A couple weeks ago, I was browsing the Tack Room Forum on Model Horse Blab when I noticed a new thread entitled, Help with ID'ing a tackmaker?
I am always interested in looking at tack photos so I clicked the link and read: About 10 years ago or so, I traded some models for really awesome bridles and halters. I'm ashamed to admit that I've forgotten who made it though! Here's a quick shot of some of the pieces (on the JH, it's the bridle only; saddle is by me).
Hmmm.... I thought. That kind of looks like some of my older work.
I checked to see who had started the post and my heart rate quickened. Morgan Pfaff! I did make some tack for her way back when! Could it be?
Fortunately, I didn't have to wonder long. There was one more picture which Morgan described like this: Here's the better news: I happened to keep the papers she sent with the tack to help me figure out how to use it properly. I'm hoping the writing/sketches might help ID who made these?
The last photo sealed the deal. I may not always be able to recognize my tack, but that scrawl is unmistakable!Morgan and I have reconnected and she was kind enough to send me new photos of her old BCS tack. These pieces were made in the early 2000's, when braided headgear rather than English saddles were my bread and butter items.
This gymkhana bridle features a handmade mechanical hackamore and lots of Spanish ring knots.
More ring knots adorn this halter...
and this bridle and breastcollar set.
Another handmade bit! Impoverished tackmakers tend to be more inventive than their better funded counterparts.
This set also included a pair of braided hobbles...
and a riata.
In exchange for all that tack, I got a North Light Friesian,
a Black Horse Ranch hunter...
and a Black Horse Ranch Arabian.
All three were mainstays of my photo show show-string during the first decade of the 2000's and remain in my collection to this day.
Thanks so much for both the pictures and memories, Morgan! This was one of my first big hobby trades, and it pleases me to no end that ten years later, we're both still happy with the results!