Actually, I think Mr Morgan may not be entirely correct (but I'm willing to stand corrected). I had always understood that the two products were arrived at through different processes. That said, I've seen leather that's chrome, chrome-veg re-tan, veg and alum 'tanned', all being sold as latigo.
IIRC, red hide is alum 'tanned' cowhide, as is 'white hide', which you may have come across as well. The red(ish) colour may penetrate all the way through, or it may not. Seems to depend on the suppllier. Oils are added, too, whereas white hide seems often to be very dry. I qualify the above by saying that I've come across comments from some aussie whip makers, to the effect that modern redhide isn't as good as the old stuff....possibly because of changes in the production process?
Red hide is quite supple and tends to bleed like mad whilst working it - expect your hands to look very sore if you plait with the stuff! The quality varies tremendously. I have used other tannages with at least as good results as I have had with red hide.
As an aside, my understanding of 'alum tanning' is that it's not tanning in the true sense, at all. In England, I believe that the process used to be called 'tawing': http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/don/dt/dt3458.html
Dave
English Whips
