Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Wasta Museum - Part One, WWI Horse Items

Two weeks ago, we took some friend to see a really neat military museum in Wasta, SD. 


Jeff and I had been there once before and had been wanting to go back.  The entire museum is made up of one man's collection - only PART of his collection, actually.  He was there this time and we all got to talk to him.  It turned out that the museum was actually closed for the off season (as most things are around here), but he was there doing some work so he let us in and wandered around with us for a private tour.  It was really cool.  I had remembered that there were at least a couple of old saddles there, so I went in this time armed with the camera. 

The first horse-related object you come to on the tour is this McClellan saddle.


I asked the owner about it and he told me it is a 1918 artillery saddle.


It was hard to get pictures of it in the glass case and from only one side...


... but I still took a bunch of pictures!


Underneath the saddle is what looks to be a cinch.  I was thinking it's made of mohair possibly, but I'm not sure and I didn't think to ask.  It seemed short to me, but then again, the rigging on a McClellan does hang down a ways I suppose.


I tried to get some of the details in the saddle, the back...


... and the front.


Along with some interesting stuff, like this plate:


The next sighting of something horse-related is this picture:

"British soldiers loading a pack horse for a wiring party near Pilkem in Flanders."

Nearby is this picture:

"Prussian Uhlan (Cavalry) NCO"
"The NCO carries a Model 1890 stahlrohrlanze (lance) with furled pennant
and has a Kar 98a carbine on his back."
(as a side note, for some reason I LOVE the looks of that horse...  I think he is just neat looking..)

Along with that picture are hanging an actual Uhlan pennant and lance...


...with this documentation: pennant


and lance.




In Part Two, I'll share some of the MANY pictures I took of the three WWII German Cavalry saddles at the museum.


Monday, March 30, 2015

Motivation Monday - Back At It!

I'm trying to get back into the groove after a crazy week on the road and no blogging to be seen.  I have (even MORE) pictures and stories to share now, I just need to get busy!

Whatever IT is, let's get to it!  :)


 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



 
 


I hope everyone has a great week!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Still Alive

I just wanted to throw up a quick post and say that I am still alive.  It has been an.... Interesting week, as what we had thought would be a 3-4 day road trip has turned into a week long mess that still isn't over.  Long story short, our truck broke down last Saturday night, far from home, and it still isn't fixed.  We are HOPING to be back on the road to home tomorrow night.  We both desperately just want to be home again.  I'll share more later, but for now, here's a random picture of Jeff snuggling with my friend's cat this morning.


Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Bo Time

Today we picked up Bo from the breeding facility and for the first time in 3 weeks I got to spend some time with my boy.  I'm hoping to spend as much time as I can with him for the next two days.  Then we'll be hitting the road for Arizona, where he'll be for the next 4 years...




Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Which Seat Is Just Right?

We have our SUV partially dismantled for its annual spring deep cleaning - and this time to get it ready to sell.  I've been cleaning up the seats, but before I got started on them, one of our cats had to try them out.  She reminded me of Goldilocks.  I wonder which one she decided was just right?




Monday, March 16, 2015

Motivation Monday - Let's Do This!!

It's been a bit since I've done a Motivation Monday post.  As I've said before, I actually like Mondays.  Instead of viewing it as the start of an arduous stretch of days until the weekend, I like to look at it as a fresh start to a new week.  A new chance to get going on things that matter.  With that in mind, it just so happens that I'm off to a Zumba class this morning!  I've never done Zumba...  but I've decided that I really am sick of being overweight.  I want to lose weight, get back in shape, and feel better about how I look and how my clothes fit.  An excuse I've used for a while to not go to classes is that they are all in town (really not that far away... but still...) and it's been hard to get motivated to make the drive for a short class.  However, now there is a place right here in our little area (about a mile away) that offers classes.  So much for the distance excuse...  ;)  I could even walk there (or ride my bicycle), and plan to now that the weather is getting nicer.

Anyhow, here are a selection of motivational pictures to hopefully help us all have a great start to the week!  :)






 











 
 

 
 




Sunday, March 15, 2015

A Couple Pictures of Old Saddles

I'm hoping to do a proper write up soon of yesterday's trip to the Badlands and in particular a post full of pictures of these saddles.  I took a couple hundred or so pictures of just these four saddles.  They were a highlight (for me) in this very cool museum.




Saturday, March 14, 2015

Badlands Expedition

Today we went on a spontaneous expedition to the Badlands, stopping at a cool military museum along the way.  I took lots of pictures of their WWI and WWII cavalry saddles.  I'm thinking I'll share those pics on here for something interesting to show and for reference pictures if anyone (other than me!) might want to create some such saddle.  They were pretty neat.

For now though, it is way past bedtime!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Big and Little

I've been stitching a lot of saddlepads, both big and small, but for the first time I've made a large pad with a mini version!