Elf Equestrian Leathercraft LLC

05/08/2024

Bit less bridle horse size. $150. Color comes off a little so I don't guarantee it'll stay the crazy metallic purple/blue.

28/06/2024

Things I built that I keep forgetting to put up.

10/01/2024

Making up an anatomical bitless bridle in this green leather and mint green. It will be small horse sized. Up for sale if anyone wants to claim it. 🙂

29/11/2023

I'm opening up for January and Feb. I have some fittings already scheduled through May 2024. Please contact me on my business page or text. 🙂

07/11/2023

More bit less bridles that are great for lunging too.

05/11/2023

05/10/2023

So I'm going to do the scheduled fittings in October, but I'm still on leave until the end of October. Very rough start with several complications during and after birth. I'm unable to walk more than a couple yards so until I can stand and walk relatively normal I'm still off.
Thanks!

21/06/2023

July is almost full. August is filling rapidly. Remember I will not be around in Sept or Oct.

02/05/2023

September 2023- I will not be available for appointments or repairs in any capacity. As of right now I will not be answering messages at all or working the whole month.
October 2023- I will have very limited availability.
I'm not taking any new fitting clients for the rest of the year.

25/04/2023

Browband for a bridle I'm working on.

01/02/2023

Reminder March is fully booked. April is getting filled quickly.

01/02/2023

Aiken dates are Feb 20th-23rd. 🙂

03/01/2023

I'm booking up really quickly. I have no appointments left in March. Feb and April are booking up extremely quickly. Please remember that I only do appointments Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I also don't answer messages over holidays or weekends. You can send messages, but it will not be answered until the next business day. There's still major health things going on within my family so be patient and kind. Thanks!

Leather repair, custom work, saddle fitting, bridle work, and saddle repair.

25/12/2022

New sparkly halter. Grey with cherry stitching.

11/09/2022

I'm in Aiken, SC October 1st through the 5th for appointments. 🙂

10/09/2022

Lots of broken head plates, cantles, and rivets lately. Check your saddles for too much flexibility and creaking. Make sure your panels aren't damaged and are symmetrical.

13/06/2022

I have not been receiving messages on my business account or personal account until days or weeks later. It has to be something with my new phone because my email isn't notifying me either. If you are having issues please text. I do not have much available. If you work with another fitter please stay with them. I'm not working with people after another fitter. I have very, very limited availability and am not taking new clients.

10/05/2022

Please confirm appointments with me the night before. Since my phone exploded and my mom is sick my brain isn't where it's supposed to be.

05/05/2022

Nothing will be answered until next week. Thanks!

06/04/2022

As a reminder, I fit western saddles, but I do not sell or repair them.

04/04/2022

Why wool?

I get a lot of people asking why I always suggest real wool flocked saddles, wool felt pads, sheepskin half pads, and shearling on the bottom of western saddles.

Wool is not broken down by sun and sweat like foam. It actually is uv protective weirdly enough. It absorbs moisture without causing friction. It stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It also repels mold, bacteria, and mildew. The breathability is a major plus

Wool is extremely durable and lasts generations as clothing. Foam starts breaking down the minute it comes in contact with sweat or sun. When friction happens with wool and water it will felt. Felt will still spring back and has a great deal of impact resistance. Felt reduces vibration by quite a lot. Musicians actually use it to sound proof rooms because it cuts the vibration down so much. It redistributes the impact across the material to reduce pressure per inch square.

Wool will mold to a horse's back and allow for a much closer fit than foam. Panel design in most wool flocked saddles allows the horse to have more surface contact on their back and more adjustment for better surface contact. There a no edges that will dig into a horse's back in a wool flocked panel. Wool is softer than the muscle tissue so it doesn't cut off the capillaries.

There's quite a few studies out on saddle pads materials. Some medical grade foams are great for saddle pads, however, sheepskin/felt is always good.

30/03/2022

April is full. May is filling up! Make your appointments soon!

17/03/2022

My hazel and deerskin baroque is for sale. MW sheepskin seat cover. $1850

10/02/2022

Getting there!

30/01/2022

I found this article about chronic low back pain in humans and all I could think about was horses.

Chronic back pain in humans is being studied more and more because of how common it is.

Chronic lower back pain is overwhelmingly consistent with unhealthy fascia.

All fascia, but especially fascia in the low back (thoracolumbar fascia) is jam-packed full of nerves and mechanoreceptors.

Mechanoreceptors are specialized cells that report specific information to the brain. Some cells reports pain, some report pressure, soft touch, vibration, and so on.

Nerves and mechanoreceptors in the fascia are responsible for proprioception - knowing where body parts and joints are in space - because input from nerves in the fascia travel to the brain 3 times faster and 10 times as often than other sensory messages carried to the brain.

The interesting and unfortunate scenario is that one of the areas of most densely packed nerves and mechanoreceptors is also the site of most commonly found unhealthy fascia.

The results of the study go on to discuss the benefit that manual therapy has on the fascia, proprioception, and pain.

Unhealthy, dehydrated, and poorly gliding fascia on the low back results in more pain.

More pain results in more proprioceptive deficits - poor body and joint positioning awareness.

The pain cycle continues.

Ever have that bad dull ache in your back that seems to radiate everywhere? You can’t really specify with one finger where it hurts, “it just hurts around here”

Think of your back pain on your worst day and think of how you were holding the rest of your body - probably in a way that most serves protecting your back - and it’s probably not the most athletic positioning.

Think again of that back pain on your worst day. Now I give you an algebra equation to complete. You can’t think much beyond the pain, right?

Now let’s put a saddle on that back.

Depending on the severity, it may be hard for that horse to place their feet correctly every step. It may be hard to figure out that new thing you’re teaching them.

Can they do it? Of course. They’re horses.
Could they do it better? Probably.

The fascia is an entire network that encases the whole body.
That means if we think of fascia like a full sized onesie sweater, a snag in the onesie of fascia is pulling on other areas of the body as well.

“Fascia should therefore be considered a cause of pain and proprioceptive deficits and treatment should be applied accordingly. Manual therapy could be used to regain proprioceptive acuity in the region of pain. The passive movement with different frequencies, amplitudes and intensities stimulates fascial tissue and the mechanoreceptors. Through this stimulation, additional proprioceptive input is generated, which could lead to altered central processing. This in turn leads to tonus regulation and better performance in proprioceptive assessments. “

Healthy fascia is so important.

You don’t have to know everything to get started working on your own horse.

You know how good it feels to have your own back rubbed, try out a pressure you would like yourself and spend about 5 minutes before each ride working on your own horse. I’ll bet they don’t hate it 🙂

Kopeinig, C., Gödl-Purrer, B. & Salchinger, B. Fascia as a Proprioceptive Organ and its Role in Chronic Pain - a Review of Current Literature. Saf Health 1, A2 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/2056-5917-1-S1-A2

18/01/2022

https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/side-saddle-design/ Lee and the Nikkels on side saddle trees. Brilliant stuff.

We took advantage of the opportunity to examine a top quality side saddle and figure out some of its design features, as well as learn from someone who knows a LOT about side saddles. Here's some of what we learned.

15/01/2022

Working on a new western side saddle. Very wide. So fun!