What to Do with Ribbons?

From the blog, Riding Aside. Some terrific ideas!!

What to Do with Show Ribbons

From the blog, Riding Aside. Great ideas! I have some ribbons I won with Amy and Cee, and tons of ribbons from model shows. Maybe I'll try one of these ideas.

What To Do With All of Those Ribbons...

Now, I am not one who is drowning in show ribbons... especailly not the coveted blue and red ones... but for those who are.. or even for the show barn owners - you might just find an idea that you could use right here.

For your enjoyment - here we go:

A ribbon wreath - as long as it is done up well, it is attractive.  I have seen some not so nice ones though.

I love these frames - but to make them interesting - they need to include more than just ribbons - photos, show programs or pins are nice details

This is seriously cool!

Love this elegant idea with a Christmas decor twist.

 Never thought of putting the shadow frames in the barn. but why not!

Great desk decor!.. especially the desk in the barn office.

Now, I have seen many a show ribbon quilts and pillows...and most of them look like.. well don't get mad at me for saying this .. but most of them look like ribbon vomit!

BUT - when I saw this pillow... I had to save the photo to share with you.  This looks like a designer piece to me!

Anyone else have another idea for show ribbons?

Charcoal Five Gaiter

(From Breyer History Diva, January, 2011)

I suppose you’ve all heard of it, seen it, or bid on it by now. For those of you who haven’t, here’s the link:

Charcoal Five-Gaiter

That means there are at least three - or possibly four - vintage Charcoal Five-Gaiters now in collector hands. As I said on Blab: one is an oddity, two is a coincidence, but three or four now becomes something else.

But what kind of something else - a special run, regular run, or some crazy sort of color variation?

My guess is that it represents yet another brief, early regular run model, like the Buckskin Running Mare and Foal and (possibly) the Appaloosa Shetland Pony. From the level of detail on these models, it’s also possible that these models were sales rep pieces from a proposed regular run that was cancelled before it went into production, sort of like what happened to the original Small Poodle.

The ribbon colors on the Charcoals are identical to the Gloss Palominos, and some have suggested that these fellows are just a more-peculiar-than-average variation of the Palomino. That’s a very appealing notion: the Five-Gaiter’s distinctive "Honey Sorrel" coloring appears on a number of early models (the Family Arabians, the Fighting Stallion, the Western Prancing Horse) as an apparent variation of Bay.

Another point in that theory’s favor is that term "Charcoal Palomino." As I’ve discussed before, "Charcoal Palomino" is a term that appears in some early Breyer-related ephemera, and was used to describe the color we now simply call Charcoal. That term, as far as we know, still hasn’t shown up on any actual Breyer materials from that time period (yet), so there’s still a slight chance that it was a term coined by the mail-order companies instead.

Gloss Charcoal and Gloss Palomino were both introduced as new Breyer colorways at roughly the same time - ca. 1961 - and if they were using the term "Charcoal Palomino" to describe the Charcoal, I could see how that could have lead to interesting mistakes happening. (Are some of you salivating at the thought of Gloss Palomino Mustangs? I know I am.)

Rather than regrind the otherwise perfectly good mistakes, they could have discreetly mixed them in with the regular shipments. Or perhaps, they made it a one-time-only, oops-we-made-a-mistake offer.

As always, our lack of documentation from the era is a problem.