Hats & Knives

[waynorth]

I bought two OKCA hats from Mr. Barry . I love to buy one hat when a snag a knife from Gunstock Jacks Knives. I never cared for Charlie Hats. They looked tacky to me. After looking at the Charley Hats on "Hat & Knives" ! I think I might buy one on my next Gunstock Jacks Knives purchase.

I am glad you changed your mind!! They are very well made!!

 

[Onearmbladenut]

I am glad you changed your mind!! They are very well made!!

Sometimes things don't look that well on a computer screen. You can tell how nice that "Charlie" hat really is in that photo. I should be a shame to think that Mr. Charlie would sell a cheap knife hat. Mr. Charlie you do have the best taste in knives on this Blade Forum web-sight , for sure. I'll be snagging a "Charlie" hat after the #74 run. I own three Charlie C. "Waynorth" knives and I am very proud of them. Thank You Sir.

 

[Horsewright]

Fixing fence:

I had lots of help from my very curious 3 year old filly:

 

[cudgee]

my very curious 3 year old filly:

She is only a tiny little thing, but a beautiful roan coat and good looking filly. In the top photo, what is that hanging down behind the pommel on the saddle, down the right hand side to the stirrups, just curious.

 

[Misplaced Hillbilly]

cudgee
If I may impose and give an answer, I pretty sure its the trailing end of the reins. I'm only passingly familiar with Buckaroo style reining,but I believe the tail of them can be used as a quirt. The bead like parts on the rein is used to communicate with the horse. Those reins and the chains to the bit is a clue to someone riding in the buckaroo tradition. Buckaroos are usually great horsemen/women and amazing to watch rope imho.

 

[cudgee]

cudgee
If I may impose and give an answer, I pretty sure its the trailing end of the reins. I'm only passingly familiar with Buckaroo style reining,but I believe the tail of them can be used as a quirt. The bead like parts on the rein is used to communicate with the horse. Those reins and the chains to the bit is a clue to someone riding in the buckaroo tradition. Buckaroos are usually great horsemen/women and amazing to watch rope imho.

 

[Horsewright]

She is only a tiny little thing, but a beautiful roan coat and good looking filly. In the top photo, what is that hanging down behind the pommel on the saddle, down the right hand side to the stirrups, just curious.

David got it just right. Its the end of the reins and is called a romal. These type of reins are called romal reins or when I was young they were often referred to as California reins. As David mentioned the romal can be used as a quirt but its biggest use is as a counter balance. Take up slack from the horse and then reward the horse for his correct response by feeding slack back. These reins are hand braided from rawhide and were made by my friend Vince Donley, one of the greatest braiders on the planet. Here's Vince with a hat and and a knife, (we traded).

In the vaquero horsemanship tradition here in California (V 's were pronounced as a B in Californio Spanish, so it was pronounced Bahquero which got Anglicized to buckaroo), as its practiced today there are four stages of training a horse. My filly above, Lil Sis is in the first stage being ridden in the snaffle bit.. The snaffle bit is very mild and works off of lateral pressure there is no leverage to a snaffle bit. Might ride her for a year or so this way, nothing set in stone though, maybe longer maybe not so long depends on her. After that we'd ride the horse in the hackamore from the Spanish, La Jaquima. This is a rawhide noseband (what Vince is holding in the first pic of him). A hackamore is made up of three parts. The noseband, what Vince is holding called a bosal. A leather strap called a hanger to hold it on the horses head and the reins made out of twisted mane hair called a mecate. Only when all three parts are together is it a hackamore. Here Miss Emma is riding her mestano in the hackamore. Nothing in the horse's mouth just the rawhide noseband:

She's smiling so big cause she just smoked the competition:

And of course she wears a knife with her hat:

The horse might be ridden in the hackamore for a year or two, again no absolute timeline. This is after all, the land of manana. As the horse progresses, the bosals will decrease in diameter going from 5/8"s to 1/2" to 3/8"s to sometimes even a 1/4". But besides this progression, a guy's gonna need different stiffnesses in the varying sizes too. It literally takes a wall full of stuff to do this right. Ya need a bunch of mecates as well as they need to be the same diameter as the bosal you are using them on.

The next step is where things get complicated. Its called the two rein because the horse is now being ridden in two different sets of reins at the same time. At the start you are using just the mecate reins of the small hackamore under the bridle. In the middle you use both sets of reins evenly and at the end you are using just the bridle reins. Here's a pic of the wife with her knife and hat riding Josie her roan mare in the two rein:

This two rein step can be six months or two years, always manana.

The final step is straight up in the bridle or what we call a bridle horse. This is me riding Sonny straight up, dragging this soggy bull calf out to be processed. When roping the romal of the reins is flipped over to the left side to keep it getting tangled in the rope and you can see that in these shots:

Knife and hat in action:

Now a bridle horse will still wear a very small bosalita or under bridle noseband and a "get down rope." We NEVER lead a horse by the reins. We've just spent years protecting and refining his mouth. So ya have a get down rope to lead the horse with when you "get down." Here on Downtown Mr Brown you can see the rawhide bosalita and the black and white get down rope that is tied around the base of his neck and coiled and tied at the base of the fork of my saddle. Sometimes ya might run the get down through the bottom of the bosalita to help them lead a little better if you are getting down a lot. Thats how Nichole my wife had it on Bonita above when she was fixing fence.

These days Josie is straight up in the bridle too.

Its a lifetime pursuit, you're never gonna get there, there's always more, always manana:

Hats and knives:

Oh and fancy loops? Dwight here is throwing a shot I've never seen anybody else even try to throw. He's swinging this loop backwards, when he releases it will roll over 180 degrees on its axis and come in behind and around the butt of the cow and then end up in front of the back legs coming in from the left side. My son Logan, on Downtown Mr Brown has the head:

Fancy loops a whole nuther story!

Knives and hats:

 

[screened porch]

In the vaquero horsemanship tradition here in California (V 's were pronounced as a B in Californio Spanish, so it was pronounced Bahquero which got Anglicized to buckaroo)

Never knew that.

 

[Horsewright]

Never knew that.

Yeah vaca (cow) was baca.

 

[5K Qs]

Never knew that.

Me either; I thought that etymology of "buckaroo" was very interesting.
And it makes a lot of sense to me. My daughter lived in Madrid, Spain for several years, and I visited her once. I noticed that same "b" sound for the letter "v", as well as the lispy "th" sound for some cases of the letters "c" and "z" (I think it depends on the vowel that comes after the "c" or "z"). Cerveza becomes something like therbetha.

- GT

 

[cudgee]

David got it just right. Its the end of the reins and is called a romal. These type of reins are called romal reins or when I was young they were often referred to as California reins. As David mentioned the romal can be used as a quirt but its biggest use is as a counter balance. Take up slack from the horse and then reward the horse for his correct response by feeding slack back. These reins are hand braided from rawhide and were made by my friend Vince Donley, one of the greatest braiders on the planet. Here's Vince with a hat and and a knife, (we traded).

In the vaquero horsemanship tradition here in California (V 's were pronounced as a B in Californio Spanish, so it was pronounced Bahquero which got Anglicized to buckaroo), as its practiced today there are four stages of training a horse. My filly above, Lil Sis is in the first stage being ridden in the snaffle bit.. The snaffle bit is very mild and works off of lateral pressure there is no leverage to a snaffle bit. Might ride her for a year or so this way, nothing set in stone though, maybe longer maybe not so long depends on her. After that we'd ride the horse in the hackamore from the Spanish, La Jaquima. This is a rawhide noseband (what Vince is holding in the first pic of him). A hackamore is made up of three parts. The noseband, what Vince is holding called a bosal. A leather strap called a hanger to hold it on the horses head and the reins made out of twisted mane hair called a mecate. Only when all three parts are together is it a hackamore. Here Miss Emma is riding her mestano in the hackamore. Nothing in the horse's mouth just the rawhide noseband:

She's smiling so big cause she just smoked the competition:

And of course she wears a knife with her hat:

The horse might be ridden in the hackamore for a year or two, again no absolute timeline. This is after all, the land of manana. As the horse progresses, the bosals will decrease in diameter going from 5/8"s to 1/2" to 3/8"s to sometimes even a 1/4". But besides this progression, a guy's gonna need different stiffnesses in the varying sizes too. It literally takes a wall full of stuff to do this right. Ya need a bunch of mecates as well as they need to be the same diameter as the bosal you are using them on.

The next step is where things get complicated. Its called the two rein because the horse is now being ridden in two different sets of reins at the same time. At the start you are using just the mecate reins of the small hackamore under the bridle. In the middle you use both sets of reins evenly and at the end you are using just the bridle reins. Here's a pic of the wife with her knife and hat riding Josie her roan mare in the two rein:

This two rein step can be six months or two years, always manana.

The final step is straight up in the bridle or what we call a bridle horse. This is me riding Sonny straight up, dragging this soggy bull calf out to be processed. When roping the romal of the reins is flipped over to the left side to keep it getting tangled in the rope and you can see that in these shots:

Knife and hat in action:

Now a bridle horse will still wear a very small bosalita or under bridle noseband and a "get down rope." We NEVER lead a horse by the reins. We've just spent years protecting and refining his mouth. So ya have a get down rope to lead the horse with when you "get down." Here on Downtown Mr Brown you can see the rawhide bosalita and the black and white get down rope that is tied around the base of his neck and coiled and tied at the base of the fork of my saddle. Sometimes ya might run the get down through the bottom of the bosalita to help them lead a little better if you are getting down a lot. Thats how Nichole my wife had it on Bonita above when she was fixing fence.

These days Josie is straight up in the bridle too.

Its a lifetime pursuit, you're never gonna get there, there's always more, always manana:

Hats and knives:

Oh and fancy loops? Dwight here is throwing a shot I've never seen anybody else even try to throw. He's swinging this loop backwards, when he releases it will roll over 180 degrees on its axis and come in behind and around the butt of the cow and then end up in front of the back legs coming in from the left side. My son Logan, on Downtown Mr Brown has the head:

Fancy loops a whole nuther story!

Knives and hats:

Thank you for the detailed and comprehensive reply, i used to work in the horse industry and have a friend who breaks in horses so know the work that goes into them. You have some beautiful country over there my friend, and are a lucky man to be surrounded by such beautiful women if i am not out of order in saying that.. So take care and look after yourselves, and tell the girls they have an admirer from down under.

 

[Prester John]

Yeah vaca (cow) was baca.

"B" de "burro" o "V" de "vaca"?

 

[cudgee]

"B" de "burro" o "V" de "vaca"?

 

[Prester John]

It's what Spanish speakers might say when spelling something because the b and the v are pronounced practically the same. My name is Vincent. Many years ago, one of my bosses, a chef from Mexico, would always call me "Benson" (at least that's what it sounded like to me).

 

[Wurrwulf]

Horsewright , I've definitely missed your detailed and informative posts! Thanks for the knowledge.

I've got no historical knowledge (or any other knowledge ) to provide, so I'll just say, "GEAUX PELS!"

 

[Mitt]

I ran it to this guy one time in an elevator. I think he used to drive cars or something.

 

[5K Qs]

Horsewright , I've definitely missed your detailed and informative posts! Thanks for the knowledge.

I've got no historical knowledge (or any other knowledge ) to provide, so I'll just say, "GEAUX PELS!"

Great to see the green nut again, Shawn! (I'm referring to the knife, not you. )
Nice hat, too!
Did you guys just hire the Detroit Pistons coach from several years ago?

- GT

 

[paulhilborn]

That’s a good looking hat, David. I like the wide brim. I haven’t worn a cowboy hat since I was a kid, but if I was going to wear one, I think I’d want one with a fairly wide brim, otherwise I’d probably end up looking like Oliver Hardy.

I’ve posted this photo here before, but this is the hat I wear most days.

Here is my (@ least 12 year old) Twins hat. One of my absolute favorites I wore it often power washing Decks, fences, cedar and asphalt roofs, so it was exposed to pool grade bleach a lot I just can't part with it

 

[Horsewright]

Thank you for the detailed and comprehensive reply, i used to work in the horse industry and have a friend who breaks in horses so know the work that goes into them. You have some beautiful country over there my friend, and are a lucky man to be surrounded by such beautiful women if i am not out of order in saying that.. So take care and look after yourselves, and tell the girls they have an admirer from down under.

Not out of order my friend at all! I shall pass on the kind words. Sorry been a few since I could respond. I was out taking pics of knives and hats. We had our fall works there at the ranch and that always takes a few days.

Lil Sis's first time gathering cattle, she did great:

My daughter Ally on the other side:

Ally helping mom take attendance (after three circles that day we were only at about 60 percent):

Our friend Mary Kay was helping:

So was Tyler:

At the end of our third circle we were right at dark and couldn't see enough to take attendance on the last group of about 30 we brought in so we kept them separated in a different pen till morning. Meanwhile Brother Bill our ranch cook had nice warm taco soup on the fire. Our ponies were tired and sore and so were the riders. Breakfast next morning. But we got there and breakfast had to wait. Stay tuned for the further adventures of knives and hats!

 

[cudgee]

Not out of order my friend at all! I shall pass on the kind words. Sorry been a few since I could respond. I was out taking pics of knives and hats. We had our fall works there at the ranch and that always takes a few days.

Lil Sis's first time gathering cattle, she did great:

My daughter Ally on the other side:

Ally helping mom take attendance (after three circles that day we were only at about 60 percent):

Our friend Mary Kay was helping:

So was Tyler:

At the end of our third circle we were right at dark and couldn't see enough to take attendance on the last group of about 30 we brought in so we kept them separated in a different pen till morning. Meanwhile Brother Bill our ranch cook had nice warm taco soup on the fire. Our ponies were tired and sore and so were the riders. Breakfast next morning. But we got there and breakfast had to wait. Stay tuned for the further adventures of knives and hats!