Friday, May 27, 2011

Looking Ahead and Reflecting Behind

Today, I would like to open up the doors of time and take a glance at what I wish to see in my future…WARNING: this is NOT prophetic – most likely I will either change my mind or a door will be closed to me. (The chances of the former are slim, but the chances of the latter?…no comment.)
Anyways…
There is a horse trainer stationed in Texas that I absolutely swear by – of course, I don’t swear, so it’s just a figure of speech here. He goes by the name of Clinton Anderson, and he owns/operates Downunder Horsemanship. He does an apprenticeship program for adults ages 18 and up, and I have decided that that is something I would love to do.
Clinton with his Austrailian Quarter Horse mare Mindy - this guy is great with horses!

Why would I want to work six days a week from before sunup to after sundown for three years of my life just to earn the title of a “Certified Downunder Horsemanship Clinician”?
Key word there: work.

Here I am with "The Man Behind the Method", Clinton Anderson. He is a true-as-steel kind of guy - he even signed my Breyer model :-)


I know that a lot of people say that “education is key” – and I wholeheartedly believe that statement. But, there are two extremes – people with no education at all, and people with…dare I say it?...too much education. I don’t want to go to school for a decade just so I can travel the world and retire at the age of fifty. I want to earn my living – not live easy and be able to afford every gadget, gizmo, and interior design plan ever created – simply because all that stuff isn’t the point of life.
Okay, now I’ll step down from my soapbox.
Anyhoo, that’s what I have been dreaming about since I went to a Clinton Anderson tour stop in Klamath Falls.

 I’ve been practicing his training methods on every horse I get my hands on – and they work, of course J.
In the nearer future, however, I hope to be painting this guy:
Ta da! He is ready for one more sanding session now!

New tail - yeah, it could have been better, but...oh well.

New forelock - I didn;t want to make it too thick for fear of interfering with a future parade bridle :-)

I added a little to his lips to give him a little bit of a parrot mouth - he's being made after Trigger, who seems to have this same "lip"

He’s gonna be a nice, golden palomino…*drools*

with the help of Chris Nandell’s book, “Trade Secrets and Methods of a Model Horse Artist” that I plan to buy with the money I earned selling my Four Seasons treasure hunt set…and *gasp* I’ve sold 5 Breyer models in the past week! (I earned $150 doing that, though, so I’m happy – and I have shelf space!!)
And on a more reflective note, I even graduated from High School this year – took the GED and passed, and hopefully next year I’ll be able to go to the community college and take a few courses – and have an AA degree by the time I’m 18 – and when I’m 18, I can apply for that apprenticeship J. A driver’s license was added to my list of spring achievements as well as finishing my high school course work, taking the college placement tests, and obtaining a second part-time job.
Oh, and just a quick update – if you guys could pray for my horse, Sam, he was limping on his right hind leg this morning and I have no clue why (except that maybe it’s because Mom and I went on an 8-mile ride with the horses a week ago and he’s a little stiff from it or maybe his fetlock is sore?). It’s not in his hoof, though, because I tested and he didn’t even flinch…poor baby L
These pictures were taken yesterday - I lunged him with no problems and he didn't act lame at all :-/


Anyways, thanks for reading this far and I hope to be posting more updates soon!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Justin Morgan had a ... MAKEOVER?!?!

...yeah, you guessed it. Justin Morgan had his plastic surgery last Saturday...

...BUT, for some reason, my uploader is telling me "server rejected", even on downsized images...

These pictures will go on my Photobucket, then onto Fallen Leaves..

Sorry about that!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

A Day at Pacifica

Yesterday, my family went across the street to Pacifica, a non-profit organization, to check out the festivities for their Mother’s Day Weekend Festival (I’m sure it had a more Williams-appropriate name).
I didn’t get any good pictures of the vendors, but guess what I did get pictures of…

Yeah, there were two Suffolk Punch horses pulling a wagon, and I got a ride…and plenty of pictures of their plain harness so I could have a swing at making one for my models J







Although the horses were overweight and out of shape, they had plenty of go-get-um for their job – and the guy who was driving them said he took them to a pulling competition last year and had them pulling 7,200 lbs!! (he said they could have done more, but they weren’t trained for it and he didn’t want to push them.
Anyways, enjoy those pictures!

Halter Raffle ....

Happy Mother’s day, all!!
I know, I’ve been a slacker and I haven’t posted anything in a LONG time, but hopefully I’ll be able to get something up every week (or maybe more often than that!)
First on the Agenda…a Halter raffle!!

I made this halter yesterday A.M. in hopes of raffling it off…here is a link to my MH$P ad…
All of the info you need is in there – hope to see your names on the list of entrants!