A True Horsey Girl?

 I think that Pony Pal Mila may be a true horsey girl.

See what's next to her as she eats her lunch? She's brought a horse to the table with her!

She wears her favorite horsey/unicorn dress ALL the time and loves to play with the mini stable and horses I keep at my house for my grands.

During a recent visit to her house, I was invited up to her bedroom to play "horse." Now, in Indiana, that usually means a kind of basketball game (Hoosiers are crazy about their basketball!)

Not for Pony Pal Mila - for her, it means an elaborate game of ponies being kidnapped and rescued by the prince. (I quickly learned to not interject any story ideas - she knew what she wanted to have happen, and my role was more just to watch and to hide the occasional horse from the evil side.)

It's all good, Mila! You can indulge your horsey side all you want with me because I get it.

A Riding Habit of My Own (and Other Things)

Earlier this fall, I wrote about my sister, Leslie, and her 18th century riding habits. That sparked some latent interest in me to get back into the reenacting hobby, as well as in my daughter, Lisa, who, like me, has also participated in reenacting.

We've been talking about it for a few weeks, and she and I have decided to jump back into the 18th century and attend some events together. Leslie was more than happy to help us figure out where we should begin so today Lisa and I drove out to my sister's home and spent a couple of hours doing research with her and taking notes.

 First we had to play with Leslie's 150 pound Newfoundland, Kerry.

 He was a gentle giant, and tagged along with us wherever we went.

Leslie fixed us herbal peppermint tea and we sat down at her craft table and began chatting about ideas and the things we wanted to do as reenacters. Then we went back into her bedroom and she began pulling gorgeous riding habits out of her closet.

This one looks quite simple

 but has lovely subtle details. I loved the back of the jacket!

 A waistcoat and tie/stock.

 The waistcoat's back was laced. I think it was lightly boned, too.

The skirt on this habit has a train, so ladies would button it up when they rode to keep their skirts from dragging in the mud.

This is her favorite riding habit and certainly the most ornate. All that gold braid was hand sewn onto the jacket. The waistcoat was quilted and had tiny blue embroidered accents.

The back of the jacket was equally stunning. (I don't think I will do anything needing to be hand stitched like that!)

Even the waistcoat had the gold trim - and it would never been seen unless she took off the jacket! Such attention to detail boggled my mind.

 The silver trim and buttons on this jacket was more understated but equally beautiful.

I took lots of photos of the buttonholes and trim so that I could refer to them when making my own.

Leslie had a second grey riding habit with different trim from the first.

I liked the clean lines of this one very much.

 A close up of its sleeve details.

 One of her stocks.

 This habit was made from green velvet.

 The sleeve cuff was leather.

 For this one, the gold braid had been machine sewn. 

 I love this one - that red trim makes the whole outfit pop when she wears it.

It is probably my favorite of them all. 

There are thirty covered buttons on the front of this jacket. Thirty! Covering buttons is not an easy task.

There were at least three more covered buttons on the back of the jacket - I really liked the vent in the back and the narrow gold braid that accented the jacket.

When we had seen most of her riding habits (a few were in storage out in the barn so we did not get to look at them) we returned to the living room and Leslie went through her personal library and loaned us books to take home and look through.

I am feeling better prepared now to tackle my own riding habit.

 I've also bought several patterns to use to make it.

Lisa is not sure yet what she wants to make, although she is talking about a sacque back or a polonaise gown. She also really likes caraco jackets (so do I) with a stomacher. I've made a sacque back and stomacher for myself before, so I will be able to help her work on those, but a polonaise gown and caraco jacket will be new ventures for me.

A riding habit will also be new to me, but I feel better informed about what making one will entail. It's going to be fun picking out the fabric and trim. I can't wait to get started!

A New Rubber Nedz is in the Works

I find Donna Chaney's Rubber Nedz horses charming as well as beautiful. Several years ago I contacted Donna about making me one as a circus pony in bay with orange plumes. Donna did not disappoint.

 Done on her Tagus mold, and accented with Swarovski crystals,

 I think he is beautiful.

After I had let Donna know that he had arrived and how happy I was with him, she gave me some exciting news.

Dear Lynn, l am so  pleased that you are happy with him :)
Later in the year l hope to produce a Rearing Andalusian RubberNed 
circus horse :) He is going to be very handsome :).......he is all 
finished and ready to make the moulds, but it will take a while to get 
him into production. Have a very Happy New Year, Donna.

Another Donna Chaney Rubber Nedz circus pony?? I signed up for one right away! This week I got an email from Donna updating me on the process of my next Rubber Nedz.

Dear Lynn, l hope to have him in progress just before Christmas. l just wanted to check you still want him, before we start painting him :) lf you can send a picture of the one we have done already, that would be very useful, Donna.

I quickly sent her the photos of both sides of my first Rubber Nedz as she had requested plus a close up of his face.

Thank you for the picture :) He is a pretty boy :) and the next one should be very pretty too! l’ll be in touch, Donna.

But then a thought hit me and I suddenly connected a couple of dots. At the Artisans' Gallery at this year's BreyerFest, Donna had had a large, traditional sized rearing circus horse on display. Was that what I had committed to? And not a smaller piece like the one I already had?

Quickly I reviewed my email correspondence with Donna and looked up the mold she had said that my next piece would be done on.

Animal Artistry Rearing Andalusian. Photo from Equine Resin Directory and taken from Google Images.

Lucky me - it was! I had misunderstood the scale of the piece I'd ordered, but that was not Donna's fault. Besides, I much prefer traditional sized models. I am excited as I will be getting even more than I anticipated. 

Okay, So I Caved

Tis the season to see lots of holiday items in the stores, no matter where you shop. Monday I was in JoAnns getting some notions for a project I am sewing and I spied a big bin of wrapping paper that was on sale.

Yep, those are unicorns pulling Santa's sleigh. I stood there and thought of my Pony Pals who love everything unicornish, and since I knew this would be the perfect wrapping paper for them, I caved and put it in my cart.

Pony Pal Kate actually loves bunnies more than unicorns, so I also bought two rolls of bunny paper for her gifts.

I will have use up all that unicorn paper up quickly - if I don't, no doubt someone in my family will wrap MY gifts with it. And that would make me say "No! No! No!" instead of "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Winter Scenes

A news report yesterday stated that 25% of Indiana's crops were still in the fields and unharvested.

That is true here in west central Indiana. As I drove out to the barn for my daily visit, I noticed several large fields that still had standing corn in them.

Depending on the roads I take to the barn, I drive past this little country church. Doesn't it look pretty in the snow? It is lovely in every season, but I like it in the snow the best.

I laughed when I opened my blinds yesterday - the snow had turned my wind chimes into an octopus!

 Pepper absolutely loves the snow and likes to play catch with snowballs.

 Our daughter Lisa took over for us when Pepper wore Craig and me out!

 The horses are getting hay now, but they still are foraging in the pastures, too.

 I just can't get over all the white in Abby's coat this year! She looks like she has been frosted.

Tim's son, Riley, had quite the job chopping that thick layer of ice on the trough. He installed the heater, and while you can just barely see it from this angle, there is a small pocket of open water on the very far right. You can also see the edges of the ice has pulled away from the rim as it melts.

Today's forecast calls for a high temperature of a balmy 36, so the snow and ice should begin melting. I can only wonder what the rest of this winter will bring!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

For crying out loud, it's only mid November! What are we doing with January kinds of temperatures

and snow on the ground like this??

Luckily the snow had blown and drifted in ways

that did not make it difficult for me to get my car down the lane to the new barn.

Hokey was foraging for some grass under the snow in the southwest pasture (he never minds being on his own)

so I figured the other horses were either in the barn or out in the northwest pasture. 

 I'd go around and check on them in a few minutes, but first I needed to tackle the water trough.

As I thought, it was frozen over again.

I took an ax and started chopping, but the ice was too thick and I could not break through it. Finally I gave up - time to text Tim and see if he could get me some help. His son Riley, lives south of town and then there's Travis, another horseman who lives west of town. I knew either man would come and help me.

I felt a little badly that I needed the help, and made a joke in my text about working out before the next snowstorm. Tim assured me that my inability to break the ice or go up in the hay loft and throw down hay was not a problem.

 No surprise, Tim was very nice about it and told me not to worry.

Well, it's a balmy 10 degrees out there now - I'll go out in an hour or so and check the herd for the day. Hopefully Riley not only chopped the ice but also found the water heater and installed it. If not, I know who to call!