Diamonds are forever

When I was ten or eleven, I put a dollars in an envelope and sent it to Breyer Animal Creations.

In return, they sent me four issues of Just About Horses magazine. 

The first introduced me to the concept of remaking.

The second to Kathy Maestas.

I took one look at this picture and was instantly a forever fan.

Over the years, I accumulated a lot of Double Diamond Ranch sales lists...

plus many, many pictures of her work.

Still, I never did manage to score a Diamond of my own.

It's okay. I don't need one anymore, but I still like to see them.

an entry in Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig's A Good Vintage show
BreyerWest 2016

As I was looking at the horses in Karin's custom/resin cabinet and I spied a piece with that Maestas look. I asked, Karin confirmed and then she pulled out the horse so I could get a better look.

Karin told me that she had scored this horse through a $50 buy-it-now deal on eBay. I noted the nifty vintage bridle, and she said, "Wait til you see the saddle it came with!"

The saddle was downstairs in the horse room, so I did have to wait, at least a little bit. In my mind, I was expecting a typical Western Maestas, kind of like one of these.

What I got was an Australian stock saddle.

Wow! That's both historically interesting and also, legitimately good.

The signature on the flap makes it even better. Marney! 1990! I can't quite make out the name of the maker, but I bet someone here can fill in that piece. Sue or Sue, maybe?

What a fun piece of hobby history! I'm so glad I got to see it. Thanks again, Karin!