She Knows Me Well!

I said goodbye to my student teacher last week. She has been with me since the first week in January and is an excellent teacher. And, just as she knew our students very well, she knew me well, too.

As a thank you gift, Caitlin gave me a painting - an original watercolor of a horse by an artist who lives in the nearby town of Delphi.

Caitlin was so excited about it that she had me open it before the kids arrived! Then we rewrapped it and I opened it in front of the students later that morning. I also gave her a painting - and we laughed at the coincidence.

I can't wait to get mine framed. It will be a lovely remembrance of a young woman who also became a dear friend.

Vintage Club Tanner

My Vintage Club Tanner, an extra offering, arrived Tuesday but I only opened him today.

I absolutely LOVE him.

Some literature with him says he is brown pinto, but he sure looks like a black pinto to me!

 The head looks like it might be chalky.

 Hard to tell. Some of the Vintage Club pieces have been chalkies (Lucky, Kiowa, Magnus, etc.) in the past, but I am finding it difficult to tell on Tanner.

 I love the warpaint - there are symbols on Tanner's flanks...

 ... his neck...

... and his hip.

Overall I am pleased and he is a welcome addition to my collection!

Off for Repairs

As a result of past problems, I have become very cautious as to whom I send pieces from my collection for repair work. Recently I was thrilled to discover that a well known hobby artist (and good friend of one of my best hobby friends) with a good reputation for repairs and restoration had some openings. I contacted her and she agreed to do some work for me.

These two decorator Running Foals are getting new eartips.

 And I am sending three Hagen Renakers who need some leg work.

 My glossy Designer Workshop Head Up Pony has a leg break that needs to be fixed.

 Nancy Falzone sold me this Circus Pony with a broken leg and it will be lovely when fixed.

I broke my Two Bits after the last show I attended. It happened while in transit coming home from the show despite the piece being wrapped in bubble wrap and placed in a padded pony pouch. I was so sad!

He has a J carved into the bottom of one hoof. I don't know who did that, and it makes me wonder if he had had some repair work done before I found him at an antique shop.

My Head Up Pony also has a letter carved into a hoof. Perhaps it, too, had been to a repair artist before I bought it?

The gal I am sending my models to has a three week turn around time for repairs, so I should get them back before the end of May. I am thrilled she will be working on them, and have some others I'd like to send when these come back. Fingers crossed!

Shedding Season!

Don't let this pretty face fool you.

 I think Abby is beautiful (I love the "eyeliner" around her eyes!) regardless of the time of year.

 But it is (finally) spring and that means it is shedding season.

A visit with Abby, even a short one, means you come home covered in horse hair!

(Not that I mind.)

Riding Through the Drive Through

Teenagers don't always use their heads, and I was a typical teenager so I completed my share of head-scratching activities. One of which included riding Amy through a fast food drive-through one day.

Burger Chef was an early hamburger chain and there was one within a few miles of my home. I was out on a ride and hungry, so I decided to see if I might be able to get something to munch. Of course, that meant riding into town on streets that had active traffic on them. And, when I got there, I didn't want to tie Amy up in the parking lot, so we used the drive-though!

I ordered some food, smiling at the reaction of the employee who had never had to serve someone on horseback. She handed me my order and I headed back home through the traffic and out into the country.

I'm not sure that I ever told my parents what I had done - I think I knew even then that it was risky to ride Amy into town alongside traffic. It was certainly not one of my brighter moments! (But it WAS fun.)

The Passing of a Long Time Hobbyist

The formalized, organized model horse hobby had its beginning in the late 1960s when Ellen Hitchins and Simone (Simi, back then) Smiljanic organized their club,  IMPHSA (International Model Photo Horse Show Association.) While backyard/in-home shows had been going on for some time, and collecting model horses had been, too, it was these two women who really made the hobby happen by pulling early collectors together from across the country (and later, the world) into organized hobby clubs.

I started collecting in 1963 and had done in-home live shows with my two friends, Carol and Bobbie, in the 1960s, but I still remember that heady feeling of discovering that there were other people like the three of us who were doing the same thing, and that I could join them by taking pictures of my horses and mailing them to shows. Such fun days those were!

Fast forward fifty odd years or so and many of us who were part of that scene are still here. But, we are aging, and the hobby has begun to lose some of its earliest members. Ellen passed away some time ago as did Marney. Simi is still with us but has serious health issues. (She is still active in Facebook hobby groups, though.)

Very recently we lost another early hobby member, one who customized and made beautiful tack. Carol Howard passed away in March.

Carol and I are both members of the same faith - Mormons. There are a fair number of us in the hobby, and that double bond of religious beliefs coupled with our love of model horses has made for some wonderful friendships.

Carol made contributions to the early hobby that continued on to current times. She will be missed.

More Circus-Related Items!

My love of circus ponies extends to some other circus-related items including Breyer's Corky and Bimbo set. So, when I saw two books from the old TV show for sale, I snatched them up.

 One was a chapter book.

 It had been a birthday gift years ago to a boy named Ken from someone named Bobby.

 The chapter book is sixty years old.

 There was also a smaller, young child's book.

 It is a year older than the chapter book, and both are in very good shape.

 Of course, I plan to read them both!

Christina Dils, the woman who sold me the books, also included a little extra surprise - three mini horses!

My favorite color is orange, and I love Pegasus, so that one may become my stable mascot.

New Mini Circus Ponies

You never know when you are going to find something to add to your collection. I was on Etsy looking for a banner for the Happy Trails show last weekend, and decided to type "circus pony" in the search box when I finished.

I am glad I did because these two popped up!

 They're 1/32 scale and the seller says she thinks they are from the 1970s.

Despite the chunky legs and hooves, I think they are pretty nice overall, especially their heads. The ponies are made from a plastic that is harder than Breyer's Mini Whinnies but with more flexibility than a Stablemate.

I need to do a little research and see if I can figure out who the manufacturer is, when they were made, and other details. In the meantime, I am glad to have them!

The Happy Trails, Lynn! Breyer Vintage Collectibility Show

The planning is going well for the pony party I am holding to celebrate my retirement!

Several people have RSVPed already, and I am working on some surprises and other things - after all, it is a party in addition to being a show!

Every attendee will get a gift bag with some goodies in it. Those are in progress, too.

I am really looking forward to hosting this show/party.

A Gift from a Longtime Friend

Kathy Bateman and I go waaaaaaaay back. We have been friends for twenty-five years (at least) and met when I was living in Illinois. A fellow hobbyist, we played ponies together, went to BreyerFest and live shows, and put on Lincoln Land Live.

She is now in Tennessee and I am in Indiana, but that friendship remains strong. Saturday I received a surprise package in the mail from her.

 Puzzled, I opened it, and found an envelope on the top of a bunch of bubble wrap.

 Inside was a lovely card - she'd sent a retirement gift!

Kathy knows I love circus ponies, and she'd sent a Wade Whimsey.

Also included was a note that gives documentation as to what the piece is and where she found it. I love my new circus pony; even more, I love that it came from a dear friend who bought it in one of the antique shops we both used to haunt, and was part of her personal collection.

Thanks so much, Kats. This piece is very special to me and I will treasure it always not only because it is a circus pony, but because it came from one of my dearest friends.

Tornado!

Tuesday evening while down in Indianapolis, I heard that there were tornados just north of us. I knew the building I was in was very safe should anything happen, but I did wonder about our drive home.

I was right to be concerned. I got a text message from Lisa who had been at our home with the dogs.

That "no confirmed touchdown" would change because there actually were two tornadoes, one of which was out by Hershey, the school where I teach.

 As I drove to work Wednesday, I noticed a debris field on the north side on 300, just a mile from Hershey.

 The debris stretched quite a ways through a field.

 I could tell a tornado had hit a metal barn and then thrown the pieces as it traveled north toward Buck Creek.

As I drove home from school that afternoon, I took pictures of the farm building that had sustained the damage.

 Not the best picture, but I was driving and had a car behind me.

This tornado was only a mile from my school. In 1996, a tornado actually hit my school, Yankee Ridge Elementary, and just missed our home by a quarter mile. That tornado wreaked havoc and killed one person. (We lived in Illinois at the time.)

This is a video of that tornado. After their school had been hit, my students took our drills seriously! It was very, very real to them.

Now, whenever we do a tornado drill at school, I reassure the kids that, while I don't think it will happen, that being hit by a tornado is possible.

This recent one so close to my school just confirms how possible that really is.

My Second Real Decorator!

How ironic that I have looked for decorators for years and years, decades even, without success, and then I find two in the space of one month.

(Photos from eBay auction.)

I saw this gold charm Running Foal on eBay a few weeks ago and marked it for watching. As the time passed, the bidding remained low, and so I took the plunge and made a bid. I won!

 He has some black marks and a chipped eartip, but is still beautiful.

I am thrilled to add this piece to my collection. And I have to smile - it has been a very rainy spring break and I have complained a bit about that, but the old adage is true - when it rains, it pours!

Another Trip Antiquing

Thursday was a rainy and cold day - a good one to go out and look for more HSOs. (Why does it always rain or snow during my spring break??)

I have decided that, since I am retiring, I will begin keeping track of the numerous antique and thrift shops that are close enough for me to visit. (Close being a day's drive there and back.) I set up a spread sheet with the names of towns and shops that I already knew well, then aded their contact information and addresses. I listed the stores I had visited on Monday, and then set out to visit three small towns, each about twenty miles away, and all of whom have places where I have discovered HSOs.

Like I had on Monday, I saw many horsey things.

 There were lots of clankies to be found.

I loved this wind-up horse - my father was an aficionado of wind up toys and were he still living, I might've bought it for him.

I thought this piece might be a TV lamp, but it was actually a planter. (It looked a bit chalkware-esque to me, too.)

 A quirky Canadian Mountie on a plastic horse was cool.

 Not to my taste - I go for more realistic colors. (Unless it is a Breyer decorator!)

This pretty painting was tucked behind some other merchandise. (Another blogger, Christina Dils, once advised hobbyists to be sure to look up high and down low when searching for pieces. Valuable advice that I now follow.)

 There was a Breyer in one store, but I am looking for vintage ones and so I left it behind.

 I looked at some decorative plates...

... and a black and white rendition of "The Horse Fair" by Rosa Bonheur. (I already have a framed colored edition.)

 A carved wooden horse up stood up on some higher shelves.

 And I discovered a whole bunch of chalkware, including the same circus horse I saw on Monday.

 I had never seen so many chalkware pieces together, and they were in wonderful shape.

Plus, they had glitter in their manes and tails, just as Monday's piece had. I asked the vendor about the use of glitter on chalkware, and she said that it had been a genuine practice to produce them that way.

There was some breweriana ...

... and a Marguerite Henry book that connects to a Breyer horse. (The book came home with me.)

I think those are salt and pepper shakers that the horse is pulling.

And, I came across the mother lode of Breyers, Marx, Safari, and other manufacturers.

Only the book came home with me, along with a bunch of business cards I picked up so that I could add these shops to my spread sheet.

So, not a very fruitful trip, but I still enjoyed myself. Half the fun is the search!