LET ME TELL YOU

How It All Began

The journey to Hairloom Treasures started with a boy named Andrew and a horse named Nebo. The two found in each other that very rare, very magical connection only a human and a horse can have. But Nebo could not stay here long. He died, leaving a broken-hearted boy behind. I could not bring Nebo back to Andrew, son of my dearest friend. But we had saved some of his tail when he died. And I knew I could make something special from that. Something that would, as much as possible, bring the horse and his boy back together. Many years later, Nebo and Andrew’s legacy became Hairloom Treasures. Logically, I should not be where I am now. I started with a lock of tail hair and an idea. That turned out to be the ONLY easy part.

The gift I gave Andrew the Christmas after he lost Nebo was nice enough. There was no reason to keep exploring. But, I couldn’t stop coming up with new designs. I was obsessed with finding better silver, creating the perfect braid, building a bracelet that could be put on the arm and never need be taken off. Something else was driving me. A purpose, perhaps? A calling, maybe? My logic often reminds me those things are crazy talk.

But then, somebody comes to me with a plastic bag that they haven’t been able to open since the horrible, painful day the veterinarian handed it to them. I am the first person to open the bag and touch the tail inside that once belonged to a deeply loved horse. As I work with that tail, I am often overwhelmed with grief, brought to tears.

And when I present the piece I’ve created to the human who loved that horse; when I am there to witness that moment when horse human are once more together again, THAT is when I KNOW the skill to make the things I do has very little to do with me. It comes from someplace else.