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!

50th Anniversary: Pawnee Stables

In 1966 at the start of school, my 4th grade teacher put up a line of zoo animals on the bulletin board, all different and all with our names written on them. I was disappointed when I saw that my name was on the giraffe - I wanted the zebra since it was horsey. The zebra went to Bobbie Sue, a new girl in our school. 

Bobbie Sue and I became friends and, along with another girl named Carol, they were my first horse-loving friends. They also started collecting like me, and soon we were getting together on Saturdays and having shows and making tack.

Bobbie Sue on the left and Carol on the right. 

We decided that our now blossoming stables needed names, and for reasons I no longer remember, used the names of Native American tribes. Bobbie was Apache Stables, Carol chose Cherokee Stables, and I became Pawnee Stables.

We even made "brands" that we used as symbols for our stables.

Of course, our stables had to be located in real western towns. I remember poring over a map of Colorado looking for a horsey/western sounding town to use as the home of my stables. The towns and cities in my father's atlas were tiny and abbreviated, so when I saw a dot labeled "Pagosa Sprs," I assumed that meant "Pagosa SPURS" - the perfect town for my stable!

It was years before I learned the real name of the town was Pagosa SPRINGS, not Spurs!

This pretty Lenox Appaloosa is named Pagosa Spurs in honor of the original town for my stables.

Even back in elementary school I was starting to play with fabrics and hand embroidery. Not only did we make halters, bridles, and saddles for our horses - I embroidered coolers out of my mother's sewing scraps. You can see the Pawnee Stables symbol on Sham's.

Bobbie had an unusual model in her collection that her grandparents had given her. She named him Ross, and he had wheels in his hooves and could roll across the floor. I learned years later that he was a Steha Lieha imported from Germany and most likely distributed by Breyer. (Photo from Google Images.)

 In 2017 I found my own "Ross," only this time as a circus horse. I looked a long time - Stehas are so hard to find in good condition but this guy is nearly pristine.

It wasn't long before Pawnee Stables had taken over several shelves - I had dolls who cared for, trained, and rode the horses, a lounge where they all gathered at the end of the day, and more. I'm going to see if I can pull those things out of storage (no more lifting restrictions for me!) and when I do, I'll show you some other parts of Pawnee Stables.

Don't forget to comment if you want to participate in the first anniversary giveaway!

My Penpal, Pepper

 Second post of the day.

For those of you who enjoy the letters that Pepper (our retired Seeing Eye Dog) sends to the woman she guided, a new one has been posted on her blog. Pepper just turned four and had a birthday party with her doggie and human friends, and has written a letter to Sarah to tell her all about it. 

(Yes, I really did throw a birthday party for my dog. Cowpokes Ian and Lukie and Pony Pal Mila came, too!)

Here's the link:  My PenPal, Pepper.

50th Anniversary: The Early "Glass Horses"

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, a good place to find Hagen Renakers and other makes of china horses was in a gift or flower shop. Here in Lafayette, we had Bowers Gift Shop. Bowers only carried those chinas that were made in Japan; I was unaware of Hagen Renaker until I read that article in Horse and Rider magazine and saw the photos of Zara and Zilla.

Leslie and I used to stand and look at Bowers' beautiful "glass horses" (hands behind our backs so we didn't break anything!) and wish and dream that they could all come home with us. Some of them did, and I still have almost all of my earliest "glass horses." 

Diamond Dindy, a Lefton, was my favorite foal. He has two leg breaks and a chip on the side of his head, but I only have to pull him out of my china cabinet to feel my heart soften and my eyes get a little misty. I loved Diamond Dindy (and I still do; I teared up just writing that.)

Of course, Diamond Dindy had parents. His father was Black Diamond, a Lefton Saddlebred. Black Diamond was the leader of my glass horse herd. 

The beautiful Falda (a misspelling by me of the name of the horse Falada in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The Goose Girl) was Black Diamond's wife and the mother of Diamond Dindy. She was the boss mare in my 1960s herd.

Despite being the size of a Breyer Traditional, Mollasus was a gentle giant. And, when I got Needles, a woodgrain Running Foal and my very first Breyer, she became his mom. (True story - I kept Needles and Mollasus together until about five years ago when I decided that she would be safer in the china cabinet rather than out on the open shelves with my Breyers. Doggone it if I didn't feel a pang separating the two!)

Counterpoint was a sweet, Little Bit sized Saddlebred/ Tennessee walker. His name came from one of my favorite books at the time, Scarlet Royal, by Anne Emery. 

The only pony in the glass horse herd was Bobol. A gift from my friends, Bobbie Sue and Carol, I combined their names to get his. He is one of the only members of my glass horse herd that doesn't have any breaks!

Old Maude wasn't actually mine; she belonged to Leslie and was Leslie's favorite glass horse. The original Old Maude is not in good shape but she is lovingly packed safely away. I bought this one from Karen Beeson because I, too, had loved Old Maude. 

Coming soon: early dolls and tack.

Don't forget to comment if you want to be entered in the first giveaway!

50th Anniversary: The First Giveaway

 Here's the first anniversary giveaway! And since I began collecting in the 1960s, I thought it would be fun to start by giving away a model that is from the 1960s - this sweet Shetland Mare.

The Shetland Pony in alabaster was produced from 1960 - 1972 with the earliest pieces being glossies and having "CHess" inside the off thigh. This gal is one of those early pieces and she also has some faint pinking in her ears and on her nose.

Entering is easy - just comment on each daily blog post starting with today's post and ending with the post on Tuesday October 6. (One comment per day only, please.) On Wednesday, October 7 I will put all entries in a bowl and draw the winner. If that's you, I'll contact you privately and make arrangements to get this gal to you. Shipping is on me, by the way. (And yes, I will do international shipping.)

Guest Blogger: Nancy Kelly Tells Us about Thunder, Real & Model

 My friend, Nancy Kelly, is a knowledgable Hagen Renaker collector and long-time hobbyist. She has authored several books on Hagen Renakers as well as the model horse hobby. Nancy has become a dear friend over the years.

Nancy, Stan Sollars, and me at the 2019 FAMulous Collectibility Show. 

Nancy and I chat via social media a couple of times a week and recently she told me about having purchased an interesting model and what she did with it. I asked if she wouldn't mind guest blogging about that model horse and the real horse, Thunder, that it resembled. Here's what she wrote:

I am primarily a ceramic horse collector, but there are some wood carvings that I really admire. One particular artist, Peter Giba, was from the Chicago area and his work is found in museums and homes around the country. 

His horses usually sell for hundreds, or thousands, of dollars, such as this dapple gray Percheron that sold for over $3,000. 

A recent online auction featured nine of his horses. I eagerly placed a bid on a couple of them, and kept my fingers crossed. The horse with the saddle, labeled “Polo Pony” sold to a fellow collector for over $600. 

But the black horse that was missing his ears closed for under $100 and came home to me! 

I contacted a friend who is a wood carver and asked for advice on how to replace the ears. He a wood epoxy putty that cost less than $6 and is so easy to work with! It does firm up in about 15 minutes, so you have to work fast, but it is very sturdy once it dries.

I put some extra blobs on a piece of wax paper and tested the paint before committing to using it on the model, and I'm really happy with the result. The model is a satin finish, and the paint turned out to be, too!

This model was special to me because it reminds me of my own horse Thunder who we put down a few years ago. I love having Thunder in my office now!

So, who was Thunder?

He was a registered Quarter Horse, about 15.3 HH (very tall!). His official name was Dandy Timid Too. His previous owner thought that was too wimpy of a name, so he called him Thunder and we kept the name.

Nancy and Thunder going for a ride together.

Thunder's owner and his wife were going through a messy divorce and the horse had to go. The man showed us Thunder while his daughter was hugging Thunder and saying how much she loved him. Well, his hooves were so long they were curling up at the toes and his tail was a solid, matted "baseball bat". He was a grandson of Impressive, so of course we had him tested for HYPP as a pre-purchase condition. Happily, he tested n/n. He did have a heart murmur. But a heart of gold. He was a sweet, gentle "giant" that I always felt was taking care of me when I rode him or was even around him.

Photo of an elderly Thunder and Nancy's husband's horse Roy. Friends for decades.

He developed a choke around the age of 27. Our vet was out of town so an inexperienced sub tried to loosen it but wasn't successful. It stayed partially there. When our vet returned she examined him (lots of head bobbing and tossing, unsteady on his feet, glassy eyes) and we mutually decided he was suffering and needed to be put down. Even during that process he was amazing. Rather than falling over after being given the lethal shot, he went straight down in place, like he was laying upright but with his chin on the ground. Our vet had never seen anything like it! Even at the end he didn't want to hurt me by falling over on me, at least that's what I believe. ;)

As for Roy, he lived to be 31, and just laid down one day in the shed, said "I'm done" and died. Roy always did live life his way.

Thank you, Nancy, for sharing the story of your new model, how you repaired it, and of a horse that you loved.

50th Anniversary: Happy Hobby Anniversary!

It's October and this is the month that I celebrate 50 years in the formal model horse hobby. Note that word, "formal." I actually began collecting in 1963 at the age of six when Santa brought me my first model horse.

Brownie, still in my collection, is a battered, much loved, and much repaired MIJ china pony. Santa had no idea what (s)he was starting.

My collection of "glass horses" (as Leslie and I called our chinas) grew and a few Breyers were added in as well. Two of my friends at school, Bobbie Sue and Carol, also started collecting, and we'd spend summer afternoons and winter Saturdays at each other's homes holding model horse shows and making tack. (We used felt, old shoes, and plastic covered telephone wire.)

It wasn't until October, 1970 when Horse and Rider magazine arrived in my mailbox that I discovered I wasn't alone. The very last article made me gasp -  there were other collectors out there! 

I immediately wrote to Ellen Hitchins, joined her club, and began photo showing my models and meeting collectors across the country. I had found the fledgling, newly organizing hobby and it was absolutely wonderful. These were my people!

Fifty years later it is October, 2020. I had big plans to celebrate my golden hobby anniversary - I was going to center this year's Happy Trails show with classes, prizes, and gifts all themed around my 50th. I'd spoken to the folks at Great Lakes Congress and was planning a special collectors class to be held at their October show that I would judge and give prizes for. And, I'd hoped that I would be able to do something at The FAMulous Collectibility Show, too. The pandemic put paid to all that. 

But I'm still celebrating, and if you are a blog reader, you get to celebrate with me. I'll be writing blog entries about my journey through the years in the hobby and I will have some surprises as well, including a few give aways. Details about those will be coming soon. 

I'm excited to look back on my time in the hobby, and tracing my model history from its roots as Pawnee Stables to Windsong, from photo showing to live showing, and through all the things that happened along the way. 

Saddle up with me and enjoy the ride!