Today is my oldest son's ninth birthday. It hardly seems possible, but my little boy isn't so little anymore. He no longer wants me to kiss him or hold his hand, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, and he's prone to rolling his eyes at all my jokes, even the funny ones. His number one birthday wish was for an MP3 player, and when he received one this morning, he told me it was "tight". There's no denying it--Ryan is growing up.
Thankfully, however, traces of his younger self remain. One example of this is his enduring interest in bedtime stories. I always hoped my children would inherit my love of books, and toward that end I've spent untold hours reading them books calculated to hold their interest--stories about trains, dinosaurs, robots and planets. Even now when both boys are more than capable of reading to themselves, they still want me to read to them every night.
Mostly I like this bedtime ritual, but there are some nights when I am tired and crabby and I just want the kids to go straight to bed. This happened recently. I tried to convince the boys that they could read to themselves, but Ryan wasn't buying it. He absolutely insisted I read him a book. "Fine," I said. "If you want a book, then you're going to get a horse book." I marched downstairs and returned with one of my own childhood favorites, Irene Brady's
Doodlebug.
Predictably, Ryan rolled his eyes at the sight of it. I ignored him and started reading. Within a few pages, I forgot I was crabby. I hadn't read
Doodlebug in years and I was delighted to discover that it was as good as I remembered. My kids were equally enthralled. They listened quietly to the entire book and even wanted to discuss it after.
Of course, Ryan will not actually admit that he liked my horse book. He is way too cool for that, and he continues to roll his eyes
every time I suggest we choose a book from my bookcase rather than his. Still, he has listened attentively to every horsey selection and has begun to express an inerest in riding with me. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!
I don't know how long it will be until Ryan decides he's too old for bedtime stories. I suspect that day is coming soon, but I'm glad it's not here yet--I still have a whole shelf full of horse books to read to him!
I had the pleasure of visiting Erin's horse room earlier this year. Although she has a great many models I'd be happy to call my own, it was this Hazel that I coveted the most. "Rockette Butt" was sculpted by Morgen Kilborn and painted by Carol Huddleston. Both artists did an amazing job. This is a beautiful model who looks absolutely super in her BCS jumper tack.
Melanie Miller made the nifty Lord of the Rings jump. Isn't it neat?
I can't be certain, but that looks like a Grand Champion rosette to me--yay for Erin and Rockette Butt!
I did not make anything in this next picture, but I'm posting it anyway. Here's Rocket Butt in a Western tack set made by Erin. I am a big fan of Erin's work and hope to own one of her parade saddles someday.
I love posting customer pictures--please keep them coming!
That was back in January. I flipped through the book a couple times after it arrived, but it wasn't long before it was buried in the pile of paper on my workbench. Recently, however, I was motivated to dig it out and actually put it to use. I've spent the last two days playing with the #2 English pattern and so far this is what I have to show for it.
This saddle is almost equal parts 
I have to admit that I'm pretty pleased with this saddle. It's not perfect--shoot, it's not even actually finished. I still have some some details to add and a lot of clean-up. It's close, though, and that's pretty impressive for a first attempt. Amazing how quickly things go when someone else does the hard pattern work! 
I can't help but wonder if the reins were borrowed from a different costume. Unlike the other pieces, they do look Middle Eastern.
This close-up captures the costume's homemade charm perfectly--craft store materials and safety pins!
I love the pom poms on the bridle.
Here is a better look at Jedi's costume, bridle excluded.
More fringe and gigantic tassels.
At first glance the saddle looks pretty exotic, but it's really just an old Western saddle. The horn and fenders have been removed and the whole thing has been covered in fabric.
These big tasseled, retro costumes probably wouldn't do well in the model 
I have never thought of myself as an Akhal-Teke fan. I'm much more of a pony girl. I like "cute" horses with short, round bodies, big eyes, broad foreheads, little ears and lots of hair.
Nothing could be less ponylike than an Akhal-Teke. They are long, angular and narrow with prominent withers, ewe necks and long ears. Their coats are extremely fine and their manes and tails sparse. Their faces have an exotic beauty to them, but they're not cute.
So I didn't expect to fall in love with the breed, but that's exactly what happened. Even after I had more than enough pictures to work with, I kept on looking and looking and looking. You do not even want to know how many pictures I saved to my hard drive!
Here are the results of that research. This is how my resin Teke looked yesterday when I boxed him up and sent him off to Tiffany.
Hopefully the changes are obvious. He has much less neck and his topline has been reduced substantially. Just look at those withers! The roached mane and forelock look seems to be common among Russian and Czech Akhal Tekes, and I chose to go with that look. Not only is it delightfully exotic, but it also makes him completely tack friendly.
Sometimes small changes make a big difference. I didn't do much to his face--I lengthened his ears and made his profile a bit less straight--but I think it looks very Teke like now. He may not be a match for Khan, but I'm still pretty pleased with my budget Akhal Teke.
Close up of the 
A better look at the 
The 
Here's a good look at the entire body part of the costume. Note how much bigger the back panel is than either of the side panels. The stirrups are regular English irons.
Detail of the embroidered side panel. Most hobby costume makers use the little Turkish rugs and runners for the panels, but there are a few people who actually stitch their own. I would love to learn how to do that. It makes for a much more authentic look. 
As more and more hobbyists are using dolls in the 
I wasn't feeling particularly guilty about this until my donation partner, Jane Schneider, posted these pictures to her Yahoo group last night. Not only has she finished the rider doll, but she got ambitious and added a second doll to our endurance package. Now I feel like a total slacker!
Here is Jane's description of the dolls: For my doll we both thought NAN colors would be fun so the girl endurance rider sports a purple and white rugby shirt and black riding tights with a purple stripe. Her brown hair is caught back and turned in on itself with the ends left loose. She has purple and black half chaps and a white custom helmet. She also wears a digital watch so she can keep track of her horse's heartbeat in 
She comes with a companion doll who can be a handler,an assistant or a vet in a long lab coat. He wears a burgundy and white 
The big challenge for me now is to not just finish that saddle, but to make it equal in quality to Jane's part of the package. No small task, but I think I'm ready to stop procrastinating and get back to work!
I really love it when showers take a "one trick pony" and turn it into an all around performance horse. You wouldn't think a cutting posed resin could be so versatile, but he won nine performance NAN cards in tough Region 10 competition. That's impressive!
I've made a lot of harnesses over the years, and those harnesses have helped my customers win a lot of NAN cards and even a few NAN cookies. Still, despite that success, I am much less comfortable making harnesses than I am making saddles. I think it's because I do not have any real life driving experience. I've done the research and collected some pictures, but that's just not the same as hands-on learning. As I've said before, nothing beats the real thing.
KC is a really nice pony and he and his owner were happy to pose for my pictures. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I was actually more interested in the harness than the pony.
Here's a close up view of the surcingle and the shaft holders. Good, clear pictures like this are invaluable for the serious 
I always struggle with the blinker stays. They are unlike anything you'd see on a riding bridle and I never feel as though I get them exactly right. This picture reinforces that feeling. There's no doubt that I've been overdoing things. I'll definitely refer back to this photo next time I made a driving bridle.
