Meet Fantasia...and her tack...

I bought this lovely lady from another collector about a month ago so apologies for taking so long to introduce her! I rehaired her the day I got her, (or attempted to anyway - the mane slot was really wide and the hair kept falling out!) and finally got round to making her some tack last week.

She's called Fantastia - Fanta for short. :D







Her owner Linda is a keen endurance rider and Fanta makes the perfect mount for such events with the fire and stamina of the Arabian and the hardiness and flashy colouring of the Appaloosa in equal amounts!







I must stress that the neckrope in the next photo was NOT made by me. It, and a couple of rope halters and leadlines I use with the other horses were a very generous gift from Rebecca Dunne of Griffindoon Ropes Australia! I can't track down her website unfortunately, but here's her flickr photostream! -link-



Now for my tack!

This was a bit of a faff to make if I'm honest, but I really like the result! The saddle's treeless too. ;) Sorry in advance for the crappy photos - I had to shoot under artificial light and it makes them all horrible and orangey, even with colour correction! DX

FIrst up is the bridle. I modelled it off of one of those synthetic halter-to-bridle combination bridles that are often used in endurance and things. I'd previously made one for Tully but I think this one is a little more accurate.

In essence it's a headcollar with a couple of D rings on the cheekpieces so you can attach a bit to it.





The full ensemble!






I'm aware the skirt of the saddle is missing - I lost the bits I'd cut out ready for it and as I'd already tacked her up for photos... 8-) I'll sort it out before her next photoshoot though, don't worry!





The ridged leather on the seat came from a second hand purse I got from the charity shop AGES ago with the sole intention of using it for this kind of saddle! The stirrups are handmade out of sculpey and aren't fantastic but they look and feel like the lightweight plastic ones you get.



The saddlecloth has a bit of a story to it as well. A month or so ago, whilst I was making my posable creatures, I ended up googling 'free fabric samples' and getting a whole host of interesting pieces back. Many of them are of no use to me whatsoever but the colour and texture of this one caught my eye and after I sealed the edges with clear nail varnish to stop it from fraying I think it really looks the part!



(if anyone fancies some, it's 'Eagle' at the bottom of this page)

The orange bags over her withers are solid plastic and were cut off the spacesuit of a Doctor Who figure!



The leather saddlebags are a complete cheat - they're nothing more than the cut off fingertips of an old mangled pair of gloves! The nearside one is far better than the other...





The water bottle is a washed out eyedrop...thing I found in the bathroom once, cleaned out and painted a lid onto. Waste not!





Of course, with the nights drawing in and the days getting darker, she needed a rug and really, only this colour would do!



I customised the rider too, originally she was in nothing but green with lots of pockets and things so I sanded down her legs as much as I could and painted them to look a bit more jodphury, as well as removing the plastic ponytail she had already (which was so far up her head it prevented you putting a hat over it! XD) and gluing on a full head of mohair which I think looks a LOT better. She's a Primeval figure by the way, though I'm not sure who as I don't actually watch it, I just buy the figs. XD