Medieval Times Restaurant...

This is still horse-related, just not model-related...

So, late last year I became aware that a nearby Indian reservation was building a Medieval Times Restaurant.  I'd heard of it, but have never been to one because there are none in Arizona.  I was curious about it since I knew it involved horses, but questioned where they were building it.  Well, a few weeks ago they finally opened and...well...I am torn.  They obviously did a nice job on the building...

And the barn looks like it *might be nice...

Their website says the horses, which include Andalusians, Quarter Horses and Friesans, are very well taken care of.  That they're brought along slowly so as to acclimate them for this sort of life, but I don't like how narrow the arena looks

photo from Google

And during the jousting part of the show, who thought it was a good idea to use wooden lances that splinter when they come into contact with each other?  Or maybe it's the shield that is wooden, but look at the splintering...

photo from Google

That looks so incredibly dangerous.  A couple of the pieces look to be at least a foot long.  And while the horses are wearing those hoods, their eyes are still exposed.  I shudder to think of the damage one of those splinters could do.

As you can see from the first two photos, there's really no place for the horses to just hang out.  There's a very small paddock to the right of the barn, but it has sand in it, same as the arena.  The area of the reservation where this restaurant has been built is growing exponentially.  To the south, is a spring training facility for two MLB teams, which means lots of traffic from February to April.  A senior living facility is being built to the north...

To the east is a very busy freeway and just about a half mile to the west is even more urbanization...

It is far from being a healthy or ideal environment for these horses and I wish they had put the restaurant on the other side of the freeway where there's at least more open space, you know?  Of course, by putting it where they did, they can claim (sorta) that the restaurant is in Scottsdale, even though it isn't.  <sigh>

So, I looked on Google at the location where the restaurant is and made a screen cap of it so I can share it here.  I guess if someone wanted to take a horse out to do some trail riding, they can head east as the road goes under the freeway, but there really isn't a place on the side of the road that is safe for them to ride along...

Okay, so I lied.  I am going to add some hobby stuff here, too.  hahaha.

Yesterday I was reading my blog roll and saw on one that she had made a show stable accessory set for Breyer and would be available until the end of 2019.... Nichelle at Desktop Stables designed it... photo from Amazon...

She did a fabulous job on it and I would really like to have a set, but Breyer is sold out.  I went to Amazon and my eyes nearly bugged out.  $39.95!!!!!  It comes with the curtains, curtain rods, bench, two plants in planters, a tack trunk cover (but not the tack trunk) and some ribbons printed on cardboard.  I'm sure it's probably worth the money, but not when all you want to do is "play".  So I got to thinking, maybe I can make my own set.  I can sew a little and I have a bunch of miniature stuff, so why not make those work for me?  Not that I need another project.  hahahaha.  But you know what happens when I start roaming around the internet looking for things...

braymere custom saddlrey

braymere

braymere

  Now I want to do all sorts of little things.  Like I said, I have miniatures so why not put them to use?  Now I just need to dig them up and see what kind of purpose I can put them to.  Stay tuned to see what I might come up with...

And because you know I usually end my blog with a question...what is your opinion of Medieval Times?  Have you ever been to one?  What do you think of the location where they put it?