What is Clinton Anderson's approach to desensitizing a horse to ropes and a lariat?

Ropes are an essential desensitization target for working western horses, and Clinton Anderson dedicates significant teaching to rope desensitization because the rope is involved in so much of western horse work — roping cattle, ponying other horses, trail riding near pack strings, and daily groundwork with a lead rope. Anderson's rope desensitization begins with swinging a rope near the horse — not touching the horse — while watching for the horse's response threshold. He works at the distance and intensity where the horse notices the rope but does not flee, and maintains that level of stimulation until the horse relaxes before increasing intensity. The rope swings progressively closer, then eventually touches the horse gently, then is rubbed on the horse's body in increasingly active patterns. The specific areas Anderson targets with rope desensitization are those that horses most commonly react to: the back legs, the belly, the flank, and the area around the neck and poll where a catch loop would land. A horse that has not been desensitized to a rope on its hind legs may panic when roped and flip over backward, which is one of the most dangerous outcomes in cattle work. Anderson considers rope desensitization a safety prerequisite for any horse used in roping contexts. For lariat desensitization specifically, he progresses from swinging the loop on the ground near the horse to swinging it overhead near the horse to tossing it gently over the horse's neck and body. Each stage waits for genuine acceptance before progressing. He also teaches desensitizing horses to the sound of a lariat — the whoosh of the loop building speed — separately from the physical contact, because the sound itself startles many horses before the rope ever touches them.