Buckaroo John's Blog

Hobbles are connected loops made from sturdy material, such as leather, that loosely connect a horse's front legs together. Now, I'm sure that can seem quite horrifying and barbaric to people, but let's take a look at where and why they are used. A good horse must know how to tie and all horses must be able to be contained in some fashion. Ground tie, tie to a tree, outside a bar, pseudo tie (that's a fancy word for "fake tying"), cross tie, tie to the side of a trailer, etc. In this day and age it seems we have...

Horse owners are required to make many choices as they care for their treasured equine friends.  One of the most commonly purchased horse care items is also one of the most used and essential items we own, the halter.  Choices available are nylon flat halters, rope halters (also known as string halters), and leather halters.  Halters are typically paired with a horse to match the training development stage of the horse. Another consideration in determining which type of halter is best is choosing one that suits the experience of the handler and of the horse. Of utmost importance is the...

When you picture a cowboy, he is more than likely wearing a cowboy hat on his head. It is the iconic symbol of the cowboy and of the West. There are three main types of materials the hats are made from: straw, palm leaf and felt. Within each of these are low to high quality materials and craftsmanship. The number of X's on the band indicate the quality, be it mixtures of fur or weave of straw.  Straw hats are typically a hot weather hat, and provide decent ventilation on those scorching summer days. They are generally more affordable than...

Many of us that ride in Western saddles, especially Wade saddles, have noticed a piece of leather wrapped around the horn. That piece of leather, or rubber, is called a horn wrap and it is used for roping.  J.M. Capriola describes the horn wrap beautifully: "Horn wraps made of mule hide or elk hide are used on saddle horns in the Great Basin’s “slick-horn” buckaroo country, as opposed to rubber or being tied on hard and fast as is done in the southwest.   Both of these types of horn wrap allow the dallies to slide as the roper demands, which...

This is the quality AMERICAN made western leather loping hackamore bridle you've heard about from cutters and anyone wanting a bitless bridle! This is a round caveson hackamore designed to fit low on your horse's nose and, because it is round, it works more like a sidepull than a hackamore, with a side to side action. It is generally used to lope cutting horses to keep their mouths soft. It has our working 3/4" harness leather double cheek adjustment headstall with a hand braided fiador (throat latch), which is adjustable to hold the fine quality braided rawhide noseband-caveson in position....