NaMoPaiMo Prizes and More

     Hello! I just came back from LA and I had an exiting box waiting for me at home. While I was on vacation my dad sent me a text about a package that arrived for me. So the first thing that I did when I arrived home was look inside the box. In it was a present from Jennifer Buxton! I absolutely LOVE reading her blog, and she’s one of my biggest inspirations. In it was my prizes from NaMoPaiMo but to my surprise she added some other things as well. 

     That included this Breyer horse. I was so surprised when I saw it that I literally almost cried. I’ve decided to keep her Breyer name of Pepper. She’s gorgeous, I’ve always wanted a draft horse and she’s more than I could have ever wanted. 

     Jennifer also gave me leather lace, a ribbon, model horse hardware, a mini shovel, and some string. 

    For the NaMoPaiMo prizes I got the medallion and four stickers. The medallion and stickers are amazing! They’re so detailed and I love the movement that the stickers have. Now I just have to find a place to put the stickers…

 Thank you so much Jennifer! This is probably the best gift that I have ever received. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hoffman

      Hello! Right now I’m in LA but today I just wanted to talk about a new horse at LMU. His name is Hoffman and he’s half Gypsy Vanner and half Thoroughbred. I can definitely see the Gypsy Vanner and Thoroughbred resemblance. He has that pinto coat (piebald?) pattern and he has the size and personality of a Thoroughbred.

He’s essentially a really big Gypsy Vanner. He’s so tall that I can’t see over him very well, but I like tall horses!

He has such a great personality as well. He will gladly accept treats and he loves the attention of anyone. I think that he’ll make a great therapy horse!

I can’t wait to see how he is with somebody riding him!

Seals

      Hello! I'm still in LA and today I wanted to talk about seals thaw we saw. An update about the equestrian center, my mom called a few days ago, and apparently its closed due to COVID-19. I was sad, but thats ok. 

     Today my family drove down to San Diego to see my cousins. While we were there we visited a beach that had seals on it. We weren't allowed to go very close, but we could see them from above. It was really cool to see wild seals. 

     The colors and patterns were so interesting! There was even a few baby seals. Once we finished watching the seals, we walked over to the sea lion beach. The first thing that hit me was the smell. They smelled VERY bad, but i guess I'm used to strong smells. The sea lions were also louder than the seals. 

It's hard to see them in this photo, but if you look closely then you can see them sleeping on the rocks.

Los Angeles

     Hello! Now that I’m fully vaccinated my family flew to Los Angeles to meet my grandmother. She recently moved, and due to the pandemic I haven’t seen her new house yet. 

     So today I went on my first plane ride in a VERY long time. It felt a bit weird to be back on a plane, but it was still really fun. I mostly watched TV on my iPad but it was really cool to be in the air.

     Once we arrived there was a lot of waiting and walking around but we soon arrived at my grandma’s new house. (It actually wasn’t  “very soon” we had to wait five hours for a rental car.) 

     California is beautiful! I soon found many creatures including this little lizard. Well, the time difference is making me sleepy now so I guess that’s it for today. 

     By the way, there is an equestrian center in my grandma’s community. So more on that tomorrow!

Getting Started in the Model Horse Hobby: Leather

  Ok, this is a BIG one. It took me so long to find the appropriate leather online. To make most model horse tack you need two types of leather,  2/3 oz (0.8mm) tooling leather and skiver.

Sliver is really thin and it’s used to form around tack parts. For example around the saddle seat. Sliver has a nice drape to it and it can me folded and stretched really easily.

Tooling leather is used for saddle flaps, sweat flaps and more. It’s the stiffer, thicker leather for the foundations of a saddle or other model horse tack piece.

     Leather this thin is very hard to come by. I've found that Etsy and Ebay are two great places to find leather. 

    For the skiver I just type razor-thin leather in the search bar. Your looking for leather that is paper thin and has a nice drape. I usually buy my skiver from FrankLeatherShop on Etsy. You could ask him for really thin sheepskin leather. Bookbinding leather is also usually thin enough.

    The tooling leather was the most difficult to find. You don't want leather that is too thick or else it'll look to bulky on your horses. I found that 2/3 oz leather is the perfect thickness, you won't be skiving* for ages. Recently I bought tooling leather from here. 

*thicker tooling leather will also work if you don’t mind spending more time prepping it.*

Cindy dressed as Harry Piggy!

Getting Started in the Model Horse Hobby: Tools

    Hello!  I know how hard it can be when your just starting out and you don't know what to buy or how to make anything. Thats why over the next few weeks I'm going to tell you exactly how to get started in the model horse hobby.

    So one of the big things that your going to need are tools and supplies. There are an endless amount of tools and supplies that you can buy, but I'm just going to go over the basics. 

Glue:

    So, Ive tried many different types of glue and I found that when working with real leather, Tacky glue works best. It dries really quickly and its non toxic and still flexible when it dries. Another option is Duco Cement.  I've also used this but it smells very strongly of chemicals and its harder to wash out.  

Scissors:

    Most people think that you're going to need some heavy duty scissors to cut leather, but no. Since model horse tack needs thin leather most regular scissors will cut very well through skiver leather. Just make sure that the scissors are sharp.

Exacto knife:

    I probably use the exacto knife the most. For cutting leather lace, skiving, and many other things. When you buy an exact knife I recommend buying lots of replacement blades, I go through a lot! In fact I bought a pack of 150 replacement blades.

Awl:

    I use my awl for punching buckle holes in my leather. (Also for getting my tack glue bottle open when I forget to put the cap on :) You could potentially even use an awl for making stitch marks on saddle flaps.

Pounce Wheel:

    If your looking for something to create perfect stitch marks on your model horse saddles, then a pounce wheel is for you! This little wheel creates perfectly even stitch marks on leather. While it does take a bit of practice to master, its a really awesome tool.

Ok, thats it for today! I hope this post helps you to find the tools that you need. If you have any tips or tricks that you'd love to share then feel free to tell me! I love new tips and tricks!        

Cookie looking really cute over her sand bath!

   

Camping

 Hello! We just came back from a long camping trip. Sorry for the silence I didn't have my computer, hmm maybe I could do pre-written posts? Anyways we just got back from point lookout state park in Maryland. It was about a two hour drive away. I'm so sorry that this post isn't going to have many pictures... I just never had my phone on me. 

    My family went camping in a tent, and there was no electricity, or wifi. Let me just say, when you don't have an outlet to charge your iPad and the bathroom is a long walk away, you start to really appreciate the things that you have in life. 

     It was really fun, except it rained a lot. We had to wear ponchos and sometimes when the wind picked up I felt like I was going to blow away!

    When the rain stopped we went fishing. I've never been fishing before but my dad knew how to fish so he taught me. It was really fun! I only caught one tiny fish but it was still very entertaining. 

    Now onto horses! I was going to bring my models to take photos, but looking at the weather forecast, I decided to leave them at home. I wanted to go trail riding, but due to COVID-19 they were closed.

     In the end, our camping trip was really fun, it’s always great to spend a few nights outdoors!