Alan Bell

Very good looking rig! and Welcome Vaya con Dios, Alan

Once again, Really nice JW Vaya con Dios, Alan

I use the perma lok needles on TLF link that Rob sent. I file them to shape. I can get them just like I like them then. I have several different sizes I use depending on the size of the lace or the project at hand. I never had much luck with those lok eye needles. My perma loks are at least 5 yrs old now and that is because I have miss placed the older ones! The lace 'screws' into the needle and it stays there even on the last interweave! Vaya con Dios, Alan

Hey Mike that looks really good! Things are getting better!!! You do want those knots so tight you can barely adjust them over time they will loosen all by them selves. Also you could make the tails a little shorter so the don't interfere with the rein chains. You could also have added horsehair for a shoo fly under the horses chin. Son you done GOOD! I may have to get with Steve for a bit too! When I get back home next week I'll send some pics of some leather bridles I've been making you might like! Vaya con Dios, Alan

I was discussing this with a friend and we were looking at it from the dressage perspective. Even though we are mostly Western riders and saddle makers we are still trying to get our horses to lighten up the forehand and achieve a better balance in the work they do. Most have heard of the roughly 65/45 relationship for weight distribution of the horse with 65% of the horses weight being supported by the front legs. This is mainly due to the way the head and neck are carried out in front of the forelegs cantilevered (if you will). We were considering "Ramener" or "rassembler" the state where the horse carries itself with a more balanced weight distribution whether cause by the horse or by the rider. Some may be familiar with the experiment where a horse is standing on 2 scales and they measure what happens when the horse is brought on the vertical and flexed at the pole. Basically as the horses head is raised until the neck is at 45deg and the nose is brought near vertical the horse shifts weight off of the forehand on to the rear, this also includes the riders weight (the test was done in a dressage saddle by the Classical Master Baucher) I was also wondering if when the horse is in ramener and collected is he not placing his back in a position that may be maintained throughout the gaits? Watch a stud around a bunch of mares. As he nimbly prances and dances around the mares his back remains level. In martial arts they say to stretch your spine by feeling as if there is a string out of the crown of your head lifting you up. This sinks your weight and stretches your spine while flattening out your lower back and when done properly and completely goes all the way to your coccyx, which is what the horse flexing its neck and poll does to achieve ramener. I am again reminded of the real importance of strengthening the horses back which is something that is all but lost in the Western world but if you go around and look at the top horses compared to the backyard horses the strength in the back is very evident even though it is achieved as a side effect to the top horses training! Not quite sure where I'm going with this but maybe it will make that "average" back position easier to fit if we see that our clients horses are fit and if not and the horses back is weak maybe we can offer some simple back strengthening exercises to our customers to help them have a better fitting saddle? Vaya con Dios, Alan Bell

Armando is now a member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association along with fellow Argentine Pablo Lozano featured in the July issue of Western Horseman magazine. They will both be at the TCAA event in Sept in OKC. if you would like to meet them. They are probably THE BEST braiders in Argentina now and have both spent years seeking out the best of Los Viejos (The Old Ones) to learn from. They know just about everything there is to know about braiding and are genuinely nice and open people. They have helped me out and are really the ones responsible for bringing the Argentine influence that Grant mentions in his books to a reality in American Rawhide Braiding techniques. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Jon, I was placing the cards on horses yesterday and noticed how big a difference the hind leg makes in the rock profiles. I have a couple of horses that like to "hip sit" on the near side, which flattened the rock on that side and one of those horses will also place the near hind out back in the classic Arabian pose which also flattened the back. Usually it went from one profile up to the next so from R:9 TO R:6 or from R:12 TO R:9. My question to you would be couldn't any of the 3 R cards fit into your top line since they are dealing with a point roughly 3 1/2" from the top line? One idea is to make the cards with a slot to fit the R card in at the relative angle that places it 90 deg. to the horse's body at that point so then I can see what happens to the all the cards as the horse moves. I'll try that today and get back with pics. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

David, I really appreciate you not only taking the time to create the system but also the time to address these questions. Vaya Con Dios, Alan

Thanks Bob, I try and think ahead a little more than I used to and plan out the way the lines will look on the finished saddle. I go so long between each saddle that it gets difficult but I have folks like you and the others on this forum to inspire me! Being basically self taught forums like this are a God Send! You are right about being my own critic and while there are things I like about this saddle there are definitely things I dislike about it too. Hopefully I will improve on those things with each saddle I make. My first saddle I went through 5 sides trying to get things right and it still was pretty sorry. I sure could have used this forum then!! Part of my problem has been finding good quality trees and the internet has surely helped along with the folks I met through the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. At some point in my life I might even take a sabbatical from driving a truck to go and have someone teach me how to make a saddle! Vaya con Dios, Alan

I have some questions about the cards and possibly some suggestions. 1st: since the cards key off of card A, which keys off of the horses shoulder blade, where is "behind the horse's shoulder blade"? Directly, behind it one finger width, two finger widths? I'm wondering since the distance between A and B is measured so where you locate A seems to be important and I already know of at least one person that had trouble referencing that point. 2nd: is point B the same as the point on the bars at the back edge of the stirrup slot? This seems to make sense and puts point A at the "deepest" part of the swell. Which leads me to 3rd: is A the point where the bars are supposed to be leaving the shoulder to make room for the shoulder to move underneath the bar when the horse is moving? Maybe knowing this will make it easier for us to place A or R when we palpate for the shoulder blade, maybe we could walk the horse forward with A in place to see if it is disturbed? Should it be? Now, knowing all of the above could I make the inverse of the cards to be able to check saddle fit to see if a previously built saddle will fit a horse I have measured? Once I have established where A should be on the saddle I could make an R card with slots for A, B and C. Now that I think of it couldn't the Equine A, B and C cards have slots on them where R goes and as we measure the horse we set the cards on the R card and that would leave the cards in place to walk the horse a bit and see what takes place and it would also make it easier to write down all the data while the cards are sitting up there on the horses back? Hopefully, the only stupid questions is the one I didn't ask!! Vaya Con Dios, Alan

Thanks Mike, I braided up a small core for this one out of some rawhide. All of my cores are rawhide and only a few of those are twisted anymore, mostly braided cores. I really like the "softer" feel of a braided core and try and promote that with my customers. 99% of my customers are on the same page where bosal cores are concerned so it is not really a worry for me. Vaya con Dios, Alan

Here's a little 3/8" rawhide bosal w/ black interweaves for an under bridle. Vaya con Dios, Alan

Finally finished saddle no. 5 on a Wade tree by John Calhoun (Ray Holes). Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Sounds like you got to spend time with Bill Black and his wife!?! You probably drove right past Nate and Mike and Cindy Beaver and a couple of other braiders I can think of. Let me know ahead of time when your next road trip is and I may be able to give you others to visit with! Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Nice work Rob, I really like the heelknot on the all rawhide bosal! What pattern did you use on the 14 plait? That might help some folks out since it is not a "standard" number of strings. The rawhide you're making looks pretty nice too! Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Simply do an under one instead of under two, where you want to switch the pattern from over to under. Vaya con Dios, Alan Bell

Hey Paul, Great job doing the tutorial!!!! I'm quite sure there was a great deal of time and effort put into making it and it it truly appreciated. I have a couple of critiques. Rawhide is beveled on the grain or smooth side, leather on the flesh or rough side. That is the standard way of doing it. Also, the Gauchos will typically use half as many strings, twice as long and double back for the final interweave. So a 100 strand handle will actually be 50 strands doubled. You will spiral down from the top just like you did and at the bottom make a bite and start your pattern with an over under pattern with each strand and then the design or in your knife handle case over three, under three. On their knives they put a metal cab over the beginning but you could just as easy use a button and at teh bottom the button "butts" up to the end turn back, and again you could cover this but there is no need to with this method. Again, Thanks for a great job on the tutorial, I just wanted to point out this other way. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Hey Maeve, That some nice braiding both on the bosal and the fid. Nice job on the nose band and the interweaves!!! One thing that is purely asthetics but I try and make the ends of the noseband the same diameter as the center of the noseband. It makes for a more balanced appearance to the whole shebang. If you had done that then you probably could have even added in the light brown interweave between the tan on the nose band ends and it would have balanced the colors as well. Just something to consider that doesn't really take away from the great job you are already doing but adds a little "ummph" to the finished product. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Paul, Nice! The thing about fid work is that the strings have to be nearly perfect. Yours are not uniform in width so that will affect your work and make it harder to get that first pass perfect. The weakest link in any type of braid work is always the string. The string has to be the best you can get for each project. There are some missed passes too and that should not happen in fid work because you can always back track the string and correct not like when you are braiding and it is harder to correct missed passes. To get the first layer down good i tie the strings down REAL tight with either a few strands of sinew or waxed thread (thinned down) and then place the strings at the correct angle and place two rubber bands tightly around them. I move the first rubber band as I spiral around the project to hold everything in place. As I get farther along I will move the second rubber band up a little to maintain the tension in the strings. Hope this helps. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Hey Bret, The gaucho interweave is different because you are following the SAME string around and making pairs and at the ends of your knot you are adding bites. The finished product with another color will produce zig zag lines running the length of the piece instead of around it. I have not done one with the gaucho braid the full length of the nose band because you will run into this problem. With the herringbone interweave, where the diameter gets larger on a noseband you add interweaves and the can bury the ends because the interweave will end with an under or it can end in the middle of a knot by crossing under and not exiting the knot while the gaucho interweave exits the knot with an over and comes back in with an over adding a bite to the end of the knot. Most braiders make the gaucho pattern happen just inside of the side button knot where the nose band is slimmer and then change back to herringbone for the larger diameter sections. So you might have a nose band with a herringbone pattern at each end then, moving toward the middle of the knot put a gaucho for an inch or so then back to the herringbone to meet in the middle and then you can add a contrasting interweave where the diameter is larger. Hope this is making some sense. Vaya con Dios, Alan Bell

Hey Brent, Why such a plain saddle? Next time try and make it a bit fancier!!!! OMG Vaya Con Dios, Alan

Well, that happens to everyone that tries to braid and the only REAL answer is for you to just keep braiding and trying to make each pass as even as possible as you go on and the angle of the strands as you make each pass. There really is nothing to tell some one to help them out expect to keep on practicing and try to remember exactly what you did on the knot that finally came out good!! Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Don't know of anyone currently using this method and I don't know where you would go to obtain white gas now a days. Are you wanting to put a piece of chap leather as a build up for a hackamore core over a braided core? I have used chap leather for that purpose and don't think the risk of working with white gas is worth the effort. In the book it sounds like he is preparing the string to braid with. Are you wanting to braid with the string too or just wrap a piece of chap leather over a core. If you do try it he says he uses a quart of white gas and all the wax that the gas will dissolve so I guess that is the measurement to use. If you do try this be EXTREMELY careful using white gas as the invisible fumes spread along the ground and a friend or neighbor smoking a cigarette 40 - 50 feet away can get YOU blown up. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Thanks everyone! Horse rawhide is generally thinner than cow and maybe easier to braid with. The strands on the quirt are 2mm wide so a little less than 3/32". The book I have is in Spanish and it is from Argentina 'El Arte Gaucho del Cuero Crudo' by Hilario Faudone. Vaya con Dios, Alan Bell

That is a different Trenza Patria pattern that I'm not familiar with? Is it just O1, U1? Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell