Back in 2006, I was showing in the youth division of paint horse competition. It was the World Show, which is generally held in the hot Texas summer in Fort Worth, Texas. My horse Slip Away and I managed to pull out a Top Ten finish (7th to be exact, with a couple #1 or Top 5 placings) in the Novice Youth Hunter Under Saddle and I will always look back at this as one of the best times of my life.
Large horse shows tend to attracts all kinds of amazing vendors, who bring some of their finest products to the large crowds. Stock horse showing tends to run a little flashy and bling-y, but growing up in very traditional hunter jumper barns, that was never my style. My mom and I were window shopping through all the amazing vendors when we happened into one of the primarily english themed spaces. Inside this space was some of the most beautiful, and elegant pieces of art I’ve ever seen, and that happened to be a few of Holly Spagnola’s handmade spurs and stirrups. I stopped dead in my tracks and nothing else in the store mattered to very young teenage me. The bespoke designs were neither flashy or encrusted with crystals, but they had the kind of timeless beauty and thoughtful delicacy that people would attribute to family heirlooms like their grandmothers wedding ring.
We didn’t have really any money to spend on extra things, especially when it was basically a miracle I was able to show at all. My mother always worked so hard to help up achieve our dreams and pursue our passions. I begged my mother using every excuse in the book to get her to buy them for me. It’s my birthday next month! I’ll love you forever! (I would anyway). Hardly ever would I literally beg for something so expensive. My mother, being the wonderful woman she was, saw they were something special and agreed to buy them for me.
Fast forward almost a decade later, and the spurs and stirrups are one of the most treasured possessions I own. They are a symbol, to me, of my childhood dreams and a time when things were simpler. Being young when I got them, I didn’t note who actually made the items, and when I when I started doing research for this blog, I knew I had to find out who designed and handcrafted them so I might spread their artistry to others. Upon searching, there were many cheap imitations or things that look cheaply engraved with cheap metals. It wasn’t until the breeder of my paint mare, Dominic DeStefano, happened to share her business FB, and I nearly fainted. The hunt was over.
Holly Spagnola handcrafts many pieces, english and western, and other things like jewelry. Some of her designs are customer commissions (with the western spurs being some of the most creative and amazing things I’ve ever seen). She posts a lot of cool photos and videos of her process and the things she’s making on her Facebook and Instagram page, and I highly recommend you check them out!
Keep in mind my spurs and stirrups are over 10 years old and were actually used, so there are minor scratches and they aren’t pristine like you would see from a brand new pair. That aside, have held up spectacularly and I will treasure them for the rest of my life.
-Charnae
Photos by Alexander Stross and direction by me
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