roo4u Report post Posted May 7, 2008 (edited) hi all... just finished this hackamore for my moms dun mare...she picked the colors, it is paracord, the bosal has a larait rope core. cotton rope mecate has a matching knot. boy, working with paracord is a real bugger. leather is easier!! But mom wanted this. And the horse looks real happy. (not) Edited May 7, 2008 by roo4u Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Timothy Report post Posted May 7, 2008 Good work, Lariat ropes make good bosals if you can get them shaped right. I don't care if its not leather, I like to see nice braids. Timothy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HorsehairBraider Report post Posted May 8, 2008 Nice! And horses always react like that to new tack... They just don't appreciate all the time and effort like they should! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
roo4u Report post Posted May 8, 2008 thanks for the nice comments. i wish i could get better pix. i tell you what, paracord is a bear to do this kind of stuff with. you have to work to make it fit because it only comes in one width. it took me 5 tries to get the nose button to hold on the ends because paracord slides much easier than leather. i ended up doing a gaucho weave on the nose so it would hold tight on the swells, then couldnt figure out how to interweave in that pattern so couldnt do that. i swore never again and wouldnt you know someone we showed it to wants one. just my luck! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HorsehairBraider Report post Posted May 8, 2008 You know what though? When most people say "I want one just like that" they mean the color. I hope this doesn't make anyone feel bad, but usually only other braiders can tell what knots you used. So use knots you like. Although another way to look at it is, if you do that difficult knot again you will learn it better. Would it be possible to get some matching thread, and sew a tiny loop of thread through the turns on your foundation knot? I had to do that one time with horsehair; I was tying a very tricky knot in horsehair (some knots are a LOT harder in horsehair due to its nature) but I found that if I could catch up a single horsehair in the underlying braid on the turns in my braided length (where the pins would be, if you tied it on a mandrel) that I could then tie the knot. It was tricky with the hair because I had to predict ahead of time where that part of the knot would end up (you can't go back and tighten horsehair, move it around etc. you have to tie it in place at the right tightness to start with) but that made it possible for me to tie the knot. With the thread, you could do it after you tied and tightened. And I am probably the only person on earth that would even know those single hairs had been caught up; you would need magnification to tell, and most people would never think to look anyway. So I bet no one would notice on the paracord either. That *is* tricky stuff to braid. I've made headstalls out of it, but I did not have those cool colors you used. Mine was all khaki green... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
