Making and adjusting halters

I originally intended to do a video of this subject but our camera is out of batteries and I don't have a tripod so for the sake of making something actually happen here goes.
On the right is my attempt at color coded depictions of halters. The length between knots isn't accurate or to scale but they will serve their purpose. The image on the left that is black with colored knots will for the purpose  of this post be referred to image A. The one on the right with the red and blue string is just to give you an idea about where the strings are going.
Let's start with making halters. There are also some documents on my website in the documents section The one that says "how_to_tie_a_rope_halter" has decent directions. The knots in the image in that document that are labeled 1-5 in that document are, in my image, the two red ones, the green, blue, and pink. Use the fiador knot (shown in the document) for the dark purple one.
I think I may have gotten off track a bit. Step by step. Here goes:

1. Take your piece of string (I advise starting with about 15'), fin the middle and on either side of that point tie two normal, overhand, pretzel knots about 5-6" apart (for standard goats)
2. Line those two knots up with each other and go down about three inches (more if you are just learning) and start to tie the fiador knot. (in the document) It will probably end up with really big loops, uneven ends etc. Don't worry! Just tighten it up and look admiringly at it for a few moments.
3. Now it is time to adjust the nose part. In my opinion the only/safest way to adjust a knot is carefully, one string at a time, keeping every other bit of the knot as tight as possible at all times. Keeping this in mind, make your halter face you with the fiador knot at the bottom. starting at one of the red knots take up any slack between the red knot and the purple/fiador except for about 3" and carefully feed it through the fiador knot until it comes out at the bottom. Tighten the knot. Do the same on the other side. The nose piece should fit as described in the previous post.
4. Now your loops under the nose are probably too large. Time to fix that. Focus on one loop at a time. As you will see a loop consists of the string coming out of the fiador knot (originally from the nose piece) turning around, going back in, and coming out as a loose end. You want all the slack in your loops to go into the loose end rather than back into the nose. Start by tracing each string coming out of the fiador knot back to it's origin. I still haven't figured a short cut to this. When you have found the one that ends up as a loose end feed the slack after it and pull the knot tight leaving a loop about an inch long under the knot. Do the same with the other loop. The hard part is pretty much done so pat yourself on the back and have a cookie. :)
5. Now for the rest of your halter. Take the two loose ends from the fiador and tie the green knot as a double-overhand (instructions in the documents folder on my site) about 2-3" down the rope from the fiador. If you aren't worried about nice round knots/aesthetics you could just hold them together and tie an overhand/pretzel knot. In my experience in tying halters I find that I generally make this section too long so err on the side of a tad shorter than whatever you measure.  
6. Now we find that two ropes diverge in a halter and you must initially take the one that takes a really long time to tie. In other words. Coming out of your green knot will be two strings. One (when facing you) will be on the right and the other in the left. If you want a halter that has a tie in the conventional place (the left of the goat) take the right string and go up about 4" and tie a double-overhand knot (pink knot). This time you will be tying the first part as shown in the document and then turning around and coming back. The loop formed should be about an inch long.
7. Now for the first cheek piece. From the pink knot you just tied you go to one of the original centered pretzel knots (red). Use this knot as the first part of a double-overhand and thread your rope through as the other. Proceed to the other red knot and repeat. You're almost there!
8. Finally it is time to take that other rope that you abandoned back in step six and tie it and the end you have been using together in a double-overhand (blue knot).
9. Now you just have to cut these two ropes off about 1.5' away from the knot ( If you don't have enough of one rope you will have to thread some of the one you do have enough of back all the way through the halter.) and singe/sew them together.

Congratulations! You have a halter!

If you already have a halter but are trying to adjust it to fit a smaller goat start at the nose band as described in the "Making" section and feed slack rope through to the loops under the fiador. You will have to move the red knot up so they are centered on the nose (Space between two red knots = the two spaces between each red knot and the fiador combined.) Then all you have to do is keep following the rope taking out slack between each knot and making sure each knot is tight before you go on. If the end of the ropes are already singed you'll probably have to cut them even again and re-sew them. I would never try and adjust a halter to fit a bigger goat. Save it for the next baby and just make another. It is a lot simpler in the long run. The same applies with a halter for a roman-nosed goat. Save yourself the hassle and just make a new one.

I use this rope and purchase it from a local store for less than it is sold online. I think 3mm is a good size for a goat  so as long as it isn't much bigger anything should work. just make sure it isn't too stiff or rough.

If after reading all of this the prospect of making a halter is too daunting, you can't find any rope, or you just need one sooner than you can get around to making one I do sell them for about $8 each with two dollars shipping (and possibly a discount if you get more than two.) E-mail me if you are interested.
2 creeks goats "at" gmail . com (remove all the spaces)
M.
p.s. I will attempt a video of this as soon as I can but I'm not sure when that will be.