Hi,
Today we took my nephews to the pumpkin patch. What an experience. $6 to get in, but we got a free pony ride (kids only...), a free cup of feed for the petting zoo, a hay ride, a walk through the corn maze, a big slide (for EVERYONE), and a pumpkin. It was prety fun. The petting zoo was mostly goats, with one very small Llama (baby?), and one sour old pony. The goats were fun, but the llama was so gentle and sweet. He took very delicate bites, and was so polite about it! The goats tried to steal the cups! They had some feathered critters running around, but they weren't too friendly. I did notice they had a pair of female white peacocks....I guess that makes them pea-hens. Anyway, they were not very pretty. It must be molting season for them. The regular pea-hens looked a bit raggedy too. The hayride was fun, and the corn maze was ok...the corn wasn't very tall, so it wasn't hard to get through the maze... The slide was lots of fun too! We came out of the maze to shrieks and screams. Apparently a gopher snake wanted to ride the slide, but the women put up such a fuss, that it changed its mind and went back to the corn field. Poor snake! I'd hav to say it was pretty close to 2 feet long. Anyway, it was a fun day! Somehow, I ended up with two pumpkins. Oh well. I will carve them both!
This weekend, I started disassembling my Bona Allen English saddle. I've had it for years, and have tried to sell it once or twice. It was in sad, sad need of major repair...no one wanted to tackle the job. I had thought about getting it repaired once, but when I spoke to the only English saddler that did repairs that I could find, she flat out stated that she didn't think the saddle warranted the money I'd have to pay. She stated that I could buy a very nice brand new saddle for what it would take to repair this one. So, I never did send it off. I only paid $27 for the darn thing at an auction. So, this weekend, I decided that I'd try to repair it myself! I've refurbished more than one western saddle, how hard could this one be!
Ok, lesson number one: English saddles are way more complicated than western ones! Lots more nails that can cut, and poke you before you notice they are sticking up! I must have pulled 300 tiny little tacks out of the underside of this saddle! UGH! I got bit by a good half of them! Oh well...live and learn!
It was fairly easy to remove the seat (which is what needed repair so badly! Dry-rot is death!), but in order to fully understand how the thing went together, I ended up removing both flaps, as well as the little 'jockey' flaps that cover the stirrup bars. They were held on with a billion stitches, so I think I can get them back together easily, but its gonna take a long time to hand sew them!
I chose to replace the seat, not with leather, but with a heavy cloth that I've been lugging around for 10 years. Its not quite denim, but very much like it! This stuff has a bit more 'give' to it. The pattern is of paiselys in earth tones of tans, browns, rust reds, and some sage green. I've always loved this material, but have never had anything to put it on. It was such a small piece, maybe a half a yard at the most! My original plan was to make a vest out of it, but you see how that turned out! Anyway, I have enough material to fabricate a seat, and I think I have enough left over to make a 'ribbon' to edge a saddle pad, making a matched set! I think I might even be able to salvage enough scraps to make a browband that slips over my old one. Hmmmm, gloves might be nice too. All I'd have to do is sew the fabric to the back of an existing pair of gloves! If I have enough left over, that is!
Anyway, I've gotten a really good fit on the seat. It turned out to be a whole lot easier than I was imagining. I thought I'd have a very hard time with it, but it really turned out very smart! I love the look! I've posted a midpoint shot of what I've gotten done so far. I'll post before and after shots too! Ok, I better go finish trying to sew the little jockeys back on...that gonna take me the rest of forever to do, but the effect will be worth it!
Bye.
