I nearly called this post "Christmas in -- December?!" because in any other month of the year, it would indeed be Christmas in -- fill-in-the-blank! This is my Christmas on Mane Street haul, combined with other December purchases, combined with a very kind and lucky win during the Mares In Black December zoom party. If I'm guilty of conspicuous consumption, just think of BreyerFest loot shots. Shouldn't that kind of tradition grow up around Mane Street...?
Two tackmakers, two blanket makers, three halters, three scales of stuff, and one Santa suit! There's actually a good deal more than this. Let's start at the beginning:
I had held off on going down to the mail box (UPS store on Hamilton Ave.) because it was so cold and I was so busy. But when I finally went, the haul was overwhelming. I became ashamed that only the day before I'd felt left out and suffered from holiday malaise. It makes you afraid to want anything---! The large box in the back is Harry & David from my Dad, a family tradition from my grandfather's time. Bless you, Dad, only 2200 miles away...
These halters were made by Bobbie Allen, of Horse Tender Studios. I was delighted with their design -- my love affair with International Orange is still going strong. I hadn't seen the hybrid part-leather part-nylon approach before, neither in model nor in full scale. It makes for a well-wearing piece of tack. The crown strap won't fray. The leather has to fit the buckle, but if it's too big, trimming is easy. These are so sharp and cool that the horses fight over them.
Generous to a fault, Bobbie knew I adored her Stablemate scale blankets. This lovely little gift of a bright orange one brings my total of hers to four. Honestly, they are a great value for the price. The hardware is all handmade and works very well. They're even slightly darted.
Maggie Bennet's Poet is on the left (above). The Mares In Black crew watched him being born, that is, being created from a 3D program with Maggie's magic. Ever since then I've wanted one. No, I don't make tack in this scale; I don't even know anybody who does. His conformation is lovely and seeing him makes me happy.
Bobbie Allen gave me another gift, an enamel pin of a coach and four from Remington Carriage Museum, a place I did not know about. Thank you, you know my soft spots! This leads us to the subject of pins, always a favorite around here!
When I saw Breyer's Blue Zeus pin on FB but heard it was only obtainable by those purchasing the horse at BFest, I sort of gave up in half-disgust. Just another secondary market target; or so I thought. I was delighted a few weeks later to find myself proven wrong, and Blue Zeus' pin listed on Breyer's website. I went and indulged. While Breyer's pins can't really be compared to Minkiewicz's, for instance, I now have four Unicorn pins by them, depicting 6 of the creatures. [Two of these pins are of horses sculpted by Mink.] It doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that Breyer, also, knows my soft spots,...
... like Blankets!! I was very pleased to find this 75th Anniversary blanket is unusually soft and thick. It's lined with white fuzzy fleece and the golden binding has minute rainbow sparkles all through it. Push my buttons! -- even though the front closure is of minimal design and does not really fit Jota /(Beyond the Pale in my herd). Delightfully, the design is printed on both sides:
Speaking of blankets, here's a purchase which technically falls under Christmas on Mane Street. I got this through Anne Field's Field of Dolls Live Sale. It's a blanket by Kathy Wood. I have several K Wood blankets, but this one beats 'em all for sheer detail and fanciness. Only one other blanket-maker I collect (Nichelle Jones) compares with this:
This one too is soft white fleece inside. Dig all the straps.
Circling back to Bobbie Allen of Horse Tender, I need to briefly explain that I'd lost out on a Santa doll auction during the CR Dispersal series. My own Santa is a disgrace and I'd been looking for a replacement. Bobbie happened to mention she'd found "Santa suit" Christmas tree ornaments in a store known for cheapness. I asked if I could buy one and she said yes. Amazingly, I was able to get Steve, my Western Handler (note chaps and turquoise bolo), into the suit. I think this goes a good ways towards solving my Santa, although Steve is going to have to get out of it again, since he refuses to wear a beard.
With this photo, we close in on my first, nearly only and truly inaugural Christmas on Mane Street purchase. I got a halter. One halter. By the time I got there, only nylon halters were left from this particular rising star of a tackmaker. I'd gotten a halter from Dani Boiko before, but this was emotionally necessary retail therapy; and outside of the Field of Dolls sale, it was my only C.O.M.S. purchase.
Even something as simple as a nylon stable halter can, in the hands of different tackmakers, reveal their different styles. Tongue buckle or no, rolled throat or no, different hardware, lead or no; these are all clues. I was quietly amazed to discover the Savvy Appy halter didn't have a pointed tip to its crown strap; rather, it featured a flat end. In 45 years of model tack I'd never seen this on purpose. And yet it immediately made sense. The nylon end was heat-sealed, so it couldn't fray. And to beat all, it passed quite easily through the buckle, giving me no trouble. Learn something new every day...
You never know about tack until you put it on the horse. It's a truism about the field, reflecting what I value: the feel of how the piece goes on.
Let me slip in another view of Bobbie's SM blanket and Poet. This photo shows their other sides. I was pleased how this blanket design managed to fit under even his overpowering mane. Let it snow!
Penultimate shot. This shows the true extent of gifts from Horse Tender: see those picture postcards on the right? And the lasercut wooden coaster? All from this multi-talented artist. I'd like to point out Bobbie's elegantly simple way of shaping the halters with only bubblewrap. It's another idea I'd never seen in all my career, yet it is so obvious. It just makes me wonder what the hobby could be capable of, if we'd been more connected.
One last gift from the Good Mail gods is the postcard peeking out from behind the box on the left. That's from my husband's hobby of paper wargaming. Technically it's an advert from Operational Studies Group but I snagged it because it's a great painting of equine art, Napoleon on Marengo (I presume). I love adding spare equine ephemera to my usually-in-deep-sleep stamp albums.
If you don't hear from me until February, Happy Holidays!
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