BOSAL: Some people call a hackamore a bosal, but what we mean is that thinner rawhide noseband that goes underneath a bridle. A person can put it on there about three or four ways, but the most practical way to have it is with a light piece of leather that’s used as a head piece. Some people just use a little piece of leather string and tie it up to the forelock.
The lead rope a fella’d use to go along with that is about 12 - 14 feet long, and usually about 1/4 or 3/8 inch thick. It’s made of nylon, horsehair, cotton or just about anything you want. You can braid them yourself or buy these lead ropes ready-made. Some fellas take one end of that rope and tie it right onto the heel knot of that little bosal. Then they coil it up and tie it onto their saddle with the front saddle strings.
I tie my lead rope in a loop (with a bowline) around the lower part of the horse’s neck and then I bring up that loose end and coil it up rather small, so I can tie it onto my saddle. That way, if a fella needs to hand it to someone to lead their horse, why they just slip it up to his throat latch area and re-tie the loop so it’s smaller, and then they run the end down through the bosal. That makes a good way to lead a fella’s horse for him, or even your own.