It’s never good to leave a standard halter, especially one constructed of nearly unbreakable nylon, on a horse, cow, goat or any other creature while it’s out on pasture. It’s infinitely easy for an animal to hook its halter on a watering tank faucet, a tree limb, or other such snag, then set back and break its neck. Safety halters for equines are readily available but not so for other hobby farm species. What to do? Make your own! Here’s how

Measure the width of your halter's crownpiece. Large horse halters generally have one-inch straps, small horse and pony halter straps are usually three-quarters of an inch wide, while halters for other species may be narrower still. Now go to your closet (or your favorite secondhand store or thrift shop) and find a lightweight belt of the same width; it has to be the type with a tongue buckle and a keeper loop.

If you don’t have a belt but you do have an old halter you’re willing to sacrifice, cut off the crownpiece buckle and make an insert using the salvaged buckle and a piece of scrap leather (cutting the scrap from, perhaps, a discarded handbag or the top of an old boot) as shown at the left side of the attached photo.  

Measure about three inches down from the tongue for a goat or alpaca halter, five inches to make an insert for a pony or calf halter, or six inches for a full-size horse or cow halter, and snip the belt off that length. Round the cut end with scissors. Then, using a leather punch or a hammer and large nail, poke a single hole one inch below the keeper loop. Now buckle the crownpiece of the halter into the buckle of your insert.

Be sure to remove the insert before tying a horse or other large animal; if he pulls back, this insert is supposed to break.