Nice thing to do with old horse's headcollar?

Natch

Natch

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 November 2007
Messages
11,616
Visit site
Just after some inspiration really. :)

My Henry's headcollar is sitting there unused for the last 10 years, and won't ever be used on another horse, but for some reason its the one piece of his tack and equipement that I'd really like to keep as a keepsake of him. Its a red nylon one, with shiny brass fittings, and I was just wondering if anyone had any really nice and creative ideas of things I could do with it to either display it or turn it into a nice keepsake of some other sort. :confused: I've drawn a blank, other than hang it from a hook on the wall, which in all honestly would probably just look daft to anyone but me :o Don't want it to get lost in a tack room, definately do want to keep it, and definately don't want to use it on another animal, so... ? I'm thinking along the lines of maybe making a chunky bracelet out of it, (possibly would just look silly) or a picture frame (naff) ... and am hoping you lot may be able to come up with something nicer to do with it :)

Cookies and hot choccy with baileys to all
 
Could you use the brass buckles to make a bracelet (if you gave it to a jeweller they could design something?)
 
Could you incorporate it into a handbag? I have a vague idea of a brown leather bag with the red nylon and brass buckle being used as a fastener.
 
Depending on what your style is you could consider:
- a belt, perhaps using the brass bits to join multiple bits of the Nylon together to retain a hint of the headcollar about it. If you go down this route, you could also consider using one of those western belt buckles with horses on it to make it a more obviously "horsey" piece of clothing.

- a canvas bag/tote bag. Poster-bags with big pictures printed on them seem to be coming increasingly popular. It would probably be possible to get a nice picture of the horse printed to be one side of the bag (or the flap if you want a bag that closes properly, and then use the headcollar for handles on it or a strap

- I like your bracelet idea. If I was doing it, I would probably attach some horse themed silver/pewter charms to it by sewing the loops from them onto the middle of the flat side of the headcollar (if that makes any sense...) to make it a bit more interesting.
Another option which might go with more things would be to just use a plain loop with the original buckle, and then to embroider his name so it would sit on top of your wrist when worn, or perhaps get a small nameplate done, bend it slightly so it matches the shape of the bracelet, and then fix that to the top of the bracelet.

I also think your idea of a picture frame is nice, and might be most consistent with the idea of keeping it as a memory of him. A variation on that would be, if you have plenty of pictures of him, to lay out the head collar kind of in the style of a film strip, and then attach minaturised pictures of him all along it. It would probably be tricky to execute really well (more than my patience would allow me to produce with any style I suspect) but could look really cool if you have more skill and patience than me. Its really hard to put these ideas into words that make sense though.
 
would you want to damage it though??

Personally i would probably wrap it up (tissue paper etc) in a box with pictures, headcollar, lock of hair and leave it in my room. couldnt break it :o
 
I have also kept headcollars of horses I have lost. I have either had large photos or artwork of them done and simply hung the headcollar on the corner of the frame. Not very original I admit though!

I may be silly, but would not like to break up their headcollars at all.
 
Clean it up and have it framed?


I've kept Tiggy's headcollar. Dizzy uses it, but it feels wrong :rolleyes:. And the last rug she wore, which will be in my sitting room or snug when we get moved, to wrap round me on chilly evenings :).
 
Thanks all, some fantastic ideas. I still like the idea of a bracelet, particularly with some nice charms, and the handbag idea sounds good (although probably more like something I'd use for a few years then either break or decide I'm not that kooky any more :o amd I want something long term out of it. )

Loopylozza, I'm not 100% sure I want to cut it up, no! :o Just thought i'm not displaying it at the moment (cos I don't know how!) so would toy with the idea too see if anything clicked.

KamKam, that sounds nice, simple and understated, which I also really like (mine hung on the end of the curtain rail until I redecorated so it cant any more!). Unfortunately I don't have any big enough photos of him, they're all A5 or less, and not the type that would blow up successfully.

MrsM, I'm not sure if a headcollar would frame ok or just look weird? Your rug being used to snuggle into sounds so nice, I'm thinking I may have to do that with his cooler which I loved :)

Ponyfeet - oooohh nice... just not sure I have the space for that!
 
Last edited:
Or just get a really tall, elegant glass vase and carefully tangle the headcollar up inside it with pea lights, maybe dark ruby ones if you can find them. Or bright white for contrast. Go for understated x
 
Got the idea from a friend which was doing the same thing with her dogs collar :)

The glass vase idea sounds brill too, especially with the lights!! Personally I wouldn't want to change it in any way by cutting it up to make something but that's just me :D the horse wore it whole so I think it should stay whole!

Let us know what you decide!!
 
I would get a box frame, cover the back of it with really nice paper then do a montage of photos on it, put some pins in to hold head collar on then put headcollar in it (in the shpe of how it is worn).

Does that make sense?

x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top