Model Horse Leather Halter

I have always loved horses and have amassed a decent sized collection of model horses. Its been awhile but I wanted to pick back up making tack for my models. I thought of how hard it was for me when I was younger to find good model tack instructions so, I thought I would do my part and share what I've learned.

These instructions are for a fairly detailed leather halter. It is very easy to simplify the design and there are several parts that are easy to replace with something simpler. Experiment and see what you want and what works best for you.

Good Luck!!

-Leather lace or ribbon

-Craft wire (22 gage)

-*Optional* Jump rings

-Glue (hot glue, tacky glue etc)

-Craft knife or scissors

-Jewelry Pliers (needle nose and round nose)

-Model horse

I tried my best to make this as accurate to real life as possible, So I found some reference photos. These instructions will cover how to make a detailed leather halter but can be easily altered to make simpler versions. Its best to find some with different angles and some with halters on horses and some without. This will make it easier to size it properly.

This step is dependent on the material you are using (if its ribbon go right ahead and jump the the next step) and the size of model you use. I made this halter for a Classic size Breyer horse (1:12 scale) and my leather lace was the wrong size. To fix this I used my craft knife to CAREFULLY thin the backside of the lace (also called skiving). The lace was also a little bit too wide so I laid it flat and used a ruler to make a straight cut to thin it down.

There are five different types of hardware needed for the leather halter (not all are entirely necessary for a simpler halter).

-square cheekpieces (2)

-rings (3)

-d-rings (1)

-buckles (3)

-hooks (1)

Square Cheekpieces

To make the square pieces it is easiest to take the needle nose pliers and grab the end of your wire. Bend the wire to make a 90°. Take the pliers and grab the long tail of the wire, I keep one side of the pliers flush with the already bent portion to help keep the all the sides the same length. Bend the wire to a 90° again and repeat these steps until it forms a square. Cut the wire near the square. Make another.

Rings

If you don't have jump rings in a size that looks correct in relation to your model it is easy to make a couple. Take the wire and either wrap it around one side of the round-nosed pliers or wrap it around another round object. I used the ink cartridge of a pen I had lying around. Cut the excess wire and make two more.

D-Ring

This is easiest to make if you have needle nosed pliers. Take the end of the wire and clamp it in the pliers. Pull the rest of the wire around the top of the pliers and down. Cut off the excess wire.

Buckles

The best way to describe how to make these is start by making a square piece but don't cut the tail of the wire. Instead make part of another square using one edge of the first as the fourth edge of the second. Cut the excess and repeat two more times

Hook

This is probably the most difficult to make. Start by grabbing the end of the wire with the tip of the needle nose pliers and bending the tail to about a 45° angle. Grab the tail right at the bend, and bend the rest of the tail to meet the end. Now straighten the tail. A little bit away from where the wire forms a sort of triangle shape use the round nosed pliers or something else small and round to bend the wire around. Don't wrap it all the way like with the rings. Cut the excess wire. Grab the hook part with the pliers and twist it 90°.

Take one of the squares and thread a piece of lace through. Fold a little of the leather over. Make sure the wrong sides, or the less pretty sides, are touching. Use some glue to stick this tab to the other side.

Using a reference picture place it on one side of the model and measure where the square will need to be on the other side. Before cutting the lace make sure to add a little extra to make the tab for gluing the square on.

The side of the lace that the tabs are glued to should always be against the horse. This makes the outside of the halter look nice.

Grab a buckle and using the same techniques as the previous step, lace the lace around the middle of the buckle and glue it in place.

Now using either the regular sized lace, or slimmed-down lace, make a small loop. It needs to be just big enough to fit the thickness of two pieces of lace through it. Glue the loop. Make two.

Set all these pieces aside, assembly will come soon.

Take another piece of lace and using the same gluing technique, attach it to the same squares of the nosepiece. Place the nosepiece on the model. The lace that was just added should lay across the cheek under the eye. Check with references to ensure the proper size before cutting the lace a little past the eye (Remember to leave some extra for gluing). Attach one of the round rings. Repeat this process on the other side.

Attach another piece of lace to the round rings attached in step six. Thread the lace around the middle of the buckle keeping the lace pretty short, cut the excess, and glue. Repeat on the other side (not necessary for buckles to be on both sides, it depends on the halter, but two seems to be the most common.)

For the actual crown piece cut a piece of lace that will be long enough to thread through both buckles and fit around the crown of the model. It's easiest to try it on the model before cutting. Leave a little extra on both ends to make it easier to adjust.

Remember you can always trim some off but you can't add length back on.

Grab the d-ring and a round ring. Open the round ring and attach it to the flat part of the d-ring. Glue a piece of lace to the flat part of the d-ring.

There should be three main pieces now. The nose, cheek, and crown pieces all together, the chin pieces (don't forget the little loops), and the new connecting strap. This part gets a little complicated so really look at some references for more clarity.

Take the buckle with the lace that was made in step 5 and put one of the loops onto the lace close to the buckle.

Thread this lace through the square ring of the nose piece, and through the loop on the other side.

Thread the ring from the connecting strap and the other loop onto the lace.

Put the lace through the other square ring and through the loop on the other side.

Put the lace through the connecting strap ring and thread the end of the lace through the buckle.

Trim the lace making sure to leave enough to allow it to be adjusted.

On one of the round rings connected to the cheekpieces attach another piece of lace.

Another kind of complicated part here. Place the halter on the model and pull the connecting strap lace towards the neck. Fold the lace and glue it down, leaving enough room between the two sides for another piece of lace through.

Thread the throat latch lace through this new hole.

On the opposite cheekpiece hook the hook through the ring.

Take the throat latch lace and thread it through the triangle of the hook.

Trim and glue the lace around the hook.

All the pieces are put together. The last thing to do is to put it on the model and fit it properly. The buckles should allow for some adjustment. Model horses have a wide variety of head sizes so the halter might not fit all. If that's the case, make one using that model when putting the halter together