Full circle sidesaddle

I have been gathering my thoughts for the annual "Model Year in Review" post, and it occurred to me that I never shared photos of my best hobby acquisition of the year. Behold, the pink rose sidesaddle by Darleen Stoddard.  

Darleen was one of my earliest tack making idols. I distinctly remember printing out photos of her work and placing them in a binder which I kept for inspiration. My favorite piece was a Western sidesaddle with painted roses. I'm not sure if this is the exact one, but maybe.

In the years since then, I've been able to spend some time with Darleen. I consider her a friend, but I never thought I'd be lucky enough to own one of her saddles. Like me, she's mostly stopped making tack, and the people who own her work tend to treasure it.

In Spring of 2020, Darleen reached out to me with a most generous offer. She said that she'd like to make me a saddle as a thank you for NaMoPaiMo and was there anything in particular that I that I wanted. Of course, I didn't have to think twice. The saddle arrived late last summer during my blog hiatus, and let me tell you, this is even more perfect and amazing than I could have ever imagined.

I don't have a lot of hobby goals for 2022, but here's one of them: I want to finish out this set with a custom doll, bridle and pad. It's truly one of the nicest and most meaningful pieces of tack in my collection. I feel so fortunate to own this piece. Thank you, Darleen. Thank you, thank you!