The Other Horse at the Barn

I talk a lot about Abby, Diablo, Hokey, Trouble,  and Sultanna, but there is actually one other horse out at the barn.

This is Scarlett. She's a 16 hand thoroughbred and that's about all I know about her.

The blue barn where she lives is east of the new barn and has its own large pasture. (The white barn belongs to someone else and isn't on Tim's property.)

Scarlett joined us last December. I don't know the particulars of the story, but from what I understand, the woman who owns her very suddenly needed a new place to board. She contacted Tim who let her rent out the blue barn and its pasture. 

People who rent the blue barn do all their own care for their horses. Tim does not feed or anything, although he will if the renters are traveling and out of town. (And when he is traveling, I get to do it!)

Since the blue barn is accessed by its own lane, I rarely see those who are renting it. I have met Scarlett's owner once but she works odd hours, so our paths don't cross very often. 

Scarlett seems healthy and happy despite not having a pasture mate. Her owner mentioned once that she wanted to bring another horse out, but that has yet to happen. Still, it would not surprise me to see a new face out there one day.

The FAMulous Collectibility Show - Nominated!

Thanks to someone who attended The Fabulous Collectibility Show last August, the show has been nominated for NAMHSA Member Show of the Year!

The email announcing the nominees arrived last week and I skimmed over it to see if I knew any of the show holders or had attended any of the nominated shows.

It had never occurred to me that FAMulous might be listed so I audibly gasped when I saw it on the list. Quickly I texted Allison to see if she had heard that we'd been nominated. She hadn't, and a flurry of texts ensued as we excitedly celebrated our good news.

The winner and two runner ups will be announced during NAMHSA's Annual Member Meeting via Facebook Live during BreyerFest. Allison and I agree that we are honored that someone thought enough of our show to nominate us, and that that is a win in and of itself. 

Best of luck to all the other nominees!

Busy at the Barn

There is a lot happening at the barn right now and for a variety of reasons.

It's haying season, and so the hayfield next to the southwest pasture has been cut and baled. (That's a hose draped on the fence posts - it goes to the southwest pasture where there is no running water so we can fill that trough. Tim has hung it up and out of the way of the mower.)

Because one of their dogs was hurt on the road by a car, the agribusiness next door is putting in a six foot high chain link fence and their dogs will no longer be allowed to roam freely.

Part of that fence borders the paddock north of the new barn so currently we cannot put the horses out there. I'm glad the dogs will be restrained; they're two big mastiffs and while they don't run the horses, they have gotten into the pastures a time or two. 

Tim is home a lot due to the pandemic and he is spending much of that time doing repairs, like these boards on the fence by the old barn. 

I had no idea what these are or what he was doing with them, so I had to text and ask him about it.

He is using them to build a storage unit somewhere on the property, and since the herd is currently in the southwest pasture and nursery paddock, he has them propped up against the fence by the old barn.

Despite the busy-ness around the place, the horses are relaxed and happy, and enjoying the knee deep pastures.

As the Cole Porter song goes, "Summertime! And the livin's easy!"

Color Changing Rakus

Yesterday someone posted a question in a china collectors Facebook group about her Lakeshore Raku "Art of Fire" Marshall, and her thoughts that its color was changing. I, too, have a Raku Marshall, so I was very interested in reading the comments as well as checking out a link to an article about how Raku colors are not stable and do change with time. 

Then I pulled out my Raku piece. He did look different to me - duller and with less variation in his color. A suggestion had been made in the group that polishing the finish with a jewelry polishing cloth might restore some of the lustre, so I pulled out a soft cloth and tried that.

 Off side before polishing.

 Off side after polishing. It did look somewhat shinier to me.

 Near side before polishing.

 Near side after polishing. Some of the green/turquoise seems brighter.

The Lakeshore Rakus are really beautiful pieces.

 I especially love the variation in the colors on mine.

I couldn't work on mine too long as I had something else to get to right away but it did look like I was getting some promising results.

I'm interested in continuing to follow the thread and seeing what results other people are getting as they try the polishing cloth on their own Rakus.

I may even start taking periodic photos of mine to document any future changes.

While I really hope my model does not end up some dull muddy color as time goes on, I also enjoy this part of being a collector. Every so often we discover changes or see something we had not noticed before, and it becomes researched and documented in the hobby. (For example, shrinkies, oozies, chalkies, and even unusual deterioration in Western Horses.)

A Raku model whose color is changing is another of those challenges to observe and figure out.

BreyerFest: Breakables Preparation

BreyerFest is fast approaching and since I bought a three day ticket last January, I am able to participate in it fully. I cannot wait! One of the activities that I am looking forward to the most is the all-china show, Breakables. 

I last showed at Breakables in 2012. I don't bring many of my chinas out to shows any more - too much risk for damage. But since BreyerFest and its activities are all virtual due to the pandemic, that meant the Breakables show was now a photo show. 

 And that is something that I can do!

 I've spent the past week sending in my entries - all 61 of them.

The show is double judged for breed and collectibility, so I had to do some research and documentation. And, I had to update my spreadsheets where I track my models' placings.

That's actually something I enjoy, and a great activity when you are recovering from a major surgery. Win-win!

I ran into a puzzle, though, when I went to my Beswick book to document Worth the Wait.

 There are two versions of the Beswick Appaloosa, and Worth the Wait is the first version.

 According to the Beswick book, the Beswick Appaloosa (first version) was introduced in 1975. That's incorrect.

 Here is a photo of it in the October, 1970 edition of Horse and Rider magazine. (It is because of that magazine article that I looked for the Beswick Appaloosa for literally decades. Hence his name.)

Worth the Wait (version one) on the left and Pavarotti (version two) on the right.

Furthermore, the reference book says that version one had striped hooves while version two's are cream. Either Worth the Wait is a variation (very possible) since he has cream hooves or the reference book is wrong about the coloring. (Also possible.)

I decided to go along with the date given by the reference book for my documentation as I knew the judge would have access to it and that she probably would not have the October, 1970 Horse and Rider to hand. In a live show, I could add that magazine page as documentation; can't do that in a photo show.

I sent everything in batches all week long by show division (Americanware, Other Countryware, Europeanware, etc.) 

Now I can concentrate on other aspects of BreyerFest while I wait for the judging to be completed and the results announced. Judging begins July 1 and ends July 7 with results being announced on July 9.

Super excited to see how my chinas do! 

More Rodeo Prep

Since Pony Pal Cambria and Cowpoke Titan are going to be rodeoing this summer, I figured they had to have boots for that, right? So I texted Mountain Mama Jessica, got their sizes, and together we picked out some boots online. I ordered them and they were delivered Monday afternoon.

The kids had no idea that the boots were coming and arrived home from the swimming pool to find mailing boxes waiting for them. Jessica FaceTimed me so that I could watch the kids open the boxes and hear their squeals and shouts when they realized what I'd sent them. 

Titan quickly disappeared with his boots into the bedroom only to reappear with jeans on and sporting his new boots, too. Not to be outdone, Cambria ran into her bedroom and grabbed her cowgirl hat. (She didn't want to take the time to change from her swimsuit, so she just put a shirt on over it.)

Jessica sent me this text the next morning.

As you can see, they slept in their boots and were still wearing them when she left for work early that morning.

Then, I got this text this morning. The excitement was still there.

Now I need to get back to work on their shirts. I had a bit of a setback - I asked Cowpoke Ian to try on the shirt, and it was a disaster!

Ian and Cambria are the same age so I thought the fit might be comparable, but the shirt was WAY too small on Ian - we couldn't even snap it closed!

It was too big on Pony Pal Mila, but I expected that because she is smaller than Titan.

I grabbed my tape measure and measured Ian and Mila.

Then I asked Jessica to take her kids' measurements so that I could compare them. 

Her measurements reassured me that the pattern I was using would work and that the shirts would fit.

The past couple of days have been consumed with getting my entries into the Breakables at BreyerFest Virtual Show, and I wrapped that up last night. Now I will turn my attention, time, and energy back to the sewing machine and get cracking on those rodeo shirts.

Reunion at the Barn

After all my own children were in school, I started my teaching career and taught twenty years before retiring. Some of my former students have remained in contact over time, including Angelina, who just graduated from high school.

Angelina is a fellow horse lover. A year or so after leaving elementary school, she visited me while in middle school. She was very comfortable being in the middle of all the horses and happily fed carrots and peppermints to them all.

When I retired in 2018, Angelina came to the surprise retirement party that a bunch of my former students planned for me and held in my classroom at the end of the day.

 That's Angelina standing on the right with other classmates that just graduated this year.

She and I had been texting recently about her post graduation plans and I asked if she'd like to come see the horses again.

 Angelina was thrilled about that! She hopes to own a horse herself some day.

After some hugs and tears, we headed out into the pasture to visit the herd.

 She found Hokey's favorite spot - he was so happy!

 Although she did have to prove to him that she did not have any treats left.

 Hokey is a sweet boy and he enjoyed having all of Angelina's attention. (Look how loose his lips are - that boy is in heaven!)

 We toured the new barn and Tim's wagon collection...

... and then we sat outside on the hay wagon and chatted. I wanted to hear about her plans (going to Purdue to study Biology), hear how her family was (stepmom is undergoing cancer treatment so we made sure we wore masks while we were together), and we just generally caught up on each other's lives.

She also baked me the YUMMIEST cookies! And packed them in a pretty box with a gold ribbon!

The biggest treat, though, was not the cookies or the horses. It was the opportunity to reunite with a young woman that I've known for many years and love very much.