The Silver Barrette

In 1970 I placed an ad in Horse and Rider magazine's pen pal section, and thus began a lifelong friendship with Sue Seese, a girl who responded to my request for a pen pal.

I'll write more about her in another post, but this morning I was reminded of our enduring, forty-four year friendship when I was getting ready for church.

I pulled this out to put in my hair.  And smiled.

In 1974, after four years of near-weekly correspondence, I had flown out to California to meet Sue. What a time we had together! We rode horses (how many people can say they've ridden a horse that was owned by Gilligan of the TV show, Gilligan's Island? I can, thanks to Sue!), went to the beach, and showed Sue's horse, Storm, at a local horse show. (I still have the ribbon I won up in my office.)

A highlight of the trip was visiting Sue's silversmith, the man who created beautiful pieces of silver for saddles and bridles. I remember walking around the silversmith's workroom, amazed at the gleaming, handcrafted sterling silver pieces that were offered for sale. I couldn't afford any of them, but I sure could appreciate their beauty and craftsmanship!

After Sue finished paying for the silver she'd had put on Storm's bridle, the silversmith walked over to me and held something out. "Here's a souvenir of California," he said with a smile. And in his hand was the sterling silver barrette.

A gift for me. And one I have come to cherish as time has passed.

I keep the barrette polished and wear it fairly often. It was such a thoughtful gift and remains a souvenir of the friendship Sue and I still share all these years later.

A friendship forged through a mutual love of horses.

A Girl's Generous Gift

If you've ever been upstairs in my office, you quickly become aware that I like horses (if you didn't already know that.) Three of the four walls are lined with shelving, and I have about ::cough cough:: maybe... ::cough cough:: um... about... somewhere around 1,000 pieces in my collection.

I honestly cannot say why I love to collect, I just do. My collection goes back to 1963, so that's only twenty pieces added per year, right?? (Right...)

One of my students, TM, did a Classics report on the book Misty of Chincoteague. (I have the pony, Misty, depicted in both china and plastic on my shelves.) TM is a fellow horse lover, and used four model horses in her project, a diorama of Misty on the Beebee farm.

I told her that I, too, collected horses and since I had a picture of my collection on my phone, pulled it out and showed it to her.  Her eyes widened, and she broke into a huge smile. "I collect, too!" she crowed.

A week later, TM arrived at school toting a blue gift bag tied shut with orange ribbons. She placed it on my desk and announced, "This is for you."

I was surprised - it wasn't my birthday or a holiday. A random gift?

I understood when I opened it.

"They're from my collection," she told me. "I want you to have them.

Oh, dear. 

If anyone should be giving pieces of their collection away, it's me, not TM. 

Especially TM.

TM comes from a blended family of seven kids. Tragedy struck the family recently in that one of the mothers of those children was murdered. TM's stepfather and mother took in the extra children so that they could all remain together and not be split up or put into foster care. An admirable family, but certainly not one with any money to spend on extras. Extras like pieces for TM's model horse collection.

And here TM is giving me a gift out of her own collection.

I felt a bit teary as I placed her ponies on my shelves among my other pieces. Grabbing my camera, I took a picture and put it in the thank you note that I wrote to her. 

I'd love to reciprocate and give TM a piece or two from my collection (goodness knows I could stand to pass on a few, and who better than a fellow horse lover who can't afford to buy them?), but it isn't appropriate since I am her teacher. Perhaps when she completes her 5th grade year with me I can do it. I always give the outgoing 5th graders a gift - maybe I'll tuck a pony into TM's.

In the meantime, her two horses stand on my shelves, a reminder of a very generous girl.

Little Buckaroos Super Bowl Party

Today was the Hershey Super Bowl Read-In - a day we celebrated reading with the Super Bowl as the theme. The Denver Broncos are one of the teams playing, so naturally I focused in on them in my classroom.

After all, they have a horse, Thunder, as a mascot, and when they score at a home game, Thunder is galloped across the length of the football field. Anne Judge-Wegner, the horse's rider and trainer, is a TSC grad having attended Klondike and Harrison. She was in the class behind me.

Anne and Thunder celebrating a win.

We had a party with our reading buddies, with Jane's class providing the snacks and me providing the decor and activity (in addition to reading together.)

With help from Tim, I brought in a bunch of tack for the kids to see.

 Two saddles, a bridle, chaps, spurs, saddlebags, a lariat, and Tim's Aussie hat.

 AB loved that hat and wore it most of the day.

 LG models the chaps.

 Mrs. Fields joined us, and took a turn in the saddle.

And ropes Jane with the lasso.

I have spoken before of how tender my students are with their buddies.

Case in point: NC tenderly lifts her buddy, DJ, into the saddle so she can "ride." (My kids then jiggled the saddle so it felt like movement for DJ.)

 The kids' athletic shoes were too wide for the spurs, so they wore them with their socks!

 AB's buddies read to him as he "rides." (JO, AS, AB, WS, and AD left to right.)

 TM lassos NC while EP adds antlers. (Antlers??)

 AB finally shares the hat. WS models it as he rides.

 AD wears the hat and chaps while LG adds the spurs.

 A close up of LG strapping on the spurs.

 AS and JR play catch the bandit with the lariat.

 What's a Super Bowl party without snacks? We had pizza, little smokies, punch, and Chex Mix.

 JR was fascinated with the lariat and pretended to tie himself to the chair.

 LS and FR ride double.

As the party ended, we "lassoed" ourselves - both classes roped together.

 Me (back left) with about half of the students.

 Jane and the rest of them. Look at all those smiles!

A Chilly Visit

Due to the extremely cold and snowy winter we have been having, I have not been able to get out to see Abby. Today I braved the weather for a quick visit.

Abby and Diablo hurried up to see me while Persuasion, Dolly, and Trouble waited in the background. Hokey came up, too, but Diablo chased him off.

 What did you bring me to eat??

Yum! Candy canes!

I didn't stay to visit too long - it was just too cold. But it was good to see my girl, even briefly.

Oh Boy - Redux!

Speaking of crying "Oh, boy!!" in excitement (see last entry), I am hopping with excitement and happiness about these:

Sleighbells!! In miniature!

(Picture by Jennifer Buxton, used with permission.)

I have wanted a tiny set to go with my horse collection for years, a set that was inspired by these:

My real sleighbells. 

The grandchildren and any visiting students LOVE to play Jingle Bells on our antique player piano and shake them along with the chorus. (The bells get quite a workout during the holidays!)

I found them at a tack stall at the Gordyville Flea Market (Penfield, IL) in the early 1990s. They were $15 and brand new. Best of all, they had a beautiful tone when shaken - really musical, and not tinny or cheap sounding. These are good bells, and at $15, were a real steal.

I'd looked online for some matching miniature bells for my model horses without much success. But things changed last week.

I was reading Jennifer Buxton's tack-making blog, and she wrote about two sets of miniature sleighbells she had just made for friends. She posted a picture, and they were lovely -  so realistic, in scale, and perfect miniature replicas. Absolutely stunning.

On impulse, I emailed her and asked if perhaps her books were open for new orders and if she might make me my dream set. Since she is one of the very best miniature tackmakers in the hobby, I really did not think she would have any openings, and anticipated a long wait if she did.

To my surprise, she wrote back and said that, since she had all the materials on hand from the other two sets, she'd be happy to make mine. I could scarcely believe my good fortune.

I explained that my hope would be to have a replica of my own set and sent her several reference pictures.

 The tie ends of my set so she could see how they are constructed.

A close up of the tie end. (As I looked at these pictures, I realized that my sleighbells were aging and that I had better get some leather oil on them quickly.)

I am NOT a tackmaker and had no idea if that was possible, so I told Jennifer that I would be happy with just about whatever she could make. But she persisted, asking what color of the leather I preferred, the color of the bells (she only had gold ones on hand but went looking and found some silver ones for me!), and then had my miniature bells done in two days!

Needless to say, I am over the moon and cannot wait to see them. And I am grateful to Jennifer for her kindness in slipping me into her schedule and making such a beautiful miniature set.

Oh, boy!!

Ponies from the Past

I am home on Snow Day #4 (thanks to the blizzard of 2014!) and have been scanning old documents and photos into the computer as I work on family history.  Here are a couple blasts from the past.

Oh Boy! 

My dad's pony. According to my father, Oh Boy was a circus pony and my grandfather bought him from the circus for my father when they came to town. Dad was so thrilled when he saw his new pony that he cried, "Oh, boy!" in excitement, and that became the pony's name. I know nothing else about him, although I do have a few worn leather pieces from his bridle tucked away in my tack trunk. This includes a browband embellishment with a capital "S" on it.

 Robert C. Martin, my grandfather, and purchaser of Oh Boy.

(Photo taken in Terre Haute, Indiana, by my father. Year unknown (1940s?)

I also found some pictures of Craig on his Uncle Marty's farm in Frankfort, Indiana. Believe it or not, Craig's on a pony!

 Marty Pearcy and Craig, 1960.

Marty Pearcy, Craig, and Jeff McDonald (Craig's cousin), 1960.

An interesting bit of trivia is that the Frankfort branch of the Church built on property just west of the Pearcy farm.

JC's Bronco

Okay, so I know JC lives in Colorado now, and the Denver Broncos are his local team....

Still, it makes me proud when he draws me a horse! Even if it IS the Denver Broncos' mascot!