Luis Ortega’s Rawhide Artistry: Braiding in the California Tradition

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Introduction Luis Ortega, 1897-1995 The Ortega Family of California Tools of the Vaquero California Braiding Tradition Rawhide as Art The Horse Show Arena

Heirloom Quality Braiding

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The Artistry of Luis Ortega Festival of the Horse

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Ortega Activity Guide What are these?

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HEIRLOOM QUALITY BRAIDING

Figure-eight hobble, flat-laced in eight-strand rawhide with adjustable woven buttons embellished with natural and red extra-fine rawhide strands. Luis and Rose Ortega Collection. Courtesy of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Click image to zoom-in.

By 1965, Ortega concentrated on creating elaborate braiding for collectors. Ortega also began to refer to his work on different levels: working gear for the pasture, finer braiding with color accents for the horse show arena, and superior work he assumed an owner would never put on a horse. In this latter period, Ortega conceived of his work for collectors as objects d’art and often braided with impossibly fine strands that defied practicality. However, each string displayed the perfect proportion of width, thickness and bevel, which was the foundation of Ortega’s reputation. The Ortegas moved to Paradise, California, in 1968, and joked about starting his “retirement” after throat cancer surgery in 1976, but he continued to braid until shortly before his death in 1995.

Luis Ortega’s Rawhide Artistry: Braiding in the California Tradition is organized by
the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.