Smorgasbord

 The title says it:  this is a smattering of old and new.  New horses (loot!), race results, tack repair and a glimpse of Dry's hackamore are here.  It's been a challenge to recover from BreyerFest and get back to working on my next book;  as of this writing, neither has happened yet...!  The decision to finish a hackamore for myself has largely consumed what was left of July.  And then, in the neatest worst way, Duke's ancient Hackamore -- constantly played with, disassembled and measured thoroughly for the next book -- broke its fiador, right in the middle of its dedicated use of introducing new horses to headgear.  It's only 41 years old!!  So then I chose to drop everything and make a new fiador.  I wound up making two.  The extra will probably be for sale on my FB.

Here's my BreyerFest loot pic for the year.  The Chipper was a pickup for a friend.  My first Stone foal!

In it you can see my new horses, 3 new Jaapi halters (I now love hot colors, a good 10 years after Breyer offered tack in them), and a new saddle.  It's a Donna Hutchins.  I'm hoping for another blog post on it and another new saddle I recently was lucky enough to secure. 

In the meantime, here's a July 17 portrait of my Jota [pron. "ho-tah"], whom I've named Beyond the Pale.  In this shot he's wearing my April's Hackamore.

Beyond the Pale was this year's horse who trotted into my room at the CHIN and demanded I buy him.  It seems to happen every year, I don't know how.  Sooner or later, some enterprising, determined seller waltzes in and flashes a horse I've always wanted.  At first I refused; the price was higher than I was willing to pay.  To my surprise she returned several hours (days? I can't recall) later, with a lower offer.  This time, pent up and frustrated from not winning anything at an important auction (more on that later), I bit.  And so I got my Jota.  It was nice to have a stallion balancing out the many mares I was accumulating, --- a total of six if you count Athenian Lady.  His flash attracts me and inspires more tackmaking, as if I needed that.  It's interesting comparing his color with Joker's, Breyer's other black-&-white SCO [Smart Chic Olena].

Ten days later, July 27, with a few-hair brush and my old Gesso, I gave him some eyewhites.  It made him so much better.  For purists, they're easily washed off.  Here he is with the orange Jaapi halter and a Darla Curtis doll:

I was all set to put eyewhites on the Sabino Winx, but she already had some:

Another portrait.  The touch of white makes such a difference in that phantom face.

Here is Duke's Hackamore right after the break.  It was the above Sabino Winx I had been trying to fit it on.  It broke right where I'd bent it the most, tied it the most, and grabbed it with pliers the most.

In a couple days, this miracle happened:  two more fiadors were created.  To my disgruntled surprise, I could not match the material of the original (on the right below).  I certainly could not remember something built so long ago -- prior to 1983 -- other than that it was made of braided string.  I peeled smaller what string I could find, added dental floss (resulting in the leftmost fiador) and later, feeling this made things too big, added nylon thread instead (the center).  Braiding and tying were two completely different steps and had to be done on two different days.

Duke's Hackamore original on right, c. 1983

Feeling that this was as close as I was going to get, and running out of time, I fitted it on to the old Hackamore (and shortened the ends).  Duke's has already had its headstall replaced.  What a lesson about going on!  I admit that having such a white element in an old, time-stained piece is a bit startling, but hopefully it will age,...

I promised a smorgasbord, and here is proof:  Photos and results from my BFest 5K race.  Not gonna deny it, I turned in a slow time.  I'm not a speedster;  my specialty appears to be consistency and steadiness, as in long distance stamina.  Like last year, I ran 3 times during the week;  also like last year, each time was faster.  But unlike last year, they were all within 20 seconds of each other:  47:22, 47:05, 47:02.   This margin of difference is minuscule and can only mean I've reached a plateau.

Eleventh place out of all the Virtual runners.  First place in my age group, 60 - 64, which sounds great until you realize there were only 2.  

The Breyer 5K race is still important to me.  I intend to keep on entering, and keep in training the rest of the year.   If the Covid news is good, I might even go back to running with the crowd.  I'm sure that would improve my time!

Thursday's 47:05 at Coldstream Park trail.

This year the TSII saddle auctions just swept nearly everything else away before them.  Even so I had a wonderful week.  Heather Jackson-Lain gave me TWO jars of jelly -- I had not planned on asking for even one!  And I saw SO many friends, more than ever before.  Jane Tilton and Honey Gibbons were new but amoung those I had long wanted to meet.

As of yesterday, I know about the glowing Athenian Lady.  As of last night, mine does not glow, even though I exposed her to light all evening.  It only takes a little imagination to give her some glow-in-the-dark tack (I have a Jaapi halter that does), as compensation.

Here's a glimpse of Dry's Hackamore's mecate's check strand.  This is how far I've gotten this month:  One throatlatch, one check strand.  But the strand will be doubled in the construction process, so really it should count for two.

I know the throatlatch slide isn't completed either, but it's functional.  

Thanks for reading!