Delving into insanity here... ;)

Editing to add in show albums I've found b/c it makes the post more fun w/pictures!!! :D
http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/drsteggy/2009%20North%20East%20Congress%20Live/

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/574628903MVMsVq

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40828858@N02/sets/72157622230865287/

http://s1008.photobucket.com/albums/af202/regionxshowphotos/Northeast%20Congress%202009/

Insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

Seriously. Yesterday felt insane. Last night I wasn’t sure I want to enter another performance show for a while.. then I woke up this morning, my headache finally gone.. and I said “man, I wonder if I can do BOTH of those shows at the end of October. That’s a textbook definition of insanity imo. ;) I did performance as a kid for photo shows & 1 live show. I’m not sure I expected anything much really. I don’t think I expect anything now really (although I have given myself little “mini goals” which only serve to make me obnoxiously competitive imo). ;) All the same, here I am, just aching to do performance things again.

For instance, Friday, in a hurry, I made some whole & some broken eggs. (recipe for anyone interested: take some white Apoxie sculpt, roll some into egg shapes.. roll some smaller dots and press half flat onto a surface. Use water/solvent to smooth them out.. then paint the whole eggs white, paint the egg yolks yellow.. when dry, put the egg yolks onto a clear flat sheet of plastic of some sort, like a thick wrapper, and add a blob of thick gloss of some sort & fan it out appropriately.. takes just a few minutes. When dry, cut out with scissors…). This absolutely trivial extra touch was SO fun for me to do.

I think it’s the need for the creative mind to expand into many directions least it get stretched too thin in just one... like any "exercise", mentally or physically, variety is very important. And unfortunately I’m not a crafty home decorator type of woman… which is where I might find this outlet for these silly extra “touches” of fun.

Sooooo I showed performance on Saturday – managing (out of 10 possible classes I had tack for 2 horses for..) to enter almost all of them with nearly both of my horses almost every time. The really draw for me is, after sculpting and painting something, to be able to see just how creative I can get in presenting it in as many scenes as possible. As you’ve seen in this blog when I had my photoshop frenzie I guess, I really like to try to picture a horse doing MANY things sometimes. (Photoshop "performance" playing around posts here and here). Especially after I find all these references for muscles & limbs in similar poses from such a big variety of real horse life/breed/discipline moments in time (in Hazel’s case – how often does the hand gallop come into play in real horse work). Since Godiva (my other show horse) is walking along, that’s a lot easier to picture in nearly any type of scene for me, although then it’s fun to make her all “pretty pretty”. In fact I was dinged by the judge (well I knew damn well it was ‘over the top’) ;) for having this far too fancy looking doll out there cutting cattle. That just makes me giggle. Fortunately my mini competitive goals allow for failing by being a twerp when I know better. ;) It IS about playing with toys and having fun imo. And while I never did “dolls” so much, if my parents could’ve afforded to, I would’ve been a doll house/miniature fanatic. I adore tiny tiny things done well. Little beer steins.. Little fancy buckles.

I got my newest cow yesterday too – the Hernden running cow in red. She smells like maple syrup. I’ve been craving waffles all day now. ;) I’d done a trade of a resin for 3-4 cows (3 but I got a bonus cow), a few months ago and since 2 were standing I did a further trade with someone else.

Trading is the ONLY way I could afford to consider getting into this. And my friend who lent me all of the amazing tack traded most of time to accumulate most of her amazing tack collection. It’s so funny to me how people prefer to collect.. my personal goal right now is to get “more bang for my buck” and commission (trade for commission anyhow) the most versatile tack possible too. Eventually maybe it’ll let me focus more on the superfluous props (that I so sooooo adore!). As it was, some of the silly stuff I made I didn’t even have time to put out on the table.. ;)

My boyfriend says “wow, that sounds like HELL? Why would you want to do all that for a set up that’s going to be together only for 10 minutes?”… simultaneously however, he tells me he “spied a really cool type of bridge in a western movie the other night”… and then goes on to describe it’s construction. Poor guy, little does he know that (while SO supremely awesome to have) these really well constructed props aren’t the make it or break it “must haves”. But hey, I won’t stop him if he gets the urge to try making a trail bridge again.. funny guy. :)

Bottom line is that I came home with 5 performance cards for my two horses out of 15 efforts. SERIOUSLY? I am FLIPPING THRILLED with this! But it’s actually more about things like learning how a rider holds certain types of reins (even when I failed to place b/c I draped the ends of reins to the wrong side of the rider/saddle). My most exciting “win” was a 3rd place in pleasure with HAZEL who is booking out man! But as a “Ranch Horse Pleasure” entry, properly documented, it stood out against all these textbook “western pleasure entries” (that were utterly gorgeous). I wrote the gal who’s entry was on a photo performance entry (thanks Mary/sassymiss!!!) that gave me the idea for this, I shall share what I used here for any Hazel owners who’d like to give it a go;

Horse being asked to hand gallop in “Ranch Horse Pleasure” class

Ranch Horse Pleasure -Designed to show a ranch horse that is a pleasure to ride. Horses are required to work both ways in the arena at a walk, jog or pleasure gait, and lope. The walk is intended to cover ground. The jog or pleasure gait should be faster than the walk, the extended jog or pleasure gait is truly extended, with longer, more ground covering strides. The lope is a true 3 beat gait that is to be extended into a hand gallop, showing ground covering extension without excessive speed. Horses to reverse at the trot or pleasure gait in one direction and reverse at a lope in the other direction. Simple or flying lead changes allowed.

Ranch Horse Show Rules Working tack shall be used. An excessive show of silver on saddles and bridles is not allowed. All competitors shall wear western clothing. This will include a long sleeved shirt with a collar, western boots with a heel, and a western hat. Management may determine and announce whether long sleeved shirts or short sleeved shirts are more appropriate for the weather conditions.

Read more about that here and here;
http://www.iowaranchhorse.com/ranchhorse.htm
http://www.outwestarena.com/horse-events/events-sub-navigation

How grateful I am to this photo shower for enlightening me on this whole different world of "western events" for the more action oriented (my preference) horses out there! :D (I hope she doesn't find my random out-of-the-blue thank you note weird and alarming...)...!

And that to me is what is the most fun about performance (aside from the flipping waaaay too cool little tiny things to be amazed by). That you can get creative “intellectually” and research alternative horse disciplines that fit under any particular category such as the above example.. and that it’s not necessarily about the most expensive tack being used, but about the “correctness of fit of tack and suitability”. (Thus why my first commissions are of very versatile type tack..). That said, until they are done I still only have one saddle and no bridle of my own for my two performance horses. Ack! I know the pain of the commissioner now! :) I really cannot wait until I get to do more.

What is WRONG with me man? Lol! The funny thing is that I know of some errors in my entries that weren’t caught.. and I hope I can fix that by the next time too. I am definitely an OCD perfectionist in a highly chaotic/disorganized personality type. What a bad combo. Honestly. :-P There is so much more to say but for the moment, I’ll stop rambling. I just can’t believe after all that and my shell-shock last night that I want to do it all again so very soon…!

Capping off my highly chaotic post here I’ll mention that I now am offering up that “Echo” medallion for sale: http://www.artbymorgen.com/echo.htm ($35 ea ppd - $30 for each subsequent purchased after the first). The first proofs arrived in on Friday and will mail out the first 4 tomorrow. I had then rush shipped a few because I wanted to have a donation for the show yesterday. But you really should’ve seen some of the amazing donations there – the finished medallions and dolls and tack in the raffles and auctions were incredible. I put in for the raffles on several items but when it came to bidding on the silent auction items it was already well out of my league… the doll I loved there went for over $400! Anyhow, so yeah, where was I? Well, my new medallion is casting and I guess I ought to mention that here too. (clearly I’m still a bit shell shocked today.. I’m so sheltered now). ;)


Oh! And as I went to log in to post this I realize I never shared the latest pictures of my araby mare since I "snarked" out her purty little head a bit more.. I revamped the nostrils and eyes after carefully studying the various faces of horses being fiesty. There are just so very many types of faces they make, even for a snarky mood when striking. I felt that this suited her best. :)