From Silver to Gold: A Chalky Palomino FAF, At Last!

Silver Dapple it is, then! On the Pop the Cork Nokota Horse, I mean. I figured it had to be a Silver something.

I’m sure I heard that color description at some point; once I heard someone describe one of the Pintos as "Sweaty Palomino", though, I facepalmed and decided that I was going to call the one The Tobiano and the other The Overo and leave it at that. On those terms, we can more or less agree.

Yesterday was my first "official" trip to a flea market since Kentucky. The weather was fine but attendance - and the mood - was a bit down because of an ongoing police investigation just down the road; this market, like so many others of its kind, is full of both vendors and customers trying to avoid contact with authority figures.

Still, I did find a number of nice things, and this was nicest of all:

A Chalky Palomino Family Arabian Foal, nearly mint! I usually find a couple of Chalkies every year or so, but I hardly ever find one in such beautiful condition. When I flipped it over, I saw why: drill holes under the hooves indicate it had been mounted on a lamp once upon a time.

That was a bit of a bummer to discover - a Chalky that’s also a Lamp would have been an even bigger coup. The Ranchcraft Lamp line, for instance, was just coming to an end around the same time the Chalky Era was getting underway - in the early 1970s - and most of the other aftermarket lamp makers (not all!) soon followed suit. Chalky Lamps are relatively uncommon.

The only other one that sprung immediately to mind was the Donkey. Oddly enough, this vendor had a Chalky Donkey, too, but it hadn’t been lamp-mounted, and it was in pretty rough shape. Its price was a bit on the high side, and since I already had one anyway, I left it on the table with a few friends - including that Hartland Saddlebred I passed by earlier this season. (Yes, same vendor. Told you he gets good stuff!)

Ironically, of all the known Chalky Era Chalkies, Family Arabians are among the tougher ones to find; I’m not sure why that would be. Condition may well be the key here: Family Arabians tended to get drafted into Carpet Herd duty, usually ending up well-loved and well-rubbed, Chalky or not.

Although it makes sense that the other Family Arabian colors still in production at the beginning of the Chalky Era ca. 1973 (Bay, Alabaster, Charcoal) would be even tougher to find than the Palominos, it’s the Palominos I’ve had an extraordinarily difficult time finding in both passable and affordable condition. I’m pretty sure it’s something I can attribute to the weirdness of my local markets, though - the same ones that offer me up more Charcoal Fighting Stallions than Matte Alabaster ones.

Other than a couple of black marks on the tail, all my new cutie needed was a bit of cleaning. A Keeper, for sure!

All the other horses I picked up, more or less, were body quality. This I am fine with, because shoppers picked my Body Box clean at BreyerFest this year. Never too early to start restocking!