The History of Pegasus/Whirlwind Farms
I have loved horses ever since I was in Grade 1 and I can remember drawing one being led by an owner out of the ring after he had won. However my teacher claimed it looked more like a dog than it did a horse. However I wasn't put off by her comment as it just made me more determined to try and draw them. I also got to watching the Kentucky Derby every year and in 1969 when Majestic Prince won it and the Preakness there was this big writeup on him on how he could win racing's triple crown. I used that picture of him to go by to start my own little herd of what was back then paper horses. The first one was Majestic Prince. Now you may wonder how I would do one.
Well when the brown shopping bags were in existence back then I used them by cutting down the seam and removing the bottom. I found I could do 2 horses on one bag. Or if a white horse would use 4 sheets of white paper.. So with that newspaper pix of Majestic Prince I would hold it up to my bedroom window and I would get that sheet of white paper and put it on top. Then trace the outline. of him. Of course the newspaper one had printed only the head, neck and shoulders of him. So I had to draw the remaining body on the other 3 sheets and would either glue them or tape themall together and colored them . Since I had no idea what color Prince was assumed he was a bay. I also made it so that I would restrict the white paper way for white horses or palominos. At first I limited it to famous real Thoroughbreds.
Once I had drawn the horse would color it in and between the front and back legs I printed his sire, dam, Name Age, Sex and what famous races he won. Also what foals he or she had. Then I would cut them out. The better I got at drawing them or got too worn or ripped ,I would redo some of them over again. When my mom's grandmother was alive I used to be dropped off at their place whenever my parents had to go out for the weekend or I would spend some time there on my holidays or when off at school in June. I would also take my best drawn paper horses with me and did up a book on did them which listed their accomplishments as a racer or a sire or their parents. I decided to hold an imaginery show with them and my grandmother unknowingly to be the judge. Before I would show them to her I would make up a list of saying of what she might say if show the horse and assigned so many points to each saying ranging from 1 to 20. Each horse was shown twice to her. On the 2nd round I would show her the horse and read his accomplishments to her. Any horse that failed to earn any comments were eliminated of course. I called my show The Conformation Crown. The horse with the Highest Overall Total would be the winner. There were placings to 3rd. Horses that had won could choose if they wanted a son or daughter of theirs to be created on paper!! I also made it that no horse that had won it could re-enter it the next time around.
I then did a cutback on them by elminating horse that had died in real life by tossing out. the paper ones of them However the fictious ones were quickly being made to take their place. These were the ones that I read about in famous horse books and almost all of these were Thoroughbreds. I didn't have any other breeds represented at that time. Some I did I would take it one step back or one step further. The most amazing thing was I even did palomino Tbs and yet I had no idea that in real life there were such things!! I had other horses on me in plastic and glass but they weren't as versatile as the paper ones.
When my girlfriend whom lived near us was into horses she would come over and we would play with them. We made it so we had 2 different castles side by side. We would spread out all the horses and each would pick what horse(s) we wanted to play with. We made them have babies and all kinds of adventures. We even made them talk. We would also build the stalls out of books stood up or pencils. Her parents then moved out of that house and moved even closer to where I was living. Sometimes I would go to her house or sometimes she would come to mine. When her parents agreed that she could go away with us camping up north for a week we took some of them with us along with paper, pencils, scissors, glue and tape to make more. By now the brown shopping bags had been phased out so we ended up having to use the white paper method. It wasn't too long when we came home that again her parents up and moved. This time very far away:-( So once more I was alone with my herd. However I still continued to hold the Conformation Crown when I went to my Grandmother's.
I even did up little ones so that I could race them around a racetrack or a steeplechase course. I also did up little jockeys that I could put on them with a paper clip and had them standing up by putting a slit in the middle between the front and back legs. Then cutting out a piece of cardboard and putting a slit in then inserted the horse in it so it could stand up. I used a dice to advance them around the course.
At one time too I like many other horse lovers took riding lessons at first it was just up the street from us. Then when that was no longer in existence I went to the next concession over and took them from a place called Tynedale Farms. A Mrs. Clark was the owner of the farm and they had several instructors whom taught riding lessons in English. They even held a show and asked me if I wanted to participate but I declined their offer as I was still not that good in the canter or the trot. When it came to jumping them that is when I would chicken out. I even had my share of falls but never broke anything just ended up being stiff or sore from them. Would also go out on the occasional trail ride.
I did have a brief introduction to Western riding when we went out on this trail ride some time back and now that was cool!!! I also wished I could have experienced the canter more when taking those english lessons.
I was still into the paper horses but eventually I did away with the jockeys and standing them up. I also tossed out the big versions of them and kept the little ones instead. During this time I already had some plastic and glass horses on me but these I never played with. I also was into doing models and bought 2 Revells in the Palomino and the Appaloosa. In a Leisure World store I remember seeing high up on a shelf was the Breyer 127 Appaloosa in his box. I inquired about it with the store clerk and he gave me a brief description of what it was like. So I passed on it as I was more into Revells. Also in existence at that time was a series known as the Pet horses. These ones came in 2 sizes. One was about SM size and had chain reins and molded on bridle. It also came with a removable plastic western saddle. There were different breeds too. But the one that caught my eye was a black leopard appaloosa. I still have him on me!!! His name is Calico. The other one was about Classic size and was a chestnut overo mare with rubs. I also had a Black Fury from the Aurora Company. Still these ones were ignored and eventually the glue on the Revell Palomino dried up and he fell apart. I hated to throw him out so put the parts in a box and put them under my bed.
Now it was the little ones that I was taking to my grandmother's. Once she died I stopped making anymore new ones. It got to the point where I had now lost interest in them as I had discovered a new phase. This was going to Woodbine and the now defunct Greenwood racetracks to see the real Tbs race!! I was more into taking pixs of them or collecting the programs rather than wasting my money betting on them. Sometime if it was a real favorite like Overskate or Glorious Song I would bet $2 to win but kept the tote as a momento. Since I didn't have the heart to throw out my paper horses I comprised. I went through them and kept the favorites in a box and tossed out the rest. It was here to much to much utter amazement I noticed in the racing programs a David Clark was a jockey for several of the horses. So when he was stood outside and I got his autograph I asked him if he was any relation to a Mrs. Clark whom I used to take riding lessons from. It turned out he did as he exclaimed she was his mother!!!!!
I was also a member of an US Race club that was dedicated to the TB. Every month a newsletter would be sent out as well as all the members that were in it with their addresses and what they collected from various racetracks. It was known as SOKS or the Sport Of Kings. This collecting could be of famous racers pixs, racetrack programs, uncashed betting tickets of the famous ones, even fancy decanters or drinking glasses. Sometimes it would be the autographs of famous jockeys whom rode the big name horses. Or it could be the actual strands of hair from the horse's mane or tail. Or even its horseshoes. Sometimes I would trade horse racing programs from Woodbine of big name races in exchange for other members programs of their famous racrs. I also would write to the various track photographers to get pixs of the famous racers of the past or present. During those years I was with them I collected all kinds of neat stuff. These are as follows: Kentucky Derby Glasses of various years, A Kentucky Derby Bourbon decanter(empty of course), racing programs of Secretariat, Lady's Secret, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, Seattle Slew, Genuine Risk, etc. I even got some of Secretariat and Nijinksky's mane strands when I visited Claiborne Farms in Paris, Kentucky.
I ended up too in getting a 35 mm camera in 1980 when my old instantamatic began sticking followed by a zoom lens so I could use it to take pixs of the horses in the walking ring, the post parade, the finish, the start.
Anyway among these items being advertised for sale in that newsletter were the Breyer Thoroughbred in the Classic series that was sold by another member/dealer. Since Ruffian and Man O War were two of the Thoroughbreds that I liked bought these two off him. I still have these 2 today!! When they arrived in one of the boxes was the little 1980 pamphlet advertising all the different horse model breeds they had represented. Also advertised on it was the magazine "Just About Horses". Waxing curious I subscribed to it. When it arrived and I began reading it was perplexed by the stud ads and even more so with the Show ads. My first reaction was that they were affilated with real horses. At that time I had longed to own a real one so my first reaction was one of envy at seeing they had real ones and I hadn't. Then something made me look at it a 2nd time and then it hit me!!!! These show and stud ads weren't for real horses at all but rather like those ones that were featured in that little pamphlet I got. I couldn't eat my breakfast fast enough as I had come up with this idea. I tore into my bedroom and brought out the boxful of paper horses. I went through them all again and selected which ones to do over as models on. The rest I tossed out. Next I hunted around my room untilI found the Revell Palomino and put him back together. Then found the paper one of him and tossed it out. I also decided not to restrict myself to just Thoroughbreds but all breeds.
I next wrote JAH asking where would be the closest place to get Breyers from and they sent me the price list and the model listings from Bentley's. When I got them I noticed too they sent me out a discontinued, special run list as well so proceeded to buy any that piqued my curiousity. I also got ones from the various model horse collectors that advertised their sales in JAH. When a store near us in the mall opened up to my delight they sold Breyers. So I got in the car two days later and drove to it to buy some. I was in there so often the women began recognising me as soon as I entered the store. Unfortunately for me the store eventually went out of business. I also got up the nerve and began entering my gang in the US photo shows and Thunderhead was my first ribbon winner. From there I was hooked. It was shortly after that a Mary Ann Dalton contacted me from the Candian Model horse club asking if I was interested in joining up with them. Which I did.
I have loved horses ever since I was in Grade 1 and I can remember drawing one being led by an owner out of the ring after he had won. However my teacher claimed it looked more like a dog than it did a horse. However I wasn't put off by her comment as it just made me more determined to try and draw them. I also got to watching the Kentucky Derby every year and in 1969 when Majestic Prince won it and the Preakness there was this big writeup on him on how he could win racing's triple crown. I used that picture of him to go by to start my own little herd of what was back then paper horses. The first one was Majestic Prince. Now you may wonder how I would do one.
Well when the brown shopping bags were in existence back then I used them by cutting down the seam and removing the bottom. I found I could do 2 horses on one bag. Or if a white horse would use 4 sheets of white paper.. So with that newspaper pix of Majestic Prince I would hold it up to my bedroom window and I would get that sheet of white paper and put it on top. Then trace the outline. of him. Of course the newspaper one had printed only the head, neck and shoulders of him. So I had to draw the remaining body on the other 3 sheets and would either glue them or tape themall together and colored them . Since I had no idea what color Prince was assumed he was a bay. I also made it so that I would restrict the white paper way for white horses or palominos. At first I limited it to famous real Thoroughbreds.
Once I had drawn the horse would color it in and between the front and back legs I printed his sire, dam, Name Age, Sex and what famous races he won. Also what foals he or she had. Then I would cut them out. The better I got at drawing them or got too worn or ripped ,I would redo some of them over again. When my mom's grandmother was alive I used to be dropped off at their place whenever my parents had to go out for the weekend or I would spend some time there on my holidays or when off at school in June. I would also take my best drawn paper horses with me and did up a book on did them which listed their accomplishments as a racer or a sire or their parents. I decided to hold an imaginery show with them and my grandmother unknowingly to be the judge. Before I would show them to her I would make up a list of saying of what she might say if show the horse and assigned so many points to each saying ranging from 1 to 20. Each horse was shown twice to her. On the 2nd round I would show her the horse and read his accomplishments to her. Any horse that failed to earn any comments were eliminated of course. I called my show The Conformation Crown. The horse with the Highest Overall Total would be the winner. There were placings to 3rd. Horses that had won could choose if they wanted a son or daughter of theirs to be created on paper!! I also made it that no horse that had won it could re-enter it the next time around.
I then did a cutback on them by elminating horse that had died in real life by tossing out. the paper ones of them However the fictious ones were quickly being made to take their place. These were the ones that I read about in famous horse books and almost all of these were Thoroughbreds. I didn't have any other breeds represented at that time. Some I did I would take it one step back or one step further. The most amazing thing was I even did palomino Tbs and yet I had no idea that in real life there were such things!! I had other horses on me in plastic and glass but they weren't as versatile as the paper ones.
When my girlfriend whom lived near us was into horses she would come over and we would play with them. We made it so we had 2 different castles side by side. We would spread out all the horses and each would pick what horse(s) we wanted to play with. We made them have babies and all kinds of adventures. We even made them talk. We would also build the stalls out of books stood up or pencils. Her parents then moved out of that house and moved even closer to where I was living. Sometimes I would go to her house or sometimes she would come to mine. When her parents agreed that she could go away with us camping up north for a week we took some of them with us along with paper, pencils, scissors, glue and tape to make more. By now the brown shopping bags had been phased out so we ended up having to use the white paper method. It wasn't too long when we came home that again her parents up and moved. This time very far away:-( So once more I was alone with my herd. However I still continued to hold the Conformation Crown when I went to my Grandmother's.
I even did up little ones so that I could race them around a racetrack or a steeplechase course. I also did up little jockeys that I could put on them with a paper clip and had them standing up by putting a slit in the middle between the front and back legs. Then cutting out a piece of cardboard and putting a slit in then inserted the horse in it so it could stand up. I used a dice to advance them around the course.
At one time too I like many other horse lovers took riding lessons at first it was just up the street from us. Then when that was no longer in existence I went to the next concession over and took them from a place called Tynedale Farms. A Mrs. Clark was the owner of the farm and they had several instructors whom taught riding lessons in English. They even held a show and asked me if I wanted to participate but I declined their offer as I was still not that good in the canter or the trot. When it came to jumping them that is when I would chicken out. I even had my share of falls but never broke anything just ended up being stiff or sore from them. Would also go out on the occasional trail ride.
I did have a brief introduction to Western riding when we went out on this trail ride some time back and now that was cool!!! I also wished I could have experienced the canter more when taking those english lessons.
I was still into the paper horses but eventually I did away with the jockeys and standing them up. I also tossed out the big versions of them and kept the little ones instead. During this time I already had some plastic and glass horses on me but these I never played with. I also was into doing models and bought 2 Revells in the Palomino and the Appaloosa. In a Leisure World store I remember seeing high up on a shelf was the Breyer 127 Appaloosa in his box. I inquired about it with the store clerk and he gave me a brief description of what it was like. So I passed on it as I was more into Revells. Also in existence at that time was a series known as the Pet horses. These ones came in 2 sizes. One was about SM size and had chain reins and molded on bridle. It also came with a removable plastic western saddle. There were different breeds too. But the one that caught my eye was a black leopard appaloosa. I still have him on me!!! His name is Calico. The other one was about Classic size and was a chestnut overo mare with rubs. I also had a Black Fury from the Aurora Company. Still these ones were ignored and eventually the glue on the Revell Palomino dried up and he fell apart. I hated to throw him out so put the parts in a box and put them under my bed.
Now it was the little ones that I was taking to my grandmother's. Once she died I stopped making anymore new ones. It got to the point where I had now lost interest in them as I had discovered a new phase. This was going to Woodbine and the now defunct Greenwood racetracks to see the real Tbs race!! I was more into taking pixs of them or collecting the programs rather than wasting my money betting on them. Sometime if it was a real favorite like Overskate or Glorious Song I would bet $2 to win but kept the tote as a momento. Since I didn't have the heart to throw out my paper horses I comprised. I went through them and kept the favorites in a box and tossed out the rest. It was here to much to much utter amazement I noticed in the racing programs a David Clark was a jockey for several of the horses. So when he was stood outside and I got his autograph I asked him if he was any relation to a Mrs. Clark whom I used to take riding lessons from. It turned out he did as he exclaimed she was his mother!!!!!
I was also a member of an US Race club that was dedicated to the TB. Every month a newsletter would be sent out as well as all the members that were in it with their addresses and what they collected from various racetracks. It was known as SOKS or the Sport Of Kings. This collecting could be of famous racers pixs, racetrack programs, uncashed betting tickets of the famous ones, even fancy decanters or drinking glasses. Sometimes it would be the autographs of famous jockeys whom rode the big name horses. Or it could be the actual strands of hair from the horse's mane or tail. Or even its horseshoes. Sometimes I would trade horse racing programs from Woodbine of big name races in exchange for other members programs of their famous racrs. I also would write to the various track photographers to get pixs of the famous racers of the past or present. During those years I was with them I collected all kinds of neat stuff. These are as follows: Kentucky Derby Glasses of various years, A Kentucky Derby Bourbon decanter(empty of course), racing programs of Secretariat, Lady's Secret, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, Seattle Slew, Genuine Risk, etc. I even got some of Secretariat and Nijinksky's mane strands when I visited Claiborne Farms in Paris, Kentucky.
I ended up too in getting a 35 mm camera in 1980 when my old instantamatic began sticking followed by a zoom lens so I could use it to take pixs of the horses in the walking ring, the post parade, the finish, the start.
Anyway among these items being advertised for sale in that newsletter were the Breyer Thoroughbred in the Classic series that was sold by another member/dealer. Since Ruffian and Man O War were two of the Thoroughbreds that I liked bought these two off him. I still have these 2 today!! When they arrived in one of the boxes was the little 1980 pamphlet advertising all the different horse model breeds they had represented. Also advertised on it was the magazine "Just About Horses". Waxing curious I subscribed to it. When it arrived and I began reading it was perplexed by the stud ads and even more so with the Show ads. My first reaction was that they were affilated with real horses. At that time I had longed to own a real one so my first reaction was one of envy at seeing they had real ones and I hadn't. Then something made me look at it a 2nd time and then it hit me!!!! These show and stud ads weren't for real horses at all but rather like those ones that were featured in that little pamphlet I got. I couldn't eat my breakfast fast enough as I had come up with this idea. I tore into my bedroom and brought out the boxful of paper horses. I went through them all again and selected which ones to do over as models on. The rest I tossed out. Next I hunted around my room untilI found the Revell Palomino and put him back together. Then found the paper one of him and tossed it out. I also decided not to restrict myself to just Thoroughbreds but all breeds.
I next wrote JAH asking where would be the closest place to get Breyers from and they sent me the price list and the model listings from Bentley's. When I got them I noticed too they sent me out a discontinued, special run list as well so proceeded to buy any that piqued my curiousity. I also got ones from the various model horse collectors that advertised their sales in JAH. When a store near us in the mall opened up to my delight they sold Breyers. So I got in the car two days later and drove to it to buy some. I was in there so often the women began recognising me as soon as I entered the store. Unfortunately for me the store eventually went out of business. I also got up the nerve and began entering my gang in the US photo shows and Thunderhead was my first ribbon winner. From there I was hooked. It was shortly after that a Mary Ann Dalton contacted me from the Candian Model horse club asking if I was interested in joining up with them. Which I did.