Cinchas

[jwwright]

Not sure if this is appropriate place or not, since technically these are not leather items. However, I did have some folks a while back request that I post some photos of these here. I build saddles and tack, and have for quite a while also built cinchas. The photo with 2 cinchas shown are both Yak hair. The other is mohair. Thanks for taking a look. JW

[Bob]

JW, those are nice!!!!

[Storm]

Nicely Done JW,

For whatever it is worth I'd say that as they are an important part of the saddle... they belong. These would make any saddle standout and then some. I had no idea that they had people who still crafted these on an individual basis. Where in the hech do you find the Yak hair?  Don't tell me they are growing them domestically somewhere in the Rockies.   Thanx for sharing.

Storm

[bruce johnson]

Yep, they are appropriate, and very nice. I like the patterns a lot. Ever done a horsehair one?

[jwwright]

Thanks for the attaboys..............Storm, there are still a few folks out and about, mostly in ranch country that are hand making traditional style cinchas. I try to pass it along when I can, and have helped a couple other folks get started. The Yak hair cord I have been buying from a wholesaler, and I believe that the raw hair is coming from Asia, and then spun into cord in the US or Mexico.

Bruce, on the patterns I just try to keep it looking somewhat old timey traditional, and have never made any 2 that were identical. Some folks like them with alot of color, so some are pretty bright. I have made a number of horse hair cinchas, and I like working with it. I have acquired the horse hair already spun into cord to do those, kind of hit and miss availability. If I was going to build horse hair cinchas on a regular basis, I would need to come up with a cost / labor effective method to spin / twist my own cord.

[Tosch]

Hi JW,

I just looked again at our cinches. They are very nice!

The material you used lead me to another question: From a user's point of view -what is the difference between mohair, yak, and horse hair ? Which would you prefere?

Thanks in advance.

Tosch

Edited November 13, 2008 by Tosch

[grumpyguy]

Hey JW,

Those look great! Really like the colors you used in the Yak hair! The mohair cinch is drop dead gorgeous! Good old time look too!

I'm a bit curious about the yak hair, as Tosh is. I am familiar with mohair and horse hair, buckaroos around here won't use anything other than those two. I've never seen or head of yak hair cinches, how do they stack up with horse hair and mohair? I have been using mohair almost exclusively, on a horse that seems to be very sensitive and easily galls in the cinch area after a couple days of longer rides. I have not tried horse hair because it is a bit on the prickly side and I don't think this horse would appreciate it much, (maybe a broke in horse hair cinch is the way to go haven't tried that yet. Tried other sythetics recommended at the local shop, which were worse.) Other horses have no difficulty with the same gear and do not gall using the mohair. Anyway I'm looking for something that might work better for this horse, (aren't we always!)

I look foreward to hearing your recommendations and might also be interested in trying a yak hair cinch in the future. I'll PM you later about it.

Grumpy Guy

[jwwright]

Tosch and Grumpy.........Thanks for your comments and questions. Yak hair has a coaser texture than Mohair, but not as course as Mane hair. Kind of in between. While mohair has some stretch and give to it, the Yak hair does not have much. It behaves much like mane hair. I have used all the above in my cinchas, and all make a good cinch. A new mane hair cinch needs to be broken in for quite a while on long haired horses, and the Yak hair does also..........but not quite so much.

Grumpy, if you are having troubles galling a horse with a clean mohair cinch, it will be worse with a mane hair or yak hair. I am sure you have already done your own diagnosis to find out why your horse is galling with the mohair cinch,but I would suggest checking to make sure that your rigging placement on your saddle is appropriate for this horse. There are a few horses out there that don't do well with a full, 15/16 or even 7/8 rig. I would also suggest that maybe you check to be sure that the cinch you are using is an appropriate length for this horse / saddle combination. A too short cinch will place the cinch buckles in bad spots on some horses.

Tosch, I, all things considered prefer mohair for my cinchas, but I do use yak and mane hair some as well. It has been my experience that a mohair cinch is a little more forgiving, especially on young horses, or on horses that are not in condition. I have found that durability wise, mane hair will wear longer than either the mohair or yak hair.

JW

[emma]

beautiful!

[fjjensen]

J.W.

Nice work ! Makes the ones I tie look

vanilla plain.

How are the different colored main

strands spliced in ?

FJ