BF 2025 Loot

 

Time for the traditional loot shots.  If nothing else, this is a good way to document the inflow and outflow of my herd.  Although in comparison to others' loot shots this may look small, believe me, this is larger than usual for me.  And I'm almost sure I forgot something!

 The prize of the year, and the most expensive horse, was the lovely Stone Half-Arab Mare in glossy Sooty Buckskin.  That I have this Akhal Teke at all must go to the kindness of Mary Chrusciel 'in the 100s,' who took off a percentage to entice me.  Or was it reward!?  One thing's for sure.  The Stone factory name 'Garbo' was absolutely wrong for me!  Later I found the right name.  I wanted something exotic and dry and wild, like a high desert, the Tekes' home, yet feminine.  "Florissant," as in the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado:  what do you think?

Grey pinto SM is for a friend at home

 I did forget something:  the White Running Mare.  She will appear in another post.  She's not in the Loot portrait because she was sold again during BreyerFest.

 Since a person can only purchase 2 Special Runs and I wanted 3, that meant one of them would have to be gotten aftermarket.   I drew the two I wanted -- Future is Bright and Good Friends -- but I hadn't counted on Breyer's variations!!  Pahh!!! -- I do NOT care to purchase a horse sight unseen!!  Another blog post will explain how I wound up with the Long Mane version of Future Bright.  But choosing between the Long and Roach Mane versions of Good Times Roll was a real challenge.

Normally I am a glossy person.  Decades have gone by this way!  But lately my choices have been changing, starting with Sassy/Tawny, whom I definitely wanted satin, and Cosimo, whom I want matte.  (I didn't have the funds to get Cosimo;  see, I am not all-powerful.)  I already had two of the Show Jumper mold, and both of them are Long Mane (1 glossy 1 matte).  I first encountered Good Times Roll in the Open-air Stock Market, which is what I call the Nina Blvd post-tent area.  Dear strangers, how kind you are to share your horses with a casual walk-up!

After a full day considering it, I decided to get the braided Roach.  I like having variations, once I know what they are!  I felt I could provide glossy enough on my own, either by Krylon or by handshine (oiling), for protection,.. if needed at all, an arguable point.  Strongly influencing me was the fact that most people wanted the glossy and thus the matte would be considerably cheaper.

And he was.  I got him for less than a hundred, later in the rooms, on Friday.  This made him actually the first of my Special Runs to come into my hands.  My FB readers will find a funny story about him there, captured in this pic.

What no one notices is that his oiling process has begun.  He is one handsome horse.  I am, probably mistakenly, referring to him as a Manchado Appaloosa.  His impulsively-bestowed name, Uncle Rolly [roll-y], is hopefully not permanent --!!!

Future Bright, whose name turned out to be Rummo [room-oh] Juneteenth,  -- pasta and freedom, I do love naming a horse -- refuses to let go of Dry's Orange Hackamore.  He simply looks too good in it, and I am bowing to his wishes.  This lovely palomino is the son of Tawny/Sassy.  Only in model-horse-land can you have a dam and colt without any hint of the sire,...  he is a glint in the owner's eye,...

The white mare and foal were last-minute, change-of-target purchases after I'd spent several days combing the entire hotel for a Stone palomino ASB.  The mold is rare.  I bear witness in personal testimony:  I looked through all 600 rooms, and found about 14 of them.  It's true one was a palomino:

But he was a repaint, and that had not been on my shopping list.  It made me think.  Was this an acceptable alternative?  At this time, the answer is no.  But if another year goes by without me finding what I think I want, I will start to consider that path.

The Stone Palomino ASB is supposed to be the husband of Tawny and the father of Rummo.  I want a hard glossy finish, a metallic coat and minimal white.  I don't want, after Sassy, to order anything from the factory;  more on this decision later.   But it's becoming clear that I may have to either spend much more time looking or soften my demands.  After all, I've spent 2 years trying to get that white foal Ollie -- !  first seen at my own show, Happy Valley Fun Show, November 2023.

BreyerFest is a great place to find out more about everything model horse.  People were exceptionally nice to me.  A dear old friend, Heather, gave me a slew of BFest pins she had accumulated over the years.  And the stickers that came in!!  Some were bought, but most thrust themselves upon me.

 

The same Heather saw to it I did not travel home without any tack.  Thank you, dear.

The final hats-off should go to the rabbit.  This bunny is a needlefelted creation by Tina DeCaussin.  I found her, and him, in the 400s.  She reeled out a story of how she felt constrained by perfectionism in painting/sculpting ponies but was completely freed with needlefelting.  Indeed her little critters -- dogs, kittens, badgers, dragons, hippos -- were irresistable.  My husband collects bunnies and this one is for him.  Oh dear hobby, do not let perfectionism destroy your pleasure in creating!  And if it does, why then, try a sideline like this one.  Tina, I am deeply impressed.

 This year was a good one, though of course, all was not perfect.  I managed to stand up Mares In Black on Sunday morning  :(  and I still haven't seen a scrap of online programming.  I did my 5K race, but at a walk, because I'm recovering from a toe injury.  (Yes, that is an hour and twenty minutes.)  I placed last in my runner class,... but I finished without pain!  and took a ton of pictures, which may or may not appear in another future post. 

Hazy is a good symbol here: long, tender, rubbery legs!

As one gets older one just does not have the energy for all the intensity of years past.  Still it was so wonderful and I treasure every minute very much.  

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.  Nina, alas, passed away in 2022. 

Edited to note:  My father, who lives in Tucson, claims to have seen this horse and saddle on display in the Mini Time Machine Museum as recently as fall of 2024.  Thanks Dad!

Two Shannon McKaig Saddles

 

Shannon McKaig was a tackmaker I was unfamiliar with until a friend surrendered a couple of her saddle sets to my tender mercies as a tack restorer.  (That was in February.)  Whether I did a good job is something only time will tell.  With many other pots a-boiling right before BreyerFest, somehow these captured my blogging attention-span.

It is only right and proper to start with some 'before' pictures. Here we see the natural set with its red suede seat.  Each Rio Rondo-kit saddle was a basketweave and was edged with silver lacing.

I'm calling the natural saddle the 'chestnut' one and the other, a dark brown and black, the 'chocolate.'  The chestnut had lacing all around, the chocolate only on the back skirt.

Although these pictures may seem innocent enough, look closer.  The silver lacing is inconsistent in width, is quite corroded and is missing in a few places.   Below is the real culprit:  the edging was coming clean off.  (A black felt lining is showing.)  I do hate it when an adhesive fails.

Thus I was faced with a difficult job:  How to polish, or else replace if that failed, the silver lacing itself;  and then, how to re-attach the coil to its edge?  Tertiarily I wanted to replace all the rings and hardware with stainless steel since there was ample proof they were turning green.

I'm afraid I didn't take any 'before' pictures of the chocolate set.  It had Rio Rondo conchos so deeply tarnished they looked black.  These were small handmade conchos available circa early 1990s, when Carol Williams was selling hardware she made herself.  The whole chocolate saddle was in better shape than the other.  I replaced every ring with stainless steel and polished and polished.  I coated the clean silver with top coat nail polish, which does not let oxygen through.  That was a trick.  And then I pulled out a horse and blanket from my own collection that set off the ensemble very well, I thought.

Above, birds eye view.  Below:  This horse, Matriarch / LaJewel, finished by Katie Richards, looks good with the simplified yet detailed braidwork on the bridle.

It is always fascinating to me to see how other tackmakers tackle the problem of model braidwork, in this case flat braid.  Shannon used a tried-and-true method:  She braided floss, wrapped it around the lace and glued down the ends.  What I don't remember seeing before is that she glued thread interweaves on top of it.  Such a clever approach mirrors the silver edge lacing in style.  Her eye for color was good.  Her glue for thread must have been very good, because it worked and has lasted.  Below is a view of the reverse or inner side of her work.  The purple arrow points to the other end of thread of that knot's interweave.

The chestnut saddle caused me the most problems.  Here is a pic I sent the owner, explaining my thinking.  The problem was that its silver lacing had aged to the point at which the lightest pressure (as for polishing) caused it to break apart and flake off.

In the end I chose to entirely replace the lacing with some sterling silver lace which I had.  After a great deal of struggle over method (we're talking multiple ideas), I gave up and used a white glue to re-attach the coil.  Embarrassing after my lifelong diatribe against glues and adhesives;  but nothing else worked.

Compare this shot with the second shot above.  What was a varied-width silver strip is now a constant;  what was corroded and grainy, with glue crumbs :(, is now clean silver.  

I re-used the same leather, in the spirit of retaining as much of the original tackmaker's work as I possibly could.  'Conserving' is the word.

 Here is the entire saddle after I finished.

 Unable to resist, I put Sassy / Tawny to work the same as LaJewel.  The two golden creations went together well.  The shot below makes her tail look big! leading to some creative photo cropping.  Note how the head has more space around it than the tail or off hind hoof.

In case you're wondering, that is my hair holding up the bit.  I'd cleaned off the bits and didn't want to dirty them again,...

.. and the horse steals the show.  'Twas ever thus with model tack.

One last portrait.

Tawny will be coming with me to BreyerFest, you may be sure.  And I will be looking for a companion, a palomino Stone ASB stallion, if I can find one...

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So what else is coming?  The Advanced Braidwork for the Model Horse is in the editing and polishing stage, and its working copy will be there for you to view.  The Plates are all drawn, the photos all taken, the text all written;  but changing the chapter order has resulted in having to re-letter and re-number half the book!  Plus digitization and proofing and signing and...  I'm so sorry, 'twill not be published by BreyerFest.  :(  August is my guess.  I will be taking names/emails for notification purposes.  The price will be around $27.00.  No preorders can be taken, but you can start saving, hah!

Sales horses abound, including Lafayette and Wells.  We have Mink enamel pins and stickers to sell!  As ever, check out a printed copy of the Guide to Making Model Horse Tack and purchase a digital copy for $13.99.  There's lots of stuff to give away, including my mother-in-law's collection of needlework samples and her DMC color catalogs, and some Tarzan cereal-box toys.  Scrapbooks and personal horses of course will be displayed.  Mostly I just want to say hi in person and show off the next book.

See you soon, Room 612!