Horse hair and mane and tail hair has had many uses throughout history.
Image Courtesy antware nagy / Flickr
It's not unusual to find antique furniture stuffed with horse hair. The famous Danceland dance hall, built in 1928 in Saskatchewan, Canada has a hardwood dance floor that is built over a layer of horse hair. Dancers report that the unique padded floor makes it feel like they are floating when they dance. My mother has hanging in her porch, an example of a braided horse hair bridle, complete with very picky reins. And the plaster in my parent's house is mixed with horse hair. Horse hairs has traditionally been used in various types of brushes, hair pieces, textiles and as a stiffener in clothing.
Although synthetic materials (thankfully, because we don't want to speculate where all that horse hair came from) have largely replaced any use for horse hair it can still be used decoratively. Horse hair jewelry is a beautiful way to memorialize a favorite horse. I have a large hank of the Bay Goddess Freya's tail, that I intend to hand over to someone that can weave or braid it into wearable art. And By Beth Peterson, About.com Guide to Pottery describes the process of decorating pottery with mane and tail hair to create unusual designs. This too would be a lovely way to memorialize a departed companion.
Decorative Horse Hair Pottery Technique originally appeared on About.com Horses on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 at 08:52:05.
