Braiding Rawhide Horse Tack

Book excerpt: Here is an instruction manual for the novice worker in rawhide. Unlike many other works on the subject, this book assumes no previous knowledge or experience. The reader is shown in drawings and photographs every step of the procedure starts with a fresh cowhide, continues through cutting strings and braiding, and ends with finished reatas, bosals, hobbles, or reins. Along the way, the author discusses the needed tools and implements, which the beginner can make for them (out of readily available materials) by following the directions in this book. The chapters on braiding provide simplified techniques for producing a number of basic patterns, which may be modified or enlarged upon to yield endless variations. Users or collectors of braided rawhide will value this book for its demonstration of what to look for when buying an article, how to care for it, and, in a historical vein, how each item was produced in the past. For those who collect, use, or aspire to learn how to make your own cowboy horse gear, dont miss Woolerys book. Western Horseman