Earlier this month I decided to join in on National Model Tack Month, or NMTM for short. The goal is to make any sort of tack during the month of April. More detailed info on it can be found here!
Honestly I don’t really need to add another new project to the workbench, but since this is a group thing I wanted to play too. I think it’s great that so many people have gotten involved already – being part of a hobby community is something I have really missed so I’m enjoying it so far.
I decided that my project would be an in-hand set for my Woodbridge, which is one of those things that I’ve been wanting to make, but haven’t gotten around to doing yet. (story of my life, haha)
The project doesn’t officially start till April 1st, but I’ve been trying to prepare some things in advance. Mainly this involves going through dozens and dozens of reference photos, and spending a lot of time on Google and Flickr, searching for more.
Even though I have loads of photos saved, I still found it really difficult. These sets vary and large, clear images are hard to find, especially of tough spots that aren’t normally photographed. I did luck out with two huge images of the same horse, taken from each side, so that was helpful.
Once that was decided I started sketching it out on paper. My drawings are crude and full of notes and scribbles and whatnot, but I find it extremely helpful to draw out the assembled piece, as well as every single strap.
This allows me to figure out how I’m going to assemble everything, as well as give me a better idea of what I’ll need in terms of supplies.
With that done, I went through my stash of leather and laces…
… as well as my hoard of hardware. I didn’t realize just how much I’ve collected over the years… yikes!
I’m pretty sure I have everything I need. This set will challenge me in several ways, I think. Also, completing a tack set in a month will be a challenge in itself, as I’m quite bad about getting personal projects done. But I’m looking forward to it and am looking forward to following everyone else’s progress as well!
Desktop Stables 
Where do you get your leather lace from? The roll that it’s on looks very very similar to the roll that the lace I use is on
Mostly from Rio Rondo, but I’ve also ordered lace from Springfield Leather 🙂