Santa has been very good me over the years, especially when it comes to model horses.
This farm set is still one of my favorite Christmas gifts that I have ever received. I was five and I played with it for hours and hours, day after day. You can see the grey horse in the last paddock, but there are also cows, hogs, sheep, chickens, and ducks.
Santa was even known to put horses "in" our stockings!
Apache Joe, the buckskin plastic horse by my stocking, arrived in 1965. Leslie and Jenny got horses, too, and Jenny also got a large rocking horse.
Apache Joe was a barrel racer and used to compete at Madison Square Gardens, racing around Dixie cup barrels and winning many races. He even won a show cooler for his efforts!
I still have that show cooler and the one I made for Sham, my carpet herd Five Gaiter.
Sadly, I have nothing left from the farm set anymore, but Apache Joe is still with me. After all, he was my first successful show horse. Even better, he is a part of my childhood.
