Where to Buy Hoods for Ponyplay

Purchasing Ponyplay Tack: Masks & Hoods for the Human Pony

Written by cPony on Jul 13 2013
Last updated on Jan 12 2025

I'm not including the meme-inspiring, crazy-looking horse head (though if you want one of those, you can get it here). Incidentally, I've seen those particular horse heads turned into decent looking zebra heads (though undoubtedly with a fair amount of time going into the paint job), and likely you could paint over the whole thing with black paint to get a less crazy appearing horse, but I digress.

Anyway, onto the list, which is in no particular order:

• Fury Fantasy - They have a few different styles of masks (i.e. "minishetty", "FuryFe", and "horse mask"), all of which share the common attribute of being uncannily realistic. A minishetty mask can be had for €989, which, while certainly not inexpensive, is actually not too bad considering the quality of the finished product. There is a bit of a waiting list (approx 12 - 18 months, I believe), and expect to pay around €2500 or so.



• Porthos Stable - Based in the Czech Republic, Porthos Stable offers gorgous, realistic leather (with some ABS plastic components) pony hoods in customizable colors tp match your pony persona. Current price is €1950.
• Bob Basset Studios - Bob Basset has been known for his excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail. His leather horse masks have a beautiful look to them (e.g. this brown one and this white one). His studio has continued to make hoods following his death in 2011. There had been reports that masks made after Bob Basset's death deformed more easily than the older ones.
  
  As it happened, I ended up purchasing one of the newer masks around the time I heard some of these reports, and I did not encounter this issue (you can read my review of my new Bob Basset mask to get more details). I personally found the quality impressive and the leather of the mask does not appear to deform easily (with the easiest deformation occuring on the muzzle), and the mask retains its shape under most conditions.
  
  This not render those reports incorrect per se. There remains the possibility that the reports documented a consistency or QA/QC issue, but without having a sample of masks sufficient to investigate this possibility, and not having heard additional reports of the deformation issue, my conclusion is the reports are either spurious or represent very rare and isolated incidents.



• Wild Gas Masks - Wild Gas Masks does beautiful work. They work in latex and have several base models, and they will do custom painting and coloration on their masks. They had a unicorn model, which sold relatively recently. I saw it live on the awesome pony who bought it at the 2013 SF pride parade, and it was truly stunning.
• Tromper's Pony Play Gear - They make cool pony hoods, hooves, and tails. They primarily do custom work (as regards to coloration of the leather when it comes to pony hoods and masks) and periodically have pre-made pony gear, including hoods, for sale. As always, it is worth it to drop them, as with any maker, a quick email (or however they prefer to be contacted) to confirm details and get a better handle on the expected timeline.
• MaskMaskarada - They sell two latex pony masks: one that appears inspired by Fury Fantasy, and this one, which is inspired by Bob Basset's designs. I have not purchased from them and cannot speak to the quality or any other metric, so if you have experience wuth them, I would be curious as to your thoughts.
• Goblin Art - A wide variety of masks, which tend toward the more artistic and less the fetishistic (e.g. this wonderful fox mask). I stumbled across her site not long ago, and some of her work is breathtaking. From reading through her site, it sounds like she does custom work, but also sells at various fairs and events.
• Paleo Panthera- Patterns to make your own hoods, including a really cool horse hood including instructions on how to make a pony mask from different materials (e.g. cardboard, EVA foam, etc.).
• Diesel Punk Ro Pony Hood Pattern for DIY Masks - Leather patterns to make your own pony hood (they also have patterns for some basic harnesses, cuffs, and collars) if you want to make your own gear. They even have a Youtube channel with video tutorials for constructing the hoods (or other patterns).
  
  Several pony mask makers and Etsy shops (e.g. here, here, here, here, here, and here) have employed their patterns to construct pony and unicorn masks (which benefits the community by making these masks available for those not able to (whether due to time or other constraints) make the masks themselves and is permitted under Diesel Punk Ro's pattern licensing terms as of the time of this writing (Nov 29 2024)) if you like the pattern, but would rather purchase your mask pre-made.
• Tuft Squad - A Brazilian retailer that ships worldwide, they offer 13 different animal hoods with full head coverage, among them included both pony and unicorn hoods. If you have not previously seen their work, I highly recommend checking them out.
• Black Wolf Leather - They have a unique, cool-looking leather pony mask available in different colors. In addition to their website, they also have an Etsy store from which to purchase.
• Garuda Workshop 3D-Printable Mask - For for £50, you can purchase the print file for a horse head mask. Assuming you have access to a 3D printer, this could be a economical option for a full horse head mask for you or your pony. Do note that the mask pattern sold by Garuda is limited to personal use only and not for resale. Please make sure you read the terms and conditions prior to purchasing to ensure it will meet your needs.
• RAM FX Studios - They have some pretty cool looking latex masks, including the punk horse. They also do some custom work for latex pony masks, and their prices seem quite reasonable (the punk horse mask is $180). However, they are currently taking a short break from production (as of Nov 29 2024).
• Smitizen - They sell silicone animal suits including a silicone horse mask (the link at the begining of this paragraph takes you directly to the horse head mask page). They currently charge $319 (as of Dec 1 2024), which is on sale from their usual price of $613 USD. I have not purchased from Smitizen nor do I know anyone who has, so I cannot speak to quality or anything else. If you have one of their masks, I would be interested to hear your experience: if you have a spare few minutes and so inclined, please let me know what you think of their products.
• Baron Vulkenstein - Cool rubber pony hoods! Link goes to their twitter; contact them directly for ordering.

This ended up becoming a substantially longer list than I expeced. It started off even shorter than my list of places to buy saddles, but, as I took a deeper dive into the subject, researching it through word of mouth as well as traditional web searching, it has grown rather nicely, and I hope that is a reflection of the pony community growing.

The really cool thing about having a horse mask is you can use bio-horse bridles and halters. For bio-horse owners who obsessively buy tack, this is the equivalent of discovering that your well-dressed roommate with a huge wardrobe is, in fact, the same size as you :) Seriously, I love the look of all these masks, and I love that we have such talented artists.

If you know of other retailers of horse head masks not listed above, please do contact me, and I'll be more than happy to include them on the list so other ponies can easily find them.