Random - A Few More Goals

A little while back, I posted a list of my Hobby Goals for 2015.  I've been thinking of a few more and thought I'd go ahead and type them up.  After all, I've always heard that you should write your goals down.  I'm not very good at that, but I'm trying to get better!

Along with organizing my herd (figuring out who all I have), I'd like to give them all proper names.  At the last several live shows I've found myself with nameless horses, leading me to now have NAN-qualified horses with names like "Jake" and "Sarah"... also "Salt" and "Pepper"...  When I was younger, I used to put a lot of thought into my names.  I had pages of name ideas, song titles, places, etc., and I'd use them to name horses.  There's nothing wrong with short names I suppose, but "Fool's Game" and "Prince of Thieves" just sound so much cooler. 

I'm also thinking it would be fun to make things for each of my horses, like say a stable halter (with nameplate??) and a blanket.  I've come across things lately where people made a blanket for each of their horses or have a halter for each horse.  That just sounds cool and would be a(nother) fun project to chip away at.  Plus, in the case of the halter making, it would give me an excuse to further my budding leather working skills.  As a result of a big lace sale at Tandy a while back, I have a TON of leather lace to play with.  May as well start cranking out some halters!  Along the way, once I get good at it, I'd like to offer some for giveaway/trade/sell.

I've never done the halter nameplates, but I know there are different ways to do them.  Mainly though, I'm thinking I'll use our LASER to make them and who knows, maybe that is another product we could offer in the future if I can get some neat ones made.  We can do etching on metal, though we haven't tried it yet.  Again, making a halter for each of my models would be a perfect excuse to practice that!

As for the blankets, I used to make those when I was younger too.  I still use one of them on one of my Pacers, since I don't trust them to stand well. 

It was made from felt and I use it as a pullover type.  It does have buckles on the chest straps, no belly straps.  I'd like to make ones that are fancier than this, it was made a loooong time ago in the era of my duct tape tack.

My other Pacer wears an old Breyer blanket.

In preparation for the move, Jeff and I have been going though our clothes lately and deciding to get rid of a lot of them.  I have a LOT of fabric to choose from if I want to repurpose it (always something I think is good to do).  Of course we are planning to get RID of the clothes, but I see no harm in hanging onto some of the material for my now planned blanket-making crusade..  ha! 

So, that's about it.  I thought it would be fun to share one of my recent brainstorms. 

Does anyone else have a neat idea for something I might make for each of my horses?

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.

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!

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.

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...

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?

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!  :)