75th at the American Saddlebred Museum

 

In Case You Missed It, there is a current display of Breyer's 75th in the American Saddlebred Museum on the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park.  I knew about it since I was personally involved, and a good friend (thank you Heather again) reminded me to visit.  I had only been in that building once before. 

I nipped in on Saturday (the 12th), shortly after picking up my Special Runs and ferrying them out to the car.  It is amazing, but my strongest memory is of the powerful air conditioning in there!  So cool and comfy!

 The Museum was much more spacious than I remembered.  On the main floor, beyond and to the left of the entry desk, is a section entirely given to Breyer's 75th Anniversary.  The intersecting point of interest is, of course, the Saddlebreds themselves.

 The placard tells all about it.

There were five different molds in this display alone:  the Five Gaiter, the Clock Saddlebred, the National Show Horse (a.k.a. Rejoice), Hamilton and the Saddlebred Weanling. 

Naturally this was where my focus went that day.  Back in June, I had been contacted by Breyer (Jocelyn Cote) asking whether I could lend "for a few months" some tack suitable for Saddlebreds.  (The "deadline" was "very soon.")  It took me almost 2 weeks to finally coalesce around the answer:  Yes, a silver Parade set on a Clock Saddlebred and a Cutback set on a Hamilton.  Although I sent Breyer suggestions for other tackmakers and collectors, in the end it was just me.  I lent my own horses since that was the simplest;  I was willing to go without them for that long and the question of who would do the tacking-up did not arise.

 It appears that Breyer worked around my choices for this display. 

 Of the TSII silver sets I had, I was willing to lend #12, a very old piece, which would fit the Clock Saddlebred.  I had 2 of this mold on hand, but one of them was the Copenhagen and I was pretty sure he would not be acceptable!  Fortunately my lone example left was a very pretty bay, Blue Note, by this time rather collectible:  he is a 2002 QVC issue.  

No one knowing me would believe I'd make an English saddle, especially after finding out that I collect them.  I had dozens to choose from and limited knowledge of Saddlebreds!  Dressage saddle?  I had 3...  I had a nice Cutback I'd done myself back when Kerie Okie's book on making them came out.  It was this one, plus my best English bridle, that I finally settled on.  I'd known Corinne Ensor in her salad days as a tackmaker and was fortunate enough to own 2 of her saddles and this one bridle.  Of all the English pieces of headgear I've collected, hers are some of the best:  They are well tolerant of and feel good with adjusting, they last well with their quality materials and of course they are stunningly detailed, down to the edging on the studhook keepers.

I haven't yet had time for a separate blog post on TSII #12.  It was originally built in 1982 and sold to Liz Bouras & co.  It was repurchased some years later and restored, one of my earliest (if not the earliest) restorations.  It's had some adventures! 

Another appropriate display for this Museum was Breyer's china (porcelain) Parade Horse.  I had helped Kathleen Moody design this piece.

This was back in the middle 90s, right before the rise of the Internet.  Kathy had written me asking for Parade reference for this project.   I made up a packet of all I could spare out of my own collection.  Back then it consisted mostly of clippings and copies from magazines and books.  Most folks don't realize how hard it was to come by reference at that time;  each individual image had to gotten the hard way.  I've been known to purchase an entire magazine for just one ad!   Kathy kept the packet for a few weeks and then mailed it back -- everything was by snail mail -- along with line drawings of her ideas.  She had generated 10 drawings.  Breyer chose one.  It had been inspired by one of my parade sets, TSII #377, which in turn had been inspired by the real ones.

Note the date 01 refers to the photo, not the saddle, which was made in 1995

 For my part in the creation of this beautiful model, I recieved a free copy.  I have him still.  I tinkered with the tapaderos and glued them in place rather than let them balance;  I thought the balance point was wrong.  His silver has greyed over the years, but he's still gorgeous, one of only 4 china Breyer (or any brand) horses I own.

Breyer has not informed me of the ending date of this display.  It might well be the whole rest of the year before it comes down, since this is a 75th Anniversary celebration.

The Timaru Star II has had tack displayed in only one other museum.  This was in Tucson's Mini Time Machine Museum for Miniatures circa 2012.   Nina Daldrup, a former director of the museum, was instrumental in obtaining a Western saddle and hackamore from me along with a black-&-white pinto Stone ISH mare and foal to display it with.   At this time I do not know the fate of these pieces.  Nina, alas, passed away in 2022.