Yesterday morning featured several fascinating lectures, which I’ve summarized on Twitter (here).

During the morning’s breaks, everyone gathered for snacks and drinks and another stroll through the trade fair.

.

Bowman Leather (Dan and his son Jacob) have a display of their lovely harness, and these handmade bits

.

Louise Ellis makes beautiful jewelry from antique buttons, bridle rosettes, and poker / game pieces ... and braided horsehair (shown here)

.

After the morning’s final lecture, we all had a free afternoon to visit the Colonial Williamsburg stables and the Historic Area and its trade shops.

.

On my walk to the stables, I passed these 18th-c. men playing a game of horseshoes

.

this Landau was built by Colonial Williamsburg in 1960; it was used (driven by Richard Nicoll) for HM The Queen's visit to Williamsburg in 2007

.

this Demi-Landau was probably built in Philadelphia sometime between 1818 and 1840; it can be driven by a coachman or, with the coachman's seat removed, by a postilion

.

... a close-up of the Demi-Landau

.

the Riding Chair was basically just that: a chair on wheels

.

in the harness room, I met this sweetie, who was lying on top of a bucket full of towels

.

detail of a driving bridle in the harness room; I assume these bridles go with the Landau above, as the squirrel on the panels (below) is repeated here on the blinkers

.

the Landau's squirrel

.

in the aisleway of the stables was a display with information on Colonial Williamsburg's important rare-breeds program, including a live appearance by this, and one other, Leicester Longwool sheep, and several rare breeds of chickens

.

After leaving the stables, I walked through town to the wheelwrights’ shop. I’ll post photos from that visit tomorrow.