More house cleaning

Yesterday, while cleaning my studio, I filled a one gallon plastic bag with extra, out of scale and not quite top tier tack and props. I pictured some of the contents here and offered the whole thing - no picking and choosing - for sale for $30.

Several people expressed an interest, so I decided to see if I could fill another bag.

This one has a some of the same things and some new things.

Some of it's good, some of it's weird and some of it probably belongs in the trash.

This one is also $30.

If you want either of these bags, let me know in the comments. I'll choose the winners tomorrow.

Cleaning house

So far this year, I've cleaned out my mother's house,

emptied my son's apartment...

and closed down a big retail store.

Basically, it's been a year of getting rid of stuff.

So, so, so much stuff.

I also have a lot of stuff.

Too much, really.

Since I have a little time on my hands, I've been sorting through some of it.

Also, getting rid of some of it.

donations for Karin's show

It's hard, but necessary.

donations for the thrift shop, not including Piper

This week, I've been working on the studio.

I have filled a gallon sized bag with extra, out of scale and not quite top tier props and tack.

Some of this stuff should probably be thrown away, but most of it is pretty good.

Some of it is actually really good.

I don't need it, but I think someone out there might? 

Usually, I would just give this away, but since I am still unemployed, I'm asking $30 for the entire bag. There's no picking and choosing. You get all of it. If you want this, let me know in the comments. If more than one person is interested, I'll use a random number generator on Monday to choose the "winner." 

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!