News about Kiki

The relationship I have with my trainer is special. She's part instructor, therapist, friend/sister/mother and role model. She's built a fantastic business (and now has a side business as a saddle fitter for County), has a beautiful family and a barn full of happy horses. She's someone that I feel like I can tell anything to and it's been that way from the beginning. When things were really tough with Kiki (and I was also in a bad mental state) we'd just just talk during my lessons. I ride around in circles hardly asking for anything from Kiki and just vent. I needed it, and she was always willing to play the appropriate role for me. As with all horse people, we don't agree on everything, which makes for a more interesting relationship. I'm glad for that, but it can be challenging at times. When Kiki left the farm, I did not agree with the decision... mostly, I was wrapped up in my emotions and couldn't get a handle on what was the best thing for her. It's easy for me to look back and acknowledge that now. In the moment, I felt betrayed and it took me a long time to feel close to my trainer after that. Hearing about Kiki since she moved on has always been bittersweet. I know that went to a good home. The girl that took her brought her to Wellington, Fl and kept her at a lovely facility where she had loads of attention.

Just when I thought...

... all was well with the world and maybe things would start falling into place, I get a phone call. Not THE phone call, not the one that makes you burst into tears while your mind goes blank and makes your ears ring. The one that happens before that call.

In the spirit of over-sharing (I've never held back much in this blog) I'll fill you in a little.

Bear -- my ursine/equine new friend

The paperwork in under review and soon I will officially be leasing Bear. He's a 17hh, 10 year old TB. He raced until he was 5 and was rescued from the kill pen by his current owner. She's had him for 5 years and has done a tremendous job with him. I went to the farm yesterday to have a proper test-ride on him and he was perfect. Right now, I think he's just what I need... not dead broke, but not young and stupid. He's quirky and he's always going to have those thoroughbred moments, but we seem to be a good match. We rode in the jumping ring yesterday which is basically a grass field with undulating terrain with loads of jumps scattered about. It was a good test for me to see how he'd handle the changes in terrain and whether or not I felt balanced enough on him. One things for sure... I have NO stamina for riding. I need to cut myself a little slack... I have ridden maybe a half a dozen times in the last year and I haven't exactly been exercising, so I need to get my body and lungs back into shape! He's not super fit, but he's not out of shape either, so maybe it's a good thing! We rode with another horse in the ring and he was really good about staying focused and we only had one discussion about where we were going (aka, away from his horse friend). So we W/T/C and hopped over a teeny tiny crossrail. I wanted to see what he'd do/how he'd feel over a jump and he was stellar. He trotted up straight, popped over and cantered away. No hesitation, so rushing, and it was just not.a.big.deal. He ended our ride with a little hack around the property and called it a day. We had one little moment when I was turning him out and went to grab the crown piece of his halter and he thought it would be cute to wheel backwards and up. The shock on his face when I was still at the end of that lead rope was hilarious. I reprimanded him, he came back over quietly and we tried again until he did it quietly. Not a behavior I tolerate.

I should be signing the paperwork this week, we've added in an option for me to take him to shows and/or XC schooling (with insurance, etc) and next week I'll start my riding duties!

For now, here's Bear:

update?

I spent the day in Radnor today... it is, in a word... gorgeous. The feeling there is much like going to any bigger eventing site, it's electric and I instantly had the feeling of wanting to jump ALL THE THINGS.

For now, before any big decisions are finalized, just a few teaser photos:

JUMP ALL THE THINGS @ Radnor

Gorgeous farm that may or may not contain a certain horse lease option.

A 10 yr old, OTTB named Bear. I test rode him quickly in jeans! He's a full bodied 17hh. Whoops... despite my stirrups being a hole or two longer than they need to be, I actually felt quite comfortable on him! I'm going to give him a real trial one day next week.

Did I mention it's a 20 minute hack to Radnor from the farm? Yea.

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.

crickets, tumbleweeds and little bit of altruism

There's not a lot going on over here regarding horses. I mean, I am thinking/reading/yearning/watching about them CONSTANTLY. I am in full move-in-to-my-new-house-and-become-a-grown-up-slash-take-care-of-my-dumb-dog mode.

But there are a few vaguely horse related things happening...

Mainly, I was contacted by a friend of Rebecca Greene's a few weeks go. You may remember reading about Rebecca and the tragic story of losing her two beautiful OTTBs in a fire at the farm where she boarded her horses. She was recently interviewed and this article had me sobbing at my desk. There's a Facebook page set up by one of her close friends here where you can read a little more about her attempt to rebuild her life following this tragedy.

Her friend had seen a link to my paper cuts through Eventing Nation and sent me a lovely emailing asking to commission a few portraits (at the time I had no idea who they were for). We chatted back and forth a few times and it was revealed that they were for Rebecca... and she wanted portraits of the two horses that perished in the fire. After some deliberation, I decided that I simply could not charge her for the portraits. I thought back to why I started making them in the first place... inspired by Andrea over at Eventing-a-gogo, I felt compelled to make a portrait to memorialize her beautiful mare. It was something I took a stab at on a whim. I've never done any kind of paper cut art before and I wasn't sure I'd be able to translate the emotions of the horses involved into a cut paper piece of art. Gogo's portrait was successful and created momentum that I didn't expect. I was contacted by several people to make more portraits and I added more involved technical elements and I've been fortunate enough to make a little pocket money from doing something I really enjoy. So when I thought about Rebecca and the struggles she must be going through, I knew I had to dig up the same inspiration I got from Andrea and Gogo and make something really special.

They are still in progress, but here's what I have so far:

It needs some cleaning up and some extra detail (to come), but I'm pretty happy with the overall look. Humans are hard!

Rebecca Greene and Cassidy Blue (Kaz)

And her upper level prospect:

Rebecca and Scooby Who

In progress, only two layers complete

I thought it might be interesting to show these in progress (since I haven't really done that since my step-by-step tutorial). Stay tuned for the finished pieces and see how I include competition colors into background!

I promise the next post will be sooner rather than later and will include a trip to Dover Saddlery and an email exchange with a new trainer (UL event rider)...

... cliffhanger!

More Craigslist weirdness...

Let's hope this doesn't evoke the same reaction -- I'm short on horsie topics these days and suffering some real horse-withdrawal with the house purchase taking over my life. This is the best I can do for now.

Favorite paper cut to date!

I was fortunate enough to gain the attention of Miss Katherine Erickson over at Grey Brook Eventing via Facebook about my paper cuts. She asked if I would kindly make one of her lovely mare Kiki, and her Mother's dog as surprise Christmas presents!

I was eager to make one of Kiki (for one thing, the name!) and for another, I've been following along with her blog for quite some time now, and I feel as though I know her mare a little bit.

Without further ado, here they are!

One of the two fantastic photos provided. I got to choose...this one is so charming!

Finished. I tried including some of the background info in this one, so I included the grass (I loved that she had a big mouthful in the photo) and I mounted it onto two layers of handmade paper that reminded me of hay/straw.

Bat! What a cute little pup! *I used the photo with permission to make a paper cut

Finished. He was extremely difficult. The other photo I had to use showed more of his coat color which was inspiration for the colors I chose. As usual, I didn't use literal colors, but rather tones that depict the animal in a way that helps define character.

The one of Kiki, is without a doubt, my favorite so far! What do you guys think?

ps. Her Mother LOVED them!

this horse makes people smile

Words spoken by my trainer today.