Babies and cradleboards

Today I had the great pleasure of meeting one of the model horse hobby's newest members. This is little Russell O'Keefe with his proud mama, Regan.Russell is a little over a month old and just as sweet as can be. He allowed me to hold him and listened to all my baby talk. Then he obligingly settled down and took a nice nap which allowed Regan and I lots of opportunity to catch up and chit chat. We had a really nice visit and I am so glad to finally meet the little guy. It's hard for me to remember my kids at this age. It seems like they've always been walking and talking (and talking and talking and talking!).Human babies don't often find their way into model horse performance set-ups with one notable exception--the Native American costume class. It is not all than usual to see a ladies' horse complete with cradleboard hanging from the saddle mixed in with the braves' and chiefs' horses. Here is a picture of one of the cradleboards at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science:

Here is a sign for another cradleboard:Apparently the baby would be laced into place and then the cradleboard could be carried or hung from the saddle when travelling by horseback.

To be honest, that kind of terrifies me. I do not consider myself to be an overprotective, hovering parent, but would you consider hanging a sweet little child like this from your saddle? Seriously! I just can't imagine doing that under any circumstances! I would, however, happily hang a plastic baby from a plastic horse's saddle so model cradleboards are fine by me!