The joy of shopping

The tooth fairy has visited Ryan several times recently and that money has been burning a hole in his pocket. Yesterday he asked if I would please, please, please take him to a hobby shop. He simply had to buy himself a model helicopter. His whole world just might collapse if he didn't get another helicopter.

Fortunately for Ryan, I was sympathetic to his plight. I remember feeling that way when I was his age, although, of course, I wanted a horse not a helicopter!
Model helicopters aren't like model horses--they don't come pre-assembled. Of course, this is a large part of the appeal for Ryan. He loves building things.

The finished product and one very satisfied almost ten year old!

I hadn't planned to buy myself anything, but I think you can all guess how that worked out...

These photo boxes were on sale for $1.50 each. I've been working on getting all my old photographs sorted and scanned, so this deal was much too good to pass on.

It was the jewelry findings aisle, however, that was my real undoing. Is there a tackmaker anywhere who can resist the appeal of so many shiny little parts and pieces?

Those chains will be just perfect for Arab halter throatlatches and the crimp beads are just the right size to decorate Western romal reins. Mind you, I do not have orders for either of those things, but I might someday, right?

My Blue Hill vacation

I'm not a dressage rider. Oh, I've taken lessons here and there. I even spent a little time as a working student at a dressage stable in high school. Still, I am a hunter girl at heart.

My friend Trish is the exact opposite. She'll shorten up her stirrups every now and then and go pop over a few jumps, but mostly she's all about dressage.

We both live in Colorado now, but back in 1994 we were busy chasing our equestrian dreams in other parts of the country. I was doing the Hunter/Jumper thing in Tennessee and she was working at Jessica Ransehousen's Blue Hill Farm in Unionville, Pennsylvania. I missed my friend and wanted to see her new workplace, so as soon as I got some vacation time, I packed my car and headed north.
Jessica is a three time Olympic dressage rider. This picture shows Trish holding Orpheus, who was Jessica's partner at the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea where he was second highest scoring US horse.

Orpheus was also the USDF Grand Prix Horse of the Year in 1988. Trish called him "Snorty."

Jessica's daughter, Missy, is also a prominent equestrian. Here she is on Pacific Lion who would be her mount for the Buenos Aires Pan Am Games in 1995. They won a team silver medal and placed fifth individually.

Missy has also gone on to serve as the coach for the US Paralympic Equestrian Team at The 2000 Sydney Games, the 2004 Athens Games and the 2008 Bei Jing Games.

There were a lot of cool horses living at Blue Hill in 1994, and this young Dutch Warmblood was one of my favorites. Infinity was sired by the famous stallion Roemer and eventually competed at the FEI levels with Todd Flettrich.

Trish called him "Infant" which cracked me up. It seemed like a funny nickname for such a big horse!

A very young Abbie accompanied me on this trip. Here she is being introduced to Crystal and Zee.Trish wasn't able to take the entire week off, so I spent several days tagging along after her...

as she worked.

I also spent a lot of time wandering around and trying to take artsy pictures.

Pacific Lion again, chilling in his stall.

And of course I watched all the riding I could! This is Trish on her beloved dressage Arab, Zhrat al-Shara (Zee).

Trish and Zee travelled thousands of miles together, literally showing from coast to coast. Zee died in 2008 and is still greatly missed.

Trish on Crystal.

Abbie watching Trish schooling Crystal. Doesn't she look like she's trying to absorb the subtleties of dressage? What a smart dog!

I did get to ride, too, but have only this one silly picture to show for it.

This is such a classic pose! I think every rider probably has an "ears up!" picture like this. Here's the unmounted version with Trish and Crystal.

Trish and Crystal heading out into the woods. I loved the trails in Pennsylvania--so completely different than what I was used to in California and Colorado!

More pictues (not all horse related) from this trip on can be found here and here on my family blog.

I skive skiver

Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this...

Keeping it interesting

I used to hate making girths.

Girths always felt like a boring afterthought. They were something I had to make rather than something I wanted to make. If I could have outsourced them, I would have. Happily.

That began to change a few years ago when I ran across the website of the French tackmaker, Laurence Cassin. Her ultra-detailed, hand-stitched girths were the antithesis of boring and utilitarian. It occurred to me that maybe I would enjoy making girths a bit more if I spent more time on them.

My girths got a lot better after that. They are still not my favorite thing to make, but I no longer consider them boring. In fact, I've had some fun recently researching and developing a new dressage girth pattern.

As usual, I started by looking at the real thing.

I selected a girth that was fairly simple in style but had enough details to be interesting.

Since I firmly believe you can never have too many reference pictures...I photographed it from every angle.

Now here's that same girth in 1:9 traditional scale.

Ideally I would have liked it to be a bit narrower but I was limited by the elastic cord. This size (3/8") was a bit wide for my taste but the next size down (1/4") was much too narrow. I could have left it off entirely, but elastic makes girths so much easier to use... When in doubt, I always opt for most user friendly option, which left me with the 3/8" cord.

In any event, I think it looks just fine on the horse.

And that's what matters the most!

Worth the effort?

I finished the saddle.I know this looks a lot like every other dressage saddle I've ever made, but there are some small but significant differences. Most of these can be found in the front part of the seat section, specifically the pommel and the twist.

I think most model tackmakers struggle with these areas. I know I do. It's really hard to get the pommel high enough, the twist narrow enough and still have the saddle fit the model properly. I haven't quite figured out the solution to these problems, but I think I got a step closer with this saddle.

Another thing that is unique about this saddle is the lack of stitch-marking. I've always stitch-marked my English saddles, but recently it was brought to my attention that, unlike huntseat saddles, most real dressage saddles aren't stitched around the flaps. I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled by that reminder. The model horse hobby tends to regard stitch-marking as a sign of quality. Leaving it off made me feel a bit shoddy and second-rate.

Now that it's finished, though, I'm warming up to the look. It's rather elegant...

So, all these little changes that most people probably won't notice--are they worth it?

Yesterday, in the midst of the struggle, I might have said no. Today, I'm back on the yes side. Every gain, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction. It's not in my nature to be complacent. I want my saddles to look and fit just like the real thing, and little by little, I'm edging closer to that goal.

Almost wordless Wednesday

I'm working on a dressage saddle, and it's not going well.

I keep telling myself that the struggle is good. It means I'm not being complacent and simply doing the same thing over and over. I'm trying new things, cutting new patterns, really working hard to make my saddles the best they can be... All of which sounds good in theory, but it doesn't make days like today any less frustrating!

Since it's Wednesday and this seems to be dressage week, I've decided to post a group of pictures from the Paragon Dressage II show held last August at the Stanley Park Fairgrounds in Estes Park, Colorado. Enjoy!

Post weekend show report

Continuing with yesterday's dressage theme...

Karen Jensen sent these pictures from the Mid-Atlantic Regionals (MAR) show held March 21 and 22 in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Karen writes: This was the first time I set up a dressage entry so I was really nervous about how well I would get it put together and presented. I have your lovely dressage saddle, as well as a lovely double bridle and saddle pad that Corinne Ensor did for me in February. Because Corinne lives nearby and would be at MAR, she offered to double check how well I had tacked up my Salinero before I set the entry up on Sunday. I spent at least an hour getting the model tacked up on Saturday and felt pretty good about my efforts. Corinne took a look Sunday morning and, other than loosening the throat latch a notch, said I did fine. She also checked everything once I had the entry on the table and it was good to go.

Unfortunately, because I was judging at the same time, I can't even say how many entries there were in the class, but I believe it was quite a few. How thrilled was I when I looked up to that 1st place ribbon on my entry!!!

Additionally, Betsy had added a new twist to Performance this year by giving her performance judges "Best of Performance" rosettes for each division. All first place entries in a division were brought to the table at the time the division championship was being judged. The intention of the BOP rosette was to allow the judge to recognize their favorite entry in that division that might not qualify for the overall championship because it only showed in one class. So on top of that first place ribbon, Roshambo was also awarded the BOP rosette for the English division!

Congratulations, Karen, and thank you so much for sending the pictures and report. It looks like you and Roshambo will be more than ready for NAN this summer!