to distort the ropes. I was surprised that the newer one looks about as tatty as the old one which was bought about 5 years ago.

It's just so frustrating as I have used these ropes for years, both the long and the standard length versions and they have been fab and now they've changed them. They were still thicker than the Wessex and Rhinegold ropes that were also in the tack shop.

Grrr - I really do need to buy a couple more too, as there have been some very sad leadrope deaths at the yard recently (not caused by my horses I should add).

Are you sure the older one isn't just bigger as it's got a bit unravelled? That's happened to me a few times!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I think it actually has more threads (which are possibly a bit thicker too) making up the rope.

 

[nianya]

Partly because I could no longer tie with the nice thick cotton ropes (everywhere I kept them used rings I couldn't put a loop through) I started buying yahting/marine rope and good heavy duty clips and making my own a while back. Meant I can get them as long as I like too, I hate short lead ropes.