Rope Halters with Add-On Headstall?

[Jennifer Thompson <jlthompson@earthlink.net>]

I've been wading through TONS of great emails from all of you great 
folks, giving me advice and ideas about which halter bridle to get. 
 Thank you!

I'm a minimalist sort of person, and prefer the least amount of stuff on 
my horse's face as possible.  My mare also has sensitive skin, and gets 
rubbed easily by tack.  Her current bridle has little nubby rawhide 
decorations on the cheek pieces that lay right on her cheek bones, which 
have rubbed off her hair and the skin is sore there...hence the new 
bridle search...

I like the Zilco NZ halter bridle, but was just looking at the rope 
halter with add-on biothane head stall at Wind Rider Tack.  This looks 
really nice to me, and easy to use.  It also seems to be less "stuff". 
 I also like how the bit hangs from a head strap, rather than the cheek 
piece bit hangers which the Zilco bridle has.

Does anyone have any opinion on the rope halter/add-on headstall setup? 
 Do those knots in the rope halters tend to rub horses' faces or not? 
 Are the rope halters safe, if a horse sets back while tied?  They are 
so thin, I fear they might injure a struggling horse in the poll area.

I'd appreciate any feedback, good or bad, on these.

I'll stop bugging everybody after this post.  I promise!  LOL

Jennifer