A Gift That Keeps Their Hands Busy

Looking for a present that doesn't end up in a drawer after two days? Our DIY tack kits are small craft projects for children who love horses. Everything is pre-cut and ready to assemble with a bit of glue — no sewing, no sharp tools, no supervision needed after the first one.

Where the fine motor skills come in

This is real precision work, at a scale that asks something of small hands. A saddle pad means aligning fabric and ribbon to the millimetre. A halter means threading a 2 mm ribbon through miniature buckles and holding it steady while the glue sets. Polo wraps mean wrapping four legs evenly, without a wrinkle.

Here is a full saddle pad being made, start to finish. Watch the hands: this is exactly what your child will be doing.

Children do not need to be told they are practising. They just want the halter to look right, and getting it right is the exercise.

Patience, without anyone calling it that

A blanket takes about an hour. There is no shortcut and no skip button. Glue has to dry before the next step, and rushing it shows. The reward comes at the end, and it is a real object they can hold.

Each kit comes with step-by-step instructions and a video tutorial. Reading a sequence, checking their own work, going back a step when something isn't right — that is the whole exercise, and it is the same skill they need at school.

Building a whole world, piece by piece

This is where it goes further than an afternoon of crafting. With our stable accessories and barns, children don't just make one object — they build an entire equestrian world, and they build it over months.

It starts with one stall. Then it needs a manger, a hay rack, a water trough. Then the tack room needs saddle racks and bridle hooks, and the arena needs jumps and a pole rack. Every piece raises a new question: where does the feed room go, how many horses fit, what does the yard look like.

That is planning. Deciding what to add next, saving up for the bigger piece, imagining the finished stable before it exists and working towards it. Children make choices and live with them.

And that is imagination. Once the world is there, it comes alive. Horses get names and characters. There are riders, grooms, a vet who visits. There are competitions with results, injuries that need care, a foal born in the spring. Children invent rules, run whole seasons, tell stories that continue from one weekend to the next.

It is the opposite of a toy that does everything for them. Nothing happens unless they decide it does.

A project you can do together

Most parents tell us they sat down "just to help with the first one" and ended up making their own. The kits work well as a shared activity: one person cuts, the other glues, and there is enough to talk about while your hands are busy.

Some families make it a running thread — a piece of the stable at every birthday, a new kit at Christmas, an afternoon together when the weather is bad.

What age is it for?

From about 7 years old with an adult nearby for the first kit. The gluing is simple but the pieces are small.

From 9 or 10, most children manage entirely on their own with the video tutorial.

Teenagers and adults are a large part of our customers. Miniature tack making is a genuine craft, and our advanced kits — leather halters, Kentucky blankets, saddles — are demanding enough to stay interesting for years.

All our tutorials are free

Every kit includes a flashcode to its own video tutorial, and the full library is free to watch on YouTube — before you buy as well as after.

👉 Browse the full tutorial playlist
👉 Our YouTube channel

You can also see the kits being made in short videos on Instagram and TikTok — both @my.model.horse.

Which one to choose

A first try, small budget. A single kit — a saddle pad or a ribbon halter. Around one hour of work, and enough to see whether the hobby takes.

A proper gift. The Starter Pack: four kits plus the glue and applicator, so nothing else is needed. It keeps a child busy for several weekends.

To start the stable. One of our gift sets for the stall, the tack room, the feed room or the arena — a ready-made first chapter, with more to add later.

A big present. The Full Pack, or one of our customized barns, delivered painted and fully equipped.

Not sure which scale? Model horses come in different sizes. If the horse is a Schleich or a CollectA, it is 1:20. A Breyer Traditional is 1:9, a Breyer Classic is 1:12. Still unsure — send us a photo, we will tell you.

Made by hand, in France

Every kit is designed, cut and packed by hand in our workshop. If you have a question before ordering — the right scale, the right kit for a particular age, a delivery date — write to anna@mymodelhorse.com and you will get a real answer from a real person.

See all DIY kits · Stable accessories · Gift sets · Gift cards