Like so many horse crazy girls of the 1970's, I spent a lot of time obsessing over the Breyer section in the annual Sears Wish Book catalog. Every year I went through and circled the horses I wanted most. Sometimes, I even got them.
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| 1976 Sears catalog, scan provided by Sande Schneider |
Unfortunately, the saddles were a different story. No matter now many times I circled them, they never found their way to my house.
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| 1977 Sears catalog, scan provided by Sande Schneider |
Eventually, of course, I learned how to make my own saddles. Now my tack box overflows with beautiful, handmade pieces by myself and others. Still, you never quite forget your first love, and part of my will always yearn for that old Breyer saddle.
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| Photo by Mindy Binkley |
This explains why I was so pleased when longtime hobbyist, Mindy Binkley, posted these photos of her vintage 1970's Appaloosa Yearling and Western Saddle on Model Horse Blab.
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| Photo be Mindy Binkley |
In the same thread, Jennifer Floyd added pictures of her own nearly identical saddle.
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| Photo by Jennifer Floyd |
Having never actually seen one of these saddles in person, I really enjoyed the different angles and close-up views. Oh, how I would have loved to have had this for my carpet herd!
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| Photo by Jennifer Floyd |
Model horse tack has come a long way in the last forty years. I'm sure some of my younger readers will be completely nonplussed by this saddle. However, I still think it's beautiful. Thanks for Mindy, Jennifer and Sande for allowing me to share their pictures!
Posts
It's way cooler than what Breyer made during my childhood (90s!)
ReplyDeleteEven though it may not be accurate by today's standards, the tooling is beautiful! The tooling looks like something you could see today.
ReplyDeleteI had an earlier western saddle by Breyer; I'd gotten it for Marianne but I think I was more excited about it than she was. It was not tooled, just very plain and alas it fell apart pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted this old breyer tack. I have some old saddles from the 80s but other than that. I'm a young collector but this old stuff just gets to me.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the design is a little funky, the tooling is great!
ReplyDelete(why it was sold on a *yearling* is beyond me though, lol)