50th Anniversary - Life Sketches

During the late 1960s, Pawnee Stables was a busy place. Not only did I constantly play with my carpet herd and "the girls," I also sketched scenes from their daily lives. As luck would have it, I discovered that I had saved some of those pictures when I opened the box that contained the Pawnee Stables things.

Through the pictures I drew, I told the story of life at the stable. And in so doing, I put my own dreams of horse ownership on paper.

A view of the grounds.

Lana was my favorite doll, and she factors into many of the pictures I drew. Here she is riding Frosty along the banks of Blackbird Pond. Do you recognize the horse she is on?

The real Frosty, Breyer's Semi-Rearing Stallion in charcoal, is still with me and remains my all-time favorite Breyer. And Blackbird Pond is a real place here in West Lafayette. I learned to ice skate on it, and Bobbie Sue and I used to go there on winter weekends and chase each other around on the ice.

Here Skipper is welcoming Lana to the stable. Lana has brought her bird (the covered cage to the right of her feet) and is smiling as she meets the girls. Besides those bell bottom pants, do you see anything odd? (I couldn't draw hands very well, so they're all tucked behind their backs!)

In this picture, Lana is riding Desert Wind, a Traditional sized Japan china model. (Or, "glass horse" as Leslie and I called them.) He broke and was thrown away. I've looked for him many times on eBay, Etsy, and MH$P but had no luck. Gabilon is still with me; he is a cheap plastic FAS knockoff although I drew him here in a walking position.

No hands again! And more bell bottoms.... Bobbie (who also drew a lot) and I were working on realism, and somehow we got it into our heads that that meant adding ribs to all the horses in our drawings. Sheena is another old favorite - bet you can tell who she is. 

Like Frosty and most of my carpet herd, she is still with me.

I drew non-horsey scenes like this one of a pillow fight in the bunkhouse (see the model horse by the lamp?) ...

... and others where Pawnee Stables traveled to shows, such as Madison Square Gardens.

Apache Joe and Skipper were champion barrel racers!

Apache Joe is that buckskin horse next to my Christmas stocking on the couch. He is packed away with Gabilon but he is still dear to my heart.

I saved my very favorite picture to the last. I even remember drawing it. 

Swimming with a horse at Blackbird Pond! And in a way, it was a bit of a foreshadowing of my own real horse experiences.

Me about five years later as a teenager swimming with Cee in Burnett Creek.

Things were winding down for Pawnee Stables by the end of 1969. We were moving to a new home and property on the Wabash where my parents planned to buy me a horse. I was old enough that playing with dolls was a bit embarrassing. Moving out into the country put me into a new school and away from Bobbie Sue and Carol.

But good things were ahead - in 1970, Pawnee Stables would morph into a new place. I'd get my first horse, Amy, and I would discover the formal model horse hobby.

Look for the next giveaway to be posted tomorrow!