Phantom of the stallion station

[Mulesaw]

last time I was home from the ship, the owner of the stallion station asked me if I could have a look at their phantom. One of the stallions had gotten a bit carried away and ended up biting and tearing a large hole in the side of the phantom. The owner wondered if I could repair it?

I told him that I could and we agreed that I'd do it in my next home period. So this time while at home I fetched the upper part of the phantom in a trailer and towed it home. 

The first part of the project was to disassemble it and assess what needed to be done. 
The back end of is sealed with an inflatable fender that in turn is secured in the other end with a cargo lashing. The front end had been repaired earlier on, and in all honesty it didn't look all that good either.

Regular cable zip ties held the leather on to the frame of the phantom, so after cutting those up, I could bring in the leather to the workshop.

I glued a piece of veg tan to the backside of where the hole was torn, and then sewed alongside where it was ripped.  Near the front end there were also 3 smaller holes that I patched the same way.

The damaged front part was so far gone that I decided to replace it instead of trying to patch it all up. I had a piece of thin leather that I had bought at a sale that would fit the job perfectly. I doubled it and glued and sewed it onto the main body part. 

A bunch of grommets were installed and the repaired cover of the phantom was reinstalled on the frame. 

Finally I made a round cover that covered the lacing that closed the front end. This was hand sewn on in a way that it can be removed without much fuzz if there is going to be needed a new repair sometime in the future.

I think the repair job came out all right, and the best thing was that I had a reason to do a lot of sewing with the old Singer class 7 sewing machine :-)

                    

 

                     

 

                     

 

                     

 

             

 

          

[TomE]

That's an impressive undertaking, @Mulesaw!  Good looking repairs.  Lots of bobbin reloads I would imagine.  Our phantom is covered with canvas and has a trap door at the rear for a Colorado style AV.  I wonder if the fender on yours is a clever modification to safely replace the receptacle for a fixed AV.  Maybe your next project will be stallion leads with a stud chain, or a custom leather sling for a hand held AV (Missouri style AV).

[Mulesaw]

@TomE Thanks for the nice comment :-)

The hardest part was the repair job of the torn part in the middle of the covering. It is a full ox that covers the phantom, so it was a bit of a job negotiating it through the opening of the sewing machine, but it worked even without breaking a needle during the job.

I can't say if the fender is original or a later modification, to me it looked most like it was original. I am pretty sure that they use Colorado style AV that is hand held. It is probably called something else in Denmark though. It is the model that you fill with some warm water (38 dgC maybe 100 dgF?) before the job. 

I would love to make a leather holding system for the mares legs, (don't know the English word for that one), but they don't do natural inseminations due to the risk of the studs getting a venerable disease. So I guess they would have little use for that holing system. 

I do repair a lot of horse blankets for the station, and also some tack and riding boots for the riders out there, but the phantom was a fun project.  Actually I wouldn't mind making a phantom from scratch one day. But I doubt that I'll ever have the need to do so.

Merry Christmas

Jonas

[TomE]

Sounds like you have a fun niche with the stallion station.  Where do you buy hardware for tack and blankets?  I've been happy with Batz Corp for heavy brass hardware, which is back ordered these days.  I am still looking for a supplier of stainless steel bridle buckles, particularly sturdy center bar buckles in 3/8, 1/2, and 5/8 inch sizes.  Weaver and Batz sell stamped heel bar bridle buckles but I am trying to match fancier varieties on European made tack.

We call the mare restraints "hobbles."  We also avoid live cover as a safety issue.  

Merry Christmas to you as well.

Edited December 21, 2021 by TomE

[Mulesaw]

@TomE It is a great niche indeed :-)

I buy my hardware for the blankets either at laederiet (a Danish shop) or at pethardware in Czechia. They have a huge selection of stainless hardware. Just enter "stainless" in the search field.  For some of the stuff they are a bit cheaper that the local shop I use, but I like to support a local business and generally it is more or less the same price. 

I haven't had anyone asking me about making new stuff like bridles etc. But people like to have their equipment repaired. So that is mostly what I do. I once bought a large box filled with old worn out bridles of various sizes and shapes. It was dirt cheap, but all those little special buckles and other types of hardware have helped me often, so I'd definitely buy something old and worn out again just for the hardware. 

I recently repaired a set of reins from PS of Sweden. Their products are gorgeous, I'd love to be able to match their standard some day. 

brgds

Jonas

[TomE]

Thanks, Jonas.  The PS of Sweden bridles are inspirational.  I had not seen this brand.  Will check out the PetHardware site.