Alfalfa Anne

The Saddle Club book covers have changed a whole lot over the years. Seriously, they’ve gone through more reinventions than Madonna.  Take a look:

^^ A little burry, but this is the type of cover that I remember the most – the old-school illustration similar to the babysitter’s club and the book number in the hard hat.

^^This one doesn’t have the border and the illustration style is a little more paint-erly (haha… like that pun?)

^^Ahh, the photo covers. I remember being taken aback the first time I saw one of these. They eventually phased them out, but for a while those models had a good steady income from Saddle Club covers.

^^As far as I know, this is the newest design (I’m basing that off of the fact that this is the only one I don’t recognize) – it’s pretty cute actually, I like the three horses at the top representing that all-powerful triumverate of Stevie, Carol and Lisa.

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… but that didn’t stop me from asking.  The closest I ever got was a pony hired to come to my house for pony-rides.  Which, to be perfectly honest is still pretty amazing.

This card is a nice alternative to the standard tack-store fare.  Once again found on the incomparable Etsy.

I’m pretty sure everyone who is into horses has seen this video and/ or had a bajillion people email it to them (thanks Chris!).  That is one tiny horse!  If he earns the record for the world’s smallest horse, I bet he is going to go on tour.

Maybe they can teach a tiny monkey to take him over some jumps made out of drinking straws? Just an idea…

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Really cool photo from Juha Arvid Helminen, a Finnish photographer.  The rest of his images are extremely dark and  I’m not just talking lighting. There is a sinister feeling throughout the collection, but I just fell in love with this one. This guy’s coat is so glossy black and he would be the perfect horse to ride if you wanted to surprise someone on a dark and stormy night.

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Maybe her parents should buy her one of these?

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Interesting article from Horse Canada – apparently John Anderson wasn’t bitten by the horse bug until later in life.  In fact, he was actually scared of horses for a while.

This is why they needed to add more boy characters to the saddle club. Full article here.

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I have no idea who made this piece of art, which is a real shame since it’s pretty cool to look at.  I like the combo of the colours and the fish are great.

It’s interesting how many pieces of art use white (well, grey) horses.  I’ve always been a fan of bays myself, but there is that certain mystic about the white horse no?

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I would have killed for one of these bikes when I was little.  Growing up in the suburbs didn’t offer the opportunity to run down the road and hop on the neighbour’s draft horses.  My friends and I had to rely on Breyers, Grand Champions and even Barbie horses.

We also used to pretend that our bikes were horses – this bike would have been SO much fun.  They are made by a company called Pony Pals. How appropriate!