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Horse Art, Home decor and Saddle Blankets

Equine Tile Art: Here's a trivet that serves admirably as an item of wall art.	This saddle blanket will likely never touch the back of a horse. A nice addition to the bedroom.	This Norwegian Headstall serves double duty, headgear for driving and a decorative item of wall art.

I thought I'd touch on Home Decor this month. Bad timing you may say since items of home decor are great holiday gift ideas. But great timing isn't always one of my strong points.

• The tile trivets were purchased at a local arts and crafts show last November. These attractive items of equine tile art were framed with wood and seemed as much at home on a wall as on a table or counter top. The ones we purchased would make attractive gifts and I should mention that we also looked over several tile wall murals with an equine theme. These tend to get a bit expensive but justifiably so. A search for equine tile art (or horse tile art) on the Internet will yield quite a few places to browse.
  Back In The Saddle has some fine gift ideas in this area.

• The headstall is a Norwegian headstall which looks great on a Norwegian Fjord. Since it is not often used and kept clean and shiny we use it as a decorative wall hanging. It's always there should we decide to put Lars or Nessi in harness to go for a drive,

• Two saddle blankets I purchased were intended for use as, well, saddle blankets. My wife liked the pattern and decided they looked just fine draped over the foot rails of our log guest beds. I have to agree. Saddle blankets can also add a nice touch to a railing or over a sofa. The ones I bought weren't real expensive so I can just keep on buying them until my wife runs out of ideas for home decor and then just use them on the horses!

More About Saddle Blankets - Both as a Functional and a Decorative Gift Idea

Up until now this is an area I have not yet given much atttention. I've always used a wool/fleece saddle pad for riding and haven't found any particular reason to change. A quality saddle pad is something I can recommend from years of experience.

The Navaho saddle blanket is meant to be used, on a horse and under a saddle. Yet, genuine Navaho saddle blankets find their way in the home, in art galleries, and , particularly those made during the 19th century, as desirable collectibles.

A collector of these older horse blankets will see just the opposite of course. Not much different from a stamp collector who sees the beauty (an value) of a 19th century postage stamp featuring somelong dead king while not giving a colorful contemporary stamp a second glance.

This is certainly true of the older blankets. One important characteristic of the authentic Navaho blanket is the continuous weave. There are no fringes or ties at the ends.

There are many advertisements for "Navaho" saddle blankets on the Net, from many sources. I suspect that most of these are not the genuine article though many of the items for sale are quality items. Because something costs more doesn't mean it's necessarily better or genuine but you're not going to find a genuine Navaho blanket for $9.95. Four or five times that amount may get you into the territory and will likely get you a quality blanket, Navaho or not.

Horse Art

Here's a thought when considering a fine print as a gift. Think of the framing/mounting as part of the gift, not an added expense.

Some of my website visitors spend as much or more to have a print framed as for the print itself, evidently regarding the framing or mounting as part of the gift and worth every penny invested. The point is, recognize that framing is an additional expense but if you find it affordable a judicious choice among framing, matting, and mounting options available can lead to a very beautiful item of decor for a room or office.

• Framing: Natural wood gives a sense of character and tradition, a gold frame lends elegance and a touch of "class", metal provides a crisp contemporary feel and is often the best choice for photographic art.

• Mounting: A print mounted (without a frame) with a seperator to "lift" it away from the wall can greatly enhances the print's beauty ( and is also great for photographs).

• If you plan to enclose a framed print in glass consider non-glare glass, especially for a wall opposite a window or opposite a harshly lighted area.

• You may or may not choose to go the route of framing or mounting but I recommend looking into what options are available and see if one of them best suits your needs.

Submit an Article

If you've authored an equine article you'd like to share, please contact us. Of course you'll get full credit and a link to your website when it's published.

Links to Past Articles

• Rules of Thumb for Saddle Fit - Some things you should know if purchasing a saddle for the first time. It does have to fit (rider and horse).

• Saddle Rigging Demystified - explains the basics of western saddle rigging. This article contains most everything you need to know unless your needs are very special.

• Horse Art - Eadweard Muybridge, Leland Stanford and the Hobby Horse - One individual is well known, the other less so, but what they accomplished together changed horse art forever.

• What goes on in the mind of the horse artist as they create their work? - I asked this question in a recent edition of our newsletter and received a very nice reply from our favorite European artist.