Lost mail...

Last week I found out that a package I sent nearly two weeks before never arrived to it's destination. I packaged it all up really well and sent it first class. I have never had a problem with lost packages before, but unfortunately I had not insured or tracked this one. Well I sure learned my lesson now! Maybe the post office does this every once in a while so you buy the added insurance/tracking. So now I am making another Saddlebred showmanship bridle this week for the original buyer. Hopefully it will turn out just like this one:



I also decided to start a presentation set for the Cleveland Bay mold. Hopefully I'll have some more pics up this weekend!

more WEG photos

Well I've started to go back through my photos from WEG and cropping/fixing them again. My mom has also sent me her 800+ photos on a disc as well, so I will have to take a look at those and put some good posts together!

Today I just have this one photo that I thought looked really familiar to me for some reason... :



Look familiar to anyone else? It hit me that the horse's pose is nearly exactly that of Morgen Kilbourn's Hazel resin (opposite legs)!



The info on this particular model can be found at this link.

Pretty cool, I thought! More to come soon!

Broken Links

Well in the midst of trying to organize all my photos and clear space on my hard-drive, I managed to confuse the hell out of Picasa and Picasa Web albums. It looks like I've broken lots of links to photos as well as made whole albums disappear, doh! So just bare with me here as I figure this stuff out. Hopefully I'll have it all sorted out by the weekend... In the meantime, here is another driving series that I managed not to delete. I had hoped to do a showjumping one, but those pictures are somewhere in la-la land....

This is a different obstacle that I had a great view of. The team is Jimmy Fairclough from the US. I tried to just keep clicking through the whole routine so you can get an idea of just how long and intricate these obstacles are. The person in the middle of the cart is the navigator. They have a tough job of knowing exactly where the team needs to turn and when. They also need to give the driver ample time to be able to guide his horses in time. We saw one US team miss lots of their turns in the water obstacle. Having to go around the entire thing to get through one opening after you've missed it adds a lot of time. Look at all the different gaits and poses these horses have - lots of performance ideas!

I made them into a slideshow - I think it is more fun to click through them then have to scroll down through them.

(If you click on the slideshow, it will take you to the web album where you can see the photos bigger)

WEG - Marathon Driving

I couldn't believe how much fun the marathon driving was too watch! It was so intense and incredible to watch four horses navigate a cart through such tiny pathways. I took this series of photos of one entrant doing the obstacle. They have to go a certain way through each of the openings and as fast as they can.

Here they are coming in:


and heading to their first obstacle:


up through the middle of it:

and back around.

Here you can see the entrant name and his current time:

Coming around the other side

and getting ready..


for the plunge!


they are even still in unison!






up

The guy on the back is there to steady the cart and keep it from flipping over.


and on their way out!

World Equestrian Games

Edit 10/15/10: this is a post where I have accidentally broken the picture links, hold tight, I'll get them back soon!

So much fun! I got to watch para-dressage, vaulting, showjumping, and marathon driving. I had never seen any of the events except jumping, so it was really interesting. I have nearly 1000 photos to go through - large SD cards make it much too easy to be trigger happy. It'll take me awhile to go through all these and post the good ones. Lots of interesting stuff to post - I'll get there! For now, here are a few shots of Hickstead from Friday night, which qualified him for the final 4. Look at that bit-age! That did not look like an easy horse to ride - it was really fun to watch the other riders take a shot at riding him!

WEG worries

Whenever a big trip is coming up, I feel more stressed out about it trying to wrap everything up before leaving. It has been insane in lab - I worked all weekend to get this project nearly finished before leaving. I know if I leave it hanging I'll have a hard time relaxing in Kentucky. I really haven't gotten too much done with tack these last few months. I haven't taken any orders since the Breyer Diorama project, I've just been playing around, making stuff I've been wanting to make for the last few months! These pieces have actually been finished for awhile, I just finally got the 'ole photo tent out to get some decent shots of it - such a pain!

These are available for sale on MH$P (click for link to sales page):

I'm hoping the Breyer store won't be sold out of all the SR's by the time I get there. Thanks to some fellow hobbyists, I got the re-issue of Big Ben picked up just before he was sold out - definitely have to add him to the conga!

I also got Wimpy's Little Chic from someone who said they had an extra, just had to pay a "pick-up" fee. The others I'm hoping to still get are the Autograph Cleveland Bay, Gold Raven, and Woodburn. Maybe Cedric... Unfortunately I am an avid OF collector, so the WEG Diorama model will most likely be staying with me for awhile. So while I won't recoup the cost of supplies and time for that tack set for Breyer, I do get an amazing model to add to my collection. I might have to rethink my decision to not do the Breyerfest Open Show next year... I know it's been awhile since blogging, so the set for Breyer I'm talking about is this one:

I'll blog about this set at a later date. I don't think the general public can see this diorama, I believe it is in the "media room" which is quite unfortunate! I really wanted to see this in person! Maybe if I'm really nice to the security there.. and the model I'm talking about is this one:

This model hasn't arrived yet, though, these is just a "promo" pic. So I'm growing quite impatient, LOL! Well that's all for now, I gotta catch this bus to school so I can slave away in lab for the day!

NAN 2010 Donation Complete!

I have completed my donation item for NAMHSA's 15th Anniversary Party! I have created a huntseat set to fit Palouse. It includes a bridle, saddle, girth, and saddlepad finished in a dark brown (cordovan) dye. The bridle features a full cheek snaffle bit with bit keepers, tongue buckles, leather raised browband and noseband, leather laced reins and is fully adjustable. The saddle is built like a real saddle with adjustable stirrup leathers, cast stirrups with stirrup pads and has a very correct shape over the withers. The girth has elastic on both ends for a snug and even fit. This set is sure to bring in the ribbons! It is extremely realistic and performance friendly. In order to reach a larger audience for this item, I decided that I will allow the winner of this set the option to swap out the bridle and girth for one that fits another mold of their choice if they wish to do so.

From NAN 2010 Raffle Donation

From NAN 2010 Raffle Donation

From NAN 2010 Raffle Donation

From NAN 2010 Raffle Donation

From NAN 2010 Raffle Donation

From NAN 2010 Raffle Donation

From NAN 2010 Raffle Donation

Check out NAMHSA's website for more information on how to get tickets for this item:
www.namhsa.org/nan2010/auction/auctionpreview.htm

Also visit their group on Facebook for the most up to date info: NAMHSA on Facebook