My boss has developed a small fascination with the model horse hobby (long story), so I dug out my tack box last night and brought in a little show-and-tell.
I won this Mexican saddle as a door prize at the Rocky Mountain Hi Live show in Colorado Springs in 1989 (my first live show). I started out showing it on a Classic Quarter Horse Stallion but it was really too big for him so I later switched to Ginger. Stupidly, I sold my Black Beauty set a few years ago and now I need to get another Ginger; she was my favorite of the set and a good performance horse for me for a long time.
I need to replace the off-side latigo; the holes have pulled through the leather.
I won this Mexican saddle as a door prize at the Rocky Mountain Hi Live show in Colorado Springs in 1989 (my first live show). I started out showing it on a Classic Quarter Horse Stallion but it was really too big for him so I later switched to Ginger. Stupidly, I sold my Black Beauty set a few years ago and now I need to get another Ginger; she was my favorite of the set and a good performance horse for me for a long time.
I need to replace the off-side latigo; the holes have pulled through the leather.
English saddle: I think this was made by Sue Rowe/Sojourner Tack, around 1990. It would have been a major hobby splurge for us at the time. I have the bridle that goes with it, too. It's a large saddle, meant for models like the Breyer Hanoverian and Trakehner.
Arabian costume, 1992. I made this over once and it usually placed, but it was never really competitive. I couldn't manage the real show-type Arabian costume, and I definitely couldn't afford a professionally-made one. I guess I've seen worse, but it's still kind of amusing.
I also showed it on Cassina, who was the Toys R Us special run fleabitten gray "Johar" model, and once or twice on her dam, the #647 bay whose name escapes me, even though it was made for Andromeda (special run 1984 alabaster/pale rose gray Classic Arabian Mare):
I also showed it on Cassina, who was the Toys R Us special run fleabitten gray "Johar" model, and once or twice on her dam, the #647 bay whose name escapes me, even though it was made for Andromeda (special run 1984 alabaster/pale rose gray Classic Arabian Mare):
Mom and I made this working saddle from a Rio Rondo kit in 1989, after Rocky Mountain Hi Live (for which we borrowed a saddle from my cousin, who also collected). It was actually very competitive when it was new, although it looks pretty crude now.
The saddle pad has leather guards, just like a real everyday saddle pad, and we made a scale string girth, of which we were extraordinarily proud--that kind of detail was still a little bit novel at the time. The saddle is held on with a latigo, just like a real saddle, except ours only goes around the rigging once to save bulk under the fender.
Toby the Paint gelding is the 1988 Model Horse Collector's Supply Co. special run "Wild Scirocco Fire". This was a model that I had desperately wanted and was ecstatic to get--"San Domingo" is a favorite mold of mine and I love just about anything pinto--so the saddle was dyed Tandy "Saddle Tan" (chestnut red) to match him.
The saddle pad has leather guards, just like a real everyday saddle pad, and we made a scale string girth, of which we were extraordinarily proud--that kind of detail was still a little bit novel at the time. The saddle is held on with a latigo, just like a real saddle, except ours only goes around the rigging once to save bulk under the fender.
Toby the Paint gelding is the 1988 Model Horse Collector's Supply Co. special run "Wild Scirocco Fire". This was a model that I had desperately wanted and was ecstatic to get--"San Domingo" is a favorite mold of mine and I love just about anything pinto--so the saddle was dyed Tandy "Saddle Tan" (chestnut red) to match him.
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