Cross-eyed

I like making tack, but I do not like making all kinds of tack. Harnesses are a perfect example of this. While I don't actually hate, hate, hate them, they're not a favorite. If no one ever ordered another harness, that would be ok. Ditto mini scale strap goods. I could happily go the rest of my life without making any more of those.

So, how did I get talked into this? For those of you who are not in the know, this model's body measures less than four inches from front to back. He's tiny!

Oh, I know there are people who work smaller, but those people are obviously insane. I think I would cry if I had to make a stablemate scale harness. Or drink. Seriously people, how do you do this?

Navajo

Yesterday I featured a picture of a draft horse covered in saddles. Today it's a draft-type horse covered in people!With his black spots and feathered feet, Navajo was the most recognizable horse in the Tom Sawyer Day Camp herd. He was also one of the most beloved. He spent his mornings at PreCamp taking care of the smallest campers...

and then after lunch he'd come on over to the regular camp and pack around everyone else.

I worked on the Tom Sawyer Day Camp horse staff for four summers in the mid 1980's and also spent three years riding camp horses during the off season. This was the height of my brave/crazy riding phase, so I didn't have a lot of interest in actually riding "Nava-SLOW." Despite that, I always counted Navajo among my favorite horses.It was impossible not to love Navajo. He was just a big, cuddly, cute teddy bear of a horse!

The RB Romke resin that I have been working on for the last month is a semi-portrait of Navajo. I hope that when it's finished it will be a worthy tribute to this grand old horse!

Proof!

Tiffany posted this picture on her blog today. It's my unpainted Scarlett modelling part of Tiffany's BCS saddle collection.Ha ha ha! Poor Scarlett. I bet she can't wait to come live with me. There aren't anywhere near that many saddles at my house!

Pictures from live shows past

I moved back to Colorado in the summer of 1998 and attended my first live show the following March. It was a small "fun" show held in a school cafeteria. There were no NAN cards and nary a single resin on my table--just a bunch of common OF's and a few small tack items for sale.The fun show had a small performance division. This is Jane Schneider's QH1 Ronin showing in the Working Western class.

My first NAN qualifying show was the 1999 Rocky Mountain Model Horse Expo. This was held in conjunction with the real horse Expo at the National Western Stock Show Complex in Denver, Colorado. Here's a look at the OF China/Resin Pony class. That's my Beswick Highland Pony over on the right side of the picture.

Not surprisingly, all my other pictures are from the Performance Division. This is Jane's Ronin showing in the Native American Costume class with his travois.

A National Show Horse in the Jumper division? Why not!

Another QH1 resin--I believe this one belongs to Terri Daniels.

The horse in this photo is very out of focus, probably because I was more interested in the jump than the model itself. It's a very cool jump--even eleven years later!

No idea who this Appaloosa belonged to, but I'm pretty sure that's Kathleen Bond saddle. I have one just like it but dark oil.

My friend Trish used to be model horse person, and this was her entry in the Collector/Theme class.

About what you would expect from a high school English teacher!

These last two photos are from a different show--maybe the 2000 edition of the Rocky Mountain Model Horse Expo? The first is a stablemate scale Western Trail horse that was owned by the late June Westenbarger. June was one of my very first tack customers. She passed away in 2003. I still miss her.

Before Jane Schneider started dressing dolls, she built some very nice jumps. I think this one may have belonged to June, but I remember wishing that it belonged to me!

Oh, this all seems like it was such a long time ago! Hope you've enjoyed this little stroll down memory lane as much as I have.

Tiffany's tack fix

My friend Tiffany is a tack addict of the highest order. Most performance showers are satisfied with "one of each," but that is so not Tiffany. I suspect she has as many model sized saddles as Imelda Marcos had shoes... And she's still adding to her collection!

This works out well for me because Tiffany is also an extremely talented sculptor and painter. We have spent the last two years exchanging emails, tack and models, and I count my "Purdy Horses" among the jewels of my collection.

Recently Tiffany has been jonesing for a tack fix. I had a little space in my schedule so I told her I could make her something as long as it was "easy" and not terribly time consuming. After some discussion, we decided that an in-hand set for this customized Alborozo would fit the bill perfectly.
Tiffany described what she had in mind this way: It looks like the presentation caveson is put over a simple snaffle bridle with a drop noseband (front of the bit, like a normal drop dressage noseband). The side reins attach to the surcingle (or sometime just around the saddle girth) then the long line to the center ring. Make sense????

It all made perfect sense, or it did before I actually started working on the tack. Then the questions began: Gold hardware or silver hardware? What kind of bit? Should the serreta have one ring or threee? Crupper? Modern type side reins with rubber donuts or something a bit more old fashioned? I hate having to guess at details, and historical sets like this involve a lot of guesswork.

I spent most of yesterday searching Google Images, looking for that perfect reference picture. I never found it. The photo below (which was provided by Tiffany) is typical of what I did find. The headgear is spot on, but the horse is wearing a saddle rather than just a surcingle. Worse, the picture is too small to make out any kind of fine detail.

I ended up cobbling together parts and pieces from several different pictures. That's not my favorite approach, but I think it turned out ok in the end. Here's the bridle and surcingle...

and here's the serreta/presentation caveson.Hope you like it, Tiff, and next time when I say easy I mean easy!!!!

Be sure to check out Tiffany's new blog at: http://purdyhorsefarm.blogspot.com/

Almost wordless Wednesday

Dhaulagiri again, this time with tack.

Dhaulagiri

About a year and a half ago, I went to a model horse swap meet and came home with a bag of resin body parts. I joked about turning the Boreas parts into bookends...

but I opted to fix him up instead. I documented the reunifying process in this post dated November 17, 2008.

I'm better at repairs than I am at painting. As soon as Boreas was back in one piece he took up residence on the unpainted shelf in my basement. Although he gathered dust for more than a year, I hadn't forgotten him. I'm always interested in trading tack for high quality paintwork, and I figured eventually the right opportunity would present itself.

Earlier this year, it did!

Boreas--now called Dhaulagiri--came home yesterday with this wonderful dapple grey paintjob courtesy of Mindy Berg. Be sure to check out the in-progress picture of him on her website: http://www.sprucemtnstudio.com/ . So cute!

So why "Dhaulagiri"? I really wanted to name him after a mountain, and Dhaulagiri is both the seventh highest mountain in the world and the name of a horse in a Dick Francis novel. I apologize in advance to every judge and scribe who will have to stumble through the spelling and pronunciation. I usually select easier names, but this time I couldn't resist!

I still think he would have made the coolest bookends ever, but on the whole, I'm quite pleased with the results of this particular Resin Rehab!