A Visit with Susan Bensema Young

Midwest Mini Mayhem is in the books and what a show it was! I have lots to share with you, but I haven't gone through my pics yet. Hopefully tomorrow I will have those done although today is a busy day. (I am speaking today to a gathering of high schoolers from across the Lafayette area who are interested in becoming teachers.)

In the meantime, I will share something that I don't think I mentioned was on my calendar for last week - a visit from long time hobbyist and tack maker Susan Bensema Young!

In 2016 I contacted Sue about a bridle that I had bought that the seller thought might have been made by her. Sue looked at the photos I'd sent, checked her records, and confirmed that I did indeed have a bridle that she had made. We have been friends ever since and gotten together in person several times.

Last Thursday was  one of those days. She and her husband George were heading west to visit family and traveling through Indiana so they dropped by for a few hours.

Sue always takes along at least one model on her trip and a box of tack making supplies and projects. She also collects model horse blankets and showed me this one that she had made years ago from an early Breyer blanket making kit.

And this one, not made from a kit, but by Sue herself decades ago.

This last blanket was incredibly well made. The stitching, even down to the tiniest pieces, was beautifully done. The sewist in me was quite impressed. (I can't remember the name of the person who made it but I will see if I can find out.)

 

Sue has a love of braiding and showed me two examples of her work. I actually took this picture so I could see that braiding. It was so tiny, I had to photograph it and then enlarge it to see the detail. As I was wondering how she was able to do such tiny work, Sue pulled out her magnifying glass that was inset onto a stand and showed me how she used it to do that kind of close work. 

Of course, we headed out to the barn to visit the horses. I'd sliced up a couple of apples for us to hand out to the herd.

"Lynn, I will foal when I am ready, okay? Just hand over that apple now!"

It was early afternoon by the time we finished at the barn and we were hungry so we picked up some food and wrapped up our visit with a picnic in a park close to home. By the time Sue and George hit the road and headed off on their journey, I was hoarse from all the chatting we had done.

Thanks, Sue, for dropping by! It was fun to see you again and to look at your beautiful work. Safe travels!

What I Don't Collect: Susan Bensema Young

Here is another "No, I do NOT collect..." post, this time from longtime hobbyist and tack maker, Susan Bensema Young. I'll let her share about her (non) collection of pins in her own words. Thanks, Sue!  (And I am still accepting photos for this series - email them to me at horsiemama8@gmail.com).

Dear Lynn,

Repeat after me:  I don’t collect pins, I don’t collect pins…  :)     I’m intending to do a blog post on these, but until then, your invitation is too good to resist.  This picture shows "every enamel or glass pin I own,” plus a non-enamel brass unicorn who really does belong with them because I used to wear these on my hat.

Some explanations:

The top third is all from the 1970s, 80s and 90s and includes two carousel horses, an Australian flag with an opal, a brass unicorn and a coelacanth [SEE-la-kanth], the “living fossil” fish that was found in 1938 off the coast of Africa.

The middle third falls under the category of ‘family’ and includes university, radio, ecological organization and work-related pins.  A double of white birds (American Birding Association) is on either side of a Breyer 50 years.

The lower third contains a small round Pegasus, the old logo of the American Horse Shows Association, a surprising Dragon from a Christopher Paolini book sale (author of the Eragon series) and, of course, the most recent evidence I don’t collect pins:  two Sarah Minkiewicz unicorns.

Thank you for doing this series and inviting all us manic fringe collectors.  I’m enjoying them very much.

Sue

Circus Time: Wrap Up

 "Really, the restriction of your collection to one subject seems to have resulted in the most amazingly unrestricted explorations imaginable!!  It's almost like magic to me, the way one theme expands to touch so many others."  Susan Bensema Young

When Sue said that to me a year and a half ago, I thought it was a really interesting thought. (If you know Sue, then you know she has a lot of really interesting thoughts.)

Sue and me in the tack room of the new barn in September, 2018.

I saved her comment and planned to use it "some day" when I was having trouble finding something to write about or when I was going to have a surgery and would need to prewrite some blog entries for when I was unable to write.

Sultanna, Abby, Diablo, and Sue in the old barn. Peppermint and carrot time!

My spinal fusion in April seemed like a good time to do this. I anticipated maybe 5-7 days of posts and then returning to writing about other things as I healed.

Hah! Talk about an underestimation! I started the series on April 22 and ended today on May 28. And while there were a few non-circus posts mixed in, I ended up writing 9 posts in April and 20 in May for a whopping 29 blog entries about my circus pony collection!

Honestly, I had absolutely no idea I had so many circus ponies and related items in my collection. After writing the Circus Time series, though, my circus collection is much better organized and I know exactly what I have. 

But there are still a few elusive circus ponies that I am actively looking for.

 The Melbaware Circus Horses. (Photo taken from Google Images.)

The Boehm Malvern Circus Horses. (Photo from Google Images.)

The Royal Worcester set that was sculpted by Doris Lindner around 1936. (Photo from Museum of Royal Worcester.)

The Cybis Equestrienne Extraordinaire (Cybis Archives)

and the Cybis Circus Horse Trio "Showtime" - this is the only known photo of the piece and it is believed than only a few pieces were ever produced. Enlarging the photo only makes it even blurrier. (Cybis Archives)

And sometime I'd really like to have the full size china Striking Arabian Circus Horse by Donna Chaney. (Photo from Google Images and attributed to Animal Artistry.)

But it's okay if I never find any of those pieces. I love what I already have in my collection, from the lovely Hagen Renakers to the big clunky Freeman Leidys, the circus dogs and seals, the bridle rosettes, and more.

As Sue so aptly pointed out, the restriction of my collection to one theme led to some really amazing explorations and tangents. I hope you were amazed - I sure was.

Circus Time: Susan Bensema Young Begins It All

Tack maker and hobbyist Susan Bensema Young once said to me,

"Really, the restriction of your collection to one subject seems to have resulted in the most amazingly unrestricted explorations imaginable!!  It's almost like magic to me, the way one theme expands to touch so many others."

She was referring to my collection of circus ponies, and while I do collect other horses, my fondness truly is for circus horses.

Me with one of my Freeman Leidy circus horses at a Great Lakes Congress show several years ago.

The Hagen Renaker circus ponies and the Breyer porcelains are only the beginning of what can be found.

One of my favorite live show entries that I ever pulled together was this one that had examples of some of those lesser known pieces.

Sue's right about how limiting something actually expanded it - I was surprised at just how many circus ponies I actually had. I've tracked down every last one of them, taken photos, and will be doing a series about them here on the blog called Circus Time.

As they used to say under the Big Top, "Prepare to be amazed!

 

Sue's Friendship

Last week, I wrote a blog entry about having found lifelong friends through my love of horses and the model horse hobby. Susan Bensema Young is one of those friends.

Sue has been aware of a difficult situation I have been in - in June of 2018 I sold my Vintage Club Roman to someone but have had trouble getting payment from the new owner. It's a long story, one I have only shared with Sue and another close hobby friend, but the other person has the horse and I am still waiting for my money a year and a half later.

 Look what arrived in my mailbox earlier this week.

 Sue came into possession of a Vintage Club Roman and passed it on to me as a gift.

It even came in its original picture box!

When I'd sold my original Roman, I'd had seller's remorse and regretted selling it. Now I have Roman again in my collection. But better yet, I have experienced the blessing of having such a good friend as Sue.

Thanks, Sue. Your gift means a lot to me. And I have named my Roman "Sue's Friendship."

Susan Bensema Young's Lapis Lazuli

Susan Bensema Young is one of (if not the) best tack makers in the world. She started making tack in the late 1970s and she quickly became renown for the quality of her work and the intricacy and creativity each piece exhibited. From bosals and mecates, to bridles, saddles and absolutely incredible parade sets, Sue's work has stood the test of time and she continues to create fabulous pieces decades after she first began. (You can read about her work on her blog here. You can also check out her website. Don't miss either one!)

Sue in my home with an early Hagen Renaker Head Up Circus Pony. (September, 2018.)

Perhaps her tack making skills obscure the fact that Sue is also very much a collector with a high quality collection that spans decades of Breyer production. She and I are also "e-pen pals" and write each other frequently, discussing all the things that horse enthusiasts, both model and real, have to talk about. So, when I finally, after decades of searching, found not one but two decorator Running Mares, Sue emailed me the story of her lovely wedgewood Running Mare, Lapis Lazuli, and how she obtained her.

I loved the story, and Sue was gracious enough to let me share it on the blog. Here is the first email.

Lapis Lazuli  (I know, not the most imaginative of my blue names, but pretty good for the time) came to me as the result of a letter and an ad in the model horse magazines, which were at the time still the majority way to sell and buy.  I wrote a letter, the owner replied, I mailed a check with another letter, and then I sat down to wait.  And wait.  And wait.  I don't recall exactly how long, but it was months -- much longer than it should have been.   I was starting to become seriously worried by the time a box finally showed up. 

As I said this was my most expensive Decorator by an order of magnitude.  She cost $200 at a time when most OFs cost $20.  My other Decos had ranged from free to elaborate trades to $20.  It was 1993.  We had just bought our house.  The Internet was starting to make a mark on the hobby (HayNet started in 1992) but I was not a part of it.  I would not discover email until 1994, and then it would be in Denmark!!  as part of our sabbatical there… (By the way my Wedgewood Running Mare did travel to Denmark.  I made my first Peruvian bridle on her there.)

It turned out the reason for the delay was that the owner had had second thoughts about selling.   She changed her mind about the Florentine Running Mare and let me have the Wedgewood -- I have the dimmest memory I was trying for both.  You may suspect I was derned glad to get even one Running Mare.  I'd had the foal since about 1981 and the stallion (Fighting Stallion) since about 1983.

Lapis was opened reverently downstairs by the piano.  I have never again managed to buy a Decorator.

She had a somewhat crooked front leg, and this led to one of my most shameful episodes in The Black Art of O.F. Enhancement.  I straightened the leg but at dreadful cost.  I overdid the heat and her paint got cooked on that leg.  It turned chalky and whitish.  When this happens, it can be largely counteracted by gently scratch-rubbing away the white layer with a fingernail.  Anything harder will truly scratch and damage irreversibly…  It takes a very long time to scratch, very carefully, with one's fingernail, an entire Trad foreleg, but I did it.  The result is a polished look to the color, almost a gloss.  It's much better than anything else I know of to do, certainly better than leaving the leg white, although it also seems to make the paint appear thinner, as if it had been flattened.  ;)  Over time, handling alone will give an O.F. a lovely semi-gloss shine, and such a repair would tend to vanish. 

The second email included photos of Sue's pretty girl.

Picture 1: Handling her, I see I painted her hooves with pink nail polish.  I was proud of having gotten exactly the right color.  [Compare with Saffire's matte hooves]

Picture 2: You can just see the scratch lines, on the near forearm.

Picture 3

Pictures 3, 4 & 5 show a different kind of damage a model of this age can suffer.  The yellowish spots and patches are mold damage.  I do not know the specific name of this mold.  It grows very slowly in warm moist dusty environments, on undisturbed upper surfaces, and favors where the horse has been touched by human hands.  It appears as a yellowish fuzz and tastes of tangy copper (obviously I'm still around, even if not smart).  In time (years) it can eat away small circular spots in the paint.  A gloss coat on the horse defeats it.  It does not happen to chinas, it stops in winter, unpainted resincasts are easily washed free of it; and the use of an air conditioner pretty much slows it down to a crawl.  After I discovered this mold, my matte horses started wearing blankets all the time.  When I realized it had gotten my upper shelf Decos (foolishly, I thought the damage restricted to a lower zone of moisture condensation), my Wedgewoods and other special horses started living inside plastic bags.  The habit of shelving them in the open, free and unencumbered, easily accessible for 40 years, could no longer continue.

So that's how model horses helped us purchase air conditioners for the basement.  This goes in the same category as painting Brasenose helping push us into cleaning out the storage shed.  :)

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6:  Lapis's family:  Charlemagne the stallion and Saffire the colt.  This Fighter has also suffered mold damage, though it is slight.  There is a story about Charlemagne.  My grandfather gave me a proof silver dollar for my 21st birthday, no doubt intending to increase my investment portfolio (he was an autocratic sort about money).  Alas, I went and spent it on a model horse, one which was rare at the time (1981) and more precious to me.  I recall vauge family upset, but I've never regretted that decision.  Today Charlemagne is my best Decorator, and has won prizes at Intermediaire.

Sue, thank you so much for letting me share the story and photos of your lovely decorators. I know you have others, so if you'd like to share them and their stories here, too, I would be happy to do so!

A Visit with Susan Bensema Young - the Tack and Vehicles

(This is part two of a recounting of Friday's get together with Sue.)

Sue is a master tackmaker and it was a delight to be able to sit down for a few hours and enjoy looking at samples of her work and browse through the binders that document each piece, all while chatting and listening to Sue play my piano.

She has a degree in music and a love of ragtime. And just as her tack is beautiful, so is her piano playing. (I wonder if her background as a pianist has contributed to her being a master tackmaker - her fingers are so nimble on those piano keys! Surely that dexterity has been an asset to her in her work.)

This display case (actually an ingeniously repurposed decorative spoon holder) contains samples of her work across time. Sue carefully documents every piece she has made.

 I was thrilled to see this set of snowshoes - I remember her making them and writing about their progress on her blog, Timaru Star II. (To read Sue's blog, go here.) They are just as stunning in person as they appeared to be on her blog.

Not wanting to miss out on time to chat, we even brought things in the car as we drove to lunch and then out to the barn!

Tim always, always allows me to bring people out to the barn and show them around - he is very generous that way.

 But this is the first time I have ever brought someone out who has an encyclopedic knowledge of harness, saddles, bridles, and vehicles.

I learned so much as I observed Sue look at pieces of tack and then make comments on their use or function.

Tim's tack collection, some of it vintage, is quite large and there are some interesting pieces in it. (I can't remember what she said this large white ring on a strap was for. Decorative, maybe?)

I just stood back and listened, asking the occasional question, while soaking up new information.

Then we moved on to Tim's vehicles.

He and his brother had a business where they would find carriages, wagons, and buggies, plus tack and other items and then restore them for resale. Tim would pack a box truck that he owned and haul everything up to Canada where his brother lived, and they would sell their items together. Sadly, Tim's brother passed away recently, so he is no longer doing that.

 My favorite of Tim's vehicles in this 1822 paddy wagon from Morgan County in southern Indiana.

 Sue seemed to like it a lot, too!

Another unique, rarely seen horse drawn vehicle is a mail buggy. This is a poor photo of it, but that window lifts up for good weather, and you can see the slots for the reins. This buggy was found stored in a barn here in Indiana.

I think this is my favorite photo of Sue from the entire day. She is examining the doctor's buggy, but it looks to me like she is exuberantly embracing the happiness of being in her element - tack, horses, and vehicles.

Sue and George had brought their canoe, Indefatigable, along with them as they planned on going canoeing in Huntington, Indiana the next day.  With a big smile, Sue got something out of their car to show me.

I don't recall the term for what looked to me like a lead rope, and which Sue explained was used to tie up their canoe.

 But she pointed out that she had applied her tackmaking skills to it, too. See that braid work?

And on the end of the rope, too! (At this point I was thinking that Sue needed nine lives, like a cat, since she had so many talents to use and share!)

 We wrapped up our get together by looking at more of her tack collection (she brought samples of many people's works in addition to her own), reluctantly finishing around 6:00 PM.  We had to stop as she and George needed to get back on the road - they had reservations in Huntington an hour or two away.

We are both hoping that we might be able to have another get together in the near future - we still have so much to share and talk about!

Thanks for coming, Sue!

Get Together Prep

Huzzah! I have a busy horsey weekend coming up with not one but TWO get togethers with collector friends!

The first one is here at my home with longtime hobbyist and friend, Susan Bensema Young. She is the owner of Timaru Star and makes FA-BU-LOUS tack - there is a link to her blog if you scroll down through the blog lists on the right. Just take a look at her meticulous work on everything from mecates to bosals to saddles, and parade outfits, snowshoes, and wicker chairs! Sue is one truly gifted artist.

She and her husband, George are dropping by Friday to spend the day with us, and she and I have more plans for things we want to do than we may be able to accomplish. In the meantime, I have been doing some sorting and getting things out for a little bit of show and tell in the horse room.

I've got my craft table out so that we can spread out on it - Sue wants to see my Circus Pony collection and I want to look through some of her tack binders.

 The card table with the vintage tablecloth is where I am putting other things to show Susan, like my tack trunk, a circus rider doll, and the ring that I made for an Anything Goes class at Great Lakes Congress.

My father made me the tack trunk way back in the mid 1990s. Laura Doll had one at the very first NAN in 1995 and she was seated next to me. I admired hers, and Laura graciously let me take photos of it so that my father could make me one, too.

It's heavy and a bit unwieldy, but I love it and store almost all my tack in it. (That's not much since I only briefly showed performance back in the 1990s.)

I'll post photos of our get together either Friday night or early Saturday (I hope.) Saturday morning I need to leave the house at 9:00 to travel to a small get together with some other Indiana collectors in the eastern part of the state.

It is going to be a fun weekend - as I told Sue, it feels a bit like Christmas around here!