Prickly

This was the hottest Colorado summer ever.

Despite that, most of the horses, including Sage, have said goodbye to their sleek summer hair and are busily growing their fall coats.

Right now, the fall hairs are nearly the same length as the summer hairs, but there are a lot more of them. 

This makes the horses look plushy and texture-y.

In Sage's case it makes her look even more roany.

I love that.

I was talking with my friend, Anne, and we wandered into the topic of roans. 

She told me that, in Dutch, Sage's color is called stekelharige Vos, which translates to prickly haired chestnut.

I love that, too.

Happy fall, Sage. Keep growing all those prickly hairs!

Not quite Olive

I've been holding out on you. Again.

Back in June, I was scrolling through Facebook, and I saw a familiar face.

"Oh," I gasped. "It's Boo!"

But actually it wasn't. Instead, it was a pastel painting of an unnamed mustang mare by Sarah Rose.

Closer inspection revealed a slightly different blaze, but the color and the expression - especially the expression - was all Olive.

I wasn't the only one who saw it.

Of course, I had to buy it.

Now my Sarah Rose collection consists of seven, beautiful, painted resins...

and one absolutely perfect, not-quite portrait of Olive.

I hope someday soon, Sarah will paint a matching picture of a horse that looks like Sage!

Dog and Pony prep, part four

Although it's not explicitly advertised as such, I always assume any show held during the second half of October to have a Halloween flair.

Which means, of course, I will be showing at least one of my converted PetsMart guinea pig costumes.

This one is my favorite.

Instead of putting it on a hunter pony, it's going on a donkey. A Donkey Hotee.

I tried it on today, and everything fit perfectly except the halter.

Fortunately, I still had plenty of yellow ribbon and fiesta trim. This is the second halter I've made for this class.

Now I just need to find Jose's taco, and this one is ready to for the ring. Woot! One down, so many more to go!

Dog and Pony prep, part three

At this time two years ago, I was prepping for a model horse show with a cat themed performance class.

I rounded up all my cats, snapped a picture and posted it on Facebook.

The photo got a lot of positive reactions, but one person told me I had enough cats. I laughed and said, "You should see the dogs."

Now I'm prepping for a show with not one but two dog themed performance classes, plus a whole dog "halter" division.

Time for another group photo!

I knew I had a lot of dogs.

But knowing and seeing are two different things.

This is so many dogs.

Thank goodness someone - not me - remembered to bring the poop bags!

Clearly, I will not be bringing all the dogs to Karin's show. That would be too much even for me.

However, seeing them all together like this has sparked some ideas.

Last week, the most important class was Donkey Hotee, but this week, it's definitely Puppy Performance!

Minatures show loot

After we left the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys' Fall Show, Alexey and I headed to Señor Rics for snacks and drinks. Much to our server's delight, we spread our loot across the table and admired it as we ate.

This is my pile.

And Alexey's.

No one guessed - boo! - but this is his equine purchase.

Here's a better look at my pile.

You can never have too many baskets, dog crates and pumpkins.

Ditto, books.

The ABC of Horses was handmade by an artist. Riders & Ropers/A Horse Lovers Journal is a mass produced item. Both have actual pages, but only ABC has words and pictures on those pages.

 M is for Mustang, obviously.

Alexey bought the 3D printed bunnies. Then he decided he didn't like them and slid them into my pile. I think they're cute, but 1:12 is not my scale. They'll probably be part of the next blog giveaway.

This is another "blame Alexey" piece.

I can't imagine why he thought I needed a tiny 3D printed bird skull...?

The cutting board under the skull came from an artist who specialized in hand sculpted food and flowers. Hers was probably my favorite booth and where I spent most of my money.

The vegetables aren't just outwardly realistic. The onion has rings and pea pods have peas. It's all amazing!

Of course, I bought one of her planters, too.

And even though nobody guessed - still boo! - here's my equine purchase with his long-necked friend.

This was a fun day, and I will definitely go back to this show next year, hopefully with a little more money in my pocket!

Miniatures show horses

I know I said I was going to show you our purchases from the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys' Fall Show, but I before I do that, here's a look at some of the horses we found in the sales room.

In a space filled with exquisite miniatures, most of the horses we found were decidedly not... that.

"Who you talking about, lady?"

To be fair, most of them weren't supposed to be realistic horses.

There were lots of nursery room horses.

I find these very charming.

That's also the word I would use for this handmade "Clydesdale."

Not realistic, but very charming.

Along the way, we also found some tack.

None of it was model horse hobby standards realistic. All of it was charming.

The most model horse hobby style horses were found at a booth selling miniature bronzes and chinas.

Were I employed, I could have spent a lot of money at this booth.

Next year!

Although most of our time was spent in the sales room, we did tear ourselves away briefly to visit the exhibit hall.

There we found a few more horsey displays.

My favorite was this 1905 Bookmobile.

Here are the deets!

I love mini books almost as much as I love model horses, so this really appeals to me.

The only thing that would make it better is an actual harness!

So now you've seen the horses at the Miniatures Show.

Which ones do you think we bought?