Boots and Bonbons

A few weeks ago, on Black Friday, Anne Field, of Field of Dolls Studio, hosted an online doll and accessories sale on her studio Facebook page.  I read about her plans leading up to the sale on her blog, "Because Everybody Needs Dolls" (listed as one of my favourite blogs on the right) and wanted to do something to support her efforts.  Unfortunately, due to an ill-timed nap, I totally missed the sale which ran, I think, just over an hour.

Fortunately, Anne still had a few unsold items left over the next day.  And although I no longer live show, I really wanted to show my support by buying a couple of her pieces.  Looking over the leftovers, I settled on a bag of miniature candy treats (for my Hallowe'en pony's bucket) and a set of yellow fetlock boots.

I may never really use the fetlock boots, but I thought they'd be handy if I ever wanted to play dress-up with one of my horses.  I'll also have them available to lend if one of my friends would like to borrow them for live or photo showing.

The boots themselves aren't really shown to best advantage on my Brighty (or Hickory Hills Wall Street) but he was handy so that's why he got to model them for this post.  Brighty has really skinny legs, though, which leaves me with a little too much strap when tightening the boots around the fetlock.  I'm sure they'll look better on a larger horse.  

What I can say about these boots, though, is that they're remarkably easy to put on.  Somehow Anne has managed to pre-bend them in such a way that they really grip the leg securely and will pretty much stay where you put them all by themselves, before you even start to do up any straps.  I can see how this would be a big bonus for a performance shower -- there's nothing more stressful during a live show than fighting with one's tack.

As for the candy bars -- I'm not sure how she gets such tiny little labels made; I'd never have the patience to work with such fiddly little bits of paper.  Although super-tiny, the labels are legible; my Hallowe'en pony can now look forward to two packages of M&Ms, some Raisinets, and and some Hershey's Kisses in his loot bucket.  So cute!

I've only ever participated in one Facebook sale before Anne's -- in 2014 I watched one of Stone Horses' online sales and ended up buying a test Foolish Pride weanling (unfortunately not marked as a test anywhere but on her documentation).  I wish I had been awake enough to participate in the same way during Anne's sale -- it looks like it was a lot of fun.  I was very impressed with all the work she'd done ahead of time to prepare for the sale; she even labelled all her dolls and tack with backwards numbers so that they'd show up correctly when reversed on camera.

According to her blog, Anne is planning to do another similar sale in March.  It's too early to say if I'll be able to tune in again at that point, but it certainly gives me something to look forward to and I wish her the best of luck.

Everybody loves a sale, and having the ability to get in on one long distance, in real time, without the hassle of pre-registering and bidding (as in online auctions) is one of the perks of living in our brave new digital world.