The deconstruction of the Parker & Parker

On the weekend, I finally got brave enough to start taking apart the little P&P saddle I acquired from a friend. The stitching had let go and the safe was slowly detaching itself from the nearside flap. It also needs new billets, overgirth & balance strap and probably quite a bit of flocking.

When I was at the ISSO clinic, I learned how to drop panels and do a bit of flocking, so I figured the little P&P saddle would become my "sacrificial lamb" so to speak. I was going to give saddle fixing a try! I've also had a LOT of helpful advice from numerous saddlers and sidesaddle experts on what to do and how to do it, so I was feeling like I had enough knowledge know to give it a try (or enough to be dangerous! haha). The first problem was, I didn't have any of the right tools to do the job.... But curiosity took over and we started poking & prodding it. I used a flathead screw driver and gently pulled at the tacks holding the panels on at the front....and out they came with a slight groan from the wood.

Now we could kindof see into the inner workings of the saddle but we needed to get the points of the tree out of the point pockets. One came out quite easily but the other was STUCK. Really, really STUCK.

We pulled and tried everything we could to get the nearside point out of the pocket but it just wasn't going to happen. I was worried if we pulled too hard that we might rip the leather on the panels. As the stitching was starting to let go, we figured that we would just cut the stitching on the point pocket and re-sew it back on later. Good thing we did, we would have NEVER gotten that point out otherwise. It looks like it maybe corroded a tiny bit and then glued itself onto the leather of the point pocket. We had to peel them apart.

So now that we had the panels free, we could actually see the tree, the panels and the webbing underneath. Really interesting!

You can see the metal reinforcing the tree and there is a very small bar right behind the main reinforcement. Not quite what anybody would call a "hunting bar". As someone told me, I doubt this saddle was ever intended for jumping, it was likely made for a teenager to go for a tour in the park on.

Ok, so now that we had the panels dropped, we needed to figure out how we were going to fix the safe... that really was what we had originally planned to do. It's amazing how one thing leads to another and then to another. My boyfriend's suggestion was to take the entire nearside flap right off the saddle. I was pretty leery of doing this and balked at it but he insisted and starting pulling tacks. First off were the tacks holding the front of the safe to the tree... Lots of tacks up here.

Next step was to remove the rest of the tacks holding the nearside flap on.... Can you believe the entire flap was held on only by the tacks at the front on the safe and 4 tacks at the back? I thought there would be way more and that it would require a lot more work to remove. Not at all!

I have to say, I'm glad we did end up taking that whole flap off, it would have been a massive pain in the butt to try and restitch the safe back on, with the flap still attached to the saddle. While I began trying to restitch the safe, my boyfriend starting looking at how the billets & balance strap was put on. Can you believe the balance strap was held on by TWO tacks. That's it!! I guess there's a reason they say we shouldn't over-tighten things!

Virginia Day 4

I was lucky to have a tour guide today. Someone that had grown up in "Old Towne Alexandria" which is just outside of Washington, DC. So off we went for a tour. I'm glad I didn't have to drive as there sure was some really confusing roads and LOTS of toll roads! FYI, I think the makers of the GPS systems and the Toll roads have a secret arrangement. If you are lost, the GPS will NOT take you the most direct route.... it will take you to the nearest toll road.... As an interesting side note. Apparently this is what Washington looked like waaaay back when, before they built the land up and drained parts of it.

Alexandria was really really neat, lots of old buildings and history. I loved going through the antique shops, you really get an idea of what the area was like back then. One of them was full of antique silver table settings of all kinds. It's interesting to see the different things compared to the shops up here at home.

This is Captains Row (or Rowe?), it's the oldest original street in Alexandria, the cobblestones have been there for hundreds of years.

This is something I found really interesting. I saw these metal stars on the sides of buildings all over the place. Apparently they are actually structural supports for the brick buildings to keep the walls from bowing out. They run a metal pole through the house, from one side to the other and these decorative looking stars are actually the end of those.

We had lunch at a place called the "Fish Market", seafood chowder and oyster po-boy sandwich! So good! And we found an interesting little gift shop where the hot item I was told was the chocolate covered peanuts. Apparently they grow a lot of peanuts in Virginia, who knew? Not me! (They are pretty tasty too!) I was also told that the pineapple was a symbol used to show hospitality and people would carve it into the columns near the entrance of a house or plantation. Here's some more history if you're interested in reading it. http://www.mindspring.com/~sixcatpack/pineappl.htm After lunch we drove out to Mount Vernon, which was George Washington's home. Unfortunately we couldn't seem much from the road and we didn't have time to go in and do the tour. It's on the list for things to do next time. Apparently George Washington would ride his horse from his house in Mt. Vernon to Alexandria, must have been quite the ride back then as it was a decent distance apart.

Along the way we saw the Pentagon...

The Washington monument...

Dogwood flowers everywhere. I wish these would grow up here!

The Lincoln memorial...

This was just beautiful, the Eleanor Roosevelt monument with tulips in full bloom. (If you look in the background, the round dome is the Jefferson Memorial)

Fort Mc...something... There was a fort on each side of the river, they were there to protect Washington from anything that might try to come up and attack the city.

Here's the fort on the other side of the Potomac river, you can see what the backside of it looks like. They had great big cannons on top and stored all of their ammunition below.

Did you notice how there are no skyrise buildings in Washington? There is a statue, on top of one of the monuments and there is a law that says nothing can be taller than the top of that statue. Interesting isn't it? Another neat thing we saw was the planes flying into the airport. They are required, by law to follow the course of the Potomac river, they are not allowed to fly over Washington for ANY reason. We came back from Alexandria and I had another sidesaddle lesson, this time from Jane Nordstrom on a lovely Cleveland Bay mare Savanna. She has a canter that's just amazing! You could ride it all day.

And the collection grows.... W. Musgrave sidesaddle

I think I should start this post with "Hi My name is Michelle and I have a problem..... I'm running out of room in my basement!!" lol Yes I have acquired yet another sidesaddle! It is a beautiful W. Musgrave sidesaddle made sometime between 1880 and 1910. I saw the little tapadero stirrup (my toes *just* fit into it) and the beautiful stamping and knew I had to have it! I especially love the hearts stamped onto each corner of the skirts. I believe the conchos are nickel and the saddle strings are all original. A few have broken off but they were carefully tucked into the offside purse.

It was a lucky Craigslist find, I really can't believe no-one else snapped it up before I did! I was a bit nervous dealing with Craigslist and someone I didn't know but it turned out great and the saddle arrived safe & sound on Friday. I wish I could find more about the saddle maker. All I know is that Walter Musgrave was born in Illinois in 1860, moved to Montrose Colorado and married is wife in 1880. They had a saddle shop there from 1880 to 1910 and then moved to Oregon after that. I believe he eventually died in California. It's obviously a very special saddle with the hearts stamped into it. Perhaps he even made it for his wife? (Sounds like a nice story doesn't it?)

Isn't the purse on the offside pretty? Even the strap (one is missing) that the cinch attaches to is stamped to match the saddle. I think I will find a local saddler that has a similar stamp and get them to make another strap to match. Even the cold iron cinch rings are decoratively covered to protect them from corrosion. It even has a neat little grab handle on the off-side, just in case things get a little western! The seat is really comfortable too!

It's a big saddle but surprisingly, not that heavy! I think my english one is heavier than this one. That surprised me anyways. Looks like it was well loved & taken care of. Yesterday I brought it out to the barn with me to try out on Rain. I figured with her low wither and slightly "round" silhouette, it might fit her. And I was right! Doesn't she look cute in western gear?

Poor pony didn't quite know what to think about it though! I was bumping & bumping with my left leg and she kinda stood there like "Umm what do you want?". We finally got motoring and even tried a bit of trot, she's pretty smooth! Sidesaddle horse in the making for sure! It sure feels different than the english sidesaddles, I almost felt like I was sitting up there in a dish on top of a horse lol. I didn't want to do too much riding in it because those latigo straps were pretty crispy (I think I need to get new ones) and I didn't have the back cinch on to help stabilize it. Hate to chance it sliding sideways and wreck it!

Virginia Day 3

I decided I was going to venture out on my own Monday and have a bit of a tour around the area. I had a bunch of places that I thought I'd like to see, so armed with my (less than updated) GPS, I was off to explore and try not to get too lost! (I did get slightly lost a few times though and discovered some pretty neat things!) I started my day off by going over to Warrenton, home of the infamous "Horse Country" store. What a fun (and expensive!) store that is! I enjoyed looking at all of the hunt attire and tried on some to die for brown dress boots (droool...). Luckily for my bank account they didn't have any that fit me... Instead I found an original copy of "To Whom the Goddess" to bring home with me.

I toured through the town of Warrenton after that, another neat town with lots of historic buildings and lovely architecture.

Found a really interesting tack shop/wine store combo...

Bought some nice wine to bring home there and then continued on my journey, found a few more tack shops along the way (picked up the elusive brown spur straps I was looking for) and made my way back to Middleburg via a scenic route I had been advised to take if I wanted to see some neat stuff.

I toured around Middleburg some more, enjoyed going through all of the antique shops (all of which have hunt whips galore in them!) and the tack stores and had a nice lunch at the pub there. I have to tell you about the hunt whips and sandwich cases at Middleburg Tack, there is an entire WALL of them, I was so tempted but they were kind of expensive so I thought I should pass. Met up with Devon again and she took me for a ride through the Middleburg hunt country! Definitely the best way to see it!!

(Yes I was totally being a horsey "tourist" with my camera out as we rode along haha)

Another busy but great day!

Virginia Day 2

Sunday Maggie had arranged for us to go for bunch in Upperville at the Hunters Head Tavern which dates to the 1700's. We met up with half a dozen other ladies from the area that also ride. The food was great and so was the horsey conversation. After that it was off for a ride with Devon on her lovely gelding Quest. The whole trip was great for putting faces to names and meeting all those people I had emailed but never actually met. We hauled over to a beautiful arena to ride. The scenery is just stunning everywhere.

I had a great lesson with Devon and got some fantastic things to think about and ideas to take home with me. Though I really do kinda stink at jumping sidesaddle..... One day I hope I figure it out! lol Finished off the day by picking up the habit that I got from Devon, a BEAUTIFUL smokey grey-blue wool 1930's habit owned by one of the a hunt propriotess of the area. I feel very lucky to have it (and to fit IN it! haha). Can't wait to wear it out to a show.

Trip time!

I finally have a few minutes to put some posts together about my AMAZING trip to Virginia & Maryland. I have to say, the people were wonderful, the scenery was great and there was so much to do! I crammed as much as I possibly could in and even still felt like I didn't see & do enough. I guess that means I'll have to do another trip! So I flew in on a Friday, late afternoon and arrived in Baltimore to a REALLY warm, humid day! What a difference from the below 0 temps and snow at home! The Balitmore airport was HUGE and after much walking, I found my luggage, hopped on a bus and off I went to the rental car facility. Then it was off to Ashburn to a fellow sidesaddle rider's house. She graciously offered to put me up while I was in the area and it was wonderful to get to know her. (Did I mention that I can't wait to go back?) Everything was in bloom and so warm! Love it! Saturday we went to a show to watch her horse compete at a local show. We stopped at a coffee shop called the "Cup o Giddy Up!" for a cup to the coffee and then were off to the barnSavanna is a lovely hunter! I just love this photo with the cherry blossoms in the background. It was a really nice misty morning. .

After we watched Savanna go, I went back to Middleburg to tour the town and do a bit of shopping and of COURSE hit up the Middleburg Tack Exchange! What a fun store! So much used tack & neat stuff all crammed in there! I loved the tack stores in Virginia & Maryland, there was so much stuff that you just don't see up here and can't buy really. The town is so beautiful, they really work hard to keep that old style charm feel. Lots of brick and beautiful buildings.

Then I went to meet with Devon Zebrovious and her husband George. They took me with them to the Piedmont Point to Point races in the afternoon. It absolutely POURED all afternoon but it was a wonderful time! There was pink champagne, snacks and lots of nice people to visit with and as Devon put it we watched the occassional horse run by lol.

As you can see, I looked like a drowned rat by the end of the day but it was well worth it. On the way back we took the scenic route and toured around looking at all the historical houses & farms. Just unbelievable countryside! A busy first day in Virginia!