St. Regis woman makes tack with flair

Unless you’ve grown up riding and roping, or consider yourself a cowboy or cowgirl, the average person doesn’t realize all the gear required for horseback riding.

It’s not as simple as throwing a saddle on the horse and riding off into the sunset. Equipping a horse is often referred to as tacking up.

Tack is equipment or accessories outfitted on horses and other equines in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, breastplates, and cinches are all forms of horse tack.

In horse riding, the cinch made an appearance around 700 B.C. in the Middle East when Assyrian warriors added straps to their decorative saddle cloths. In western riding, the girth is often referred to as a cinch. The cinch is a piece of horse tack used to keep the western saddle in place a horse.

The front cinch is an essential part of a Western saddle; without it, your saddle won’t stay on, and neither will you. Often made of adjustable leather or nylon straps, or natural materials, the cinch holds the saddle in place and tolerates the continual motions of a horse’s stride.

For safety purposes a broken or poorly fitted front cinch will result in a rider being tossed from their horse.

Western cinches have been woven from a variety of materials over the years, horsehair was probably the first. Since then, materials and the design have much improved. In the early 1900s the Texas Angora goat industry arrived and began producing mohair.

A natural fiber, that when twisted into cord, was softer, stronger and lasted longer than its predecessors. The mohair blend cinch is not only in popular demand but it is also a beautiful artistic creation.

That is something that St. Regis resident Olivia Wieland can attest to. She started horseback riding at the age of three, and competed in rodeos roping and goat tying until she graduated from high school.

“I’ve always worked in agriculture and have an Associates Degree in Agriculture Business as well as certifications in bookkeeping and cattle A.I.,” Wieland said.

Aside from being an equine enthusiast and familiar with farm life, Wieland is also very artistic and has a creative side.

“I have a very crafty spirit and have tried other crafts in the past like jewelry making and spinning wool yarn but it didn’t stick until I put my craft spirit with my love for horses,” she said.

When Wieland was in need of some new tack for her horse and she felt up for learning a new hobby she unexpectedly formed an enjoyable trade.

“I started business about a year ago because I wanted to learn the art and my horses badly needed new cinches so I thought it was a great opportunity to learn something new and build new tack for my horses," Wieland said. "I started out with YouTube and then purchased a class from a long-time cinch builder to further my knowledge.”

Cinches follow a basic pattern regardless of the material used. The metal rings are locked in jigs set at predetermined distances apart. Stringing is done by looping the cord back and forth, ring to ring, until the desired number of strands is obtained. Then, to hold the strands together, bars are braided in below the rings and across the center.

Wieland said, “I only make tack for horses or mules but I have made belts for people, purse straps, and dog collars. People love the beautiful colors and custom designs that are possible with mohair.

“I mainly use mohair cinch building or mohair cinch tying. The base of the tack is tying knots onto the metal hardware but the design work is more like weaving.”

Mohair is a wonderful natural fiber coming from angora goats.

“It is pricey but it’s top of line to use for horses and mules. It’s extremely strong and doesn’t stretch over the years, it wicks sweat away from the animal's skin, it’s breathable and very comfortable and it forms to the horse in a way,” Wieland said.

Wieland gets her mohair from a wonderful family business in New Mexico called UBraidIt.

"They have the most beautiful color options with my favorite being 'Chris Cooper' which is a twist of rust, brown, off white, and some black. I donated a cinch using Chris Cooper to the Mineral County Fair raffle, so grab a ticket!” she said.

In practicing any new craftmanship, it all comes down to time.

“I have no doubt I have hundreds of hours of trial and error to make sure my products are built correctly. My first cinch and breast collar set are still being used on my horse,” Wieland said. “I just fell in love with the art and kept going with it.”

She primarily sells her tack on Etsy, but she also benefits from other social media platforms and word of mouth.

"I have built an Australian cinch which I sent to Australia so it’s really cool to see the different cultures and learn. The design is the time-consuming part and can be simple or very detailed which affects time a lot,” she said.

There are different types of cinch designs, the most common being the straight cinch.

“That takes me about 4-8 hours to complete depending on the design," Wieland said. "There are roper cinches that take me longer because some sewing is involved which I do by hand.”

Breast collars take the longest because there are more intricate details and include leather features. Regardless of what kind of cinch she’s producing Wieland said, “I just really enjoy the process, learning new designs, and seeing the finished product being used by a happy customer.”

As more customers discover her one of a kind tack, they’ll recognize her name.

Wieland said, “I call my cinch business, Weave West Mohair, as the West will always be my home. My grandfather made Native and western style jewelry when I was growing up so I’ve always had a love for southwestern designs and that’s mainly what I incorporate into my designs.”

Not only does Wieland have her hands full as an entrepreneur, but she’s also a wife, and a mom to her 3-year-old son.

“I consider myself a working stay at home mom since I work cleaning local vacation rentals but my son rides along with me and he’s always my little helper while building cinches and working around our little homestead,” she said.

“Since I am a busy mom, I prefer to make my own designs on my time and then people can order those in the size they need but I do take some custom orders and I love working with people on their designs,” she said.

Her goal is to grow her cinch building enterprise into a full-time business and eventually offer more products and supplies.

When Wieland’s not chasing after her toddler, weaving Mohair, or working one of her many side jobs, she’ll be near a corral or in the saddle.

“I mainly just trail ride and go to some local events when I can. My passion lies with working cattle horseback. My main horse was born on my mom’s ranch and she’s been by my side since. She’s now 14 years old and is my best friend and mohair tack model.”

You can find Wieland’s Mohair tack products on Instagram, or at her shop on https://www.etsy.com/shop/weavewest.