Native American saddles & saddle blankets

As promised, here are some more photos from the Native American saddlery collection at the Denver Art Museum.

This woman's saddle was created by a Cheyenne artist in the 1880's. 

It was made from wood and leather and is decorated with paint and brass tacks. 

This pad saddle is Plains Cree in origin and dates back to the 1850's.

Materials for this one include leather, porcupine quills, buffalo hair, horse hair, glass beads and metal. 

What is most striking to me is how small this pad saddle is.    The scale isn't obvious here, but it's quite tiny.

Close up of the stirrups and stirrup leathers.

Onto to the saddle blankets!  This 1890 Sioux blanket is made from leather and canvas and is decorated with glass beads.

This one is also Sioux.  It is ten years older and is constructed from leather, cotton and porcupine quills. 

The Cheyenne blanket is older still, having been built in the 1840's.  Its material list includes buffalo hide, glass beads, wool and sinew.

Last but not least is this "saddle cover."

This was made by a Sioux artist in the late 1800's using leather, glass beads and silk. 

Wonderful beadwork!

I hope you've enjoyed this look at the Native American horse regalia collection at the Denver Art Museum.  The new exhibit is wonderful and I can't recommend it enough to anyone interested in this kind of saddlery.

Horse Regalia at the Denver Art Museum

It took seven months, but the kids and I finally made it back to the Denver Art Museum.  Fortunately, the new and improved American Indian exhibit was well worth the wait.

This display of Native American horse regalia is composed of pieces from several different tribes.  With the exception of the saddle blanket, all the pieces date to the early 1900's.  The blanket is a bit younger, having been created in the 1930's. 

The martingale was made by a Plateau artist.  

The saddle is also Plateau and the cradleboard is Nez Perce.

This beaded bag was made by a Spokane artist.

The rump drape is also Spokane.

Detail of the above.   Sorry about the soft focus.  Flash photography is not allowed in the Denver Art Museum, and I'm afraid it shows!

The bridle and horse mask were displayed separately from the regalia.

The bridle is Crow and was made in the early 1900's.

It is made from rawhide, porcupine quills, tin, horse hair and glass beads.  

This Blackfeet mask was made in 1890. 

It is made from canvas and decorated with glass beads and feathers.

That's not all--saddles and saddle blankets are coming up next!

Today

It's been a busy day in my studio.

While my hands have been busy with this...

my mind has been thinking of this...

and this...

and these!

Sigh.  Is it August 22 yet?

My new part time pony

This is Dancing Trillium, a six year old, 14.3 hand Welsh Cob mare.

I just signed up to half lease her for the next six months.

Mmmmmm...  Dapple pony goodness. 

I am so excited!

Recycling

Remember that pile of silver buckles I took off the sidesaddle double bridle?  I'm pleased to report they've been put to good use on Christie's Tennessee Walking Horse bridle.

I believe in recycling.  Mistakes and leftovers don't get thrown away.  Instead they go into the recycling bins located along the back of my work area.

"Snippets" are leftover lengths of prepared lace.  Most of these aren't long enough to be stirrup leathers or reins, but they work great for boot straps, curb straps and keepers.  

The "Odds and Ends" bin is filled with mistakes, experiments and extras.  There's nothing wrong with a lot of this stuff.  In fact, there are a couple really nice girths in there.

Admittedly, I'm probably not saving myself a lot of time or money with my recycling efforts.  Still, every little bit counts and it pleases me to no end every time I make something from the leftovers in my recycle bins.

New lens

When I bought my new camera earlier this year, the salesman strongly recommended I buy some new lenses to go with it.

He pointed out that my old lenses were really... old. 

Although they would work on the new camera, they wouldn't work especially well. 

I knew that was true, but I am cheap.    

I was going to use those lenses as long as possible. 

The long lens died earlier this summer.   

It had been a long time coming so I was not surprised.

Today, I went back to the camera shop and bought a new lens.   

It's smaller, lighter and faster than the old one.

The zoom function works differently so of course I had to head to a horse show and try it out.

I think I'm going to like it!

P.S. to Teresa--I know I said I wasn't interested in going to the dressage show this year, but it was all I could find on such short notice.  Are you still up for the hunter pace later this month?

Horses N Hangars prizes

Instead of rosettes, Overall Champions at the Horses N Hangars Live show were awarded plaques sculpted by Kitty Cantrell and painted by Jennifer Scott.  Overall Reserves won ceramic tiles by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig. 

I can not tell a lie--I really wanted to win one of the prizes at the Horses N Hangars Live show.  

Really, really, really wanted to.

Alas, that was not in the cards.  

Still, I can't complain because I did not come home empty handed.  First, I won several sheets of Rio Rondo etched hardware in the raffle.

Then, Rune won the Deb McDermott class.

That's Deb with Rune!

His prize was a lovely Pebbles scale Warmblood resin also sculpted by Deb.

Yeah, yeah.  I know what you're thinking, and it's true--I don't collect minis--but  I'm making an exception for this one.  He is so cute and Jenn Scott has offered to paint him for me. 

And you know--as much as I would have loved to have one of those plaques hanging in my studio, I think I might be even happier with my new pony.  Hurray for Rune and thanks again, Deb and Jenn!