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Horse hair memorials

I lost my mare that I had for 16 years a few days ago, and I’m looking for suggestions for what to do with her tail hair that I kept. I was looking into a bracelet/necklace, but I am unsure exactly what to get.

To anyone who has one, how well does it hold up? There are options of a cuff with an inlay or a braided all hair one on various sites…any suggestions as to what will hold up the best?

I’ll have quite a bit of hair left over after as well. I’m the least creative person alive…does anyone have any pictures of what you have done? There are pictures of some nice shadow boxes but I’m completely untalented so I’m not sure how one would turn out!

Thanks!

I am not a leather or hair jewelry person so I knew the normal keepsake would not work for me. I searched for ideas online and ran across The Sugar Lady on Etsy. She made this figurine of my horse with his hair. She had me send pictures from every angle, then asked for more. Then she sent me a pic to double check before she mailed it me and made a small change in his markings that she could not see because his mane was in the way in the pictures I sent. You just send her all your hair. She washes it, makes the figurine, then returns the extra hair with the figurine. It is small, about 5" high with the mane. Stretching the hair out, it is about a foot in length. It sits on my desk and makes me smile every day. The only thing a little odd about it is that it is just two thick pieces of leather glued together. It has no width to it.

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Very neat to remember your horse by, pretty even if it was not your horse.

The clay pots with horse hair details in the clay are also a sweet memorial and fit most any place someone may care to display them.

A simple way to have something is, if you have two horseshoes, have your farrier weld them, spray paint them with your favorite color and put a cherished picture in them:

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First, so sorry for your loss. We all know that pain. <3 <3 I have several pieces of jewelry from different crafters… I’m not big on the all horse hair jewelry, so I went with more inlay ideas. I don’t wear mine a lot, but I have had the ring & bracelet almost 6 years and the stock pin 2.

I have leather bracelet #024 here:
http://ponylocks.com/Leather.html

Stock pin #044 from same artist. I also got my mom pin #047 for the same horse
http://ponylocks.com/jewelry-showcase.htm

Ring from EnigmaHorse, although she is in Europe, so may be hard to get right now.

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I have a keychain for my gelding and just ordered one for a friend who recently lost a horse, they’re so pretty. The maker has tons of options, including necklaces and bracelets. If you’re concerned about fraying or anything, she has some resin-inlay options I think.

https://equinekeepsakes.com/

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I had a really nice bracelet made from my boy’s tail by Solenaro Designs. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s in business any longer. It was on the pricey end of things though, and most people can’t/don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on horse hair jewelry.

I also have a keychain made by someone else, and a simple braided bracelet made by a friend.

I’m not a jewelry person. For keepsake type things I’ve done shadow boxes with braided hair and ribbon. Hung a shoe somewhere that I’ll see it every day.
One of my favourites though is horse hair raku. Pretty, simple, classic. I had custom vases done, but the ideas are endless. Decorative plates, jewelry boxes, statues, etc. They just can’t get wet.
Bonus is that they only need 10 or so tail hairs to do it.

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This website popped up in a Facebook advertisement once and I’ve been tempted to get on of their pieces for my old man’s hair. I especially love the pendant necklaces.
https://www.thetreasuredhorse.com/

@GoodTimes I love those vases! But you said they can’t get wet?

@BayMoose I am sorry for your loss. I’ve been there twice and it’s awful.
My current mare is 23 and doing great but a few years ago, I made myself a bracelet with her hair and sterling silver components. Just in case.
It’s held up very well, as long as I don’t rub it against something abrasive.

The ones that I had made can’t get wet. Because of the way they were fired there is no glaze. She put a wax coating on it so it’s “shiny” and is somewhat protected from the sun, but it’s still porous. I just have fake flowers in mine.

Not sure if other potters can finish them a different way? But the two that I talked to were adamant that raku pottery can not get wet, and can not be used for food/drinks.

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I have a horse hair pottery bust for my second horse.

Since I am not a jewelry person, I had a horsehair pot made. Ida also added the extra hair wrapped under the rim and held with beads in a color you choose. (You can choose that or not) I never heard about not getting it wet. But I haven’t used mine for cut flowers or anything and clean it with a damp cloth. I have had it over six years now.

When my favorite mare passed away, I used her tail hair to make a fly whisk so she still goes with me on rides.

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I made a small dream catcher and have hair from my two horses hanging off of it. I really like that.

I have a leather cuff bracelet from PonyLocks (lost my first horse, an OTTB, back in 2013 to colic - he died pretty young, too, 8 turning 9 that Spring) with the tail hair inlaid in it - I don’t wear it a ton as I’m not a huge jewelry person and I’m also a bit protective of it (it’s padded leather and I don’t want all the color to wear off - it’s black with silver padding, plus frankly I’m not always sure how to wear it, haha) and I’m toying with getting a necklace made with the remaining hair (despite not being a jewelry person I do think I’d wear the necklace periodically). I do have a shadowbox but it features his racing shoes, the two 4-H ribbons we won together (got him when I was in high school), a dressage test score sheet from our one dressage show together and stuff like that.