About Our Catalog & How to Order

We insist that our manufacturers make our equipment using only the best quality hard ware we can find. Most of our buckles and snaps are US-made - more costly, but better!

There is a definite rational behind the design of our equipment and the choices of hardware. For example, with one exception, we do not supply lead ropes with either common bolt snaps or with bull snaps. Why? Because on several occasions, we have seen llamas just grazing on a lawn with their halter and lead rope and saw the llama get loose because the bolt snap came open. In addition to the fact that bull snaps are far heavier and bulkier than what is appropriate for llamas, we were also present at a farm where four llamas were staked out to graze along the driveway. While we were chatting with the owner, two of the llamas, almost simultaneously, became loose and wandered out onto the road. We helped herd them back and found that all four had bull snaps on the stake ropes.

How or why they got loose is not clear, but we decided then that neither bolt snaps nor bull snaps are totally trustworthy. Instead we use what are commonly called "830" snaps; but we insist on the best ones, those with tongues that are seated so that they can't slip to the side.

The one exception is our cotton leads, which have a type of bolt snap which is not likely to come open unexpectedly. (Unfortunately, the manufacturer will not provide these with our favored 830 snap.) The scissor snaps on our show leads are small, but extremely secure by their very design. For those who prefer the lightest possible hardware on their everyday leads, we can supply our #300 leads with the scissor snap.