HorsehairBraider

I sit in a very comfortable chair (that I shopped for, particularly as to leg length and height) with armrests. My braiding is clamped to what is actually a quilt rack. I can easily move this back from me the longer the braid gets. It moves close enough to the chair that I can start the braid, then as it grows longer I push it from me. Occasionally I am doing a very long braid and in that case it will go up over the top of the rack, and wind through the other parts of the rack. This is very important to me as I have carpal tunnel: I make CERTAIN that my hands never bend inwards. I keep my wrists STRAIGHT as I braid, or bent outwards - NEVER inwards. I also make sure I can braid with my elbows supported and without slumping over. There are times I will sit forward and support my elbows on my knees, and lean forward a bit, just for a change in position. I braid pretty much all day long, starting about 8 AM and sometimes not stopping until 1 or 2 AM. Usually though I stop about 7 PM for a couple of hours, then braid from about 9 PM to 11PM. That said, I take a break for 10 - 15 minutes every two hours or so which is why I am sometimes on here every two hours... I'm just taking a break! During Christmas rush I get pretty sore. My arms sometimes feel like they will fall off... I just try and take those breaks, getting up and stretching, and moving to slightly different positions.

Darn it - I can't come to that, but HOORAY FOR YOU! Congrats on 50 great years. And just remember, you're over the hill and on a roll! :D And speaking as one who knows, it's GREAT on this side of the hill!

Well... as far as the colors you have listed, I think there are only 4, and that is good. Don't give too many choices! I learned this the hard way. Maybe make one of each or make one of each color that *YOU* like. That way, you won't ever have to make any in a color you don't like. And if it doesn't sell, you'll have it as an example and be able to say "And I can make this in (fill in color that sold) too!". As far as preferable colors - well, who knows. I once had made something I was not satisfied with and told a friend of mine that it looked stupid. She said, "You don't know what looks stupid, and neither do I." She was right - it sold, and the person was THRILLED. Who was I to tell them it was "stupid"? So just choose some colors that you like, and go with that. I have found that if I like something a great deal, so does everyone else - but that might just be because they can tell that I like it. Again - who knows? If you get too much work, don't get employees, raise your prices! I have had to do that several times. It finally occurred to me that I simply was not going to live long enough to make a braided horsehair bracelet for every single person on the planet, so I was going to have to discriminate in some way. You can't tell over the phone if someone has blue eyes, so you can't say "I won't sell to anyone who has blue eyes". You have to go with price. So now for me it's more like "You can take up my time if you want, but I only have so much, so it's going to cost you" and people are willing to go with that.

I haven't posted in a while, but I *have* been working, I really have. Here you go, more pictures of my work: Someone saw a bridle for a real horse that looked almost exactly like this, so I made the headstall to look at least somewhat like the one she saw and made the romal reins to match more or less. Everything works of course, just like the real thing.

For colors, I'd search the internet for the most recent placings at shows in these breeds. Colors can change a lot in just a short time - I think mainly because if someone wins with a certain color, everyone wants to get that color thinking that it will make them win. (Probably won't help though! ) I personally just stay away from bright colors and go with naturals, BUT, my work is shown on models, not real horses. However my belief is that if people see a neon green browband, they will only buy it if they happen to have other stuff that matches. It seems to me that naturals match more stuff, so I feel that gives me more opportunity to sell things. When you are checking out pictures of show winners, check out their gear. I've seen people putting hobbles on saddles again but that might just be in my state, you know? Check a wider group to see what they want out there in the ring. You might also contact some of the actual breeders/showers, or look at their websites - they will probably have pictures of themselves winning classes etc. Browbands have done well for me (for real horses, not my miniature stuff) but I think quirts are also good. What about roping reins? If you do roping reins though, check the rules to see how they are supposed to attach to the bit. Some shows/groups/breeds don't allow snaps; you have to have it buckle or something. You could do these smaller projects perhaps, and have a flyer or something made up to say you'll do custom work as well, and then people could call and order bigger more expensive projects - the romal reins and so on. And speaking of that, it reminds me I should post a thread here... I'll just go do that right now... In the meantime good luck with this! It sounds like a GREAT opportunity for you!

A honda is that loop at the top of a riata (or lariat). It's specially made to stay open, so the large loop of rope, that would go over the head of a steer when you rope it, will slide freely. It won't even tighten down when the steer hits the end of the rope... or at least, it should not. It should still stay open. People like to make them of rawhide because it has enough "life" to stay open well, and it wears well. However you can just tie one in the end of a rope, so there actually is a clever knot you can just tie to make one. Since the rest of the rope has to slide through the honda, it can wear out, so some people have come up with real clever ways to replace them once they wear out.

You can't go u4 o2. Read the second post, by jerryrwm, and then read the 4th post by LBbyJ. I think they explain it pretty well. I do think it's right to use the braids you like the best though. Why use something you don't care for? I think that is smart.

Not sure but I think he means the actual hair... Horsehair has a taper in it, it is thicker at the part where it grows out, and much thinner on the ends that fly free. Nothing you can do about that though - it's just the way hair is. I'd fold it in half as suggested, and then trim it to a nice length when finished. You can't get away from the taper, but you can turn half the hair backwards if you see what I mean. That will help.

I don't think there's a standard way, but you should certainly have all these details worked out beforehand. A gallery or store typically takes what's called "keystone" - that is, they take 50%. That helps them pay for the store, the electricity, advertising, their hired help and any other costs they may incur. However, every place is different - there is a local coop, for example, that only takes 30%. But all that needs to be worked out ahead of time so there are no hurt feelings along the way. This is why I personally decided NOT to show in any galleries, many years ago. I tired of keeping track of all the paperwork, working out details etc. Nowadays, you can only get my work from ME. I have turned down many big-name galleries etc. because, as I tell them, I am simply too old and crabby to wholesale anymore. ETA: This is not to say it can't work out wonderfully! It just does not seem worth it to *me*. You may have the PERFECT situation.

There used to be a tanner called Stern Tanning. They would do things like this, as I recall. I used to send my Jacob sheep hides, llama and alpaca hides to them. They had me salt them down, dry them in a cool shady place, and then send them off. They used to advertise in Shepherd magazine, but I quit raising sheep about 5 years ago. Don't know their current status.

OK, great! I'll be curious to see photos of this. Glad you figured it out!

Tony, I don't understand... are you asking for directions for an 8-strand braid? I never heard of one called a "button braid", although I know a couple of 8-strand braids. Do you have a photo of it? Maybe that will help someone figure out what you are talking about.

Stab something fairly thick in there, right in to the center of the leather, and unscrew it. That usually works pretty good.

I think waiting until you have a horse of your own is a good idea. I know it's hard to wait, but I think in the end you'll spend less money that way! And who knows - perhaps when you finally buy your own horse, he'll come with his saddle. Both those saddles are on the small-ish side. If you are a petite slender woman, they might fit you. You would still want to try sitting in a 16" English, or 14 1/2" Western though... you might be surprised at the size.

Kabocky, you haven't said - do you already own a horse? If so, another consideration will be whether the saddle fits your horse. Maybe your horse (if you have one) has a "general" size and shape of back and will be easy to fit. On the other hand, maybe you're riding a mule... or a draft cross. Personally I like to see any saddle in person, and hopefully I can trailer my horse there and try it on the horse, as well as get on it and see if it fits me too. Sometimes people will ship you a saddle so you can try it, and if it does not fit, you ship it back. Failing that, you can get familiar with different brands and makers of saddles, then you'll have a fairly good idea if the saddle will work for you. It's hard to tell from just a single picture like this. Did they say who the maker is, and the size of the saddle?

If it was me (and of course it's not) I'd put them on the three-string part, under your looser knots. That way you should be able to take the thing on and off bits without too much trouble, but it should hold when you need it to hold. I think this curb strap will actually look even *nicer* with the addition of the extra knots, but I suppose there would be times when you ran out of room or something and the best thing in that case would be cut them off. But not in this case, IMO. Tying knots at the exact right tension is something it took me a while to master, and even today I can still get the tension a little wrong. Working horsehair I nearly always get it right just due to sheer experience, but recently I had the chance to braid some kangaroo and had to really watch myself! You can braid horsehair MUCH tighter than you can kangaroo, and still have an easy sliding knot that really holds well.

@Megabit on the aluminum home made lacing needle: Take a can, cut it open and flatten, cut a piece that is twice the width of your lace at the base, and make it taper up two inches or so to a point. Then you just fold it in half over your lace. A little dab of glue will help the lace stay in place. One that I use is called "Aleene's Tacky Glue". It will adhere to metal and most other things, and dries fairly quickly. Sometimes these "needles" get crimped fairly tight and hold the lace OK without the glue, but sometimes I really give it a tug, so prefer to cover my bets with a little glue. The perma-lok ones are nice and everything, but I don't like their shape... round. Alan Bell's idea of filing them might fix that. I'll have to try it!

Tandy also has the two-pronged needle which I've used on thin narrow leather lace, you need to trim the lace so it's thinner where you put the needle on so it will pull through OK. They work fine but wear out. Some people make their own out of a piece of aluminum drink can or tin can. I've done that too. Sometimes another thing I do is take some glue I know will dry hard and fast, and put in on the narrowed end of the lace. When it dries, it sort of makes its own needle. You still use a fid with this but it works great with some things.

Thanks for the update. I was afraid of that... the jenny having to be put down I mean. I'm surprised the jack has survived such an accident. What a horrible shame... and I would imagine the jack will never trust people again, nor should he, when people act like that. It's a REAL good thing you happened by, and stopped to help the jenny. Who knows how long they would have stood there talking while she lay under the wagon?

Hey - where'd you get that cool spade? That's pretty nice! Nice curb strap, but I am wondering if you are going to really use it? If so, I'll give you the benefit of my experience (experience: what you get when you don't get what you wanted!). Double up on your knots where it goes under the chin. When you pull on the reins, and the curb comes in to play, the strap will just slide open further if the knots are not really THERE. There is quite a lot of pull on the curb strap from time to time, more than a lot of people realize. Maybe those knots you have there are REALLY tight, so tight you can barely adjust the strap... so maybe you already know what I didn't used to know. But if not, you'll have a more pleasant ride if you tie some extra knots, and get them nice and SNUG.

How awful! Oh, the poor donkey! And what a brain-dead thing to do - drive IN THE DARK. I drive, but ONLY in the daytime, on dirt roads near where I live. Or, alternately, at show grounds, that are closed to vehicle traffic. All I can say is... DON'T drive at night. Yeah, they make these real neat flashing red lights that are on a clip, and you can hang these on your vehicle or harness. But the best thing is not to drive at night. Yikes. I imagine the owners are "paying" for this dumb act by having to get a new set of harness... a set of harness for a pair or team is not cheap. I hope the donkey is OK, but that does not sound promising. I'd sure appreciate an update when you know more.

Oh hey - it's your birthday?! Hooray! Have a great one!

Yes Troy - that's it, the technique in the two left-hand photos. That is how horsehair hitching is done as well. I've never tried it, but it might be fun! Thanks for looking it up.

Hey, you're a vet? ))))HUGS(((( to you and all other vets... Mr. HorsehairBraider is a vet too... As far as I know the corona is a saddle pad and not part of the saddle. At least that is the way I've always seen them made. Or maybe I did not understand your question? Anyway the ones I have seen are pieces of sheepskin rolled in a tube, on the edge of the saddle pad. I've never seen the saddles in person though. I would imagine each saddle pad would be made special for that size saddle.

THANK YOU, SilverSaddle1! That is amazing. It just boggles my mind to imagine doing the sterling silver work for that! What a beautiful piece of history.