Advanced Braidwork for the Model Horse



August 2025:  At last, after more than 3 years in the writing, the Timaru Star II is pleased to present our next book, Advanced Braidwork for the Model Horse, fondly referred to as the Abaft (because 'abaft-muh' is tooo clumsy!).  There is a lot of braiding instruction out there, but almost none for the 1:9 scale model horse.  I have wanted to document my miniature braidwork techniques for many years, and this is it!  This 225 page book exhaustively covers eight of my favorite pieces of braided headgear and includes an Interlude with 5 more related subjects like Braided Rings and Rawhide Connectors, not to mention the Coda of rawhide braided Snow Shoes.  There are 47 beautifully hand-drawn full page Plates and 323 photographs (all but 2 in color), buttressed by a couple of full page drawings.  This is a book to inspire and expand the skills of any model tackmaker or aspiring miniature braider.  It is aimed at those who have read the Guide but can be read on its own.  It is truly a dream come true for me.

The lower part of this page includes descriptions of the 15 chapters and photos which are 'alternate views of those on the back cover.'  Rinker's Plate is here too, although somewhat uncleaned; it's much nicer in the book.  There's also a list of seven blog posts about the progress on this enormous project, surely my magnum opus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    The book is divided into 10 Sections for ease of uploading.  The total MB of all the Sections is 392.9.
   
  • Section A:
    •  Front Cover, Frontispiece, Acknowledgements and Dedications, Short Intro,Table of Contents, Drawing of Tissarn's  (14 pages, 21.8 MB)
       
  • Section B:
    •  Prelude aka Preface, Drawing of Malaguena's, Chapter 1 Duke's Bosal Hackamore, Chapter 2 Ricky's Curb Bridle  (26 pages, 27.4 MB)
       
  • Section C:
    •  Chapter 3 Braiding Thread Buttons, Chapter 4 Braiding Artificial Sinew  (26 pages, 29 MB)
       
  • Section D:
    •  Chapter 5 Malaguena's Rawhide Braided Bridle  (31 pages, 46.6 MB)
       
  • Section E:
    •  Chapter 6 The Peach Rose Bridle, Chapter 7 Interlude  (26 pages, 61 MB)
       
  • Section F:
    •  Chapter 8 Photo Gallery, Chapter 9 April's Hackamore and Mecate, Chapter 10 April's Bosal  (21 pages, 54.4 MB)
       
  • Section G:
    •  Chapter 11 Fancy's Hackamore and Mecate, Chapter 12 Fancy's Bosal  (18 pages, 36.3 MB)
       
  • Section H:
    •  Chapter 13 Rinker's Hackamore & Bosal  (23 pages, 58.1 MB)
       
  • Section I:
    •  Chapter 14 Rinker's Mecate, Chapter 15 Tissarn's Mechanical Hackamore  (22 pages, 38.9 MB)
       
  • Section J:
    •  Coda Snow Shoes, Photo Numbers List, References, Back Cover  (17 pages, 16.3 MB)

    Priced at $27.99


    You are buying the .pdfs, Not a paper copy!


    You will receive an email with a live link in it.  The link will last for a minimum of 15 days and a maximum of 30 days depending on the date of your order.  The email used will be your PayPal email, unless you tell me otherwise.  Orders are processed manually, not automatically.  I am one pair of hands operating (mostly) in the Eastern time zone;  Note that it may occasionally take up to 4 days to process an order.  Average wait time is a few hours.  Sorry, no discounts for buying both this book and the Guide.  Thank you for your understanding!

    Non-PayPal Orders:  We accept checks and money orders.  There may be a delay in processing checks as they must clear.  I can only accept credit cards through PayPal's arrangements; I cannot process credit cards on my own.
    I have no plans for offering this book in bound form myself.  You may print your own copy or just the parts you want.

    Make checks out to Susan Bensema Young.  Do NOT make them out to the Timaru Star II!  Mail to:

    Susan Bensema Young
    Timaru Star II Model Tack
    210 West Hamilton #104
    State College, PA 16801-5218

    Posts about the Abaft on the timarustarii blogspot:
    Meet the Eight
    Progress Report 2
    Progress Report 3: Peach Rose
    Progress Report 4: April's Hackamore
    Back Cover Progress (Report 5)
    Progress Report 6 Rinker's Hackamore
    Progress Report 7 Tissarn's

    From an earlier Introduction:

    The Prelude aka Preface might just as well be called the book's own History, to go with all the pieces' histories.  It includes what I'd call a great deal of philosophy.  After all the preface is supposed to be where the author toots their own horn!
    Duke's Hackamore, Chapter 1, is the oldest of the 8, one of the simplest pieces in the book (on the Adios).  It has no braided buttons, but introduces tying the Fiador and rigging the Hackamore.
    Ricky's Bridle, Chapter 2, deals with slit braiding (on the Bobbie Jo/Sheila).  It uses braided keepers, which the reader should be familiar with from the Guide;  if not, refer to the all-important Braiding Thread Buttons, Chapter 3.  This introduces tools and materials, and describes my methods and procedures.  Your first encounter with braid formulae (I'm using both spellings of this word arbitrarily) is here.  Every button in the first 4 pieces, plus a few more, has its formula given by the end of this chapter.  The 4-Bight Chart, Plate I, has its own charming lost-and-found story!
    Chapter 4, Braiding Artificial Sinew, sets the stage for Malaguena's Braided Rawhide Bridle, Chapter 5, which presents model scale rawhide-braiding as I have practiced it since 2000.  (Upper right corner drawing.)  Malaguena's uses braided thread Pineapple with Interweave buttons and a couple more easy ones;  there really are "only 3" buttons on hers.  This chapter is the longest, covering end knots and rawhide romal reins.
    Chapter 6, the Peach Rose Bridle, is presented as a possibly simpler way of making a braided bridle, using floss not sinew.  (Right-hand pinto ISH face.)  This bridle has more complex buttons than Mala's, such as the 7P 6B with 2 rings Interweave, and the 9P 4B with 3 rings.
    Chapter 7, the Interlude, presents 5 Plates of techniques applicable to the 8 pieces as well as other subjects of great interest to a book about model horse braidwork.  Here we see several kinds of curbstraps with braid, including Tissarn's, two kinds of connectors and the beautiful braided rings (and a 2-color version).  If you've got rings and connectors you've got hobbles!  Chapter 7 concludes with Peet's Romal Reins, very advanced and thus somewhat out of order, but included here because they're braided rawhide like Malaguena's.
    Chapter 8, the Photo Gallery, is only 3 pages but comprises another interlude, one of transition from bridles to hackamores.  Its photos are of pieces referred to throughout the book but which don't have their own instructions.  This is the chapter that serves as a (regrettably very short) coffee table book of TSII tack.
    Don't confuse the Photo Gallery with the Bosal Gallery, which is not a chapter and has only 2 pages.  This second Gallery is placed right in front of Chapter 9, April's Bosal.

    Bosals and Mecates, surely two of the most iconic and challenging subjects of miniature braidwork for model horses, form the majority of the second half of the book.  April's Hackamore, Chapters 9 & 10, (Indian Pony lower right) and Fancy's Hackamore, Chapters 11 & 12, (central bottom Appaloosa ISH, with green) are two stops along the highway of the show Bosal Hackamore.  Rinker's Hackamore, Chapter 13, is the last of the 3 bosal hackamores covered (left side Etched Smart Chic Olena).  His is extremely advanced with its 3B Bosal in two colors and 6-strand handspun thread mecate.  His bosal is combined with his headstall for Chapter 13.
    Rinker's mecate, the famous Anasazi, is given Chapter 14.  Rinker's is the Hackamore on the front cover.
    Tissarn's Mechanical Hackamore, Chapter 15, is placed last even though a mech hack would seem easier than a bosal (lower left corner drawing).  Tissarn's reins have multiple colored interweaves and Fan buttons, members of the Gaucho family of knots.  Chapter 15 includes a glimpse of how I evolved my making of mechanical hackamores.  Thus even in the last chapter, very early (can we say primitive) pieces are covered.  Tissarn's includes drawings and formulae for achieving secondary interweaves (echoes).  These are written 2 x 2 rings, meaning a second, parallel set of 2 interweave rings.  Thus 2 x 3 means 2 sets (presumably colors) of 3 rings, and 2 x 4 means two colors of four rings.

    A Coda presents a magnificent pair of miniature Rawhide Snow Shoes, built in 2017.  They may have little to do with model horses, but much to do with miniature rawhide braiding!  They introduce a wood material which is very useful for model wooden horse-drawn vehicles.




    For those who are planning to print this book:  Please note that Rinker's Chapter 13 has different footers than the rest of the book.  His footers (page numbers) are placed below the bottom margin of every other chapter.  This was an unfortunate consequence of thoughtlessness, but we chose not to fix it;  to do so would've meant completely reformatting the entire chapter with its 70 photos and captions.