Horse Hair: Does it matter where it comes from?

[Bin Son of Bin]

I was talking with my wife about some horse hair that I had been looking at online at various sources. It seemed that hair from Mongolia is very popular, as well as Siberia.

But my question is this: Why not hair from local horses (Canadian in my case)? Why can't I go to my local horse ranch and get some hair from their horses? I'm assuming that there is cleaning that must be done but are there other reasons?

Why is Siberian horse hair $500.00 a pound?

I'd just love to get me some local Ottawa/Aylmer horse hair for my bow.

Jason

[Herbie 80's]

I know that Prochownik uses Canadian horse hair and it's fairly different.

[Bin Son of Bin]

Originally Posted by Herbie 80's

I know that Prochownik uses Canadian horse hair and it's fairly different.

That's very interesting. Do you know how it is different?

[Rebop]

IIRC, the colder the climate, the better the hair is for bows. I believe this may only apply to white hair but I could be wrong.

Canada may produce decent hair if that's the case; but at the same time Mongoia and Siberia get pretty cold too.

[RSBBass]

I imagine that different breeds of horses have hair with different characteristics. That's not to say you couldn't find usable hair but it may be a bit hit or miss.

[ZuluFunk]

I wonder if Dragonetti had Mongolian horse hair on his bows.

[longfinger]

some links to read...

http://www.bowhair.ca/
(on that site, Canadian horse hair is the most expensive )

http://www.allthingsstrings.com/layo...Sound-and-Feel

(here and below it says the descriptions are only partially based on horses' country of habitat. "Canadian" horse hair could come from Siberia, and vice-versa.)

http://www.wilderdavis.com/en/furthe...plies-bow-hair

[LowA]

Also very interesting - maybe you can get it translated with Google: http://www.polychord.com/bogenhaare/bogenhaare.html . Best, Tom

[Michael Eisenman]

Or go to the English page on the site:
http://www.polychord.at/xchange_adva...eite.php?ID=18