Roby Canyon Hackamore: Progress

Progress has finally been made on the Roby Canyon set:  all that's left to do are the hobbles!  This piece is definitely for larger models.  I photo'd it on my Jezail (Shagya/Kaalee) this morning, and it fits her even better than Dry the Sea/Ichabad Crane.  The grey mecate came out beautifully, and it's all of 31 inches long!

This is the longest mecate I've ever made.  Even though it's a perfect one-ninth of a full-scale 24-foot mecate, it still seems incredibly long.  It's almost too long for this horse, and he's big!

Over the weekend I managed to finish Bosal 2 for this set (below right).  Somehow, it, as well as the mecate, came out a scoosh too big.  I tell you what, folks (voice of Bartok the Bat here), proportion is the greatest challenge in model tackmaking.

I failed to double the foundation in the heel knot (the white).  Tired of fuss, I chose to let it be.  The earlier, smaller bosal now has grand ideas of its own hackamore, since the earlier mecate did not sell.  (Read:  didn't fetch what I wanted it to.)  If dreams can be counted on, such a hack might have silver... never mind I currently have 4 other small pieces going...

Meanwhile back to the vision I saw in that canyon in June!  Finally putting the pieces together and finally getting a morning without rain, I had a little photo shoot... and the trees promptly dripped water on him.

This is not the easiest piece to take on and off.  You need to untie both the fiador and the cheek strap.  I've long accepted models' inflexible long ears.  This horse has such a sweet face.  :)

To suggest what the entire rig might look like, I added the closest thing I had to a plain TSII saddle.  This is TSII #117, from 1985, my first good basketweave.  It's 33 years old... still looks good to me...

Remember I'm selling the Hackamore, NOT the saddle!!

The mecate's tail end, or leadrope, is tied to the horn.  The mecate is looped in the bosal to take up the space between jaw and fiador.  I love this picture (below) because it caught the curve of her neck and the dish of her face.

Only now do I discover how easy it is to pick up the horse with one hand and get a close shot with the other, at an angle that shows the tack so much better than standing her.  How long have I been shooting ponies here??  Twenty-five years...??!?
The jaw strap is actually needed on such a large head.

I recently found out the Spanish term for the tassel at the end of a mecate:  la mota.  This tassel and its button are better shown in this shot:

I was going to end here, but this last shot seems perfect for the day.  It's 9-11 and this is a frightened horse.

Reach out to your loved ones today (and every day).