Stallion Halter

[Mulesaw]

Previous time I was home from the sea, I talked to the owner of the local stallion station, and he mentioned that he once had some special stallion halters made. I borrowed on to see how it was constructed, and last time on the ship I fabricated some special D-rings that was needed for that type of halter.

This time at home I made a copy of the halter, just to try it, and also so that I could return the borrowed one. Plus it gave me a rough idea of how much work was involved in the making.

I had suspected that it would be faster to make, but in the end I think I used around 6-7 hours. Not including the time used to fabricate the massive D-rings.

The halter is very beefy and I believe it when they say that it can hold up to an enthusiastic stallion. The main straps are all 30 mm (1.25"). The side straps are 1", and those are the only straps that aren't doubled.
It looks a lot like a regular halter save for the double thickness and the missing regular type of hardware. The noseband and the neck strap are connected with the side straps but instead of doing it via hardware the straps go through elongated holes in the leather of the noseband and the neck strap.

I made my halter out of black Hechte leather. There is almost 18' of leather involved, and it is all made out of a heavy thickness, I used 4 mm, and I have no idea how much that is in ounces.

The D-ring is made out of 8 mm stainless steel (5/16") it is made for a 30 mm strap in the 3 sides of the D. I couldn't find any D-rings of that size, and on the original one that I borrowed, I could see that it was homemade too.
I sewed as much as I could on the old Singer, but there was still some hand sewing included. The biggest ups I made was during some of the hand sewing, where I accidentally tilted the diamond awl the wrong way resulting in a ugly wavy stitching. Good thing is that it is low on the halter where few people will see it. The bad thing is that I know it is there..  I know I didn't concentrate, and I have no one to blame but myself.

I hope that the stallion station will need an extra halter of this type at some point, since it is an interesting project to make.

The completed halter. Note the less than impressive stitching in the lower part of the noseband (where it joins the D-ring)

Side strap connects through the leather of the nose band.

And it connects through the leather of the neck strap as well (some issues with the hand stitching on the neck strap as well)

"Continuous" loop for adjusting the length of the side strap.

The fixed side of the side straps are attached to the neck strap.

4 ply chin strip will most likely hold up to whatever being thrown at it.

Beefy D-ring and spectacular hand sewing..

How the nose band wraps around the D-ring.

Buckle of the neck strap. Mounted the same way as on the original with a 6" piece of strap to double the thickness for strength.

[Grey Drakkon]

First off I can say I would never be worried about that halter giving way!  The only quibble I can find with it is the poll strap (area that's behind the ears, where the neck joins the head) has a buckle that seems awfully high up, and might run the left ear.  Who knows though, maybe that's how the original halter was? 

   Like I said, very sturdy looking work!

[Mulesaw]

16 minutes ago, Grey Drakkon said:

First off I can say I would never be worried about that halter giving way!  The only quibble I can find with it is the poll strap (area that's behind the ears, where the neck joins the head) has a buckle that seems awfully high up, and might run the left ear.  Who knows though, maybe that's how the original halter was? 

   Like I said, very sturdy looking work!

It seems kind of overbuilt (very close to being chunky), I did a 1:1 copy of the original halter, same lengths of straps etc.  I think my leather is a smidge thicker than the original, but maybe an ounce or two, so nothing major. I personally like the regular style of halter better, but I know that they can be broken by an aggressive horse, this one I doubt will break :-)

As I could understand of the owner of the stallion station, the halter sits more like a neck strap and less like a halter (if that makes any sense?). So it should sit further from the ears than a regular halter as far as I have understood, but I can see your concern.  The noseband seems very large to me, I can't remember the circumference, but I think it was around 32", so it will sit rather high up on the head. On the original model, the side straps had deformed quite a bit so that there was more of an angle between the noseband and the neck strap - which would make it sit even more like a regular neck strap instead of a halter.

I think those halters are only used when a stallion needs to mount the phantom or if an aggressive stallion is to be transported in a truck or a trailer.  So it is not used as an everyday general use halter. (at least that was my impression)

I can see the need for something very secure if a spirited stallion needs to be taken to the phantom. they can be pretty rough.
It actually never occurred to me to take a picture of it mounted on my wife's gelding. I'll try to do that when I get home in about a months time. Then I can see how it really sits on a horse.

Brgds Jonas

 

 

[DieselTech]

Looks great! Nice work. 

[TomE]

That's an interesting design that I hadn't seen before.  Looks indestructible and very well made.  I like the way the 2 straps wrap around the dee ring.  As it turns out, we sold our phantom yesterday.  I am getting too old for that stuff.  We previously kept pony stallions for breeding children's hunter ponies based on the Caspian Horse.  I then collected a friend's stallion for shipment for several years, but he was a well behaved boy.  Now all of our warmblood breeding is using mail order husbands for our mares.  Young colts are about as much stallion as I can handle these days, and I can only blame myself if they are poorly behaved.     

[Sheilajeanne]

I have never seen a halter with the straps going through the noseband like that. I wonder if they did it that way because it was too hard to find hardware that was strong enough?

Also, the poll strap does look like it would have trouble fitting behind the horse's ears. Here's a picture of Secretariat and one of his sons, so you can see a more common design for a stallion's halter: The round ring connecting the pieces together allows the poll strap to find a comfortable position behind the ears.

 

Edited February 21 by Sheilajeanne

[Mulesaw]

10 hours ago, DieselTech said:

Looks great! Nice work. 

Thanks, it is a bit of a working piece, so not particularly elegant, Though I think it helps a bit with the contrasting colour with the white thread. 

[Mulesaw]

9 hours ago, TomE said:

That's an interesting design that I hadn't seen before.  Looks indestructible and very well made.  I like the way the 2 straps wrap around the dee ring.  As it turns out, we sold our phantom yesterday.  I am getting too old for that stuff.  We previously kept pony stallions for breeding children's hunter ponies based on the Caspian Horse.  I then collected a friend's stallion for shipment for several years, but he was a well behaved boy.  Now all of our warmblood breeding is using mail order husbands for our mares.  Young colts are about as much stallion as I can handle these days, and I can only blame myself if they are poorly behaved.     

Hi Tom,
 

At first when Ib (the owner) told me about it, I couldn't envision what he meant. He kept saying that the leather wrapped itself around itself. I was so puzzled that one day I drove out the Katrinelund and asked if I could see it. I borrowed one of the halters with me home to be able to make an exact copy of it. He told me that they bought a couple of them from an old saddle maker who lives about 50 miles from the station. I don't know if he designed them or used an old design.

I trust that it is a wise decision to not do any actual breeding on a phantom anymore, From what I hear there is a high risk of bruises and broken toes etc.
Katrinelund sometimes have other peoples stallions in the stable, and they also buy new ones, so I guess that they can't always be sure on that their horses are well behaved :-)
Gustav has started working for a rider called Konstantin Künnemann, who has got something called KK Stables. 
At the moment they have got Zir Oculus in the stable to train a bit. That is one of the jumping stallions from Katrinelund. It seems like a nice horse, but I can envision that when it gets a bit "heated" up, there is a bunch of power in there.

mail order husbands - thats a fine expression :-)

Brgds

Jonas

[Mulesaw]

5 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

I have never seen a halter with the straps going through the noseband like that. I wonder if they did it that way because it was too hard to find hardware that was strong enough?

Also, the poll strap does look like it would have trouble fitting behind the horse's ears. Here's a picture of Secretariat and one of his sons, so you can see a more common design for a stallion's halter: The round ring connecting the pieces together allows the poll strap to find a comfortable position behind the ears.

 

Hi Sheila

I think that might be the case. 
The halter rings can be broken, but doing it this way, the leather will sort of absorb the pull and just distribute it evenly to the rest of the halter (at least that is my theory).
Also being 1.25" wide, and doubled everywhere there is a serious amount of leather to distribute any pulling force.

I have never seen a halter like it either. That's what made me curious and wanting to make a copy of it.

The design might be old, but the original halters are maybe 30 years old. the owner told me that he had them made at a saddle maker who had a shop around 50 miles away (the most local one at that time) I don't know if that saddlemaker made up the design himself or if he had some very old models that he copied.

As far as I could understand, the neck strap / poll strap sits more like a regular neck strap. I am not sure if you use that on your side of the Atlantic, but some people use it over here. It is basically just a belt that goes around the neck of the horse, and that's it. I think the idea behind those are that they can't be pulled off, like some horses manage to do with their halters.
And then on this halter the idea should be that it is indestructible and impossible to tear off in case the stallion gets angry while being loaded or doing its thing on either a phantom or on a mare.

They never seem to use that model as a regular everyday halter. But maybe they do use them when there is a stallion show off, they can be fairly aggressive when there are other stallions nearby I guess.

The halter that Secretariat wears looks just like a normal halter to me. I have made 4 halters following the excellent plans and instructions given by TomE on this site. They are either made as triple stitched halters or double stitched. They are very sturdy yet elegant. But I guess that they can be broken, and if you have a spirited 1400 Lbs stallion - that might result in an accident if it manages to break one and takes off :-)

I'll try to take a picture when I get home, with the halter mounted on a horse.

 

[Grey Drakkon]

"As I could understand of the owner of the stallion station, the halter sits more like a neck strap and less like a halter (if that makes any sense?). So it should sit further from the ears than a regular halter as far as I have understood, but I can see your concern.  The noseband seems very large to me, I can't remember the circumference, but I think it was around 32"

 

Actually that makes sense, some places actually use a neck strap rather than a halter, and having the nose band higher up ensures that the nasal bone doesn't snap if things get dicey (on horses that bone is very long and thin, and I"ve heard of more than one case of them getting broken). 

[Sheilajeanne]

Mulesaw, yeah, the halter in that picture is pretty much the one you see most horses wearing.

I have some pictures of Man O'War, though, where he is wearing a very different halter. It actually has a bit attached to it to help keep him under control! It's a bit hard to see the details, but it has both a brow band and a strap behind the poll.

BTW, he's 20 years old in this picture and still looks like a million bucks! One of my all-time favourite horses, for sure! 

Riders sometimes use neck straps when learning to jump, but I've rarely seen them except in pictures. My instructor had us do it the old military way: drop the reins on the horse's neck, and stretch your arms out like a bird! It teaches you a secure seat, and prevents you from interfering with the horse's mouth.

 

Edited February 21 by Sheilajeanne

[Mulesaw]

33 minutes ago, Grey Drakkon said:

"As I could understand of the owner of the stallion station, the halter sits more like a neck strap and less like a halter (if that makes any sense?). So it should sit further from the ears than a regular halter as far as I have understood, but I can see your concern.  The noseband seems very large to me, I can't remember the circumference, but I think it was around 32"

 

Actually that makes sense, some places actually use a neck strap rather than a halter, and having the nose band higher up ensures that the nasal bone doesn't snap if things get dicey (on horses that bone is very long and thin, and I"ve heard of more than one case of them getting broken). 

The nasal bone could be a very logic explanation, I have never thought about that. And given the worth of most of those stallions at the stallion station, I am pretty sure that they don't want any of them to be damaged. 
The owner told me that when he had purchased those halters back in the days it had cost a small fortune, so he had the name of his stallion station stamped into the halters to ensure that they didn't "wander off" 

[Mulesaw]

21 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Mulesaw, yeah, the halter in that picture is pretty much the one you see most horses wearing.

I have some pictures of Man O'War, though, where he is wearing a very different halter. It actually has a bit attached to it to help keep him under control! It's a bit hard to see the details, but it has both a brow band and a strap behind the poll.

BTW, he's 20 years old in this picture and still looks like a million bucks! One of my all-time favourite horses, for sure! 

Riders sometimes use neck straps when learning to jump, but I've rarely seen them except in pictures. My instructor had us do it the old military way: drop the reins on the horse's neck, and stretch your arms out like a bird! It teaches you a secure seat, and prevents you from interfering with the horse's mouth.

 

He does look like a champion :-)

I have tried to make a halter a couple of years ago that also featured a brow band, The plans were  from an old German saddlers book, but sadly I had made the halter according to the measurements in the book, and it was too small for our warmblood. 

I am not quite sure what the benefit of a browband on a halter is, but I would guess that it makes the halter sit a bit better. A regular halter can be a fairly loose fit, but I'm only guessing.
I enlarged the picture, and I can see that strap you are talking about. It also looks like the poll strap sits rather tight on him, but I guess he was a powerhouse, so better safe than sorry when handling him.

A fellow parent back when our youngest was in kindergarten had some Oldenburg horses on a meadow in the village. The youngest of her horses (around 3 years I guess) had a neck strap on. I can't remember her explanation why, I just remember that it was so tight that one day when we were looking at him, I asked her if it would be ok with her that I loosened it. She seemed a bit afraid of the horse and she said that if I really thought that I could do it and still keep it on him it would be ok. I loosened it maybe 3 holes and I felt so much better for that poor horse. She moved not long after and I don't know what became of her horses. But that is technically the only horse I have seen wearing a neck strap. 

Learning to jump that way sounds scary, but I see the idea of learning to have a good seat and not jerk the horses mouth, and a neck strap seems like a much more secure thing to grip than trying to grab a handful of mane if you loose your balance :-)

 

 

[Sheilajeanne]

Mulesaw, our first jumps were over cavaletti, which sit about 12" off the ground. So, not very scary. And in preparation for jumping, we did a lot of riding without stirrups and trotting poles. The horse stretching out over the poles helps prepare for jumping and riding without stirrups develops strong thigh muscles, so your knees stay in the right place over a jump. One person asked me how I would manage to stay on my horse when it refused a fence and ducked its head. It was from all those hours riding without stirrups! 

Yes, the browband would make the halter more secure. You've got two straps securing it, one in front of the ears and one behind, plus the throat latch. The design of that halter is very similar to a bridle, actually, with the bit attached to the cheek pieces.

Edited February 21 by Sheilajeanne

[Sheilajeanne]

That's supposed to be 'we did a lot of riding without stirrups OVER trotting poles.'

[Mulesaw]

4 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

That's supposed to be 'we did a lot of riding without stirrups OVER trotting poles.'

 That was actually also how I read it at first, but now I can see that it didn't exactly say that :-)

Trotting poles and cavalettis are great for getting a fluent move on the horse. And also great for instilling a bit of security in young riders.

 

[jcuk]

Thats hefty looking Halter cant say i have ever seen one like that. Nice work too, if you get another chance to another one, where i believe you have hand stitched around the d rings and buckles which look like they are reinforced, you might want to pre-prick your stitch  marks to make it easier to go through so many layers it will help keeping the stitches neater also.

Hope this helps

JCUK

 

 

[Mulesaw]

1 hour ago, jcuk said:

Thats hefty looking Halter cant say i have ever seen one like that. Nice work too, if you get another chance to another one, where i believe you have hand stitched around the d rings and buckles which look like they are reinforced, you might want to pre-prick your stitch  marks to make it easier to go through so many layers it will help keeping the stitches neater also.

Hope this helps

JCUK

 

 

Thanks for the kind words.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by pre-pricking, but I'd love to get a trick or two since it actually bothers me that it looks so wavy and disorderly in the ends. :- )

I did indeed hand stitch in the areas sort of where the leather flapped over for the D-rings etc, so sort of 3" length at each end. I was afraid that if I used the sewing machine, the stitching would be less durable and not quite as tight as I could make it by hand.  I used a marking wheel and put the (much too bulky) parts in the stitching horse, and then used a diamond awl. But those results weren't super great (to say the least).

But I suppose that I could have taken the thread out of the needle of the sewing machine and used that one to do the pre-pricking.
I have actually done that on an earlier double stitched halter, but I can't really remember why I didn't do it on this one.  

Technically I think that I could have made it a bit tighter around the massive D-ring if I had wet formed the straps first, and then let them dry in position before gluing it up with contact cement before the sewing, but I'm afraid that it wouldn't have helped much on my sewing :-)

Brgds Jonas

 

[TomE]

We all agree it is tough to awl through that many layers, and it's great for me to read everyone's methods.  I use a peg awl haft with a 2" awl for the heaviest sewing that I do.  https://osborneleathertools.com/product/peg-awl-haft-143/  It's probably the wrong tool for leather sewing but I have gotten the feel of it to reach my destination on the backside of a stack of straps.

[jcuk]

When have finished stitch marking your work with your pricking irons just put your work into your clams pre- prick your work before assembling it to be stitched, that way means you will have one less layer to go through with your Awl. And most of us will have at least two one for heavier work.

Hope this helps

JCUK

Edited February 22 by jcuk

[TomE]

2 minutes ago, jcuk said:

When have finished stitch marking your work with your pricking irons just put your work into your clams pre- prick your work before assembling it to be stitched, that way means you will have one less layer to go through with your Awl.

Hope this helps

JCUK

I usually mark holes after forming the strap around hardware, but I could then unfold it so I can awl the top layer before gluing/assembly.

[TomE]

23 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Mulesaw, yeah, the halter in that picture is pretty much the one you see most horses wearing.

I have some pictures of Man O'War, though, where he is wearing a very different halter. It actually has a bit attached to it to help keep him under control! It's a bit hard to see the details, but it has both a brow band and a strap behind the poll.

BTW, he's 20 years old in this picture and still looks like a million bucks! One of my all-time favourite horses, for sure! 

Riders sometimes use neck straps when learning to jump, but I've rarely seen them except in pictures. My instructor had us do it the old military way: drop the reins on the horse's neck, and stretch your arms out like a bird! It teaches you a secure seat, and prevents you from interfering with the horse's mouth.

 

He was a handsome boy!  Might that be a stallion bridle for showing in hand?

[jcuk]

When making Head Collars we would have set measurements for that so no need to wrap around the hardware, when repairing a broken piece i would use the broken piece my template size and length of stitching. Also i never glue my any of my Head Collar work unless it padded work, i tack in place.If it is a one off Head Collar i would do as you do wrap around the hardware mark where stitching needs to start and finish. 

Hope this helps

JCUK

Edited February 22 by jcuk

[Mulesaw]

@jcuk That makes a lot of sense :-)

I usually do like Tom describes, by forming and gluing before marking out for stitching, so that's what puzzled me a bit about the pre-pricking thing, but it makes sense if I don't glue first, then I could unfold it and prick at least one layer.

I must say that I think that gluing at least those long double straps gives a good look. If not  I'm afraid that the leather will slide a bit apart when it is put around the neck of the horse.

Perhaps I should try to give tacking a try. 

In hindsight, I should have wet formed the chin strap, and taken the time to readjust the sewing machine to be able to sew through the 4 layers. Used the sewing machine to prick the leather and then hand sewn it. 

I guess I'll just have to make another one next time I get home :-)

[Sheilajeanne]

3 hours ago, TomE said:

He was a handsome boy!  Might that be a stallion bridle for showing in hand?

TomE, that's possible. He's wearing this particular halter in quite a few photos. He was well known for his fiery disposition! 

https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/horse/man-o-war-ky#:~:text=“He fought like a tiger,could be handled with safety.”