WIMAUMA — Teri Katchur has loved animals, especially horses, all her life.
“The first time I remember riding I was probably around four years old,” she told me in a recent interview. “I’ve been involved in competitive racing, mostly barrel racing and around poles.”
When she was young, she had a horse named Flame on whom she used to take first place in barrel racing.
Now 47, Katchur has been in Wimauma boarding and raising horses with her parents since 1998. But she says she misses being in Kentucky because that’s where her two grown boys live.
If she finds good homes for the eight horses she currently owns she plans to return there someday.
Recently, she wrote a book about a teenage girl who loves horses and won the Triple Crown. The book is geared to young adult readership and is currently seeking a publisher.
Meanwhile, she has a “second career” making hand-made macramé items for pets, including horses, cats and dogs.
She sells her items from home by order and on consignment at Remington Feed store, 9419 U.S. 301 S. in Riverview, a store she ran for several years for its previous owner.
She says she spends many hours, sometimes while sitting watching television or listening to music, tying the knots that are done individually to make the assortment of macramé items.
“When I was growing up in St. Pete I had a friend named Cindy who taught me how to macramé and I didn’t think much about it until 2006 when I started making my own reins and things,” she said.
Now she hand-ties feed collars, bridles, several types of reins, and breast collars for horses and collars for dogs and cats. She also makes some jewelry and was wearing one of her handmade bracelets when we met.
“Each side of the reins- and usually there are two- takes 600 individual knots,” she explained, showing me slowly how to make one. “It takes about three hours to do the 600 knots.”
As far as her prices go, a typical horse’s “headstall” is about $45. Some of her items are more than their machine-made counterparts because they’re hand-made and tough and last much longer, she said.
A horse’s headstall is a hanger put on a horse’s head used for holding a bit, nose piece, or other piece of equipment to control a horse while riding. When a headstall is combined with a bit, nose piece, etc., the combination is known as a bridle.
Anyone interested in buying a horse or filly, or ordering some of her hand-made products may call (813) 633-8191.