New Addition to the Adios Conga

 I have two major focuses in my collection - circus horses and vintage Breyers. My favorite molds (Semi-Rearing Mustang, 5 Gaiter, Indian Pony) are significant congas while others are more modest.

My Adios conga is one of the most modest of them all with just eleven pieces.

But now we are twelve. 

Brandywine was a 2002 Fall Show Special (in fact, he was the last Show Special that Breyer made) and only produced for six months. I saw him listed on an auction site for just $15, bid, and won him.

He is much nicer in hand than I thought he would be, especially considering the amount of time that has passed since he was made as well as the types of paint jobs Breyer was doing in the early 2000s. This guy has nice detail work and no rubs that I can find.

I think I will name him Even Dozen to reflect that he's my twelfth Adios.

A Surprise in the New Barn

Yesterday I decided to do a walk-through of the new barn. I rarely go in there, but when Tim travels, I like to check on things and make sure all is well. Usually everything is just as expected, but this time when I stepped into the lounge, I had a surprise.

A piano! And not just any piano, but an antique player piano!

When I texted Tim my daily report on the horses and grounds, I asked him about it. Typical Tim, he said that buying it had "improved my musical talent by 100%" but he also texted that it didn't sound right when he played it. I offered to take a look at it and see if I could help - it could be that the roll bar had shifted or something else that would be a quick fix on a player piano.

Tim was surprised that I knew anything about them - he'd forgotten that we have an antique player piano, too.

Mine is in our living room where it is a favorite activity for pony pals and cowpokes. I also use it to display seasonal decor in the form of models from my collection. That's Sugar Maple on it right now, and in a few days I will put Cryptic, Ichabod, Nevermore, or Crane out.

Last week we had a family birthday party and Cowpoke Ian played the Happy Birthday roll while Lukie and Mila (dressed as Wonder Woman; she can't wait for Halloween) danced. 

Our favorite rolls are stored in this rack that a friend made us but I have more, some of which are damaged or falling apart from age.

When your legs are too short to pump the pedals and play, sometimes a cousin will come to your rescue! Here Horse Buddy Trinity helps Pony Pal Mila.

A look inside my player piano. It plays by blowing air through the holes in the paper of the roll.

This is what the inside of my non player piano looks like for comparison. (We have two pianos, but we used to have three. When my kids were all home and taking lessons, we couldn't get everyone's practice in around their sports, school, and church activities. Having three pianos - one in the living room, one in the dining room, and one in the family room - made the house a bit crowded and loud, but our kids got their practicing in and can now play well as adults.)

A player piano can be played like a regular piano - no pumping necessary.

Here is a video I made of The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah last Easter and sent to my family. Notice how the words of the song scroll by as the roll plays? That's so that you can sing along. And we do a lot of singalongs as a family, especially at Christmas time. (It took me a while to master reading from the bottom up!) 

Fast forward to 0:58 and you will see that the keys actually depress as they play. This is accomplished in a player piano by pressing foot pedals. It's good exercise, and it is actually how I rehabbed my hip when I had it replaced.

It sure was a surprise to find that player piano in the barn lounge, but I am looking forward to playing it later today. There is a tub of rolls that came with it, and there are some I don't have - I can't wait to hear what they sound like.

Still Standing

Tim is out of town for a few days (he and Loni have a new granddaughter!) and I am in charge of the barn while he is gone. I love it when that happens. While I no longer want to have my horse at home in my own barn, I am always glad to have the opportunity to take over for a few days.

During Sunday afternoon's visit, I walked around checking the fences and gates to be sure everything was secure for the horses. Abby was in a following mood. She tagged along with me, something she frequently does. She walks when I walk and stops when I stop, no lead rope needed. I love that about my mare. This time Sultanna tagged along, too. (I felt like the pied piper!)

Tim had told me that he'd gotten an additional 300 bales put into the old barn's hay mow, so I went into one of the stalls and looked up the ladder and into the mow. For whatever reason, the light was just right, and I could see the scorch marks on the boards from when the old barn had caught fire years and years ago.

These are boards that run from the roof and form the walls of the loft and then come down over one of the entrances to the stalls. The floor of the mow is that newer board in the upper left hand corner. It is supporting the mow's floorboards - you can barely make them out on top of it.

More fire damage to the boards of the hay mow.

I don't worry too much about another fire in the barn but I am aware that it could happen. Since Tim and I both prefer that our horses roam freely, they would be able to get out of the barn if there were a problem. There are two homes on the property, the agribusiness next door, and several other horse properties bordering the place, so help would be available quickly. Having said that, it is sobering to see the evidence that the barn did catch fire once.

Believe it or not, I actually worry more about wind. We get some pretty strong winds in this part of Indiana, and lots of tornadoes, and the old barn does creak and pop when it blows hard. 

But despite the fire and the winds and tornadoes, the old barn still stands. I'm glad - it is one of my favorite places to be with my girl.

Volunteering at Indiana Horse Rescue

When not in the classroom teaching, our daughter Lisa is the girls' youth leader at church. She spends Wednesday evenings with the kiddos and helps them organize activities and service projects. Recently the girls requested doing a service activity with horses, and she knew exactly where to take them - Indiana Horse Rescue, Abby's old stomping grounds!

Saturday morning they made the drive south to Frankfort and were quickly put to work. They cleaned, they raked, they did whatever was needed. And, they got to groom!

Louise, a miniature horse who is a permanent resident of the rescue, loved all the attention that she received. Look at her lean into those brushes!

Melanie, the woman who worked with me during Abby's adoption process, was still there.

Mel remembered Abby from her time at the rescue when her name was Sassy. Lisa showed her some recent photos of Abby from Instagram so that Mel could see how she looks now, eight and a half years post adoption.

 When I'd learned that Lisa was taking her youth group down there for the day, I volunteered to come along and help. But, due to the pandemic, they were limited in the number of people that could go. I'm glad that Lisa sent me these photos so I could enjoy the visit from afar.

Still Barn Shopping

I have longed for a model horse barn since I was in elementary school. Breyer did not make barns at that time, so I took some scrap wood from my dad's workshop and built my own. I have looked for a photo of that barn for years, but it wasn't until this week that I finally found one.

My little homemade barn was a simple wooden box with a piece of pegboard as the partition between the two stalls. It had no roof so that I could access my models. (I remember adding one later since the front was also open.)

My sisters and me playing with the barn under our crab apple tree. There is "hay" under Leslie's feet (looks like we spilled the water trough, haha!) and you can see kernels of corn scattered on the ground that we were using as feed. (No doubt we went into the cornfield behind us and nabbed an ear of corn - you can see the corn husks on the ground behind me!)

I made do with that little homemade barn until it fell apart from use and could not be repaired one more time and was thrown away.

The earliest barn Breyer offered was in 1976. I was in college then and living in a dorm on Purdue's campus. There was absolutely no room for model horses, let alone a barn.

 Photo of 1976 catalog page from Identify Your Breyer.

Around 1990 Breyer offered the barn of my dreams. I was (and still am) especially fond of the ladder for some reason. But with six kids and me being a stay at home mom, our income was already stretched very thin. 

Besides that, there were eight people living in our home - where on earth would I put something that big? (Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)

Currently Breyer offers eleven different barns in a variety of scales. Our kids are grown and gone, and we rattle around in a house that has plenty of extra space. 

Sometimes I look at the barns that are available and wonder if it is time to finally get one. This one currently in the Breyer catalog isn't nearly as nice as the 1990 barn, but it's still pretty cool! (Photo from the Breyer web site.) 

At the 2019 BreyerFest I walked around the concourse and looked at the barns that were available.

They were lovely and they were expensive, although I am sure that the man who built them spent hours to make each one and deserved to be compensated for that. 

I probably will never get a barn for my model horses, and I am okay with that. I am lucky that I have been able to have access to real barns almost all my life.

Me with Scojeadon in 1971.

Still, the little girl within me sometimes whispers that it might be fun to keep looking. I think she's right.

 

Business is Booming

It has been a surprise that my haversacks have been selling so well - after all, there are many folks who sew them. (I use haversacks because a friend who also sews them got a cease and desist letter from a woman who says she coined the phrase pony pouch. Alrighty then! Haversacks it is!)

Yesterday I mailed out four packages of assorted haversacks. I also got four new custom orders and spent time online ordering fabric. (Another fun rabbit hole to go down!)

This vintage 1970s Jockey & Silks fabric sold out the day I posted it for sale. We have a lot of racing fans in this hobby!

I ended up using the remnants to make a couple of small haversacks for folks who asked if I had any of the fabric left.  That was a surprise; traditional haversacks are the most requested. But, this fabric was so unusual, it makes sense now when I think about it.

I was able to track down this racing fabric for two customers who asked if I had other racing fabrics. 

I sewed their pouches plus three smaller ones, and before I could even post those on the Mercantile, they sold.

Anne Field is holding a photo show and she picked out this fabric when I told her I would donate some haversacks. As a surprise, I embroidered the name of the show (and her business) on it in purple, her favorite color along with pink.

When I list haversacks for sale, I usually take photos of models with them so that buyers can see which models they will fit.

Having my models modeling them is fun, and I try to pull out different ones each time I finish one.

The In-Between Mare, Zahra, got a chance to model, too. I figured that since she has such a long neck, people might wonder if she fit a standard Traditional haversack. She does!

I have spent several hours a day upstairs in my horse room/office since I retired. Now that I am sewing so much, I find myself spending most of the day there. 

And I don't mind one bit.

Cupcake Risers

 I have been asked if I could share where I got the cupcake risers that I am using for my Stablemates.

I am really pleased with how well they work and am happy to share the link.

This is what I ordered. They come in several sizes, with the three tier style (seen in the ad photo) coming in a couple of different widths.

 Unfortunately, they are currently unavailable in the four tier version. But, that happened when I bought mine. I added them to my cart and then got a message that they were unavailable. (Shades of BreyerFest 2020!) I tried again a little while later and was able to snag them.

Here is the link - hopefully the four tier risers will pop up again and those who want them can get them.

Good luck!

Vintage Club Zahra

 The fourth and last offering from Breyer's Vintage Club has arrived, and she is gorgeous!

Zahra, the In-Between Mare, in a glossy dapple bay.

The dapples on mine are very subtle on the off side, but can be seen more clearly on the near.

She was a gambler's choice of three colors - glossy dapple bay, glossy dappled rose grey pinto, and matte dapple palomino. (The literature that came with the model calls the palomino version pearly palomino.) According to Identify Your Breyer there were about 167 made in each of the three Vintage Club colors. (Photo by Breyer.)

The In-Between Mare may be Breyer's rarest model and has an interesting history. In the 1950s Breyer copied Hagen Renaker's large Arabian Mare, Zara. Hagen Renaker strongly objected, and so Breyer had to change the mold.  The In-Between Mare was their first attempt, and for years the only one known to exist was a glossy grey Appaloosa that was in the collection of Marney Walerius. (The next and final iteration of the mold was the Family Arabian Mare.)

She has an overlong neck but Zahra will still fit into a standard haversack.

As time passed, several other In-Between Mares surfaced in woodgrain and  alabaster. I would not be surprised if one or two are discovered in palomino and possibly even charcoal. Maybe those will surface some day.

Since this is the first time the mold has ever been used in Breyer's line-up, there are a lot of people who want her. A check of eBay shows that one like mine was just listed and already has nine bids and is at $260 with seven days left for bidding.

I have no plans to sell mine and if I can, I will rearrange my shelves and put her between my Family Arabian Mares and my Proud Arabian Mares.

That makes sense since she is the In-Between Mare!

Still Smiling

How many shows, live or photo, do you find yourself smiling during the entire process of the show? One where you smile throughout the setting up and photographing of your entries, when putting those photos into their classes, while looking at the other entries, seeing the results, and then still be smiling whether you won anything or not?

That describes Jennifer Buxton's Pandemic Performance Panorama. It was SUCH a fun show and I really did smile throughout every phase of it. 

I rarely show performance, but I braved it this time since creativity and interpretation were allowed. I can't do a perfectly executed performance set up, but I can be a little creative and I had a blast entering. I didn't expect to win a thing against very stiff and creative competition, but I didn't care. That was not the point - having fun was.

Every paid entrant received a box of some sort of hobby goodies. Mine arrived yesterday - two food props donated by Anne Field, a medallion from The Jennifer Show, and a sticker donated by Winter Glen Studio.

The smile on my face, several weeks after the ending of the show, is still there. Thank you, Jennifer!

Displaying the Stablemates

Despite preferring to collect Traditional sized models, I have accumulated some Stablemates over the years. Some because I saw them at a thrift shop and rescued them, others because they were from the Vintage Club, a few have been gifts or prizes, and some simply because I liked the mold or color.

They haven't been displayed, but when Breyer shrank down the Fighting Stallion, Clydesdale, and Indian Pony for their 70th Anniversary, I liked those so much that I decided I wanted to display them along with the Stablemates that I already had. 

I started searching online for spice racks and other stands that might work, but I didn't like what I saw until I came across some that were marketed as display stands for cupcakes. I checked their size and realized they'd work perfectly plus they had a fourth shelf whereas all the spice racks I'd looked at only had three.

They came as a set of four and needed minimal assembly - just two acrylic rods to be screwed into the ends of the top tier. They also came with the cutest Phillips screwdriver I have ever seen.

I started pulling my Stablemates from all the places that I had squirreled them away - I had more than I'd realized.

The next challenge was how to organize them. Usually I do so by mold, but I decided to group by 70s Anniversary, Vintage Club, and then by mold.

I discovered that some are a little long for the shelves and needed to be placed at an angle.

Still, I was pleased with how the shelves were working.

Having said that, I don't have room for many more, and I still have two boxes put away in the closet - the 1998 JAH Special Edition Gift Set and the 2004 JAH Mini Fanfare set. That's seventeen more Stablemates to place on those shelves

I haven't decided yet if I will get those out or leave them in their boxes, but in the meantime, it's fun to have the others out and be able to see them again.