A GIBSON SADDLE
While hardly typical of any breed (my mother says they broke the mould when they made me!), there are times when my English blood shows through quite strongly. Okay, I don't wear a bowler hat or carry a rolled-up umbrella, but I can't live without a cup of tea in my hand, and I love antiques and 'olde worlde' craftsmanship. That makes me a quintessential Brit. Another thing I have in common with a lot of English people is that I can't help being involved (in one way or another) with racing just about anything that moves - cars, motorbikes, bicycles and horses have all played a prominent part in my life, or that of my ancestors.

Nowadays, horses tend to dominant my thoughts completely, as it's virtually impossible to enjoy the kind of car life that I grew up with in Europe here in the Land of the Rising Sun. At the same time, horse ownership costs aren't much different, and where I live in Chiba is Japan's equine hub - the Tokoro RC stables are on my doorstep, and the policy of the Bamba family that runs them matches mine nicely. Oddly, owning shares in racehorses is much cheaper, so every time I get stressed out, another name gets tacked onto the bottom of this page. A few more are being added as soon as the sales have been confirmed next week - you can make your own conclusions!

Anyway, always on the lookout for things that merge the various angles of craftsmanship, history and competition that appeal to my senses, the other day I ordered a Gibson exercise saddle, handmade in Newmarket to the same pattern introduced in 1960. If you click on the link to the right of this page, the video showing how the saddles are made is well worth watching. It's a beautiful piece, enabling me to deftly ignore questions like "but what are you going to do with it?" As with so many hobby items, pride of possession is worth a whole lot more than practicality...