OUR CRAFTSMANSHIP

Most of what we make is still made by hand, by people who have been doing it for a long time. This page explains how a piece of Equitanum bridlework comes together, and what we will and will not do along the way.

THE LEATHER

Everything sold under the Equitanum name is made in European leather. Not some of it, not the premium lines — all of it. We work with Indian and Argentine leather too, for other clients and other ranges, and we think highly of it. But for Equitanum we decided from the start that it would be European hides and the best threads we can find, so that what you buy from us is made of the same material the top European houses use.

Choosing the leather is slow, skilled work and we do not hurry it. Our selector goes over each hide looking for marks and flay cuts, and picks only the best part of it for cutting. Leather is a natural material and no hide is perfect. If we find that a hide is not good in certain parts, we would rather reject it in full than cut around the problem and hope.

CUTTING AND PREPARING

Once selected, the leather is cut to the tech pack for that product. Then comes edge buffing, which is one of the longer steps and one of the ones most often skipped elsewhere. We do not skip it. A clean, smooth edge is the first thing a rider's hand notices and the first place a cheap piece gives itself away.

THE MAKING

Each product is built by a small production team, usually six or seven craftsmen and a team leader, who hand-craft every component, chiselling to the pattern and to preset sizing so that pieces are consistent from one bridle to the next.

The hardware — from buckles to snap hooks — is hand-stitched onto the leather by trained hand stitchers. Where a component calls for machine stitching, that is done on precision machines by stitchers who are meticulous about it, including the fancy stitching that finishes a good piece. Our thread of choice is Gütermann.

After stitching, the edges are coloured, the joints levelled, and the piece finished and assembled.

HARDWARE

We use both stainless steel and brass, depending on the product and what it needs to do.
Stainless steel

Snap hooks, buckles, roller buckles and the rest, sourced from Indian suppliers and from Taiwan

Cast brass

Solid brass buckles, cast and made in India

Sheet-metal brass

Used where a design calls for it — and we will always tell you which is which

WHY WE WENT DIRECT

There is a hard truth in private-label manufacturing. You spend years developing a product with a client, you put your expertise into getting it right, and then the finished design can be taken to a cheaper factory and you are left high and dry. It happens, and it has happened to us. Equitanum is our answer: a range we develop, make and stand behind under our own name, sold directly to the people who ride.

HORSES AND TESTING

We will be plain about one thing. There are no horses at our facility in Kanpur, and we do not pretend otherwise. What we can say is that every product we sell has, at some stage, been tested by professional riders, and we have working tie-ups with stables in Europe where our products go for testing before they reach you.