Alternate title for this post: "A collection of pictures you've already seen before, featuring Charlie's handsome head."
lol....
oldie but goodie
Anyway. When I went to pick Charlie up from the adoption facility, I was thrilled to find that he fit into the same lovely leather halter that Isabel wore (which I bought from Hawk ages ago). I adore this leather halter and couldn't believe my luck that it fit both horses!!
(you might point out here that, in fact, it *did not* fit Izzy... but that's just like, your opinion, man.)
beloved leather halter!! also from Day 1 with Chuckles, thus ye olde stud chain
Alas, the SOP at this barn is that halters hang on hooks at the pasture gate while horses are in turnout. Rain or shine. That lovely leather halter aged more in two weeks than it had in two years with Isabel. So finding a replacement for turnout became a new priority, one I satisfied in between bottles of wine with Stephanie and Austen at Dressage at Devon lol.
featuring two blue things from DAD! i'll review those pants eventually probably
All these Eskadron halters were tossed willy nilly in a big giant bin. TONS of cute colors, most with fun contrasting striping. But... wow pretty much all of them had GIANT logos right across the noseband. Uh. Thanks, but no thanks, Eskadron.
sad pony looks good in blue
Actually I'm pretty sure this was the only non-hideously-branded halter in the whole barrel, and it just so happened to be in exactly the color I wanted: Navy. With cute reflective stripes across the noseband, and extra padding on the noseband and crownpiece. And just one small logo tag along the cheek. Sorry it's blurry in the pic, but it says "Eskadron."
apparently we like blues haha
I paid $25 for this in regular horse size. It fits Charlie perfectly, looks cute on him, and hasn't shown any serious signs of wear on the material despite being out in the elements often (and occasionally getting completely covered in ice....). It has a slide fastener at the crown and a clip at the throatlatch.
so handsome tho
I would have preferred that the crown piece be leather for breakaway purposes... but actually the one time Charlie got upset in the cross ties (probably the one time in his life ever), he just backed right out of the halter without breaking anything.... and then stood waiting to be put back in again haha. Tho the hardware dinged his face up a little bit, poor guy :(
(while charlie conducts his daily inspection of his favorite tractor lol)
The little metal slide fastener on the crown piece is dotted with spots of rust already. But the rest of the hardware is fine, and so far it's fairly superficial on that one tab.... Worth noting anyway.
he's beautiful and he knows it
All in all tho, while I paid a little more than I expected to for a basic nylon halter, I actually really like this one. It's a cute color and design, but not overwhelming. As the fashion mavens might say, Charlie wears it, it doesn't wear Charlie. (that's totally what they say, right?)
And it stands out enough even without a name tag that it never gets confused among the rest of the turnout halters. I expect it to stick around for a while too! So. The halter gets a thumbs up. Would buy again.
Do you like fancy halters for your horses? Or will any old thing do? Do you have a separate halter for shows vs everyday use?
Poor Stinker had a purple halter but it has faded to a pinkish color. He also likes to use it as a chew toy since it hangs on the front of his stall. I do like that navy on Charlie tho! He is so handsome.
At my barn the horses go out in their halters so the boys always wear leather for safety. Usually I can get several years out of one and that's with me neglecting them completely. I did purchase one of the Tekna breakaway halters from RW (Bakersfield Dressage gave it a good review), which look like real leather and have nice padding but are really synthetic. It's next in the halter replacement queue.
Oh interesting! Sometimes I think leather fares better if the horse is wearing it vs if it's just hanging out in the elements. But I could be totally wrong lol
Emma. He's the handsomest. Seriously. I am so happy you're media obsessed because I love seeing ample photos of his cute face!
I'm still an endurance girl a heart, so no leather or nylon halters. Betathane and rope halters are all I've got. Rope halters forever have been and probably forever will be my favorite training tool ever. Doesn't hurt that I know how to tie one myself, so I get to have any color I can find rope in!
Ha awesome that you can make them yourself!!! Charlie wears a rope halter for all his ground work and lunging right now and I really like it for that. For turnout tho when the barn staff is handling all the horses at once, it just felt easier to get him something more in line with what the rest of the horses use.
Trainer also hangs halters at the gate when the horses are out. It led me to have two halters- a leather one for every day use, and a nice show halter for when he leaves the property. The every day one absolutely looks abused to bits, but it's holding up and every couple months I remember to clean it :)
Ha yea I'm sure this nylon one will eventually start looking ratty.... But I just couldn't handle seeing my pretty leather one get so rough so quickly!!! (And have maybe been babying it ever since lol)
My halter addiction MAY rival my saddle pad addiction. Dino currently has 4. He used to have 5 before the nice leather one that came with him died a tragic death. At our last barn halters stayed out on the fence during turnout, so it aged quite a bit. Now, halters stay in the tack room unless being worn, so his stuff stays a lot nicer even though he lives out. We have our 'everyday' plain leather halter, our 'fancy' leather halter with blue padding that I like to use for travel and shows, the backup nylon halter that lives in the trailer, and a red-with-snowflakes Christmas halter, because a well-dressed pony NEEDS a festive Christmas halter! I always have to drag myself away from the halters in tack shops. I have a problem.
Dino looks so fabulous in all his halters, obviously he NEEDS all of them!! I think I would be a halter hoarder (bc lets be real, I'm a hoarder about basically everything else) except that I'm also such a creature of habit that I always just use the same one over and over. My one saving grace lol
HA. Awesome. We have the rope halter top, but I'm currently not happy enough with the state of our trailer spare so count it among the bunch. So we have four... Probably will be five soon too!!
isabel had a tough head to fit too..... so annoying :(
and yea the no-breakaway isn't my favorite but so far charlie's been a total star about tying anywhere (and i typically tie using other breakaway {ie baling twine} methods and quick release knots) tho obvi anything can happen with any horse at any time...
My girl Cessa currently has... uh... seven halters? No, eight. And a half. Two rope halters and the remains of a ridiculously cheap nylon one she's damaged in the fun new game of "I can break this and walk away when I'm tied;" one really nice nylon one that I've got stashed away for shows; one nicer nylon one that she has to earn her way back into; and three rope halters in various configurations and one cheap nylon halter for project "is it still fun to try and leave if you're wearing as many halters as your head will fit?" Also like five lead ropes.
And then my little guy has one rope halter. And that's all he gets until he's, like, 3 or 4 and I'm reasonably sure that his head isn't going to get bigger.
omg Cessa, how naughty!! horses that know how to escape or free themselves are sooooo tricky (there are a couple other bloggers out there with similarly tricksy beasts) ugh. i'm good enough at breaking my own things, thanksverymuch, don't need equine help in the process!!!
It's so embarrassing! If it was an accident or something scary, I could understand. But yeah, no, I've watched it a time or two now, and she's definitely making the decision that she's bored now and going to leave.
I was unaware until recently that if a horse sets back while tied in a rope halter, the rope halter can stretch like a sonnuva-you-know-what, and at a certain point, if said horse drops their nose just right, the whole thing slides right off. The key word there is was. *sigh*
I really like leather halters. But in the winter they can get stiff and are probably not comfortable. When I bought Carmen I also picked up nylon halter with a leather crown piece at Dover. I love it and it's worn very well but my horses don't go out in halters so they aren't worn very much.
yea i think we're in a similar boat. charlie's only really ever wearing his halter for grooming/tacking/trailering. otherwise he is barefaced or bridled lol. but the time spent out in the elements for his turnout halter definitely puts wear and tear on it anyway...
Jesus I hate turn out halters, but I love halters in general. I have... many. Bailey gets the junker ones because she breaks things (three halters in like a year and a half, I hate her), and Foxie is actually wearing Bailey's "nice" leather halter for turnout right now because everything is rubbing holes in her face. They both have nice Buck Brannaman line rope halters for ground work (B also wears hers in the trailer and at shows) and matching customized nylon halters with colored overlays and their stable and show names embroidered on them for special occasions. I am obsessive about breakaway tabs so if I find a nice halter without... I install one of the ones that goes behind the buckle. That might be a way to replace the buckle on yours if it rusts past the point of use (not that I use poll buckles... I'm a cheek clip/slip over head person). Meanwhile a portion of the boarders at my barn turn horses out in rope halters every single day (and I have to leave annoying notes constantly to get my halters removed at night).
yea i may eventually put a breakaway tab on this one (tho it's not a buckle, it's a slide closure) tho we'll see haha. so annoying that Bailey keeps breaking all her halters tho!! i wouldn't want to give her anything nice either lol
I so desperately want a fancy leather halter with a nameplate. He's not getting it though. First, I haven't chosen a show name, and second, I get dragged around quite enough with the rope halter!
I like Charlies later! Good to know about the branding, the one in my online shopping basket likely has that crazy huge brand. I prefer the one Charlie has!
I have a nice leather one that used to be our daily, but the baths and constant Maryland humidity was starting to anger it. Now it hangs in my guest room, where my mother (who is deathly allergic to horses) can stare at it in horror from the guest bed. Today Pig uses a lovely black synthetic halter, with a spare brass nameplate that clashes horridly with the silver halter hardware. #dealwithit
My kids have lovely rope halters - blue for Zeph, red for Lou & pink for Whinney. They are great quality & have withstood several years of constant use. I don't actually envision ever having to replace them. We also had 3 very nice leather halters for floating, but Zeph has broken them all. So they served their purpose I guess.... :/
I've never owned a leather halter before though I always seriously window shop the crap out of them. I can't justify the cost with how abused my halter a get around my place. Maybe I'll get one when I start showing. With a fancy name plate! For now it's nylon in whatever color I need. Black for Ben, aqua for Aria, burgundy for Valeria.
Gina gets the naughty horse rope halter; pulling back is why she can't have nice things. Moe, who is a beautiful, perfect angel, has a regular old nylon halter for everyday use and a leather one for special occasions (like my wedding)!
Ohhh I love the reflective strips! Personally,I prefer leather halters myself but can never afford new ones. So my poor horses are stuck with hand-me-downs - that is perfectly functional leather halters I've picked up for next to nothing because they have other horses' name plates lol. And I used to get all my nylon halters at our Walmart because you could get a decent one for like $14 but they suddenly stopped carrying them so I dunno what's up with that. I've also got about 5 or 8 random rope halters lying around (I guess that makes me a halter junkie!)
I'm so jelly of people whose horses get to wear halters because I think they're even more fun to shop for than saddle pads. Sadly some of us have to make do with cow collars...
Poor Stinker had a purple halter but it has faded to a pinkish color. He also likes to use it as a chew toy since it hangs on the front of his stall.
ReplyDeleteI do like that navy on Charlie tho! He is so handsome.
But pink is such a good color on Stinker!!!! ;)
DeleteAt my barn the horses go out in their halters so the boys always wear leather for safety. Usually I can get several years out of one and that's with me neglecting them completely. I did purchase one of the Tekna breakaway halters from RW (Bakersfield Dressage gave it a good review), which look like real leather and have nice padding but are really synthetic. It's next in the halter replacement queue.
ReplyDeleteOh interesting! Sometimes I think leather fares better if the horse is wearing it vs if it's just hanging out in the elements. But I could be totally wrong lol
DeleteEmma. He's the handsomest. Seriously. I am so happy you're media obsessed because I love seeing ample photos of his cute face!
ReplyDeleteI'm still an endurance girl a heart, so no leather or nylon halters. Betathane and rope halters are all I've got. Rope halters forever have been and probably forever will be my favorite training tool ever. Doesn't hurt that I know how to tie one myself, so I get to have any color I can find rope in!
Ha awesome that you can make them yourself!!! Charlie wears a rope halter for all his ground work and lunging right now and I really like it for that. For turnout tho when the barn staff is handling all the horses at once, it just felt easier to get him something more in line with what the rest of the horses use.
DeleteTrainer also hangs halters at the gate when the horses are out. It led me to have two halters- a leather one for every day use, and a nice show halter for when he leaves the property. The every day one absolutely looks abused to bits, but it's holding up and every couple months I remember to clean it :)
ReplyDeleteHa yea I'm sure this nylon one will eventually start looking ratty.... But I just couldn't handle seeing my pretty leather one get so rough so quickly!!! (And have maybe been babying it ever since lol)
DeleteMy halter addiction MAY rival my saddle pad addiction. Dino currently has 4. He used to have 5 before the nice leather one that came with him died a tragic death. At our last barn halters stayed out on the fence during turnout, so it aged quite a bit. Now, halters stay in the tack room unless being worn, so his stuff stays a lot nicer even though he lives out. We have our 'everyday' plain leather halter, our 'fancy' leather halter with blue padding that I like to use for travel and shows, the backup nylon halter that lives in the trailer, and a red-with-snowflakes Christmas halter, because a well-dressed pony NEEDS a festive Christmas halter! I always have to drag myself away from the halters in tack shops. I have a problem.
ReplyDeleteDino looks so fabulous in all his halters, obviously he NEEDS all of them!! I think I would be a halter hoarder (bc lets be real, I'm a hoarder about basically everything else) except that I'm also such a creature of habit that I always just use the same one over and over. My one saving grace lol
DeleteOh, I forgot the rope halter I own because... why not? Dino has never worn it. I used it on a project horse years ago. So. Five halters. One pony.
ReplyDeleteHA. Awesome. We have the rope halter top, but I'm currently not happy enough with the state of our trailer spare so count it among the bunch. So we have four... Probably will be five soon too!!
Deletei have a really hard time fitting halters to runkles stupid head. his sit out on the fence in rain or shine as well.
ReplyDeletei'd like to say i use the nice leather halter he came with for shows but... the ratty purple one is all I use. sorry, Runkle :P
I like that one except the no breakaway tab would make me nerv.
isabel had a tough head to fit too..... so annoying :(
Deleteand yea the no-breakaway isn't my favorite but so far charlie's been a total star about tying anywhere (and i typically tie using other breakaway {ie baling twine} methods and quick release knots) tho obvi anything can happen with any horse at any time...
My girl Cessa currently has... uh... seven halters? No, eight. And a half. Two rope halters and the remains of a ridiculously cheap nylon one she's damaged in the fun new game of "I can break this and walk away when I'm tied;" one really nice nylon one that I've got stashed away for shows; one nicer nylon one that she has to earn her way back into; and three rope halters in various configurations and one cheap nylon halter for project "is it still fun to try and leave if you're wearing as many halters as your head will fit?" Also like five lead ropes.
ReplyDeleteAnd then my little guy has one rope halter. And that's all he gets until he's, like, 3 or 4 and I'm reasonably sure that his head isn't going to get bigger.
omg Cessa, how naughty!! horses that know how to escape or free themselves are sooooo tricky (there are a couple other bloggers out there with similarly tricksy beasts) ugh. i'm good enough at breaking my own things, thanksverymuch, don't need equine help in the process!!!
DeleteIt's so embarrassing! If it was an accident or something scary, I could understand. But yeah, no, I've watched it a time or two now, and she's definitely making the decision that she's bored now and going to leave.
DeleteI was unaware until recently that if a horse sets back while tied in a rope halter, the rope halter can stretch like a sonnuva-you-know-what, and at a certain point, if said horse drops their nose just right, the whole thing slides right off. The key word there is was. *sigh*
I really like leather halters. But in the winter they can get stiff and are probably not comfortable. When I bought Carmen I also picked up nylon halter with a leather crown piece at Dover. I love it and it's worn very well but my horses don't go out in halters so they aren't worn very much.
ReplyDeleteyea i think we're in a similar boat. charlie's only really ever wearing his halter for grooming/tacking/trailering. otherwise he is barefaced or bridled lol. but the time spent out in the elements for his turnout halter definitely puts wear and tear on it anyway...
DeleteJesus I hate turn out halters, but I love halters in general. I have... many. Bailey gets the junker ones because she breaks things (three halters in like a year and a half, I hate her), and Foxie is actually wearing Bailey's "nice" leather halter for turnout right now because everything is rubbing holes in her face. They both have nice Buck Brannaman line rope halters for ground work (B also wears hers in the trailer and at shows) and matching customized nylon halters with colored overlays and their stable and show names embroidered on them for special occasions. I am obsessive about breakaway tabs so if I find a nice halter without... I install one of the ones that goes behind the buckle. That might be a way to replace the buckle on yours if it rusts past the point of use (not that I use poll buckles... I'm a cheek clip/slip over head person). Meanwhile a portion of the boarders at my barn turn horses out in rope halters every single day (and I have to leave annoying notes constantly to get my halters removed at night).
ReplyDeleteyea i may eventually put a breakaway tab on this one (tho it's not a buckle, it's a slide closure) tho we'll see haha. so annoying that Bailey keeps breaking all her halters tho!! i wouldn't want to give her anything nice either lol
DeleteI know this will shock you, but I totally have a halter problem. C has.... 4? And if I had to leave one out for turnout, it would be more.
ReplyDeleteHA. yup. #totallyshocked ;)
DeleteI love a nice halter. Annie and Luna both have leather Halter's for daily use. Our halters hang under little covers though outside.
ReplyDeleteCharlie looks adorable.
I do have a show halter and day to day halter. My show Halter's don't get as abused and have show name not barn names on them :)
I so desperately want a fancy leather halter with a nameplate. He's not getting it though. First, I haven't chosen a show name, and second, I get dragged around quite enough with the rope halter!
ReplyDeleteI like Charlies later! Good to know about the branding, the one in my online shopping basket likely has that crazy huge brand. I prefer the one Charlie has!
ReplyDeleteI have a nice leather one that used to be our daily, but the baths and constant Maryland humidity was starting to anger it. Now it hangs in my guest room, where my mother (who is deathly allergic to horses) can stare at it in horror from the guest bed. Today Pig uses a lovely black synthetic halter, with a spare brass nameplate that clashes horridly with the silver halter hardware. #dealwithit
ReplyDeleteMy kids have lovely rope halters - blue for Zeph, red for Lou & pink for Whinney. They are great quality & have withstood several years of constant use. I don't actually envision ever having to replace them.
ReplyDeleteWe also had 3 very nice leather halters for floating, but Zeph has broken them all. So they served their purpose I guess.... :/
I've never owned a leather halter before though I always seriously window shop the crap out of them. I can't justify the cost with how abused my halter a get around my place. Maybe I'll get one when I start showing. With a fancy name plate!
ReplyDeleteFor now it's nylon in whatever color I need. Black for Ben, aqua for Aria, burgundy for Valeria.
lolz so much wine at Devon!
ReplyDeleteGina gets the naughty horse rope halter; pulling back is why she can't have nice things. Moe, who is a beautiful, perfect angel, has a regular old nylon halter for everyday use and a leather one for special occasions (like my wedding)!
Ohhh I love the reflective strips! Personally,I prefer leather halters myself but can never afford new ones. So my poor horses are stuck with hand-me-downs - that is perfectly functional leather halters I've picked up for next to nothing because they have other horses' name plates lol. And I used to get all my nylon halters at our Walmart because you could get a decent one for like $14 but they suddenly stopped carrying them so I dunno what's up with that. I've also got about 5 or 8 random rope halters lying around (I guess that makes me a halter junkie!)
ReplyDeleteI'm so jelly of people whose horses get to wear halters because I think they're even more fun to shop for than saddle pads. Sadly some of us have to make do with cow collars...
ReplyDeleteI kind of hate nylon halters. They just get icky. I love leather. I dig the new nylon with fleece padding though
ReplyDelete