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 Horse
Training Tips
USES OF
THE MCCARTY
At
one time, Congress, Arizona
horse trainer,
Twister Heller, used a McCarty (also spelled "mecate") on
almost all the horses he
trained. The name McCarty
refers to a length of rope,
from 18 to 30 feet long,
used in buckaroo country
primarily as a riding rein
with an attached lead rope.
The rope may be attached to
a bosal (hackamore noseband)
or to a snaffle bit. McCartys can be made from
many different materials
including braided horse
hair, coreless rope, spun
3/4' nylon rope, or even
soft, supple, braided
leather. Twister's fondness
for a McCarty came from its
many additional uses and the
fact that it is easier to
hang onto than traditional
leather reins. He has quit
using a McCarty to a great
extent riding in the Arizona
desert where everything
either bites or sticks,
because it can be easily
pulled out of your hands by
the ubiquitous sticker bush.
He was very interested by
the idea of a supple leather
braided McCarty, because it
would be immune to most
stickers.
Twister demonstrated
using a McCarty to
desensitize horses to a
rope, using it to "pull
around" a green horse
to get it used to a bridle,
to lounge a horse, and how
to lengthen and shorten the
rein for corral work or
roping. A McCarty can be
used for hobbling or for
tying a foot up to doctor or
shoe. It can be used for
lounging or with a second
line for ground driving.
McCartys are handy when you
are opening or closing gates
in pastures.
One unusual thing about
the McCarty setup used by
Twister is the type of
leathers used to attach the
rope to the rings of the
snaffle bit. Most of the
leathers used for this
purpose (called slobber
leathers) are doubled flat
with slits to attach the
rope. Since Twister likes to
easily be able to adjust
length and remove the
McCarty rope for additional
uses, he has devised slobber
leathers that are each one
continual band of leather
made from a strip of leather
about 18" long and
1" wide, riveted in the
center after being placed
around the snaffle ring.
Using these wide open
leathers, Twister can
quickly insert one end of
the McCarty, twist it
around, and attach or change
the length of his rein.
When using a McCarty two
handed, the correct way to
adjust your hands comes from
sliding a hand either
direction from a balanced
mid point. The rein part of
a McCarty can easily be
shortened to be used one
handed while roping. Twister
demonstrated pulling the
rope up in his hand, using
his teeth, to shorten the
rein. At other times he
leaves the rein longer than
normal in order to use it to
slap a horse back and forth
on the neck for quick corral
work. While riding Twister
will slip the free end of
the McCarty through his
front chap belt or it may be
coiled and tied up with the
front left saddle string.
When a McCarty is tucked
through the chap belt, the
rider has the opportunity,
should he be unhorsed for
any reason, to grab the long
lead and keep from being set
afoot a long way from home.
A McCarty can also be
used to train a colt to drop
his nose. Twister tied one
end of the McCarty to the
right slobber leather, ran
the rest between the horse's
front legs, behind the right
stirrup leather, over the
seat of the saddle, behind
the left stirrup leather,
back between the front legs,
and up to the left slobber
leather. He adjusted the
rope to place a little
downward pressure on the
horse's mouth and then
half-hitched the free end to
the saddle horn. The horse
was then set free in a round
pen for about 15 minutes to
learn to drop his head to
avoid the pressure. Twister
makes sure such sessions are
always supervised.
This
article by Mike Laughlin
first appeared in Western
Horseman Magazine May,
1998.
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