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FEATURE this process until I reach the end of my leather strip so that I have a large area on which to practice. Sitting tall in my high seat, with a wooden brace between my legs, I watch Karen cut off a long piece of thread and run it over a block of beeswax. "Now all you need to do," she says, "is add a needle to each end of this piece of only saying that to be kind." My leather strip is passed around the room, and after careful, prolonged glances from the other two students—Emma Hurst, who is making a headcollar, and Amanda Anderson, who is learning to repair billets—I get the thumbs up. At lunch, I get a chance to chat more with Amanda, who's a professional saddle It's a convenient little getaway, and it's perfect for the vacationer who craves a little more action than a generic week at the beach can provide. thread and start stitching, Melissa." Sounds easy. But after 10 minutes of trying to thread one needle, I begin to feel frustrated and in need of assistance. "Time for another chocolate or two?" says Philip while thrusting his tin of Cadbury Roses under my nose for the second time today. "Oh, yes please!" I place my leather strip in the wooden brace and start stitching toward myself. I use a stitching awl to punch a hole through the first stitching mark, then put the left needle through and stretch both hands into the air until I see that both needles are even. Then I'm off. Left needle, right needle, loop and pull. And left needle, right needle…. It's not until lunchtime that my strip of leather has been hand-stitched down one side. Karen praises me, but she sees my skeptical look, which says: "You're 82 W INTER 2013 U N TAC K E D fitter from Sleipnir Saddlery in Virginia Beach, Va. She's also a dressage rider and certified massage therapist for humans and equines, but now she's working on putting an additional feather in her cap. "I've always wanted to learn how to repair saddles and make one from scratch," she tells me while tucking into her Caesar salad. "So I've combined this course with a trip around the U.K. I flew into London and worked my way up to Galashiels from there." It's a convenient little getaway, and it's perfect for the vacationer who craves a little more action than a generic week at the beach can provide. After lunch concludes, I keep working away on my stirrup leathers while Karen observes my handiwork and tells me a little bit about her bespoke, handmade bridles. "I made a measuring bridle a few years ago, which has really revolution- ized my job. All the straps are adjustable and numbered. So I visit a client's horse, attach that horse's bit to this bridle, and then adjust the straps so that they sit evenly at eye level. You should be able to fit two fingers underneath the noseband and one finger all the way along the browband. Many horses are given a headache because their browband is too tight." Karen's own boys, Connor and Toby, mean the world to her, but it's easy to tell how much she loves horses of all stripes. "I stopped riding years ago," Philip pipes in. "If I rode one of Karen's horses, and if either one came back with a hair out of place, she would kill me!" We laugh, and I look down at my black-stained hands and nails, feeling proud of what I've achieved in only one day. It's made me eager to learn more. "When is your next intermediate bridle-making workshop?" I ask Karen as she hands me a buffing sponge for the finishing stage of my new stirrup leathers. "January," she says with a knowing smile. "Every one of our students asks that question on the Friday. There's something special about seeing everything look so shiny and bright, isn't there? What you have at the end really bears no resemblance to what you started with. It's as if the hide comes alive again." As I rub the buffing sponge up and down my leathers and see that glossy layer of shine develop, I daydream of working in front of an open fire, in a small studio that's full of warm leather, making colorful endurance combination headcollar-bridles. Surely I could fit this addictive craft in alongside my journalistic career?

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