Malaguena 2 First Pass

 

I know I promised to sell this bridle, but in truth I'm not quite ready to do so yet.  So much psychic energy and intensity has gone into it that if it were any other piece of tack I'd certainly keep it.  But it's a copy of something I already have...!  I don't need two!  I just need a bit more time to let some of that massive investment-attention vibration ease down and die off,... the incredible effort that has gone into recording every tiny little detail of this piece. 

When I'm ready, it will most likely go up on Model Horse Place as an auction, and notification will be posted here and on both FB pages of mine.  I have a hard deadline of May 7;  if not in the next 2 weeks, it'll have to wait til early June.  At that point, delivery at BFest is a distinct possibility.  😃

When I started, last fall, I had only a few small ideas how I could do this:  depict, describe and decently instruct on every aspect of Malagueña's 1995 braided rawhide bridle.   But now I know.  How it expanded!  Ten Plates (full page drawings), twenty pages of text, and about 7 pages of photographs later, the thing stands, nearly finished, as a central chapter in my next book.  My sore arm/elbow temporarily returned  😖  but I am so excited and pleased.  The long-held dream is finally coming true.

Meanwhile we have a bridle to show off.  This post will show pictures already taken, although the Peruvian is new (as of yesterday).  I'm hoping to get in another photo session today,... you should see what it looks like on Uffington --!!  But there are also some cool surprises further on down here...

It should come as no surprise that this horse, Buckler's Raven x Laurie Jo Jensen, wanted to get in on the action.  He is the right size, although I think that throatlatch is a little short.  Doll by Ann Field (Field of Dolls).

Malagueña's bridle fits best on Dundee.  However, it is adjustable.

Incidentally the Peruvian is for sale, well-discounted at this stage.  Here he is in full side portraiture:

Here's a nice close-up on a Harley D's slightly-smaller-than-Trad Western head:  Exactly the sort of horse this bridle fits best.

The new bridle is brighter and cleaner than the now-28-years-old one.  The bit and buckles are from The World of Model Horse Collecting (look on eBay), thank you Alison.

Whoever wins the auction for this bridle hopefully won't mind that every inch, indeed every pass of braid (in one way or another), has been examined, photo'd, drawn up and documented with the aim of sharing in an instruction book...  an amazing exposé... 

And now for something you never expected -- I didn't either.  As a lark, as a spontaneous gesture, looking (I suppose) for a variation on the ever-lovin' but boring laid-out shots, I tried this;  and was so fascinated I had to include it here.

What makes it so astonishing is the potential.  Suddenly you can see it in colors other than the perennial turquoise-black-and-white.  Even the sinew-yellow gives way to otherness.  This, after the first shock, is what I had in mind:  Variations, other points of view,... other lives, other manifestations. 

Future pieces.

While we're on the subject of the book, here's a genuine sneak peek:  The rough draft drawing for the riendas, the hand parts of the reins.  

Of all the parts, I especially liked how the riendas came out:  The interplay of the leaders (arrows) was so graceful and braidlike in and of itself.   I hadn't planned that.  It just spontaneously happened, like a lot of the best art.  Here at last I can indulge my drafting skill from so long ago; thank you Grandpa B. and the Boulder Valley school system.

If the weather holds, I'll try to shoot Malagueña 2 on a whole bunch of horses, and post later.  Thanks for reading!