What Kind Of Leather Should I Use?

[South Forty]

Hey All,

So I've decided to challenge myself for the next while and try my hand and making a custom fit, Leather Driving Harness for my son's new Miniature Horse.

My dilemma being, all the projects I've done up till now, I've been able to rummage thru the remnant and scrap bins and grab the leathers I've wanted to use and know will work, based on look and feel.

I'm TRYING to educate myself on the different hides, strap, latigo, harness, skirting, etc. and the weights, but quite honestly, just doing the reseach online without seeing and feeling the different leathers in person has left me with more questions than answers!

What I'm trying to figure out, is what type and what WEIGHT of leather should I be using for this project? Unfortunately with 4 kids, 2 being newborn twins, I don't have the luxury of driving 2 hours into the city and spending a day "playing" at our local Tandy Leather to figure this all out!

I'm looking to have an end product with a russet colour, that I can either achieve by dying or that being the original colour of the leather, that I can do a bit of tooling on, something with an edge that'll burnish up nice, and that isn't SOO thick a leather that it looks bulky on a horse that's 35 inches tall! (And preferably something that doesn't cost me more than a Custom made BOUGHT harness...)

I also need something that won't cause arthritis in my hands from stitching, as I'll be hand stitching the whole thing! (I know, I'm nuts...lol)

Thanks Much for any Advice!

[Sovran81]

35" tall? So a dog that whinnies. I think 7-8 oz would be more than enough. You can get bridle leather already dyed that will save you the trouble of dying and sealing or turning your horse russet colored. Your days are definitely full with kids, are you sure you want to handstitch it? 1/4" chicago screws or rivets could make quick work of it. I know my kids would care less about handstitching then getting to work the horse as soon as possible.