50th Anniversary: Oh, That Tack!

Yesterday I poked my head into the closet where I store my early hobby things, and right on top of a stack of boxes was the one containing all my 1960s tack. That was far easier than I'd anticipated!

It was a small box

but it was stuffed full of things I had made for the riders at Pawnee Stables.

Most of it was not in good shape, stiff and bent out of position from being crammed into a box. Still, it was a treasure trove of my personal hobby history. 

There was a surprise or two - I remembered using what was at hand (like telephone wire and shoes),

but finding a western saddle lined with a tissue? I have no clue why I did that!

Most of the saddle horns were made by stacking bits of leather and gluing them together

although on a few I found that I'd cut up an old Johnny West saddle for parts.

I free handed the outline of the saddles right onto the leather - you can still see my ink lines.

There were some commercial saddles in there, sold at souvenir stands and found when my family traveled.

Materials used besides shoes were suede scraps and felt.

I remember cutting one of my shoes up to create this saddle. That leather was so tough, I had red marks on my hands for hours afterward.

In an attempt at realism, I made adjustable stirrups by poking a hole in the felt, threading the stirrup "leather" through it, and knotting the string. 

You simply pulled the string to raise or lower the stirrups.

English saddles were easier to make than western ones. Look at the different scales - some of my doll riders were tiny and "rode" smaller models.

Two felt English saddles. Felt was definitely the easiest medium to use!

Two felt bareback pads made for me by a friend, Sue Seese. 

This Native American blanket and the two bridles were made by Sue, too.

A double bridle made out of string and wire. Again, by Sue.

Also in the box of 1960s tack were things from the Pawnee Stables set up - these old plastic boxes stored the "girls'" grooming tools. 

Rub rags that I made by cutting a scrap of cotton into squares.

Saddle soap (some bits of bar soap - it still is scented after all these years!), currycombs made by cutting strips off of carpet remnants and then clipping them into one inch pieces, a hoof pick made from LEAD wire (yikes!), and a Barbie riding crop and mane combs. Pawnee Stables' horses were well groomed!

This next piece nearly brought me to tears - the felt harness that I made for Hercules.

He used to pull the Pawnee Stable girls around in a shoebox wagon and take them on adventures.

Hercules is still with me, so I put it on him, just for fun. The memories just flooded in - such good times playing with him and the rest of the Pawnee Stables crowd!

I also found the box of dolls and other things from Pawnee Stables plus things from the transition in 1970 to Windsong, the name I still use.

More on that in the next anniversary post.

This is the last day to participate in the first anniversary giveaway!

Dad's Slides: Two Early Breyers and an Earthquake

Just as I'd hoped, a slide of me with some of my earliest Breyers has been found. The box of slides this one came from is labeled 1968, so that would make make this my eleventh birthday. 

Hercules, the Clydesdale with gold bobs is on the left, and Torpedo, the Western Horse is on the right.

Both pieces are still with me and proudly displayed on my shelves.

Torpedo has an interesting story behind him. One day I was playing with my carpet herd, sitting on the floor next to their shelf. Torpedo was still on the shelf, and his reins were hanging down (like they are in the photo above.) 

Suddenly, those reins began swinging back and forth. I remember being very surprised - I had not been touching the shelf and no one else was in the room with me. What was going on? 

It was an earthquake! Centered in southeastern Illinois, it struck on Saturday, November 9, 1968 at 11:02 AM and measured 5.4 on the Richter scale. The red dot with the arrow is West Lafayette, where I lived then and where I live now.

We've had three more earthquakes that I have felt and can remember since then - 1987, 2008, and 2010. I was nowhere near Torpedo during those to check his reins and see if they were swinging, but I would imagine they were.

As I remember this story from my past with Torpedo, I look around at the other vintage models I own, models that I have found in antique shops, on eBay, and in other places. I wonder what stories they could tell?

Variations: Gold Bob Clydesdales

Breyer's Clydesdale mold feels like an old friend. I have two with gold bobs in my collection and Hercules, on the left, is one of my first Breyers. How he survived my playing with him all those many years ago is amazing. Every one of his bobs is still intact!

 Mr. Eyewhite (creative at naming, aren't I?), the one on the right, joined my collection in 2012; he was an antique shop find.

Both boys are from the early production run of this mold. One way to document that (besides the fact that I know when I got Hercules) is that they have gold bobs in their manes. Eyewhites are another give away that a piece is an early one.

 Hercules has all of his bobs intact and they are still a nice gold color.

His brother's are tarnished and look black. It is also possible that they actually were painted black by  either overspraying or by a goof by the  painter - look how the gold paint on the bottom right has not darkened.

 Hercules has some yellowing, but you can still see the nice pink color of his hooves.

His counterpart's hooves have just a hint of pink, but it is so, so subtle.

 Hercules has very, very faint drain board patterning, more a roughness, on the bottom of his hooves

but you can clearly see the drainboard circles on Mr. Eyewhite! (I love to find models with these marks on the bottom of their hooves!)

 The round Breyer stamp and no USA mark for Hercules.

Same for Mr. Eyewhite.

Hercules' tail ribbon appears as though the painter took a little time with it.

Just a gold, tarnishing smear for Mr. Eyewhite.

Despite the yellowing, you can still see a bit of the pinking on Hercules' nose

 and possibly a bit on Mr. Eyewhite.

 Their ears are shaded just a smidge differently, but not enough to notice unless you are looking for it.

Coat colors are different as is the finish. Hercules is a red bay while Mr. Eyewhite is a browner shade. And, Mr. Eyewhite is a semi-gloss.

Nancy Young writes on p. 190 in her book Breyer Molds and Models, 1950 - 1997 that there are five versions of the early bay Clydesdale. These two are the third version - they have muscles and the hoof colors are pink, not grey.

We'll look at one of the other versions tomorrow.