Packing Horse

Making the pack set was much easier than being able to find info about tying things to it.
After searching and searching I found these links. Which were great and extremely helpful.
http://www.nature-images.eu/contents/field/ethiopia-2012.html
http://www.horsejournals.com/diamonds-are-forever-hitching-pack-horse
http://lessonslearnedinthebush.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/silence-on-beehive/

Anyways, here it is. On my wonderful performance pony. Plus, another set finished for Sat. Not too many more to finish now. :)
The fur was made from the faux fur that you can buy at craft stores. Using my xacto knife, I cut the shapes out. The exacto knife works better than scissors because scissors cut the fur on top. The exacto knife only cuts through the mat on the bottom.

Also, there's a tack making contest for MEPSA. Link can be found Here.

Call in The Hounds!

Since I'm using my CC Shuffle for English, my standing foxhounds won't work.
So I grabbed two new ones,

and began hacking.

Here they are at the moment. Both are running.

Down The Wire

The English Saddle Set is done and ready for the show on Sat! Nothing like cutting it close.

Just noticed that a part of the girth needs to be resewn. But it's still pretty much done!

Bridle Power

It has been a long while since I've made an English bridle. A really long time.
But my CC Shuffle Roxy needs one to match her saddle for March 1.
So I used a mix of pre-cut lace and my own lace to make it. I also made a fixed noseband. And it's raised too.
Instead of using three pieces of lace, I just used two, to mimic a real bridle. Buckles were added and all that is left are reins!

The set at the moment.

English Saddle

Here's the saddle. It still needs stirrups and a girth, but the body looks okay. It is far from perfect, but I think it's do able for March 1st.

 Also made a saddle pad.

Next is the bridle!

The English Saddle

There comes a time in a tack maker's life when they must move on. My first english model horse tack how-to book was the Kerioke English Saddle How-to book. Since my meager beginnings, practice has helped me learn about basic saddle making. While the kerioke book makes saddle making simple and straightforward, I wanted it to be different.  And my own.
Last night I started making a new pattern.

I looked at numerous blogs, and pictures to see the different techniques of how other people assembled their saddles.
Sophie Lightfoot on Braymere Custom Saddlery's For English Saddlemaking

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Today I began assembling the saddle. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be showable for March 1!

The Completed Set

The saddle set is done. It was finished today with the breast collar.

All assembled and tacked on to my Roxy.

Photo overload.

Snow-pocalypse

Today the Snow-pocalypse hit Harrisburg. The snow fell fast and hard, and we ended up with over a foot of snow. Plus a day off school, which is always awesome.
I spent the day (after helping to shovel the snow) finishing the saddle and bridle. The breast collar is the next part!

The Bridle

There is an impending storm for tomorrow. Harriburg is supposed to be dumped with over a foot of snow. So hopefully I wake up to white fluffy goodness tomorrow.
The western set is coming along well.
The stirrups were finished.

 The bridle is almost done. I tooled the pieces and cut them out of my remant remains of leather. (I haven't cut into the large slab yet!).

I'm thinking about entering the Berks County Model Horse show, and that is on March 1st. My goal is to have this done. I know I won't have any customs finished, so one of my Roxys will be wearing the set.

I Sorta Bought A Cow....

After making a trip to Pennstate to talk College-y stuff, my Mom and I went to our local Tandy Leather Shop. This is my type of shopping here. Rows and rows of leather, kits, stamps, dyes and every other type of trinket that goes along with leather.
 I came out with this. Yes, a large cow hide. But look how big it is! It'll last practically forever.

I also bought these. Not as interesting as a giant piece of cow, but they're still important in their own ways.

It's More Fun.....

.....when you know what you are semi-doing.
The saddle , when I began on it after school, was in pieces. I covered the tree, so it was a bunch of tooled leather.

Using thumb tacks I made a hole for the fenders and added conchos.  I didn't use the hole punch pencil because I was going through layers of leather.

The underside of the saddle looked like a wire weapon. :)

Parts were added and underside was covered with chamois. The stirrups are adjustable! This is the most realistic western saddle that I have ever made. It just needs stirrups added. And a girth. And a bridle. But I'll figure out the bridle once I know who will be wearing the saddle.

Finished for the night.

Tooling it

Today I started on a western saddle. I wanted to try out my new tooling set, but I mostly just used one piece. Even in 1:9 scale, tooling takes a long time.

Getting there....

Done!

Close up

Then I dyed the pieces and construction starts hopefully tomorrow.

The night ended with this. Another snow storm.

The Addiction

During this weekend, Joann's Fabrics was offering a 20% total purchase along with a 40% any regular priced item. Which meant that all local craft stores had the almighty 20% off the total purchase. With the wonderful coupons, I came home with these. A jewelry mallet, wire, a leather tooling set and sharp thing-ers (I think they are similar to awls).

The leather tooling set really made me excited. With some scraps I played around with the different tooling pieces. I see a western saddle in the future!

Hole Punching

The longer that I am a part of the hobby, the more I keep learning that if you want to produce nice things, you must have the right equipment to do so.
Up until today, whenever I would make holes for a piece of tack, I would use a push pin.

Source

The pros of using them was that I could find them virtually anywhere in my house. The con was that I wasn't punching a hole. Instead I was just tearing a hole into the leather so the hole never stayed in place. Once I moved the leather *bam* it was like the hole was never there.
After school today I went to Office Max and bought a pair of technical/drafting pencils. Jennifer Buxton of Braymere Custom Saddlery had an awesome tutorial of how she made holes.

Following it, I took apart the pencils and am now ready to punch holes! I can't wait to make something. Mostly so that I can use a hammer. :)

The Halter

This is what I made.
It is not spectacular but I did make semi-working buckle tongues and made it out of ribbon. School is back in session after a lovely week of two hour delays and snow days.

The Tack Box

At numerous shows, I have seen awesome tack boxes.
The ones I've loved were always similar to...
this

source

or this.

They always seemed to be out of my grasp. I couldn't figure out how to make it. 

A couple of days ago it finally hit me. 

A regular box flipped on its side (yes, this is what held me up).

So I had a snow day today which meant I had a chance to try to make one. 

I decided to go small before going large.

This is the result.

It has four hooks for four bridles or halters. There's space for two saddles, English or Western sized. Native American or Arab sized costumes will not fit. The bottom has space for saddle pads.  While it isn't large by any means, it is a great start. And it was alot of fun to make.