Angie

Thank you, DoubleC! It is actually a nice idea. I'll try to make some and see if spanish western riders like them.

Hi, what is the purpose of the leather piece at the bronc halter? Is there a purpose or is it just for decoration?

Hi there I started to make some leather belts. I got some nice veg tanned leather from the local leather store. For additional information I wanted to tell you that I am living in Spain, afortunately in an area with important production of shoes, bags and other leather products. Therefor I can buy any kind of leather and other "ingredients" such like dyes, rivets and other kind of metal details, buckles, and everything that is used for manufacturing shoes, bags etc. These were the advantages. The disadvantage is. I´m a beginner. I recently received dying and finishing products from spanish Tandy. Antique Finish (medium brown), Hi-Liter, Eco-Flo Gel Antique (saddle tan), Tan Cote and Super Sheen. Also I have 3 different spanish (or italian?) leather dyes. So now there is my basket weave stamped belt waiting for getting a colour, tan, or whatever, because its original "naked" colour is sort of "british tourist tan"..... First of all I tried the Tandy stuff. And was quite disappointed. On my pale leather the Hi-Liter and Gel-Antique and Antique Finish come out ugly What do I have to do to get I nicely tanned western style belt? Below I put some pics of my tanning experiments. I more or less like the result you see in the second picture. Yesterday I brushed Tan Cote on the scrap piece and this morning I used one of the spanish dyes. Looks interesting. Do I have to use different, darker colours from the Tandy-ones to get an overall darker look? Or do I have to put many coats of colour? I put some more close up pics just to make you all smile a little about my clumsy attempts The 3rd picture is Hi-Liter. The next one is one of the spanish dyes, not bad, but too reddish. The next one is Super Sheen and then the spanish dye, which doesn´t work as the the SS kind of melts away and it gets that "dirty" look. The last one ist the original leather colour with a finger tip of Tan Cote in the middle.

Thank you both for your helpful suggestions. Megabit, I really like your reins. Great work. The connectors are exactly what I'm looking for. Now I just have to find out how to produce something similar but without rawhide. CW: You're right, usually a horse should not step on the reins, the rider has to take care of that. But what when the rider is bucked off or the horse stumbles and falls or other unusual situations. I'm german. I use to try to prevent always the worst case situation:rolleyes2:

Hi, me again What is usually the best way to hide and secure the tips of the thongs when finishing a knot or braid? I am about to finish my first paracord braided headstall and I wonder how to get rid of the rest of the strings in the most elegant way. I'm not sure if I like the finishes product, but it is a first trial of how to put all together and a test if I like this type of headstall on my horses. Thank you for helping me

Hi, as I know that paracord braided reins and bridles are almost unbreakable I have been thinking about the best posibility to connect reins/mecates to the bit. Would you think a leather water strap is breakable enough to avoid injuries to the horse in case of an accident? The same with slobber straps? What about romal reins made of rawhide, are these usually very strong or would they break away in case of stepping on the rein of similar? What are your experiences regarding this aspect? What gives actually the strenght go the paracord string, the core? So If I take the core out the paracord will loose strenght and break much easier? Maybe a connector made of a simple coreless braid of 3 or 4 strings would be fine? Many questions. Sorry for that.

Looks real good! Makes me envious seeing those nice objects. If only I could get some rawhide over here........

It looks great! Did you take the core out of the paracord? I started braiding with paracord but I (like ahimsacowgirl ) I avoided to try making a bosal. Is it smooth on the nose of your horse? Did you put some kind of tape around the rope to make it thicker? Many questions, I apologise . But maybe if I get some more information I might try to make one