Ranch2Ring horse placement program

Some of the proceeds from these horsehair bracelets, dog collars and other projects I have been doing will benefit my friend Barb's Ranch2Ring horse rescue program in Montana. Barb has done a great job helping place retired ranch horses and re-directing some slaughter bound horses into loving homes. 

From Barb's R2R website:
 "Life on a cattle ranch can be anything but easy for a horse: from long daily rides to cutting and working cattle, it can take its toll at an early age.  When these horses become too slow to keep up, they are often sold at auction to an uncertain fate.  Ranch to Ring seeks to find post-retirement careers for these smart and gentle horses.  Most are dead broke, some were mothers, but all deserve a second chance." 

Rosie with her teammate

Rosie is a 9y/o mare that was slaughter bound through no fault of her own when she was sold as part of a bankruptcy auction. Barb jumped in and changed Rosie's fate along with another mare. Rosie pulled sleighs and wagons for a resort with her team mate who sold to an Amish fellow who had little interest in mares. 

Rosie was a little bewildered when she arrived, being separated from everything she knew. I untangled a big pile of burrs from her mane and tail. She even had cockle burrs in her ears. 

She is a very sweet mare and quickly settled in.

We haven't had an opportunity to evaluate Rosie driving single but we have worked with her under saddle and rode her out in the wide open spaces. 

 

She is nice to ride and has a lovely long trot.

Here are some ponies that R2R is helping transition that still need homes:

Cookie

 driving team of minis

New pattern continued

I wanted to re-visit that celtic pattern I was working on...

This is what it looked like in the last entry, tooled but still unfinished.

I dyed it and then cleaned that up.

Then I added the chestnut horsehair and turquoise to finish it.

Pleasant snow

It is great when the snow falls peacefully without wind and makes a fluffy white blanket over everything. We had 4-6" come down today and I wandered around to take a few pictures. 

Please pardon the frosty, shaggy winter coats

Little CJ

Always time for play time

Is that a Wookie?

Just a furry little arab

The new workbench

Yesterday I put up a picture of the old work space, or more like the old storage space. Today I spent quite a bit of time organizing the new work bench.

Big improvement! I'm happy to have all my tools organized and easily accessible. On to the next project...

New workbench

For quite a while I've been wanting a functional work bench for the leatherwork and other projects. I finally got one today as a birthday gift. It came in about a hundred pieces but it is almost finished.

It will be a big upgrade from my previous work space. The new work bench looks a lot bigger in the house than it did at the store. 

Well it is almost birthday time and I'm still uninspired as to what to do or where to eat. So I'm just going to think about looking forward to springtime.

It will not be too long before we see some hints of green.

Log table

Here is a little log project that has been put on hold for quite a while. It will not take much to finish it. 

When it is completely finished it will make a nice side table or taller coffee table.

The bark is stripped by hand with a draw knife

Before the bark can be stripped from the logs they need to dry, that can take a few months or over a year. 

This one is made out of local blue stain ponderosa pine. The blue stain is the result of a fungus introduced by the pine beetles that killed the tree. 

Even though the blue stain is pleasing to look at, it is unfortunate to lose so many local trees to the pine beetles. 

Another necklace

Last night we had some snow and we were blanketed in white this morning. Most of it blew away or melted off by this evening. 

This is a dark chestnut braided horsehair necklace that I just finished yesterday

I posted pictures of the braiding in progress a couple of days ago

Rope Sidepulls

Another little piece of equipment we make are rope sidepulls that attach to any regular headstall

The sidepulls are available in a variety of colors, different sizes and styles. 

Options include a wrapped nose, knotted nose, or braided nose similar to our rope halters. 

A knotted sidepull with rope reins attached

It is easy to attach the sidepull to a headstall the same way a bit would attach. These do not offer the refined feel of an educated hand on a bosal but they do offer gentle direct guidance.