Lariat Rope --Stiff & Stiffer?

[Dan_Lehman]

I found a rodeo-focused catalogue and have taken
some moments to look over the ropes section.
MY what a lot of much-alike ropes they offer,
from 3- to 5-strand (w/core) !  And lay options
variously available of XXS, XS, S, MS, M, HM, MH !!
(I'm thinking that these must be small degrees of
hardness, but maybe "Soft" lay is really kinda like
that; but the images of such roundness of coils
implies a quite firm/stiff rope.)

cf.
www.cowboycordage.com/how-its-made
and
https://teamropingjournal.com/roping-tips/rope-buyers-guide

NB: the term "poly" is alas used in a confused manner
here (and likely in other venues of other cordage),
sometimes meaning "polyESTER" and other times
"polyPROPYLENE" and still sometimes the ambiguous
itself "polyOLEFIN" --which includes the prior AND
"polyethylene" (and I guess the co-extruded stuff
of both PP & PE).  <sigh>
The site explains that it means "ester" when used
in combo-cordage w/nylon, but only PP if separate.

--dl*
====

[tomh]

Coincidentally, someone recently sent me this video about the making of lassos (aka lariats, aka simply "ropes" to insiders).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-zeoH-xPbc

The rope used for a typical lasso is indeed extremely hard-laid compared to most other rope, so even what they call soft-laid is still very stiff and very hard to knot. Splicing is practically impossible.

I happen to have a slightly-used lasso (bought as souvenir from the Bar U Ranch in Alberta) which I'll post photos of. The usual thing is a Matthew Walker on one end, and a Honda (with rawhide "burner" to reduce friction) for the loop at the business end.

[tomh]

Here are some photos of a lasso. Nominal diameter is 3/8", and I presume "MH" means "medium-hard lay". To show how stiff it is, the bight and the tail end are standing up about 3'. [Edit: sorry, took a couple of tries to get the photos to orient properly.]