Coming Back

I have been silent on my blog, and haven't really made much in the way of model tack for the last year.  I've been growing my "real" horse halter business on Etsy, and many have asked why. In March 2017, my dad suddenly passed away.  Living in Florida and having my family in Washington State, last year was a lot of travel, a lot of heart ache, and a lot of trying to put the pieces back together.

My relationship with my dad is hard to put into words.  I'm not a good enough writer to do it justice.  He made me who I am today.  He thought I could do anything, always encouraging me to do my best, and led by example.  We both thought the same way, worked the same way, and were in harmony in a way I can't really explain.  He was generous, encouraging, and a fierce friend.  He was always happy to hear from me, always took a genuine interest in anything I had to say, and always up for a good laugh.  A lot of girls love their dads, but mine was my best friend. His passing has been the hardest thing in my life, and my family is still grieving the painful loss. 

I spent much of the first month dealing with my pain by working.  My parents had been getting ready to sell their house and move North to be closer to my brother and my mom's sister.  Projects. Like clearing out my dad's garage, I cried every day.

4 weeks of projects and my mom's house was on the market, and I took her back to Florida with me while it sold. It had been our family home for 28 years.

Then last Fall, my mom came to visit again, after getting settled in her new house.  While she was visiting, we were visited by Hurricane Irma.

Because my husband Rob is in the Coast Guard, he was immediately deployed, and I took my kids, my dogs, and packed as much of my life that would fit into my SUV and drove North with my mom.  We dove to TN, staying in a tiny house way up in the Smoky Mountains.

Then we continued to Washington State after a week of watching the weather.  I'm a crazy person on road trips.  If you're a good friend, it's only a matter of time until you've been dragged on one.

I stayed with my mom in her new house about two weeks before we made the drive back to Florida.

When we got home, we become the official owners of the world's best pony, "Melissa"

Melissa pony was a gateway drug.  In January I purchased a horse trailer....

It has made many lake trips this year already.

Jasper is the 24 year old Quarter Horse gelding belonging to my very good friend Jamie.  I have loved him like he's my own for over two years now, and he loves going places.  

In March this year, my hobby friend Sheila Bishop approached me about adopting her 10 yo Fox Trotter gelding "Thumper".  She's in Arkansas, which is a bit of a hike from South Florida, but I decided to take the leap of faith.  A LOT of bumps along the way with transporting him here, I ended up hitting the road with my VERY VERY good friend Jamie.  Of the 56 hours we were gone, 44 were spent on the road. We crossed Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana before reaching Arkansas.

"Thumper" is now known as "Cisco" in honor of my favorite movie I watched as a kid with my dad, "Dances with Wolves"

He was a trooper on the 24 hours straight trailer ride back to South Florida.

He and I are starting our partnership, and I see only good things to come.  I think he's liking Florida.  He loves the water, but  thinks that palm fronds are horse eating dinosaurs (don't worry buddy, the Florida native horses think that, too).

Now that I've recapped my last year, I'm going to get to the model tack bit.  Being National Model Tack Month, I decided to flex my model tack muscles again.  I'm going to be making a set for Sheila and wanted to get my creative juices flowing first.  I've kinda become obsessed with the iridescent everything these days, so took that idea and ran.  Here is the result.

 It's 100% tooling calfskin leather (I hand cut and skived the lace from the same hide), and the leather is a paper smooth grain.

I will be taking offers on this set until May 1st at midnight.  You can email me at r.f.tack@gmail.com to inquire.  I'm not sure if I will be offering another set for sale anytime soon, it's been about a year and a half since I've made a set for offers, so don't miss this chance! Link to the MH$P listing can be found here.