Woman's Hair Headstall

I found this headstall in a shop near Mexico City. It has the most wonderful combination of knots and tassels. It is extremely coarse and prickly! The maker said it combined horse hair and "woman's hair". I am guessing the horse hairs used were quite short, perhaps being from the horse's mane (thus the prickly nature). I don't know if the woman's hair was used to make the black decorative parts, or mixed with the mane hair to provide a different texture or structure than mane hair alone.

It's a neat wall decoration, in any case.

In the western US, some riders use horsehair reins or headstalls made of a combination of horsehair and rawhide. To see some of this old-style "buckaroo" cowboy equipment, take a look at this page.

Here is a close-up.

Comments

[Bonnitta Roy]

Great photos - I could really feel the prickly/itchiness. At first I was confused, thinking this was something for a woman to wear in her hair! Maybe there is a fashion market for a cross-over between horse style and human style.