Everything you ever wanted to know about Running Roan's tack

Introduction: From the ground up
When you're dealing with horses or tack, foundation is everything. This is why we build all our Running Roan Tack brand products from scratch. Each part of the process takes place on site at our shop in Canby, Oregon, so we have full control over every detail.

The hides
Our products are built with premium Hermann Oak leather. Since 1881 the Hermann Oak Leather Company of St. Louis, Missouri has earned a repuation for producing the finest leather in the United States. They start with salt-cured hides of steers (no heifers or cows) that were raised and processed in the United States (no imported hides). They use the centuries old technique of vegetable tanning, using "tanin" derived from tree bark to preserve and tan the cowhides. The process of vegetable tanning produces a smooth leather hide that is soft, strong and durable.

Our fancy leathers, such as the hair on cowhides and the embossed leathers, are imported. All of our hair on cowhides come from Brazil or Argentina, where they have perfected the process of chrome tanning to produce hair on hides that won't crack or shed hair. The fancy embossed hides we use are produced in Italy, where they are masters at turning hides into beautiful and durable works of art.

The process
We cut parts out of those beautiful Hermann Oak leather sides using our own leather cutting dies that we have custom designed. We do not use any pre-made dies, we thoughtfully design each and every piece of the items that bear our name.

After cutting, the parts are prepared as needed and sewn. Then the edges are burnished by hand and properly dressed.

And now the finishing touches! The metal dots we use to embellish our products have extra long legs and we attach them securely with a specially designed dot setting machine. We use stainless steel hardware whenever possible. We use only genuine Swarovski crystals for maximum sparkle and shine. And we cut the threads on many of our conchos to help the screws sink deeper into the posts for security.

The finished product
The result of all that hard work and attention to detail is a beautiful, functional and durable piece of gear that will perform as good as it looks.