50th Anniversary: Readers' Questions & Comments

I wrote 45 blog posts this month, most in connection to my 50th anniversary in the hobby. Those posts generated some questions that were asked in the comments or via the Horsiemama email address that I've posted here a couple of times. I thought it would be easiest to answer them here.

Where did you get the Girl Playing Model Horses fabric that you used in the 5th giveaway?

It's called "Playing Horses" by Heather Ross and I got it on Spoonflower.

It is expensive - $18.50/yard. You can also find fat quarters of it on eBay but those are more expensive that buying it directly from Spoonflower. Turn around time on Spoonflower said two weeks but I had my fabric in five days.

You mentioned your Honeywell grandparents a couple of times. Is there a connection between you and the Honeywell Corporation?

Yes, there is. The corporation was founded in Wabash, Indiana by my mother's cousin. She knew him, but I never met him. I do get a kick of going into a building or shop and seeing Honeywell on a thermostat!

Are you carrying a whip in some of those videos and photos at the barn?

Good eyes! That's a pig whip that a family member gifted me. Pig whips are used to direct pigs in the show ring.

Photo from US Whip company.

I often carry it with me because the agribusiness next to the barn has two big dogs that are sometimes running loose. Frankly, they scare me although Tim says they are friendly. I feel better having something with me to scare them off, just in case.

Plus, Trouble can sometimes live up to his name. Often he will try to run Abby off when I am there. If I wave the whip in the air and tell him "Shoo!" he stays back.

You can see it here in this photo. (You can also see Trouble keeping his distance.) The Pony Pals and Cowpokes call it "the horse shoo-er" which never fails to make me smile.

In the post where you showed your kids and their families, Lisa was by herself with her dogs. But you also showed a post of her with a man you called a friend and his girls. 

That was Tyler, a man that Lisa has been dating for five months. He's really nice and we like him a lot. He's an Idaho farm boy now living in the midwest. He's not a horse lover (he raised cattle) but he and I have a mutual love of guinea pigs (and of Lisa.)

The story of teaching the child of Purdue's basketball coach and having him come to your orange and blue classroom was funny. Can you tell me more about him?

I have to be careful due to teacher/student/parent privacy issues but I can share this story because it played out publicly. The Purdue basketball team was playing in Hawaii for a tournament and my student  travelled with her dad and the team. Before she left, she told me that while she did NOT like basketball at all, she was happy to travel with her dad.

The game was televised on ESPN and I was watching from home. It was a very hard fought game and the score was tied in the final seconds. The camera focused on the audience for a moment and there was my student, totally disengaged from the game and playing on her phone while the rest of the crowd was cheering and going crazy as the final seconds ticked off! She hadn't been kidding - she really didn't like basketball.

Who made the Halloween hat for your Old Timer?

That was made by Lisa Haley. She runs the Old Timer Model Horse group on Facebook. I'll be posting photos soon of another holiday hat that she made for me. You can contact her through Facebook - just send her a message. Prices are reasonable and turnaround time was great.

I think that covers it, but if you have more, shoot me an email (horsiemama8@gmail).  Happy Halloween!

50th Anniversary: What Does the Future Hold?

I cherish my model horse collection and have had so much fun looking back at the past fifty years and how it has evolved into what it is today. But I am also mindful that time is not standing still.

If you have a collection that you love, that you have worked hard to accumulate, document, care for, and enjoy, then you may have wondered what will happen to it when you are gone.

Craig and I are both in our sixties and are starting to think "those" kinds of thoughts, and not just about my collection but about other things, too.

Fortunately, we have some pretty good options. (This is my all time favorite photo of our children.)

There is Denver Daughter Sarah and her family. She and Todd are not horsey

nor is their oldest son, JC.

But Horse Buddy Trinity is! She graduates from high school this coming spring and is considering becoming an equine vet. She has plans to own a horse farm some day. 

Mountain Mama Jessica has one in her crew. Cambria loves mutton busting in rodeos and has plans to ride broncs. I will never forget Cambria's, "Oh, I LOVE horses" moment that was captured on film. 

Beach Son Kyle's kids are a few possibilities, too. Corrine (bottom right) was born the day I brought Abby home from Indiana Horse Rescue and even though she's now almost nine years old, loves to call Abby her "twin horse." 

Teacher Daughter Lisa is very much a horsey girl. (Doggy, too - that's Molly and Millie.) She is the one who championed my getting back into the saddle again this past summer and then cried when I finally did. She rides and has offered to make sure my collection is cared for when I am no longer here. Windsong Sherif is tagged for her - she loves that beautiful model and will take good care of it.

We see a lot of Local Son Curt, Vanessa, Pony Pal Mila, and Cowpokes Ian and Lukie. Lukie loves my Autism Horse and Carnivale, so they are already tagged to go to him. 

Mila asks to look through my cabinets and shelves every time she comes over.

Music City Son Cole has a daughter who loves cardinals (Julie), one who loves bunnies (Kate), and one who was introduced to Abby and the herd and asked where the pigs were! (Susan) It would not surprise me if one of them, perhaps Kate, becomes horsey.

I've made some contingency plans that Lisa is aware of with the names of people she can contact for help or questions as well as links to sites that will also assist her when the time comes.

But I am not worried - I think things are going to be just fine.

50th Anniversary: My Niche

In retrospect, my "hobby niche" was really a no brainer and you may have already guessed it. It was right in front of me; I just needed to focus the topic lens a bit. My niche? Writing.

Writing was something that I had been doing for the past twenty years or so. I'd published research papers in education journals  and written curriculum for Indiana elementary students through Purdue University's Pollinator Protection program.  

I was also a blogger - Horsiemama and Teachinmama are the biggies, but I have other blogs on sewing, pets that we have loved, and more. 

Many of the things I have written have been Science related and that led to an invitation from the Indiana Department of Education to help write Indiana's state-mandated test, the ISTEP, for 4th grade Science. 

Although I was NOT a fan of the ISTEP, this was an opportunity to have input into making changes to a test that I'd long felt was unfair to students and needed major tweaking so I accepted their invitation to come write the test. 

As I looked back on all the writing I had done and how much I loved to put the proverbial pen to paper (or, fingers to the keyboard), I had an "aha" moment and realized that my niche was staring me in the face - I could use my writing skills to give back to the hobby that I loved. 

I got started right away. I was aware that Great Lakes Congress had their 35th anniversary coming up so I approached Liz Cory and Jamie Rott and offered to research and write the history of the club for them. It took me the good part of a year, but it was so much fun to delve into the club's history, and interview those who'd started it and those who'd helped to keep it running and viable for so many years. 

Jamie and Liz at a GLC show.

I had copies printed of the finished GLC history, but at Liz's suggestion, I also put it online in (what else?!) blog form.

My other idea had been to write the history of the model horse hobby, but I knew that Nancy Kelly had written about that in her book, Exploring the Model Horse Hobby. 

However, the focus of her book was  different from mine. My idea was to write about the people like Ellen Hitchins, Simone Smiljanic, Linda Walter, and others who were early hobby leaders and organizers.

That project is currently underway and let me tell you, it is a huge undertaking, far bigger than I anticipated. But I am doing research, and have been helped by others who have been willing to send me ephemera (thank you, Nancy Kelly!), put me in touch with folks (Liz Cory, that's you!) or give me an international perspective (Beth Peart, you opened up a huge rabbit hole!)

Mares and Tales group shot, September, 2019.

 A side project that got blended into my original one came via Nancy Falzone. She asked me to write her personal hobby history, and that of her long time hobby friend, Marlene Kosanke. When she discovered that I was working on my own project, she offered to gather a group of long time hobbyists at her house where I could interview them and we could share early hobby stories. (Thank you, Nancy!)

Now dubbed Mares' Tales as a working title, I am heavy into researching. Nancy's get together provided a lot of valuable information, but it was also just the tip of the iceberg when it came to hobby history. It's slow going, but I am determined to record our hobby history before it is lost.

Shortly before my mom died, she was offered a contract to write seven more books. I still remember her telling me about it and then laughing, "Lynn, I hope I live long enough to get them all written."

My mom and Local Son Curt at one of her book signings in 2009.

As I look at the scope of the project I have undertaken, I have wondered the same thing - is this a project I can complete? I'm celebrating fifty years of personal hobby history, but the model horse hobby's beginnings actually go back another five to ten years earlier than that, and there is a lot to write about, even with the narrower focus on people. Can I finish this?

I guess time will tell. But in the meantime, I an happy to have found my niche and feel as though I am contributing something valuable to the model horse hobby.

50th Anniversary: Your Oprah Moment

In 2004, television host Oprah Winfrey surprised her television studio audience by giving each person present a brand new car. 

Have you been entering the Horsemama giveaways and not yet won something? Well, this is the Horsiemama "You get a car" moment!

Everyone who commented on the blog entries during Giveaways 1-5 is also getting something!

(Cantering Welsh Pony to show size of envelope.)

There is no drawing for a winner this time because YOU have already won. 

So, how do you claim your prize? Send your name and address to horsiemama8@gmail.com and I will pop your gifts (notice that that is plural...) into the mail.

Congratulations, everyone! You get a surprise, and you get a surprise, everyone gets a surprise!

50th Anniversary: 2010s Friends & Finding My Niche

 During the 2010s I was having a blast attending live model horse shows. While I already had many hobby friends, some who went back decades, it was still fun to meet new people who shared the love of horses, especially model horses, with me.

Here are just a few of the new and very dear friends I have made this past decade:

Liz Cory

Allison Pareis

Nancy Kelly

Nancy Falzone (this is sort of a fudge; I've actually known her since the late 1980s but I have gotten to visit with her a lot this decade.)

Susan Bensema Young (here in the old barn with Sultanna, Abby, and Diablo. Sue is holding a bag of peppermints and just gave each horse one! Look at them munch!)

Anne Field who I have never met in person but chat a lot with online. (Anne, we ARE going to get together some day!)

Jennifer Buxton (meeting here for the first time at BreyerFest in the CHIN.

Marilou Mol, Brenda Metcalf, Steff Bodamer, Jamie Rott, Yvonne Rott, Liz LaRose... the list of new friends goes on.

These women all have contributed to the hobby in meaningful ways. Liz Cory was the editor of Breyer's magazine Just About Horses and now volunteers her time with Great Lakes Congress. Susan and Jennifer make jaw dropping tack, and Anne's dolls are eagerly sought after by hobbyists. Nancy Kelly authors books about various aspects of our hobby.  The list of what these talented women contribute to our hobby goes on.

About three years ago I began wondering what I could do to contribute, to give back to the hobby. I firmly believe in helping others, in or out of the hobby, but I could not seem to find my niche. 

I wasn't an artist (although NaMoPaiMo is so much fun and I am beyond proud of the portrait model I did of Sultanna.)

My tack making skills have not progressed since I was in elementary school.

While I can sew, my doll making skills are very rudimentary.

But it hit me one day in 2018 - I'd just retired from the classroom and was in that early stage of retirement where you are a little unsure of what comes next.  I had a conversation with Liz Cory at a Great Lakes Congress show and found what my contribution could be.

More tomorrow!

50th Anniversary: Winners of Giveaway 5!

 Here is the video of me drawing the winners of the embroidered model horse blanket. (Thanks, Craig, for acting as cameraman!) 

If you are one of the winners, please email me (horsiemama8@gmail.com) or message me through Facebook to tell me your fabric and thread choice, cursive or print, and what you'd like embroidered on it.

Top from left: black, kelly green, rusty red, pink, and Breyer blue. Bottom from left: sailor blue, navy blue, yellow.

Thread choices from left column to right column: red, pink, white; purple, dark blue; medium blue, turquoise, rusty red; kelly green, neon green; gold, yellow, neon red; brown (I have two); black, grey, silver.

Today's winners! But don't be sad if you haven't been drawn yet - you still have won something. More on that tomorrow. Stay 'tooned!

50th Anniversary: Moving into the 2010s

Life settled into an "empty nester" routine during the 2010s. We were back home again in Indiana (funny how often you can slip that song title into a sentence!) and I was an experienced teacher and no longer spending countless hours grading and preparing lessons. I finally had time to return to live showing. 

I went to Indycon, Pat Reed's long running show in Indianapolis, a time or two. Pat and Michelle Evans, both long time hobbyists, have been friends since I went to my first Indycon in the early 1990s.

Pat in 2019 at Happy Trails, my in-home live show and pony party.

The factory for Stone Model Horses is just an hour or so north of me, and I went to several of the shows they sponsor up in Shipshewana. Me with Michelle Evans at a Stone Country Fair in Shipshy.

In the early 2010s, Denver Daughter was Corn Fed Daughter (her own self description) and living in Iowa City while her husband was on staff at the University Hospital. 

Laughing Bear Live, a benefit show for Lynn Fraley who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, was held in Cedar Rapids, just a few miles north of where Sarah lived.

I combined a visit to Sarah and her family in Iowa with that show, and invited Horse Buddy Trinity to show with me. Shortly after that, they moved to Aurora, Colorado and now live a mile or so from where The Jennifer Show is held. I hope to combine a visit to Colorado with an entry to that show the next time it is held.

Breakables at BreyerFest was another show I attended.

With my kids all grown and gone, I could afford to go back to BreyerFest and other shows that required that I stay overnight.

Meeting up at BreyerFest with long time friend Cindy Neuhaus and looking at one of her Lakeshore Raku pieces.

BreyerFest 2012, Best of the British hat contest.

Great Lakes Congress, October, 2015.

The NAN cards were accumulating and with some trepidation (could I even compete at such a show?) I decided that I would return to NAN. I hadn't been since 1997! 

Because of some family plans, Craig and I made NAN 2014 a day trip. I took a few chinas and we drove down in the morning, showed all day, then returned home that night. 

I was pleased I'd gone - I won two reserve national championship (NAN cookies) despite bringing such a small show string.

It was great to have time to show again, and I am lucky that Indiana is in the middle of some very active show areas - Chicago, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. But as happy as I was attending shows, I still felt like something was missing.

In the next 50th anniversary post, I'll write about what that was and how I found what I was missing.

The winners of the embroidered blankets will be announced in a blog post later this morning!