You're Being Watched

Craig is a really good guy - a terrific husband, father, and Boompa, and my very best friend. We've been married for almost 43 years and he understands my love of horses even though he does not share my passion for them.

He's used to having horses all over the house but this caught him off guard and surprised him a bit.

Mila had "parked" the stick horse over the edge of the couch to go check out the player piano!

Haha! You're being watched, Craig!

Stick Horse Entry Videos

Enjoy these two videos from the Happy Trails sick horse competition. (Sadly, I didn't get one of Sande - I thought someone else was taping it!) Judging was done by all of us and published in Abby Appaloosa's journal, Happy Trails, Happy News. Abby has been kind enough to let us print her thoughts (see below.)

Trio & Handler/ Liz's Lovely Lady Lippizaners with Liz, Jamie, Yvonne, and Steff

Freestyle Reining/Love in the Pasture with Allison and Stan

Stick Horse Competition

Reported by Abby Appaloosa, America’s favorite “in the know” nag!!

1st Place: Freestyle Reining/“Love in the Pasture,” with theme music “It’s Not Unusual” by Tom Jones. Allison and Stan

This very romantic pas de deux by real life sweethearts Allison and Stan knocked the judges’ socks off. Cleverly choreographed, the duo showed the real life struggle that can occur when one person is attracted to another, but alas, the other is indifferent. (Or, playing hard to get. ) Their mounts were well trained and were (usually) stepping in time to the music! And in the end, as is true with all good love stories, the boy got the girl, and they trotted off to live happily ever after. According to a recent Instagram post from “Nosey Neighsayers,” Stan and Allison actually fell in love while practicing this routine and POSSIBLY even got married. Could the rumors be true?? Ooooo! Don’t we all hope that they are living happily ever after somewhere?! Four hoofs up, you lovebirds!

2nd Place: Trio and Handler/Liz’s Lovely Lady Lippizaners. Liz, Steff, Jamie, Yvonne

Handler/horse groups have been performing for millennia, but this group of talented performers makes other groups want to stay in the barn. Why bother performing when these mares will outshine you? (Rumor has it that there was even a mare and foal pair in the group; can you confirm that, Liz? “The Equus Enquirer” wants to know!) Handler Liz clearly has trained her mares well, although the one with the green tail had a problem or two staying on the correct lead. But she quickly fixed that, and the performance continued to sparkle. Now, talk about sparkle; did you see Liz’s dress? Another rumor has it that Liz imported it from Egypt where designer Fabu Neighyad has an exclusive shop. Chatter after the performance was rampant; Liz, are you going to confirm those rumors for us? Another four hoofs up!

3rd Place: An Audience with a Therapeutic Assistance Horse, Buddy, the Clydesdale. Sande

Buddy is one of those horses who has been the backbone of the horse industry throughout history. Steady, calm, and willing, he and Sande have been partnered together for several decades. Using the philosophy, “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” Buddy makes sure that Sande has a clear path ahead of her when she is hunting for that one, elusive Western Horse - the 1938 Western Horse in wedgewood with wavy tail mounted on a clock with a secret nightlight button, a music box key, AND the ability to change the nightlight into a lamp in only three easy steps! Sande and Buddy, we wish you the best of luck in finding that last Western Horse! And when you do, we hope that you will remember your friends at “Happy Trails, Happy News” and give us the scoop!  Four hoofs up!

The Happy Trails Stick Horse Competition

It was threatening to rain when we took our lunch break, so we decided to hold the stick horse competition before we ate instead of later in the day. There were no rules - it just had to be something you might see at a horse show or that a horse could do. The entries were creative and hilarious!

The stick horse riders. Front row, left to right: Liz Cory, Sande Schneider. Back row, left to right: Stan Sollars, Allison Pareis, Yvonne Rott, Steff Bodamer, and Jamie Rott.

 The first entry was a trio of mares with their handler.

Dressed in finery from Egypt (really!), Liz directed the "mares" in a cantering routine

 around our makeshift arena. (Aka, my back yard.)

 They cantered in circles around their handler at her direction,

bowing and circling as asked. It was fantastic - those mares were very well trained!

Then, Sande shared her "therapeutic assistance horse," Buddy, with us. (He's a Clydesdale, hence the name.)

 Buddy takes good care of Sande, and the "Buddy tails" that Sande shared had us all laughing.

Buddy has been with Sande for years (look for him at BreyerFest) and he even sports his own accessible parking tag for when they need to "park."

His philosophy for getting Sande through crowds is, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." She says it works very well!

Our final entry was a freestyle reining performance by Allison and Stan complete with the song,"It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones playing as they rode.

 Their routine was choreographed to tell the story of a guy who has fallen in love

 with a gal playing hard to get.

 They ended up riding off to their happily ever after at the end of the song

dissolving into laughter as they returned to the rest of us on the patio.

So, who won? That will be in tomorrow's post, along with videos of the performances. Trust me, they will make you laugh!

Happy Trails Happens!

What a day! Happy Trails was an absolute blast. We laughed, we chatted, and we shared some GORGEOUS models on the show tables.

Before the show began, Craig took a photo of us.

Back row, left to right: me, Yvonne Rott, Jamie Rott, Michelle Evans, Liz Cory, and Sande Schneider. Front row, left to right: Pat Reed, Steff Bodamer, Allison Pareis, and Stan Sollars. (Shannon Rodgers is not in the photo; drat!!)

Nearly every open spot in the living and dining rooms was covered with model horses. Allison (who is co-hosting The FAMulous Collectibility Show with me on September 14) found the fireplace mantle useful.

Michelle Evans and I have been friends since the early 1990s. She usually does not like to have her photo taken, but she made an exception yesterday and took a selfie with me.

 Sande Schneider with her husband, Tom, who is one of the best show assistants anyone ever had!

 Pat Reed's stick horse for the competition was teeny tiny.

 She had a bendy cowboy as a rider for it.

Stan Sollers (Allison's husband) is also a faithful show assistant. Allison is setting up while visiting with Steff Bodamer.

 Liz Cory and Yvonne Rott consult together over their entries.

 Allison brought her famous Action Stan doll (Stan's mini me, down to the matching shirt and shoes!)

and had Action Stan sign my golden FAM with the other showers!

Lunch was a pot luck and we had so much food (there was breakfast food, too) that we nibbled all day long.

The classes were chock full of gorgeous vintage Breyers. This is the class for wedgewoods and copenhagens.

It may have been just a small, in-home fun show, but the competition was absolutely top notch.

 And just look at the woodgrain class! As you might imagine, judging was very difficult.

 The gold charm and florentine class. That semi-rearing Mustang was stunning.

If you look very closely, you can see that Yvonne's beautiful charcoal Fighting Stallion did his horsey duty on the show table (the yellow patch barely visibly on the tablecloth between his legs. You can tell from her face that she is enjoying the joke. (We all had a good laugh over that!)

In my next blog entry I will show the hilarious stick horse competition and some more of the classes and their amazing entries. There are even videos of the riders performing with their stick horses!