Drive into the property of Dallas Schut and Elena Bibbo in New River, and you think this might just be farm country. Not only does the family dog come to greet you, but so do the family turkeys, one of which is called "Thanksgiving." Enough said. Chickens run around the property, laying eggs wherever they choose and keeping far enough away from the horses to avoid an errant hoof mark.

Dallas grew up as a farm boy, and he does his best to carry on that tradition even though suburbia is encroaching. If you drop by, you might find him shoeing a horse or training one in the round pen on the property. But Dallas also has an artistic bent, and he's found a way to combine his love of horses with his ability to work with his hands to create an art form dating back to 8 th century Spain .

Technically called a "hitcher," Dallas creates art from horse hair in a shop right on the couple's property. He shows one of his prized pieces, a bridle and reins, which he estimates took 375 hours to make. He also makes flat designs that can be used as inlays to furniture, belts and other leather goods. Dallas uses a simple device that creates a series of half-hitches, weaving the horsehair into a rope or other items. As he weaves the horse hair together, the different colors combine into exquisite designs that form a diamond shape. When the work is complete, his horsehair ropes end up as strong as they are beautiful.

Dallas gets much of his horse hair in 2-inch thick bundles, usually from Mongolia . He orders both blonde hair and darker hair, using the two together to create his designs. While many of his horsehair creations use natural browns, blondes and black, sometimes he dyes the blond hair into different colors. Several of his items have small American flags weaved into the pattern. One of his creations has all of the colors from the song he remembers about Jesus: "Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight."

Dallas swears that he is not a patient person, but a tenacious one, wanting to finish what he starts. He also is independent - he used to make his creations for a living, but he found that he enjoyed it more when he was able to take total control of his art. So now, he creates many of his items first and tries to sell them after they are completed.

And now what us city folks really want to know: Isn't it cruel to pull the horse's hair? Does it hurt? Dallas says that hair on a horse grows about 6 inches a year. One of the tasks in grooming the horse is to pull the horse hair, so it doesn't grow too long and bushy. "Sometimes while I'm pulling horse hair, they'll fall asleep," he says, figuring if you have to groom a horse anyway, why not make good use of the result.

Dallas currently sells his own work, but he has had it on display with art galleries in Scottsdale . His work is also tentatively scheduled to be on tour with the Smithsonian Museum in 2006.

When Dallas was making leather ends for his belts, he worked with the leather himself. His wife Elena found that she did a better job with leather work than Dallas , so she slowly began to learn the art and found she loved it. Perhaps her love of leather goods comes from the genes; her grandfather was a shoemaker and her grandmother was a seamstress.

Elena creates just about any item that can be made from leather. Her leather goods range from photo album covers, purses, and business card holders, to rancher must-haves like rifle scabbards, saddlebags, and shoeing chaps. One of her more unique items is a shoulder bag with a front and back pocket, similar to the one prison guards used at territorial prisons in the early 1900s. Her versions are nicer looking, lined with suede and perfect for a handbag replacement.

Elena's latest creation is a set of custom shoeing chaps, made with her own special design to protect the shoer more completely from an overactive hoof. She's sold several already, and has a pile of chaps in various stages of completion.

To create a design, Elena wets the leather (made in the USA to keep the quality high) and outlines a pattern into the leather with a stylus pen. Her worktable is lined with tools that cut different shapes into the leather. She uses stamping tools to make borders and a backgrounder to add beveling, giving a design some depth. She oils the leather and then dyes it, giving it a rich dark hue.

Ignoring the outside world of factories, polyester and plastic, Elena and Dallas still produce their art from the world of the Wild West. What results is a little reminder of where we came from.

INFO> Purchase or special order information: Dallas Schut: 480-216-2376; Elena Bibbo: 623-465-5589