Hi, Mangrove. Well, maybe it isn`t so obvious.
I just dismissed the shorter `finger span`, because of the word `yanking`.
I figured it would be easyer to handle horses and cavalrymen with some meters of rope instead of centimeters

.
But, one of my late aunts had a suitor of Finnish heritage. He was short, powefull, and teached us boys a lot of `practical`stuff, like knives, ropes, crossbows.... if he had trapped you by a few decimeters of rope, you would certainly be in trouble, on a horse or not

Or is the description more bola-like? Several stones with a rather short rope connecting them...
I`ll just wait here and try to learn more of ancient Finnish warfare

timann