Tove09Tilda

Not exactly. A Swedish noseband lies in the same place as a regular cavesson or English noseband — on the nasal bone, about two fingers below the zygomatic arch — and it is closed under the chin. The concern comes from how this design is often used: to create more control by applying strong pressure. The nasal bone gets thinner towards the end, and with this type of fastening mechanism it is possible to cause real damage — in extreme cases even a fracture — if the noseband is tightened too much. It can also interfere with the horse’s breathing. The nasal septum lies just beneath the noseband, and restricting the nostrils prevents them from flaring properly. If you watch eventing or racehorses at full speed, you’ll notice how much their nostrils expand to take in air. Limiting that ability puts unnecessary stress on the horse. Hope my explanation helped a bit.

Hi, thanks. Pretty easy. I used fashion leather (round about 1mm) with the newspaper print. First I glued it to a 3.5mm thick strap of vachetta that was already cut to size, trimmed it to the edges, sealed the edges with black edge dye and finished it off with a saddle stitch and some Tokonole. On a note, the stitchmarks needed to be pricked quite deep, as they were otherwise really hard to spot.

You're welcome. Have you checked HS Sprenger? I don't know where you can get them in the US, but here in Germany they are amongst THE suppliers for hardware for saddlers. You can only get it with a registered business as far as I know - maybe that's different in the US. I think they might have what you are searching for as they are more specialised in english tack.

Really great and inspiring work! As someone who rode in such a bridle for years (they are very common here in Germany!), I can say that I made no bad experiences with them, maybe as I was amongst the last generation of riding school kids, who were taught the two finger rule. Mine was never too big nor too tight. If you follow the rule of putting two fingers upright underneath the noseband when tightening you can't do anything wrong! That btw applies to all nosebands, as I was taught. So it's a lot of fuzz about nothing and a lot of wrong information, in my opinion. But look around on social media and pay attention to how tight the nosebands really are. Most are too tight. My instructor always said: "If you need to tighten anything so much, that your animal can't comfortably breathe anymore, the answer is easy. You are the problem, and maybe you should take a step back". The bad rep comes from people using this type of bridle as its very easy to "over-tighten" due to the "pulley-effect". As with most things in equestrian sports, if used as intended/correctly there is nothing grim about it! This type of bridle is often misused in dressage to make the horse more "controllable" in my experience. And I love that you don't have a snaffel strap and how comfortable you have designed it. I only know it, that the padding is a bit thicker and "overhanging" where Dee rings are build in, but I actually like your design more, as sometimes, especially after the leather got softer the padding was becoming a bit fiddly to place correctly within the pull area (especially with cheap bridles, like most riding schools used).

Hi, after seeing all of your amazing work, I feel a bit insecure about showing my work, but maybe I learn a thing or two and might also encourage others to put themselves out there. So here are all the collars I made so far (not many): 1st (mid 2024 after a break in leather work for a few years): Then I continued to pad collars: First collars for a friend: A little colour experiment - we still take out sometimes: Several collars I made just for fun and to use up some scraps: Here I only did the rhinestone work: Another collar: Our everyday collar made from Goat and Buttero leather: Fancy collars I made some time ago. The blue one was the first one and the grey one was the already "developed" one: First set I ever made (for my mums dog): And the mist recent collar: So that's basically also my whole development within one year of being back into leatherwork.

Hi fellow leather workers, I'm Tove09Tilda, 25 years old and from Germany. I started leather work when I was 15 by bedazzling Dog collars and horse wear, but ditched it for some time until I was about to finish my master degree in 2024. That's actually when the real journey started. I was traveling back to Sweden to get my degree (I studied in Sweden) and have a nice dinner with my fellow classmates and, well, with my dog. I knew that this was not a usual evening and of cause, when I was wearing something special, she also had to. So I started checking the pet stores in my area including an outlet of a big german brand, with sort of good reputation. In the end I found nothing that felt like "us" or was up to the quality that I was searching for. Following, I contacted a former supplier, who offered custom dog collars. That's when I learned that she produced in India and the collar would take weeks, if not even month, as it would have been included in a bulk order. And as I wrote my master thesis in cooperation with a very nice woman from Pakistan, with friends in the leather Industry … Let's phrase it that way: Production in India felt wrong! Especially for the price that was quoted (40€ including shipping (within Germany between 6 and 7€). Let's be real here - you don't need to be an economist to know that this price is unrealistic, when you expect fair wages. Unsatisfied, I started to remember that I had all the tools, that I knew how to saddle stitch and that there was literally no excuse to not try it for myself. That's basically when I got hooked again. I made a simple, plain dog collar, dyed it blue with angelus acrylic leather dye and called it a day, just to then teach myself how to make padded collars, make running loops, and of cause, making dog collars until my hands were full of blisters, but my stitches became more and more neat. Last year I also made my first handbag ( a little bit of a challenge at first! Due to all the backing needed!). That was the point where people in my surroundings started to suggest that I should try to become a saddler. When I couldn't find a job after my MBA, the original idea was indeed to try to become a saddle maker. My education wouldn't go to waste and I could follow my plan B. The economy made a big cross through the plan - unfortunately. Most saddles don't take apprentices at the moment or I got told I was better off with my MBA. Still without a job offer on the horizon, I at least find some peace in making collars and some occasional bags and belts. By now I make all the collars for our dogs, as well as leashes and also do some collars for friends, if asked to. My next projects are a dog harness for my little dog, two new collars for our dogs (finally matching for once!), and a martingale/ half-checker collar for my dog. Thanks for reading! And I hope to learn more by reading and observing the work of others in this forum! Best Tove