New Bridle Rosettes & the October Give Away

Trick or Treat! The October Give Away begins with this post and runs until Saturday night, October 25, at 11:59 PM Eastern. Comment on any blog post posted today through then to enter.

What's this month's prize? Maple cakes!

I have several left from the Feast so there will be more than one winner.

If you have never had one, this is your chance to see why they fly off my table at Kalamazoo and the Feast. Be sure to comment to enter if you want one!

Audrey's gift of the earrings that looked like bridle rosettes prompted me to go to eBay and check out the listings for bridle rosettes. It had been a while since I'd done that, and I was excited to find a pair that went immediately into a Buy It Now sale.

A set of Dan Patch bridle rosettes!

I want my bridle rosettes collection to be personally meaningful so I pass on a lot of sets that I come across. The circus ones and O'Boy's single rosette connect with my father and my love of circus ponies. Then, I have one bridle rosette that came on Amy's bridle (Amy was my very first horse) although the other was lost decades ago.

Not only was the Monon Railroad based here in Lafayette, but when it's 50th anniversary was celebrated, my mother was crowned West Lafayette's Queen of the Monon and did a whistle stop tour from Chicago to Louisville.

As for Dan Patch, he was bred and foaled in Oxford, a small town twenty miles northeast of me. He lived there for the first six years of his life and was used by his breeder, Dan Messner, as a cart horse for deliveries when he wasn't racing at tracks in the area. My friend Brooke and her husband Tom are restoring Dan Messner's building on the town square of Oxford, and that is where the Happy Trails/Dan Patch show is being held next month.

So, of course I had to add those bridle rosettes to my collection!

After I bought those, I found another bridle rosette, one I've been looking for for a very long time. It is a single, but I was glad to find it and quickly bought it, too. I'll share it when it arrives.

Stay 'tooned!

Like Bridle Rosettes

My friend Audrey gave me an unexpected and very thoughtful gift during The Feast of the Hunters' Moon.

Where on earth did she find fleur-de-lis tissue paper?? That's one of the Feast's emblems!

Inside was a card that she had made with a thank you message for helping her as she joined the living history world.

There was also a very special pair of earrings that Audrey had made for me - earrings that were cut from little bits of one of my mother's dresses that Audrey now wore. She'd had to alter it just a bit and had saved the snippets she'd taken out.

They are beautiful and very meaningful, connecting me to both my mother and to someone who is becoming a very dear friend.

They also reminded me of something else, something on my horsey side. 

One of the collections within my collection (yes, I do plan to return to that topic) are bridle rosettes. They are round glass domes with pictures inside them, just like Audrey's earrings.

I don't have many pairs, but many of them are circus related because of my dad's circus pony, O'Boy.

The Monon Railroad was located out of Lafayette so I was thrilled to be given this pair by Cole for Christmas one year.

I have seen bridle rosettes crafted into necklaces and other jewelry but that makes me sad.

They are so unusual and a lot of history is reflected in those little glass globes. Do a search on eBay and you will see all kinds of historical people, places, and events in surviving bridle rosettes. 

Like bridle rosettes, my mini bridle rosette earrings made from my mother's dress reflect a bit of personal history and are a strong connection to my mother and to Audrey.

I love them and plan to store them in my bridle rosettes case.

When I'm done wearing them!

Circus Time: Peripheral Circus Items

Sometimes when you collect a specific thing, peripheral items that are related to it catch your eye and before you know it, they are in your collection, too. Today's post is a look at some of those things that have caught my eye.

I don't know the story behind these circus themed bridle rosettes. I found them on eBay but the seller did not give me any information about them.

Bridle Rosettes Two Centuries of Equine Adornment by E. Helene Sage has photos and information about hundreds of different bridle rosettes. I have the book (it is still available on Amazon but it is pricey) but these rosettes are not in it.

This pair of bridle rosettes is from the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. I think back to the old time circus parades and I can imagine these on the bridle of a big drafter who is pulling a brightly colored wagon along the way to the circus grounds.

I wear this circus horse pin a lot. I found it back in the 1990s in a tiny antique store in Gilman, Illinois. It was $3 and the pin on the back was broken off, but a friend repaired it for me.

My friend Teresa Rogers knows I love circus horses and found this tiny circus train. I think it might have been a cake decoration. The tractor looks out of scale to the wagons and may not be original to the train. 

The last car on the train has a circus horse in it.

It's tiny and about the same scale as Mighty Mouse but bigger than his mini me counterparts.

We are getting close to the end of this blog series on circus ponies, but still...

Prepare to be amazed!

Horsey Jewelry

I decided that I would gather my horsey jewelry and see what might look nice in the bridle rosettes case. What I put in there needed to be things that had sentimental value and were not really used or worn anymore.

First up was my spirit animal necklace.

A gift from my mother way back in the 1990s, it was made especially for me by a Native American friend of hers.

 It's made from deer hide and is very soft. Plus, Mom asked them to put Appaloosa spots on it for me!

 I discovered that I still had the card that was tucked in the box when she gave it to me.

 It explains the parts of the necklace and who made it.

My students loved to look at it and would ask questions about the accoutrements that hung from the thimble.

 My favorite trade bead is the watermelon bead. You can barely see the red on the end.

 The cone of horsehair is a treasure, too.

 My Hartland Collector's Club pin is going into the bridle rosettes display case.

I started this charm bracelet when I was fourteen. You can see a horse, a horseshoe that represents my 4-H Horse and Pony Club, and another horseshoe for when my horse, Nick, got his first pair of shoes.

 See the mailbox and the typewriter? (The typewriter is upside down and to the right of the thin chain.) Those represent the model horse hobby. Back in the 1970s everything was done via snail mail, and so I used to get a ton of mail. From 1972-1975 I ran The All Breeds Model Horse Showers Association, a club for photo showing. I used to grind out the monthly newsletter using carbon paper on a typewriter that my parents gave me specifically for my model horse activities.

The top pair of earrings were favorites and I wore them all the time. I got them at an early BreyerFest from a seller on the concourse. 

These earrings are super special to me and can make me tear up. When my very first horse, Amy, died in 1991, a friend made me these earrings using hair from her tail.

A pin my mom gave me in the 1980s. There are a lot of sentimental feelings attached to it. It looks pretty gaudy by today's standards!

 A stretchy bracelet that was a gift from a former student. (I think.)

 These horses slide back and forth along the bracelet. I wore it a lot in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

Currently I wear all of these, so they will remain out of the display case. The rock pendant was hand carved for me by a former student of my friend, Kathy. Because she is blind, she loves tactile things, and her gifts often reflect that. It is definitely a unique piece of jewelry.

These are also staying out of the display case because I wear them all. Horse Buddy Trinity gave me the hoop earrings last Christmas. The sterling silver barrette is from my pen pal, Sue Seese. In 1975 I flew out to visit her in California and we went to a silversmith to get some silver for her bridle. The silversmith gifted me with that barrette and I have treasured it ever since.

I found the circus pony pin in an antique shop in Gilman, Illinois in the 1990s for $3. The Arabian horse head was bought at a live show and is initialed "JDH/94." I don't remember who that is. The spotted mule pin was sculpted by Kristina Lucas Francis and produced by Pour Horse Pottery in 1999. Only fifty-three of the spotty mules were made.

I'm not yet done experimenting with various layouts of rosettes and jewelry in the display case, but I am pleased with how it is starting to look.

A Case for the Bridle Rosettes

Ever since I began collecting bridle rosettes, I have been looking for a way to display them. Shadow boxes didn't work well - the rosettes have a raised bar on the back so that they can be used on a bridle, and that made them roll around in the little cubbies.

Sorry for the photo quality - the sun isn't up yet as I write and there is glass in the cover of the box reflecting the lights in the room.

That bar on the back made it so that anything I tried for displaying them simply didn't work. Finally, I just put my rosettes into a box and set them on the shelf. I was resigned that I was going to have to have to go down to the frame shop and see what they could figure out.

Then, a friend posted on social media that she had bought a ring case to display her horsey jewelry and rings. Since I have a lot of horsey jewelry, I clicked on her photos to see if it might work for me. And in doing so, I solved my own problem.

Photo by Myla Pearce. Don't her things look great displayed like that? And how easy to find what she wants to wear!

I hopped onto Amazon, found a similar one, and ordered it. It arrived this weekend and I began inserting my bridle rosettes. Looks pretty good thus far!

I also included a photo of my father with his circus pony, Oh Boy. I have Oh Boy's bridle and there is one rosette remaining on it, so I plan to pop that one into the case, too. The plain silver one is from my first horse Amy's bridle. 

Thanks, Myla, for the wonderful idea! 

Abby's Christmas Gift to Tim

Every year I give Tim a gift at Christmas to thank him for the good care he gives Abby year round. This year I am especially excited about his gift.

Bridle rosettes with his initials! The "T" was especially hard to find and only just popped up on eBay last week. They're different sizes, but I think he will still like them.

I love vintage bridle rosettes and have a small collection of them.

These circus horse rosettes  are so unusual and, I think, quite old (pre 1900s is my guess.) They are my favorites.

I also have a pair of Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey bridle rosettes. 

This pair from the Monon Railroad is in my collection for sentimental reasons.

One of O'Boy's bridle rosettes remains on his old bridle.

The letter seems to be of the same style as the "T" I just bought for Tim. I'll have to get this one out and measure it and see if the are the same size.

We got about three inches of snow last night with more snow and ice expected tonight. I am planning to run out to the barn in a few hours after the snowplows have come through and leave the gift on Tim's desk in the new barn office.

I think they will be a nice surprise for him and will probably see them strung up on a leather strap or an old bridle and hung in the lounge with his other antique tack items.

Bridle Rosettes - a Sentimental Pair

I am trying to curb my enthusiasm for bridle rosettes, but I do check eBay every now and then, "just to see." (Honestly, I'm not even fooling myself.) I've looked at (and resisted) many pairs including the neatest Wizard of Oz rosettes, but I simply could not resist these.

 Monon, the Hoosier Line!

Why was this pair so irresistible? Check out this photo.

That's my mama, Fern Honeywell, in the white dress. (I did not add the arrows; aren't they an odd trim for a dress? But I love how they point out her banner!) Mom was West Lafayette's Queen of the Monon Railroad in 1947. The girl on her left was Lafayette's queen, and the mayors of both cities are at their sides. I don't know the man on the far right; my guess is that he is an official from Monon.

The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the railroad, and to celebrate, they did a whistle stop tour all along the route from Chicago to Louisville, stopping in all the towns along the way for pictures, autographs, food, and fun. A four man band from Chicago was on board the train, playing at the stops, too.

Posing with other queens. My mother is on the front left.

As you might imagine, I really wanted those Monon bridle rosettes, and so my son, Cole, bought them for me for a Christmas gift. They're a nice addition to my original pair and my Barnum & Bailey/Ringling Brothers  circus rosettes.

But really, I am not collecting them. Not yet, at least.