Live show reference pictures - Part 4 - Reining

Hi, today is part four of the live show reference pictures series. Today's topic is reining.

Reining is a bit like Western dressage. In international reining, a rider has to pick between a few different patterns (like dressage tests), learn it and then perform the movements required in front of judges. Some of the movements include sliding stops (where the horse gallops and then slides to a complete stop), canter circles, spins and flying changes.

Here are some reference pictures to give you a few little ideas.




To get more inspiration, have a look at some videos on YouTube, there are plenty!

Now we will have a look at some models suitable for reining! There aren't many widely available ones that are perfect for reining - for example there is a mould where the horse is performing a sliding stop - but most galloping models look good!

Frankel/Secretariat: These two are excellent for reining - galloping fast and furiously.




This is a rare mould which will not be easily found:


Big Chex To Cash: Is quite a good horse for reining



Frankel, Secretariat and Big Chex to Cash are some of the main horses I can think of that would be suitable for reining! Big Chex to Cash would be an excellent casual reining horse as well.

To finish off, here are some reference pictures which could help you with your reining set ups!










Also refer to the ones at the top of the page!

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog - keep watch for tomorrow's post! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Bye!

Fly mask tutorial

Hi! I thought that publishing a tutorial with the Totilas post would be a bit too much to read all at once, so I'm going to make this fly mask tutorial separately. It's quite simple!

Things you'll need:
White material (not felt)
Good quality felt or sticky backed felt (ideal)
Scissors
Velcro
Pen
A glue gun or some reliable glue
A model horse of any scale
Let's get started!

1. Take your white material and cut a small square from it.

2. Draw criss cross patterns on it, just like a real fly mask.

3. Flip over your material and draw the pattern below on to it.

4. Cut out the pattern, and cut as carefully as you can.

5. Place the mask on your horse to check it covers their eyes and will fasten under their chin.

6. Cut a long felt strip, as long as you think you'll need for your scale.

7. Measure around the outside of the fly mask.

8. Glue it so the finished result looks like this.

9. Measure around the bottom of the fly mask, where it will wrap around the nose.

10. Glue it so the finished result looks like this.

11. Measure around the poll.

12. Glue it so it looks like this, and that it fits snugly around the poll.

13. Cut a small tab of the fuzzy side of the Velcro and glue it on like this (ignore the other piece of Velcro):

14. Cut a slightly bigger tab of the prickly side of the Velcro and glue it on, but so it faces downwards.

15. And there you go! Your finished fly mask! Put it on your horse and he'll be ready for the flies any time!

Thanks for looking at my blog! I'll be posting more tutorials!

First blog post and headcollar tutorial!

Hello! This is my first blog post, intended to help those trying to make model horse tack, model horse things, basically anything to do with model horses. My tack is probably not going to look as good as many of those model horse tack makers out there, but I aim to make more tutorials, reference photos, pictures of my stables and tack etc. I have mainly Schleich horses, but I've got one Breyer, Totilas, who I'm making tack for. The first thing I made for him was a headcollar, so I think I'll start my blog with a simple headcollar tutorial (in 22 steps):

Things you'll need:
A model horse, any scale
A glue gun or some reliable glue
Ribbon or leather lace or leather strips
Jump rings
A buckle or a handmade buckle
Scissors

Let's get started:

1. Take a jump ring and a length of ribbon (length depending on model scale) and thread the ribbon through the jump ring, then glue. Trim excess glue away from the sides of the jump ring.


2. Measure around the nose, and stop a bit after where you intend to have the jump ring, so you can glue it without making the top of the noseband too short. Glue a jump ring on to the end as you did in step 1.

3. The top of the noseband should look like this off the horse. Check the fit before moving on, after you've made the noseband you don't get a second chance!

4. Thread ribbon through one of the jump rings. Be careful that the way you fold the ribbon is the same that you have done on the previous ones! Glue, then repeat for the other side so you make a complete loop for the noseband.

5. Check the fit around the nose, it should look something like this on the off or right side of the horse:












6. It should look like this on the near or left side of the horse:

7. Thread a piece of ribbon through the jump ring, and glue it.

8. This is what it should look like. Make sure the piece of ribbon is long enough, as you can see mine stretches beyond his neck and the photo itself.

9. Trim the ribbon to size and glue a jump ring on. As you can see my cheek piece is way too long, but you can easily adjust it, but make sure you do it right away, not as a last resort as the glue will have dried by then! Repeat the same thing on the other side of the headcollar, and make sure that the two cheek pieces are roughly the same length or your headcollar will look a bit odd.

10. Next make the throatlash. Glue ribbon on to the jump ring at the end of the cheek piece and make sure  the tab faces inwards and that it also faces downwards. If you can't understand what I'm saying, look at step 11.










11. This is what the left or near side of the headcollar should look like. Measure around the throat so that the end of the ribbon is a bit past where you want your jump ring to be.

















12. Glue the end of the ribbon to the other side of the cheek piece so the right side of the horse looks something like this:

13. Glue the long strap on to the cheek piece jump ring on the off side of the horse. Make it longer than you think it will need to be, as you can always make it shorter but you can't always make it longer! (and making it look nice, of course).

14. Cut the end to a taper (as seen in the picture), but only if you think you're happy with the length. Best to do it at the end in my opinion.

15. Glue the buckle on as seen in the picture. You can just glue it to the end but this way it's stronger.










16. Glue the buckle strap to the jump ring on the near or left side of the horse. Press hard on the tab to make sure it is glued well, as this is the area which takes the most pressure.

17. This is what the end of the headcollar should look like off the horse. Check that the buckle is fastened correctly before I tell you how to put it on!











18. How to put it on: Slip the noseband on, making sure the throatlash is under his throat!













19. Gradually ease the noseband on, and gently pull the rest of the headcollar so it is in the desired position.

















20. Bring the long strap over his poll and hold the buckle upright.

21. Thread the long strap through the top half of the buckle, gently pulling it through whilst pushing the buckle.

















22. Thread the long strap through the other bit of the buckle. Then trim the end and cut it to a taper and there you have your finished headcollar!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I'll be making plenty more, probably once every week. By the way, this headcollar wasn't my best, the ribbon wasn't great quality and I only made it for the tutorial. And the photos aren't great quality either. Look for improvements in the next tutorial. See you next time I blog!