Ready for Hunting Season!

This is a project that I've had in the pipeline for about a year now. The main gist is that I wanted to have something for cold weather that could function both as a quarter sheet and as a big orange flag to hunters that we were not a deer. As rifle season starts in two days, I finished this just in time!

Kaylee made this herself! It's a purse made with my scrap pieces and is held together with rare earth magnets. It's pretty ingenious engineering, and modular to boot!

So materials list are:

2 yards of your fav fleece material. Every so often JoAnns (if you're US) has a sale on fleece. Go then.

3-4 packages of double fold bias tape quilt binding (A total of 9-12 yards)  NOTE:  9 yards was about 8 inches shy of what I needed. You may get more out of your binding if you don't make as big a hole.

1 foot of 3 inch wide velcro

sewing machine

thread

Here's my diagram. It's minimal cutting. Woo!

I folded my fabric in half such that it appeared when draped over a horse's backside it would be of a decent length to either side. Then I cut in along the fold but not all the way through. I made crescent cuts until I had opened up the middle of it so it would go around my body, while leaving the flat entrance.

Then, I put the quilt binding bias tape along the edge, pinned it in place and sewed it on. I didn't take many pictures of the sewing step. Sorry.

Sewing on the bias tape.

Once all the bias tape was sewn on, I separated my velcro pieces and pinned them in place on each of the fleece such that the flat sides where I cut could overlap and the velcro would attach to itself.  That's represented by the black and gray strip. Imagine the gray being on the underhalf of the fleece.

Ta-da! You're done! Unless you want to add a tail rope, which I might do at some point.

Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

The attachment with the velcro

See? Velcro!

Draped over Gwyn's butt, nice and orange! No mistaking us for deer!

I still need to test it during a ride but I'm pretty sure it will fit me better than the one I bought. The goal is for it to go over my legs to keep me warm too. It could also fit under a saddle flap if I wanted.

I'm pretty proud of this! I winged it hardcore and there was some anxiety as I cut into the fleece. No going back!

All for less than $30!


My next project is a riding skirt that can also function as a quarter sheet. And once I perfect that I'm going to splurge on some nice waterproof outwear fabric and make it from that for rainy rides.

Prepping for Mud

In a first for me, I decided to try doing a mud knot for Gwyn's tail to keep it up and out of the muck and mud as winter trudges ever toward us. We've had enough rain at this point that the creek has water in it. Saffron is making the most of the water and drier areas of the runs.

Tonight after the girls were in bed I headed out to do barn chores and decided that tonight was the night. Gwyn was getting her mud knot.

So after making up the grain and filling hay bags, I pulled Gwyn out and started grooming.

 First step was to get all the knots out of her tail. It's been a while since I did a thorough brushing so it took me a while to work through all the hair. Her friesian side is really strong with her mane and tail and she's got a LOT of tail. It grows well too and usually is near to or dragging on the ground. I used a human hair product that's basically just silicone dioxide for getting rid of tangles.



Look at that beautifully brushed tail that nearly touches the ground. LOOK AT IT.

So after brushing it you braid it. Start the braid below the tail bone. You want to leave a decent amount of room. I elasticed it off. Then you wrap it in vetwrap or similar self adhesive wrap. If it's fly season, apparently you add baling twine to act as the horse's tail to swat flies.

Final product. The vetwrapped part can swing freely and it keeps her tail up and out of the mud! We'll see how it goes. It didn't take me long to do, so I'll redo if necessary and/or reevaluate.