I was looking for every way possible to make some side money.
I originally started out by braiding reins out of paracord and trying to sell them.
I tried to sell them on eBay, at rodeos, I even went to boutiques and one day I walked into a tack store to buy a new rope and this sweet lady that owned the store said I could sell my reins in there.
I was so excited I ran home and got my reins and took them in and thought this is it! I'm going to be the rein man and braid and sell hundreds of these things and make a killing. I wont ever have to worry about money again.
Remember i was 16 years old and had no idea about money. I just wanted to pay for my horse.
Well, I waited and waited and i finally got a call from her about a month later. I answered it all excited and what came out of her mouth was not what i expected at all.. She said "I'm sorry not one of your reins sold. Would you like to come pick them up?"
I was devastated..!
I went and picked them up thinking that was a dumb idea and I never planned to braid again.
And then this new kid moved into the neighborhood about a year later and he had this beautiful braided halter. One like I had never seen before!
I thought they were the coolest things ever! I wanted one for myself but had no idea where to buy one?
They didn't sell them in stores at the time they were really just made by a few individuals that knew how to braid them.
So I went on a mission to find a way to make one myself.
I started trying to braid them out of paracord because I had no idea where to buy mule tape but let me tell you I used a lot of paracord trying to figure this out.
I made some pretty ugly halters. I made wrong sizes and wrong designs and ones that fell apart and pulled apart once a horse applied any pressure to it.
I thought this was going to be another fail for sure and honestly gave up for a few months.
And then one day I was driving down the road and I passed some construction workers and saw a TON of mule tape sitting next to their trucks.
I slammed on my breaks and flipped around and went and asked them where I could buy the stuff!
They told me I could have ALL OF IT! That they were done with it and It was mine! I was so excited!
I went home and started practicing and trying to figure it out all over again.
And again I wasted a lot of mule tape making crappy halters but got better and better each day.
I literally spent hours and days and weeks working on halters trying different ways and perfecting them.
After some time I started making some really nice halters. Everyone started to want them.
I went back to that original tack store where I sold my reins and she had asked what I had been up to.
I told her about my halters and she was so excited! She said "I have been wanting to carry those in my store! Will you bring them down and sell them here..!?"
I said of course and ran home and got what I had and took them back and guess what...
They all sold out in less than a week!
She called me wanting more and more and more and more.
I sold a lot of halters out of that store.
I eventually added them on eBay and was the first to sell them on eBay and sold hundreds more on there.
I sold them to friends and people found out and I started selling them to all kinds of people I didn't even know.
I remember staying up all night braiding halters almost every night for weeks at a time just trying to keep up with orders.
It was so cool!
Now with all my experience from braiding thousands of halters over the years I want to teach you all I have learned to make these quickly and easily and ill walk you through every step of the way..