Global Horse Culture

A Song for the Horse Nation

I had a wonderful visit yesterday to the incredible "Song for the Horse Nation" exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City.

Better yet, I had the pleasure of meeting the woman behind the blog Horse Pollen. We enjoyed the fascinating exhibit together, and additional brainstorming about blogging, horses and social media.

Keep an eye on Horse Pollen for her upcoming post about it. Update: Here it is!

The exhibit continues through July 7, 2011. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area. The exhibit fills several rooms and the workmanship and creativity in the pieces is inspiring. If you are a beadworker, it is not to be missed! The museum building itself is beautiful and contains several other excellent exhibits and a great gift shop.

If you can't get to the exhibit you can buy the book, which is illustrated with tons of beautiful photos.

The Baroque Horse Store

Some years ago I mentioned The Baroque Horse Store - an interesting online source for unusual tack, especially aimed at owners of Friesians and other baroque breeds. I've since noticed a huge increase in the number of products available there, and got in touch with Melissa, the owner, to ask her more about her business.

Creative Saddle Pads

A friend tipped me off to this neat source of colorful saddle pads. Though dressage saddle pads are typically made of white quilted cotton, Dark Horse Farm Designs uses patterned fabrics, special trim, even crystals and tassels, to offer more fun looks. There are all-purpose style pads and Western style pads (made from vintage fabrics), too. Take a peek!

Thanks, Bonnie!

Old Cowboy Pictures

I borrowed this book, Cowboys: Images of the Old West: Book of 30 Postcards, from a friend - it's quite nice. Each page is a postcard that can be torn out and mailed, although who would want to tear up such a neat little book! It's small and affordable, so it makes a great gift. Each page is a photo or reproduction of an old poster, with a brief description of the subject on the back. Some of the featured people were cowboys famous from the movies or rodeo circuit, others are unknown guys working on ranches in the Old West. It's an interesting little book.

Unique and Beautiful Browbands

Karen at Just Equus offers innovative and stunning decorative browbands. They caught my eye because most decorated browbands for English bridles use the standard leather browband as a base, adding a line of stones, beads, ribbon or metal across the center of it. Karen, on the other hand, creates browbands using flexible wire to hold multiple strands of beads, which are attached to the bridle with decorative leather fasteners. Her beaded browbands replace the original browband entirely, and can be easily changed to suit your mood, presenting a very striking appearance.

Karen told me her longstanding interest in horses and her background as a graphic artist and architect led to jewelry making and product design experience, which led to the invention of the browbands. She says:

I wanted to create a browband using real elements as they have different metaphysical properties, which, historically, symbolically, and spiritually have different meanings... 
Horses teach me about my/our connection to each other and the universe.  They lead me/us into this natural awareness simply through their sensitivity, our relationship with them if we are open to it, and the simple experience of riding as one with them in nature or wherever. 
The browbands (set against the background fur color) remind me of this when I see them adorning a pretty horse's face.

Lately, she says, the triple strands of pearl are the top seller (the browbands are particularly popular with dressage riders).

Just Equus grew into a larger online store over time, as Karen worked with her horse Ziba, who had come to her with health issues. Through her research, her work with her horse, and her experience with different products, she developed a deep interest in holistic health care for horses. She began offering additional select products in her online store, from saddles and rider apparel to nutritional products and gifts (for humans!). She plans to introduce some new Just Equus designs in the future, too.

Thanks, Karen!

Native American Horses...Paper Dolls!

This is a delightful book - I have a copy and have been unable to bring myself to cut out the paper dolls, because it is so beautiful to look at intact. The illustrations are carefully researched,  detailed and accurate. Each item - saddles, masks, blankets, bridles - is annotated on the back with notes about its construction and the reference to the museum or collection where the original is located. The book contains essays explaining the use and history of different items, too. It is a must have for anyone interested in Native American horsemanship and trappings.

Treasured Tails: Horsehair Keepsakes

Karen at Treasured Tails makes a really wide variety of keepsakes from horse hair. The idea is to have a little something to treasure after your horse is gone, or just a keepsake from your favorite horse. There are a lot of craftspeople offering horsehair bracelets for this purpose, but Karen has a real diversity of products - from holiday ornaments, to dream catchers, to fly whisks. There are many items that are quite affordable. You do need to put a little effort in by collecting some tail hair from your horse, though. My horse was quite tolerant, and I spent about 30 minutes pulling the longest hairs of her tail for this project. Karen washes and prepares the hair when she receives it, but you need to pull a good amount for something like a fly whisk. 

I ordered a "shufly whisk", similar to the one pictured on this page (scroll down), with a leather-wrapped handle and ten inch whisk, and a wrist strap. It was a surprise gift for a friend, and he was thrilled with it.  It is a handy thing to have while riding in the summer, but it also looks kind of neat hanging on the wall (as pictured here). Karen was backed up with holiday orders when I ordered it, but actually finished it ahead of schedule anyway (about 5 weeks in this case), and she returned the hair she didn't use, so I can think of additional projects to make with that.

If you need creative ideas for gifts for the horse people in your life, or want something unique and special made from your horse's tail, take a look at Treasured Tails.

Unique Cowboy Shirts

A Canadian designer living in Kenya has developed this line of colorful cowboy shirts, modeled after a Stetson design. Each shirt is made from fabrics from old clothing found in the markets, so each is one-of-a-kind. The shirts are available online, and shipped from Canada for easy delivery to North America. They are quite funky! Check them out here.

Via a post on Boing Boing

Rare Breed Calendar

Jessica Drake at The Painting Pony has some beautiful calendars for sale, based on her lovely professional photographs. My favorite is the Endangered Horse Breeds calendar, which features super photos of breeds like the Cleveland Bay, Exmoor, Akhal Teke, and many others.

Jessica also has calendars featuring just Akhal Teke horses, and many other horse-related products.

Cool horse-themed jewelry!

My fellow blogger at Behind the Bit has a recent post featuring some excellent handmade horse-themed jewelry! Take a look here.