Tack tutorial Tuesday

I haven't made any tack for a long time, but I still think about it. In particular, I think about making casual, colorful pieces, the kind of tack I would like to have for Olive. This includes Western snaffle bridles with mecate reins, like the one shown below.

Now I do know how to tie these, but since probably some of you don't I'm reprinting a tutorial written by my friend, Rachel Fail. This was written for real horse people, but it's an easy transition to model scale. Thanks, Rachel!

How To Tie a Mecate Onto Slobber Straps

by Rachel Fail

I offer custom slobber straps in my Etsy store, and I thought I'd make a short tutorial on how to tie them.

Start off by tying the RIGHT side slobber strap, with the text horizontal to the ground and reading left to right.

Thread the end of the mecate (23' yacht rope with poppers) from the inside of the strap to the outside.

Pull it through enough to leave yourself about six inches of tail.

Take the tail up and behind the strap, then come down to form a knot.

Now on to the left strap.  This strap gets threaded from inside to outside just like the other, except you're going to slide it about twelve feet down the rope, give or take depending on how long you'd like your rein loop.

Pinch the strap ends together.

Twist a loop, with the tail (lead end with popper) underneath. 

Tighten it around the slobber strap.

Ta da!

The "leadrope" can be tied onto the saddle or tucked into the rider's belt.

I hope this is helpful! Thank you to all of my customers for their continued support!

Saddle up, part two

In my life, I've ridden a lot of horses, which means also I've ridden in a lot of saddles. 

Not going to lie, I miss some of those saddles almost as much as the horses they belonged to.

Judy's Hermes Steinkraus 💔

I always said that when I got my own horse, I was also going to get a really good saddle, the kind that makes riding a joy because it's so balanced and comfortable. Sadly, I do not feel that way about Olive's Duett. 

A couple weeks ago, my friend, Therese, and I paid a saddle fitter to come to the barn and fit our horses. I was hoping to get an endurance saddle, but Olive's a tough fit. None of Danna's hornless saddles came close to fitting her, but we did find two lightweight Western trail saddles that felt like they might work. The first was a Big Horn trail saddle built on a Haflinger tree. 

Because Olive was reactive while saddling, I put her on the lunge line before I rode in it. She was fine, so I climbed aboard.

This saddle fit Olive really well. She looked cute and rode well in it.

Unfortunately, I didn't love it. It was fine. It had good balance and was comfortable enough. I could have made this work,  but I really wanted to be in love this time. 

So it was onto saddle number two! This was a roughout Cashel Trail saddle with a wide tree. 

Olive looked cute in this one, too.

As soon as I sat in it, I knew it was the one. The seat was so comfortable and the balance was just perfect. Olive liked it, too. As we trotted past one of the barn's trainers, she told me she had never seen Olive move so freely through her shoulders. On the next pass, she told me that I was sitting better than usual, too.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The next day, Seth, Piper and I drove up to Gilcrest to return the Big Horn and pay for the Cashel.

I had not been to this tack shop before. I was very impressed with the selection and service.

Instead of bringing the saddle home with me, I left it there for a few more days to have the stirrups turned. Piper and I picked it at the end of last week.

I've ridden in it almost every day since then.

I could not be more pleased. It's comfortable, balanced and fits both Olive and I perfectly.

I actually love it.

Because I know someone is going to ask, here's a closer look at the turned stirrups.

Instead of hanging parallel to Olive's sides, the stirrups are now permanently set at an angle. This reduces the strain on the rider's knees and ankles and makes the saddle a million times more comfortable. I can not recommend this alteration enough.

Anyway, that's the scoop. Olive is a cowpony and I'm a cowgirl. Who knew?

Saddle basics

Millions of words have been written on the topic of proper saddle fit. It's a complex and hugely important subject for everyone who rides horses, regardless of discipline.

Fortunately, things are a lot simpler on the model horse front. Because we don't have to worry about injuring our models with ill-fitting tack, performance showers can boil down saddle fit to just a few key points. The first of these is saddle length. The weight bearing part of the saddle should fit between the base of the withers and the last rib. This area is the only part of the horse’s back that should support the weight of saddle and rider. 

Because so many model horses are sculpted with extremely short backs, it can be difficult to find saddles that are short enough. Most judges understand this, and will allow a little bit of leeway in regards to saddle length. However, no one wants to see a saddle sitting on top of the withers or extending out over the hips. Truly, there are some models that are just too short backed to be performance candidates.

The saddle's seat should be level, with a slight slope from front to back and plenty of room for the doll to sit in. The depth of seat and angle of slope vary across disciplines, but extreme uphill or downhill slopes are unacceptable. The only real exception would be a well-documented historic entry.

It's also important the saddles sit low and close to the horse's back. This is another  common problem area, particularly in costume entries and smaller scales. As a tack maker, I get it. It's really hard to make tiny saddles that aren't bulky. As a judge, however, I am less forgiving. It's not okay to have the top of the saddle's seat towering over the model's back. This is, in fact, my number one model horse saddle fitting pet peeve.

Finally, girths and cinches should be done up snugly, with no gaps between the tack and the model. 

As I mentioned in the post on bridles, there is, of course, a lot more to saddle fitting than this. However, for the purposes of model horse performance showing, these are the basic building blocks for success. The saddle should fit comfortably on the model's back, without infringing on the shoulder blades or hips. The seat should be level and close to the horse's back, and the girth/cinch should be snug. These are the non-negotiables. Correctly fitting tack is an essential part of every performance entry.

Bridle basics

Cleanliness is next to firstliness. 

That's what Heather Malone said in yesterday's guest post about model horse performance judging. 

She's right. I can not tell you how many times I've seen really good performance showers lose classes because they neglected the basic building blocks of their entries. It really doesn't matter how nice the rest of the set-up is, if the foundations are faulty, you probably aren't going to win the class.

In today's post, we're going to discuss one of the most basic basics: bridle fit. 

There are so many ways that model horse bridles can go wrong, but one of the most common is described by Erin Corbett like this: If I look at your entry from the front, and I can see air between the cheeks of the headstall and your horse, I cry. I cry so many tears. So many. 

I feel her pain. The entire headstall should lie flat against the horse's head. There shouldn't be any gaps.

Bit placement is another important and often problematic issue. The mouthpiece should be placed right at the corner of the horse's mouth. A tiny bit lower is okay, particularly with a curb bit. However, it's never alright to have the bit at or lower than the midpoint of the mouth.

If the bit is a curb, it also needs to have a curb chain (or curb strap). If it's a double bridle, the curb chain needs to pass in front of the snaffle bit. 

Noseband types and usage vary widely across horsedom, and the specifics of which are a topic beyond the scope of this article. For hobby purposes, it's most important that the noseband be even when viewed from the front, and all the pieces are in contact with the horse's head. If the bridle has a flash noseband, figure eight noseband or some other flavor of dropped noseband, that needs to be placed in front of the bit.

Depending on the style of bridle, the buckles on the cheekpieces may fall above, below or even with the horse's eyes, but they should never, ever touch the eye itself. 

Ideally, the browband should lie flat against the horse's forehead and be close to, but not touching, the base of the horse's ears. It should roughly parallel the noseband rather than tilting downwards or upwards.

This is mostly an aesthetic issue, however. Minor crookedness and small gaps look sloppy, but don't have a profound affect on bridle function. As such, I will mark them down, but less so than a misplaced bit or absent curb chain.

It's much the same with ear pieces on Western bridles. They should fit closely around the ear and not pop out in front of the horse's forehead. 

Ear bonnets, if used, should be placed under the bridle's crownpiece and browband.

The throatlatch should be neither extremely tight nor extremely loose, and all the straps on the bridle should be neatly tucked into keepers. Basically, all the leather parts of the bridle should be in contact with the horse's head, and the hardware should be properly placed in relation to the models' eyes and mouth. Additionally, the browband and noseband should be even when viewed from the front.

There is, of course, a lot more to bridle fit than this. For the purposes of model horse performance showing, however, these are the basic building blocks for success. If you can get this much right, the judge probably won't cry many, many tears when she looks at your entry.