Rope Strap: Attaching It To The Saddle

I’ve had a few questions about the rope strap and how it attaches to the saddle. So I asked my friend and Dillon, Montana-based saddle maker, Ross Miller, to provide some more in-depth information.

From Ross:

A typical cross-over rope strap is between 36″ and 48″ long, based on riders preference. A good standard is about 42” long.

The base of the strap is attached on the right swell, a couple of inches up from the seat jockey and a couple of inches from the front of the swell back towards the rider. I use a 1/2″ stainless steel screw to seat the base of the strap to the swell, and as you can see from the pictures I house the end in a concho and nail around the perimeter. This makes it a little easier to replace if necessary.

When tying your rope or reata to the rope strap, always position the hondo of your rope to be on the outside of your coils, so you can build a loop very fast ( as shown in the picture with my ranch rope with the metal hondo, notice that it is on the outside of the coils, not the inside).

I generally wrap it 3 or 4 times and then back over to the other side of the swell and through the buckle, as shown in the photo. Sometimes these straps are referred to as an “Oregon Cross-over rope straps.” I assume this is because they were originally and predominantly seen in the North-West Buckaroo type areas first.

You can contact Ross Miller at miller23@sofast.net.