Isn’t this the cutest evening bag for a horsewoman?  You?  Or someone you love?

It’s up for auction at John Moran’s “HQ Jewelry & Luxury Item Auction” December 6th at 6pm PST.  Lot #140.  If you can’t make it to Pasadena that evening, you can put in an absentee bid, bid by phone or bid in online.

The minaudiere measures 4″H x 6″W x 2.5″D.  It comes with a coinpurse, mirror and comb, miniature notebook with goldtone pen, two signed pouches, one dustbag and a Certificate of Authenticity.

It’s not in perfect shape (just like a real horse, or you and I).  It’s missing a few crystals in scattered areas (“on both items” says the listing) and there’s a small dent on the pen. The estimate is $1000 to $1500.

It reminds me of this Japanese brush painting that I featured in an earlier blog post:

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Kudos to New York’s 92nd Street Y for coming up with a new way for you to spend your money — one with real meaning.  It’s called Giving Tuesday and today’s the day.  

Did you know that the average age of charitable donors is now 65?  Or that half of donors are planning on giving less or to fewer charities this year?  If you’re younger than that, and you have money to give, you can start influencing those statistics.

Here’s your chance to shine bright this holiday season.

Photograph by Jasen Hudson

It doesn’t matter how much you have to give.  Even if you’ve only got $5 or $50, Giving Tuesday is the way to kick off the holiday season!  Speaking of which…

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If you have back pain, I have a recommendation that might help you.  It’s affordable and non-invasive, you can use it at home and it takes up virtually no space.

It’s the kind of thing you find out about when you need to do something about your pain…when you’re facing the unpleasant alternatives of drugs and/or surgery…when you’re ready to look at alternatives, no matter how silly they might have seemed to you before you were living with pain.

It’s an inversion table.  Did you know that a preliminary study from Newcastle Hospital in the UK concluded that patients who were told they needed sciatic operations and practiced inversion were 70.5% less likely to require surgery than those who didn’t practice inversion?

Lots of riders I know (including myself) have back issues, injuries or pain.  An inversion table is one more arrow to have in your quiver when you take aim at the annoying or painful, restricting or limiting back issues that can keep you from enjoying your horse or riding the way you’d like.

Teeter Hang Ups are wonderful inversion tables.  They’re easy to operate, safe, and you can gradually work up to full inversion.  They’re easy to clean and easy to store, and they last (there’s been one at the farm for the last seven years and it looks as good and works as well as the day we bought it).  

Here’s what one looks like:

And here’s a little story about how we discovered it:

Six or seven years ago, my Yankee-Irish horsewhispering boyfriend developed serious back pain while taking a horse down South from our farm in Connecticut.  Luckily, he was able to see a great chiropractor in Georgia while we were there, who adjusted him and recommended we get an inversion table when we got home.

We researched them, and ended up buying a Teeter Hang Ups F5000 (a now discontinued model).  My YIHB had used gravity boots years ago, and had no qualms about hanging upside down like a bat.

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It’s almost time for the Ebay Triple Crown Moneigh Auction for ReRun Thoroughbred Adoption.  ReRun has a very special place in my heart because it’s the place my own “heart horse” came from.

If you’re unfamiliar with Moneighs (the name is a registered trademark), they are original, abstract paintings created by horses, using their muzzles, whiskers, hooves and tails.  Some equine artists, including Cigar and Funny Cide, paint by holding a brush in their mouths.

Since last year, over 500 Moneighs have been sold to raise money for Thoroughbreds in need.  Not only are Moneighs the cutest idea (and the cutest name), the horses create great art.  Doubt me?  Here’s Zenyatta at work:

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Zenyatta! And now she’s an artist as well.

Here is her Moneigh:

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Bonhams’ Fine Furniture, Silver & Decorative Arts auction (also called the Continental and Decorative Arts Auction, just to make it more confusing) on May 22nd in New York has a few equestrian treasures.

I’m in love with this piece from the collection of Edward Zajac, one of the namesakes (along with Richard Callahan) of the New York firm Zajac and Callahan and among the most brilliant decorators of the 20th century:

A French eglomise [reverse on glass] painted scene, late 19th/early 20th century, sight 9″ x 11 3/4″ estimate $600-$900. Lot #1463

The Kaz “SoftHeat Deep Muscle Therapy” here is the same as the Kaz “Moist Heating Pad” here.  The only difference, aside from the fact that it goes by different names, is the price.  It’s a bit higher when you buy direct from the company (the first link) but you get a discount of $2 when you join their “Savings Circle.” Then it costs exactly what it costs when you order through Amazon (where you can get free shipping if you spend just $8.01 more — why not order one of the horse books you’ve been wanting?).

Call it what you want, it works

Although I’m not a big fan of microwaves and don’t have one in the kitchen, I do have one in the bathroom — especially for my Kaz SoftHeat (that’s what I call it, even though Kaz has a whole line of SoftHeat products).  I just press 1-6-0-Start and soon I know that my back is going to feel better.

I began searching for the perfect heating pad after my physical therapist said I could start applying heat instead of ice to my back.  I wanted something that felt as similar to the large pack that came wrapped in a towel, still steaming, to the prone me on the workout table at Spalding Rehabilitation Center outside Boston.  The SoftHeat is a little smaller and not as heavy, but I have to say that it feels just as good and works just as well.  I no longer go to PT, but I still use my Kaz SoftHeat from time to time (like this week, which made me think of recommending it to you).

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There are some wonderful paintings with equestrian themes coming up for auction at John Moran’s in Pasedena (but you don’t need to be there to bid) on April 17th.

From the California and American Fine Art Auction, here is an oil on masonite entitled Navajo Night Riders (30′ x20″), by Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939, Los Angeles, CA), with an estimate of $10,000 – $20,000:

Navajo Night Riders, Frank Tenney Johnson, Lot #1084

As a riding instructor, I’m in love with the oil on canvas by Emil J. Kosa Jr. (1903-1968) entitled Griffith Park in Los Angeles.  Although I didn’t grow up on the West Coast, I did ride in barns just like this on the East Coast, back in the day — the day when the automatic release was popular.  Oh, nostalgia!  The 22″ x 30″ painting has been signed and numbered on the stretchers.   The auction house estimates it will go for between $4,000 and $6,000.

Griffith Park in Los Angeles, Emil J. Kosa Jr., Lot # 1097

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A place for everything and everything in its place.  What a great idea.

I suppose the fact that I didn’t have a place for my stud chain when I took it off the new horse when he arrived is the reason I can’t find it.  I’ve looked everywhere for it.  But as my darling and analytic ex-husband used to point out to me, if it’s not where you think it must be, it must be where you think it’s not.

I looked there too.  It’s nowhere.  Maybe I’ll find it some day.  But I couldn’t wait for some day.

So I dug out my old TTouch lead — the one that has a brass-plated (now corroded) chain attached to the poor man’s version of a leather stallion lead, this one made of woven nylon.

That would have to do until I could replace the stud chain I lost.  But when I went to ebay, where I’d bought the last one, there were none available.  Little wonder.  The last one was a great deal, at $26.19 including shipping.

Where to go for a 30″ solid brass stud chain?  Sellers of such are few and far between, it seems.  I found one online, which sold a chain that looked just like the one I’d lost, and then I thought of Quillin’s and their impeccable reputation. I searched for “stud chain” on their site and all I got was “stallion shank,” so I picked up the phone and called Kentucky.

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