Brand celebration

Last month, I wrote a pair of posts about mustang brands. The first was all about how to read the alpha angle code used by the Bureau of Land Management.

The second was all about Olive's brand and how much I love it.

I asked readers on the Braymere Custom Saddlery Facebook page to share pictures of their mustangs' brands.

photo by Amy Williams

I was thinking 1:9 scale...

photo by Brenda Summers

but a few people sent pictures of their full scale mustang's brands.

photo by Erika Baird Xochimitl

Lexie Lawrynovicz's mustang Salty's brand looks like it was written with invisible ink. So cool!

On the other end of the spectrum, this is Shelly Nelson's much missed mustang Sijin. She came from the Red Desert in Wyoming and had a "messed up" freeze brand.

Her portrait model, also by Shelly.

Here are a few more model scale freeze brands. This one was painted by Christine Lewis,

this by Erika Baird Xochimitl...

and this by T. J. Hurst.

Last but not least, here's one from my own collection. This is my first real completed custom. I did the resculpting and Cindy Evans supplied the finishwork.

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed photos. I really enjoyed seeing all your brands.

Friday favorites

June is Pride Month. This is how needle felt artist, Tomás Varela, marked the occasion.

He writes: As a Certified Gay™️, I felt like I had to do something to celebrate. I have mixed feelings about Pride Month, (mainly the corporate side of it) but I saw a perfect excuse to make the rainbow zebra of my dreams.

This 1:12 scale zebra measures approximately 10cm at the withers. He is made out of British wool, with English glass eyes and hand sculpted and painted clay hooves. 

He is fully poseable...

and his stripes... well, they are just amazing!

Truly, this little guy is perfection from one end...

to the other!

He's also for sale.

Bidding is currently open on Tomás' Needle Neddies Facebook page.  Ten percent of the proceeds will be donated to SAYiT, a British organization whose core function is to transform the lives of LGBTQ+ young people and young people affected by HIV through supportive group work, youth action, education and influence. 

Congratulations, Tomás, on creating the rainbow zebra of your dreams, and thank you, for sharing him with all of us. Happy Pride Months!

Almost wordless Wednesday

Olive may not be a fan, but I love horses in flowers. Here are a few more photos from Sunday's party. Enjoy!

Gambler

Judge and Reese

Ernie and JoAnna

Carol and Struts

Scarlett and Mary Jo

Kit

Judge and Reese

Gandalf and Pam

Gambler

Ernie

Claire, Delilah, Kate and Therese

Dango

Barbie

Struts

Flower power

We had a little barn party this weekend. 

This was mostly an excuse to get together and play dress up with our horses.

Linda brought a big box of plastic flowers, and we applied them liberally.

So lovely!

None of the horses seemed to mind.

Except one.

Come on, Olive. This is literally part of your job description.

Sigh. 

Here's the official party collage.

Good work, Ernie, Gandalf, Dango, Barbie, Judge, Struts, Gambler, Delilah, Kit and I guess, Olive. You all look amazing in flowers!

Pictures from yesterday's ride

Diana asked me to take pictures of the beaver damaged areas on our trails. 

I looked at Olive, laughed. "Maybe sometime next year?" I joked.

Diana knows Olive, so she laughed, too.  Then she said, "I bet Laura would let you borrow Fortunataa."

Fortunataa+ is an older Arabian mare with an impressive performance record that includes a Tevis finish. She also had a long and equally successful broodmare career. Now she's Laura's weekend trail buddy.

I felt privileged to be entrusted with this grand old mare.

We saddled up and headed out.

Diana chartered a course that took us right up Rattlesnake Ridge. Thankfully, no rattlesnakes were present.

It's been a long time since I've looked through a pair of grey ears. I've really missed it.

We popped onto the main trail near Erica's Bench.

From there we rode along the edge of the bank, stopping frequently to take pictures of the beaver ravaged river bottom.

I haven't ridden out in nearly half a year so I hadn't realized how bad it's gotten. Diana says it's nearly impassable on horseback.

We rode under the Sixth Avenue bridge...

and turned around near the entrance to Eagle's Nest.

Then it was back through the trees.

It felt so good to be out there enjoying these trails with my friends...

and this sweet horse!

This was really a fun day. Thank you, Diana, for setting that up and thank you, Laura, for sharing Fortunataa with me.