Dad & Horses

 Throughout my life, my father was a big supporter of my love of horses. 

He glued countless china horses that had broken legs,

bought me my first Breyer and helped me give it the tongue in cheek name "Needles" (after the famous racehorse) when I had some dental work done,

and bought me my first horses. (Dad and me down by the Wabash with Flame while she gets a hoof trim.)

Recently I found a couple of old family pictures of him with horses that I had never seen before.

Oh Boy, the circus pony my grandfather bought him in the 1930s. (My father is the tall boy in the middle; I'm sure that's Betty Jean, a cousin, on the right.) 

My grandmother, Mimmy, with Dad around 1925.

The photo is dated Spring, 1926 so Dad would be almost three.

In the early part of the 20th century, photographers used to make money by hauling around taxidermied ponies and taking photos of kids on them. (Not my cuppa Vanilla Coke Zero!)

This is my dad on one of those monstrosities in Chicago when he was four.

I think my father supported my love of horses because he, too, had a fondness for them. Whenever he spoke about his pony Oh Boy, he would smile and his eyes would light up. He loved our horses, too - one of my fondest memories of him is that when he would come home from work, he'd go down to the gate first and visit with them before coming into the house.

Did Dad pass that love down to me? Is that where my pony passion comes from? I'll never know for sure, but I am glad that he and I share that horsey trait.

A Case for the Bridle Rosettes

Ever since I began collecting bridle rosettes, I have been looking for a way to display them. Shadow boxes didn't work well - the rosettes have a raised bar on the back so that they can be used on a bridle, and that made them roll around in the little cubbies.

Sorry for the photo quality - the sun isn't up yet as I write and there is glass in the cover of the box.

That bar on the back made it so that anything I tried for displaying them simply didn't work. Finally, I just put my rosettes into a box and set them on the shelf. I was resigned that I was going to have to have to go down to the frame shop and see what they could figure out. 

Then, a friend posted on social media that she had bought a ring case to display her horsey jewelry and rings. Since I have a lot of horsey jewelry, I clicked on her photos to see if it might work for me. And in doing so, I solved my own problem.

Photo by Myla Pearce. Don't her things look great displayed like that? And how easy to find what she wants to wear!

I hopped onto Amazon, found a similar one, and ordered it. It arrived this weekend and I began inserting my bridle rosettes. It looks pretty good thus far!

I also included a photo of my father with his circus pony, Oh Boy. I have Oh Boy's bridle and there is one rosette remaining on it, so I plan to pop that one into the case, too. The plain silver one is from my first horse, Amy's bridle.