Jubilee Side Saddle

As I’m sure you know, the 2^nd-5^th June was the Royal Jubilee Holiday Weekend here in the UK.  We enjoyed a wonderful four-day weekend of stunning celebrations and parties to mark the 60 years Her Majesty the Queen has reigned.

Little signs of this popped up everywhere, from bunting to bridal shops – the red, white and blue theme could be seen!

You might need to click the photo below to see the lovely dresses more clearly, but that’s not what I was actually trying to capture in this photo.  If you look at the white dress furthest to the right, you might just spot a little bit of bling that caught my curiosity and has had me wanting to go back and take more photos ever since I saw it there on the 2^nd June:

This morning I did my regular drive to work passing this shop and did my regular rubber-necking in the window and made a mental note to pop in the shop at lunchtime and ask if they would mind me taking photo of this intriguing object.  At lunchtime I hurried home to walk Bruno (the dog) and dashed back to the shop, only to find the window display empty of this treasure!!  I decided to go in regardless and ask if they might mind my taking a look, if they still had it.

So, what was this item?……

It’s an uber-blingy Swarovski-encrusted full-size side saddle!

Isn’t it fabulous!  I don’t know the full history of it’s creation but in the brief conversation I had with the lovely ladies at Stunning Bridal here in Northampton (UK) I discovered it had been created as part of a challenge held by Swarovski crystals to make something as a tribute to the Jubilee using their product.  I think they said it had 10 (or maybe 30?) THOUSAND crystals, each one hand applied with hot glue over the course of several weeks until this incredible design was complete.  It even has a sparkly buckle on the stirrup!

The saddle will now be sent to be displayed in Harrogate for a while and then it is set to be auctioned off for charity later on in the year, possibly somewhere near Essex but I’ll try to get details closer to the time.  The saddle itself is, I believe, a standard side saddle that was used as it is no longer serviceable.  I would LOVE to see this design recreated by one of our hobby’s talented miniature tack-makers.

Enough talk – here are all the photos I took, I wish I had taken more but hopefully there are enough here to show the design off fully:

…and here is the magazine feature:

It’s amazing where inspiration can come from – I do love driving by the bridal shop to see the lovely dresses each day, but I never thought my daily commute would become linked with the hobby!