What a Coincidence!

Talk about a coincidence! Yesterday I wrote about how I was trying to acquire a model that came from each one of our founding mothers' collections, saying that I only had left to find one from Ellen Hitchins and then this morning Teresa Rogers posted a blog post about Ellen in her own blog!

Teresa and I are friends (and I own some of her models now and she has some of mine), and she, too, is from the early days of the hobby. One of the nicest and kindest women I know, she is a wealth of early hobby history herself.  Her blog, The Model Horse History Project, is a place to find in-depth, well researched and accurate information on our early days, especially the history from the California branch of the hobby.

Teresa proxy bought these three Metlox Large Circus Horses for me at Clinky Mahem since I could not go.

And she picked up this tiny circus train with a jumping horse in the last car  at an estate sale and sent it to me because she knows I like circus horses. (See? I told you she was kind!)

I did not know she was working on a blog entry about Ellen nor did she know I was writing about Linda and would include Ellen in mine! (Apparently  Teresa asked some questions about a few of Ellen's models on Facebook, but I'm still digging out from having been hacked and not on Facebook much at the moment and didn't see what she'd written.)

Teresa's blog entry was fascinating - such a variety of models! Here's the link so you can glimpse models from way back and learn a little about Ellen, too.

Dispersal of a Legend's Collection

As someone who was around in the hobby's beginning, one of my goals has been to own a horse that belonged to Ellen, Simone, Linda, and Marney. Having something tangible connected to our hobby's founders would have great meaning to me. 

I have a Lady Phase that belonged to Marney. I got her from long-time hobbyist and friend of Marney's, Terry Richard, at the 2012 BreyerFest.

Nothing yet from Ellen, but I'm lucky to have a Beswick Appaloosa from Simone. The Beswick version was the first and is better painted than the the second, Royal Doulton version.

Simone's Beswick version on the left, my Royal Doulton version on the right.

Like so many other collectors, I was inspired by Linda Walter's *Alconbury Hill which she showed in the late 1960s/early 1970s. It became a much wanted piece for many and took me decades to acquire. I got the second version first and was disappointed - its paint job just was not the same quality as the first version.

The first time I saw *Alconbury Hill was in Horse & Rider Magazine, October 1970. That was when I discovered that there were other collectors like me, Bobbie Sue, and Carol out there holding backyard and bedroom shows and it was then that I entered the emerging model horse hobby.

Linda passed away a few months ago. Ed and Sheri Alcorn are working with Linda's brother, David, to sell her collection.

(Photo from Nancy Kelly as is the information about the dispersal of Linda's collection. Thank you, Nancy!)

Linda had six Beswick and Royal Doulton Appaloosas in her collection and David, Ed, and Sheri went through them all, comparing them to photos and trying to determine which one was the famous *Alconbury Hill. Thanks to all the photos of him, they were successful.

After four truck loads from Alabama back to Florida, the Alcorns had Linda's collection at their home and have begun putting the individual pieces on eBay.

I plan to keep watching the auctions as they come up. I don't think I will add a third Appaloosa to my collection, but it's possible. I definitely want something that belonged to Linda - she was a kind friend and we used to correspond - so much so that I still have her home address memorized. (I chatted with her a few years ago at BreyerFest and that really surprised her!)

If you, too, want a piece of hobby history in your own collection, Ed's eBay account is hr-horsenut. Do a search for Linda Walter and her things will pop up. 

Once I get something from her collection, then all I will need is a piece from Ellen Hitchin's collection. I suspect that that will be difficult - she passed away in the 1990s if I remember right, and back then the internet was in its infancy and communication was not nearly what it is now. I don't even know if her collection was saved. But, I am hopeful.

Breyer Boot Camp - Winding Down

I have been asked to help with a couple of volunteer jobs for BreyerFest and Breyer Boot Camp was one of those things. I've been stewarding one of the divisions and while it has been fun, it has been a lot of work. And that work load ratcheted sky high the last few days entries were accepted.

Entries are now closed and while the I've been stewarding daily since entries opened weeks ago, many people waited until the end to put their models into classes. At least one class in my division doubled in size overnight! (And it was already quite large.)

I spent a lot of time yesterday going over the new entries, fixing formatting errors, moving models into their correct classes, and answering questions. There's at least one class we may split - I've let the judge know and will see what she wants to do. 

In a way, it's been a little like being back in the classroom and teaching - you have a group of people new to model horse showing (this is a novice show), and you are instructing, reminding, demonstrating, and more, all while looking forward to seeing these people learn how to show and hoping they enjoy the experience.

An added bonus? Stewarding Breyer Boot Camp mades me so excited - it says that BreyerFest is getting close! (And I am really hoping to attend in person this year.)

At Last! Some Live Shows!

 Finally! I have gotten signed up for some live show fun! Indy Blooms is in two weekends and it's only an hour's drive from my home.

Barn Buddy Kelsey is judging and showing, so I offered to help get her models into their classes. I didn't enter and was planning to go down and hang out with friends and watch, so I can easily keep an eye on her entries and get them where they need to be.

Plus, Steff Bodamer and Ellen Vogel, GLC friends who are entered (and I think Steff is judging) are staying at my home Friday and Saturday night. Kelsey and I are taking them out to the barn to see our girls and then we are heading out to dinner Friday night. No doubt we will all go out to eat after the show, too.

Post show dinner, Indy Blooms 2022.

I'm really looking forward to spending time with my hobby friends that weekend!

I have not made it to any of the Great Lakes Congress spring shows this year which makes me sad, but I did just enter the Clover Classic Model Horse Show held in June. Like Indy Blooms, it is close, only an hour north of me. I will be setting up Horsiemama's Mercantile while there and I am bringing a non hobbyist, my sister, Leslie.

Actually, like me, Leslie was around during the early days of the hobby and she still has a few models on display in her living room. Her passions are living history and Hereford cattle (now there's a pairing!) but she still is a horse girl at heart.

Which is one of the reasons her period clothing is always riding habits.

Leslie will leave the habits behind but she is really excited to attend her first live show as she has been wanting to come to one for years. Her living history schedule has always conflicted but there was nothing already on the calendar for June 10. She gave me her carpet herd years ago and I'm going to see if there is anything I could bring and enter. She would get a kick out of that.

Having two model horse events (three if you count BreyerFest) on the calendar is a bright spot for me. 2023 has not been the best year, having lost James, having my health take a nosedive, being hacked, and more. It feels like that first warm summer breeze after a long and  cold winter.

It also means I need to get back to the sewing machine and get busy! Haha!

My Breyer Alter Ego

Missy Shaw, a friend of Jennifer Buxton, recently posed the question, "If you were a Breyer sculpt, which one would you be?" Jennifer asked people to answer the question on her Facebook page and to send a pictures of themselves holding that model, turning the question into a blog post. If you haven't read the blog post, here is the link. Go take a look; it will make you smile.

I contributed a picture of Breyer Me and six other little friends.

I would be the Grazing Mare. Caring for her herd of six foals, keeping their feed schedules going, grooming, washing blankets, and making sure they are well mannered and exercised. As for me, I'd treat myself to peppermints and carrots when they were all in bed and I had a moment to myself!

I was getting ready to put the Alter Ego models back on their shelves but changed my mind. They are staying out as a decoration for Mother's Day!

Dragons and Horses

I am a reader and I read every single day. I prefer SciFi, Fantasy, and Classics. A couple of books or series combine those genres together, and as you might imagine, are some of my favorites. I'm in book 9 of 19 of one of those series right now (again.) 

Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. Never read it? I suggest you do! I'm not a fan of dragons (although I like them better than unicorns) but the stories that are intertwined with the dragons are well written and make me look forward to sitting down with my kindle every evening.

I was reading along the other day (having lunch in Pern, so to speak) when I came across a reference to model horses.

Nice to know that thousands of years in the future and on a planet light years away from earth, little girls still love and collect model horses.

Mopping Up

Four days later, I finally have control of my computer. I think. I hope. Fingers are crossed. Craig ended up spending a good chunk of Thursday in my office running anti virus programs, looking for documents, and tracking the hacker's path through my things. (How dare he or she read my emails and then answer as though they were me?  And then discard them so I never see them?)

I have a new browser, new email, and new passwords. I still can't get into everything, but I am confident that I will soon. Will I see my pictures and documents again? I fear not but am hoping so. Time will tell. My plan is to continue looking for things (my pictures!) and checking to be sure my passwords are all changed today and then start back with regular (and happier) blog posts tomorrow.

My left hand is still very weak and that may limit how much I can write, but I intend to continue as normally as possible. Really bad headaches like the one I had last Saturday affect that hand - but this is the longest it has ever gone on. It is hard to type accurately and I am making a LOT of errors as I type this. (I also volunteer as a transcriptionist once a week; I may transfer the voice-to-text application to Blogger and see if that helps.) 

It's been a rough week, but in the meantime, I am grateful that I have friends and family, like my dear sister-of-the-heart Lorna, who in their kindness and generosity, believed that I really do need all that money the hackers are asking for and are preparing bank transfers to help me out. Thanks, folks, but I am okay. (And y'all made me cry.)

I may have lost pictures, documents, and time, but I still have what's really important and am thankful for that.