Give Me an "H"

Hey there -- it's time once again for stop on our alphabetic odyssey through my collection.  Today's letter is "H" and the featured horse is named "High Hat."

"High Hat" is my Hagen-Renaker Designer's Workshop (DW) Quarter Horse "Topper" designed by sculptor Maureen Love.  I will always consider this horse to be a lucky find.  He was an eBay purchase, but I don't remember having to beat off a bunch of other bidders to win him.  I suppose I paid a fair price for him, but it was less than the value quoted for him in the only value guide I own (Hagen-Renaker: A Charlton Standard Catalogue, 3rd Edition [2003] by Gayle Roller) and less than I've paid for quite a few other clinky horses.

A real "Topper," possible inspiration for Maureen Love's DW sculpture.  Image from the Hagen-Renaker Collectors Club website, found in the 1951 Western Livestock Journal by Teresa Rogers

"High Hat" is the only DW I own who still bears his original sticker.  It says "Topper," of course, but I never take a horse into my herd without giving it a new name, unless it has already been renamed by a former owner and I really like the name that person chose.

In the case of "High Hat," because his factory name was already emblazoned on his side, I felt his new name should have at least some reference to name he quite literally bears.

"High Hat," my Hagen-Renaker DW "Topper"

From there on in it was kind of a no-brainer.  "High Hat," like "Topper," is another name for a top hat.  It is also a slang term for a snobbish person, and a word for a set of cymbals favoured by jazz musicians.

So my "Topper" was clearly a "High Hat."  He's a bright note in my collection, like a high hat in a jazz melody.  He's named after a top hat.  And as for being a snob, well, what else can you say about his dramatic eye-roll which seems to be saying, "Lord, why do you send these fools to torment me?"  This is clearly a horse who thinks a lot of himself and very little of others.

That face!

My shameful secret is that I think a lot of him too.