Rolex Predictions!

With less detail than previous years (Since today is the jog up and it would be unfair of me to guess after Dressage starts)... here are my hopefuls for top 5!

James Alliston - Parker: a bit of a long shot, but I think James is an incredible rider with a terrific track record. I'd love to see him in the top 5 with either horse.

Boyd Martin - Otis Barbotiere: This horse has such a cool personality. I've followed along since Boyd picked up the ride and they've only gotten better. Boyd has nothing to lose with him at Rolex and they could easily snag a top placing.

Oliver Townend - Pepper Anne: Ollie is personally one of my favorite riders going, and I think this mare is just gorgeous. Her record seems pretty good so far, and if anyone can give her a great round at Rolex, it's him. Go mares!

Andrew Nicholson - Qwanza: I admire Andrew's riding style, and took one look at this mare a few days ago thought she had that extra something special. It wouldn't be surprising to see them at the top this weekend.

Beck Holder - Can't Fire Me!: You have to love the thoroughbreds at Rolex this year. Courageous Comet has been making a big comeback this year (and an easy favorite), but I'd love to see Can't Fire Me outshine the competition!

It seems obvious that I'm overlooking Olympic qualifications, etc and that I am choosing some underdogs here, but it's more fun cheering along that way!

At the end of the day, realistically, I think it's going to be down to William Fox-Pitt and Phillip Dutton, battling it out at the top, with a wild card thrown in.

nerd with an X-acto

Finally!

It only took me 3+ months, but the portraits of Rebecca Greene and her two horses are done! I'm hoping to get them in the mail tomorrow and I'm excited to see what she and her friend think. I'll admit, making portraits of people is MUCH harder (especially on this small scale), but I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out.

Scooby Who:

I asked Rebecca's friend what her competition colors were and she told me that Scooby's were bright blue, but after wearing out the velcro on her sport boots she started using hot pink tape to hold them on. I was really excited to incorporate his colors throughout!

This is the original photo I used. Ohhh his little chin whiskers!

Cassidy Blue:

I used a neat handmade paper to mount this portrait on and tried to include chestnut tones within the layers.

The original:

As you can see I chose not to cut out each little tiny square on his sheet. it's not about being 100% accurate, because thankfully the eye will fill in a lot of the little details.

Phew! Done!

Again, it was really an honor to make these for Rebecca. Reading over her blog today I got the sense that she's only just beginning to address the loss of her two partners. Her new horse looks terrific and sounds like he's got a little bit of Scooby in him!

not the best idea

Having a lesson for the first time in 4 months (and after only riding a half a dozen times over the last year) without stirrups. Brutal. The only thing that doesn't hurt is my core -- thank goodness for my perpetually strong core!

More later.