Rachel Fail Custom Tack

Horse camping has always been something I wanted to do, it combines my extreme love of the outdoors with my passion for my horse, and it's DEFINITELY something I do more often. This was a great trip, that started with a night reserved at the Little Manatee State Park about 25 minutes from the Skyway Bridge in St. Pete, Florida. The cool thing about the Skyway Bridge, is that there is a little park you can park your horse trailer, and walk straight out into the Gulf, out to a sand bar (a bit tricky to get to if you don't know where you're going though), and ride about chest deep for a long ways. I took my good friends along: Lizz (right) with her Columbian Paso mare "Ticki Ticki" and Hali (left) with her Appendix gelding "Blazer" Cisco loves both their horses, but somehow he makes me feel like he only has eyes for me... Although the horses thoroughly enjoyed the water, they were all a little miffed they couldn't drink it, and p

Last year, as I started making more and more custom horse halters, my friend Lizz from the barn started helping me out with things in the studio.  Here she is with her Paso "Ticki Ticki":  She also has a baby goat named Clover: In January she joined the exclusive "Pony Club" at the barn when she rescued "Pastry" (Blue Halter by Lizz) Not many 15-year-olds have three mouths to feed, and Lizz is always eager for work.  Starting with sewing nose bands, she was a sponge for knowledge and eagerly dove in with learning the other aspects of the process. She's worked hard honing her skills carving, painting, and tooling.  A year later, here is a halter she made from start to finish for our friend Hali's horse Blazer:   She also recently made and designed this one for our barn friend Chico: A few months ago, she embarked on her first model horse tack project.  I'm confident that the result puts most of us tack makers'

I have been silent on my blog, and haven't really made much in the way of model tack for the last year.  I've been growing my "real" horse halter business on Etsy, and many have asked why. In March 2017, my dad suddenly passed away.  Living in Florida and having my family in Washington State, last year was a lot of travel, a lot of heart ache, and a lot of trying to put the pieces back together. My relationship with my dad is hard to put into words.  I'm not a good enough writer to do it justice.  He made me who I am today.  He thought I could do anything, always encouraging me to do my best, and led by example.  We both thought the same way, worked the same way, and were in harmony in a way I can't really explain.  He was generous, encouraging, and a fierce friend.  He was always happy to hear from me, always took a genuine interest in anything I had to say, and always up for a good laugh.  A lot of girls love their dads, but mine was my best friend. His pa