Baby Pics

Photos of Dyna's foal Threat's Screamin Eagle (pending).

Striking a pose...

Running with Uncle Thor...

Inspecting the chicken coop with Eeyore...

Don't worry, it is not a metal roof and he cannot cut himself on it.

Recent pics of the Gift Horse and her offspring

Fatima, her last foal.



"Get that dang camera out of my face!!" Grouchy old girl says!




Looking pretty!

Not bad for 27 huh?

Dyna

Dyna is a special horse, and yes, I mean that in the short bus kind of way. It is not her fault, she is the result of bad breeding decisions on the owners of her ancestor's fault. She is VERY inbred, it almost looks like they were going for linebreeding and took a wrong turn. She has one stallion 7 times, one 5 times and another 3 times in a standard 5 generation pedigree.

I purchased her several years ago as a riding horse for myself. She was a blast when I test-rode her, just very sensitive to the bit. Of course that could have something to do with the massive TWH bit the sellers were using (honestly, aren't 11 inch shanks a bit much?). She came home wiht us and after a few months proved that she really did not like women much. She loves men though.She cannot deal with a dominant "mare" on her back.

She has 2 brain cells, and if they disconnect, just give up. She goes to pieces. It is difficult to train her to do something new, she gets so agitated and confused. You have to go over things S-L-O-W-L-Y, or the brain cells disconnect.

That being said, once you finally get something installed in her brain, asking her to change or adjust the behavior is near impossible and has a high probability of making her disconnect. Case in point, this past weekend we took her to an SCA event, her first in a couple of years. The week before we really worked on remembering how to neck rein and weave through poles to do Saracen heads. It never occured to us to practice just walking a straight line through 2 sets of poles like in a reeds course. At the event, the course consisted of the Quintain (oooh, SNORT, scoot to the side, even though we have seen one before) a target to throw a javelin at (SNORT, scoot, wiggle, "Cm'on it's a HAYBALE you moron!"), rings (oh, no problem), a ring to throw a javelin through as you gallop (or in our case, running walk) past, catching it (in theory, she had never done this and when she saw the javelin coming past her head she swerved) as it comes out the other side, and last but not least, a reeds course. We got to it, lined up and started the course (Oh, poles standing up, I weave through these! "No, go STRAIGHT goober! Straight!") and she proceeded to attempt to do exactly what we taught her. Weave. We got through it, but she was SO confused. When she did the course the second time, she tried to weave again, and the third time she did a bit better according to my husband who was riding her. She is an odd creature, once something is ingrained in her little brain, that's it, that is what she does. I guess in some instances that is a good thing, but it can be frustrating.

Echo

I want to tell you about Echo, I don't have a picture of her, but she was a fairly typical backyard Arab mare. About 13.2 hands, fleabitten gray, no withers to speak of and a cute face. She was purchased by some friends for their kids to do 4-H on. Echo was a basket case. She was a sweet mare, not mean, just scared and green. Apparently the previous owner had left her in a stall or small pen with her foal until said foal was 2 or 3 years old, so she was fairly unsocialized. They fed and watered them but little else. She was "broke" but not trained, she would not canter, only trot-trot-trot, faster and faster. You could NOT touch her head or ears, I was informed that she had at one time been beaten in the head with a water hose when she did not behave. She had never been bitted, they were given a big ol' mechanical hack to use on her. She went everywhere with her head in the air. She bucked when she did not get her way, she fidgeted constantly when tied. She hated to have her feet messed with.
They tried several times to show her, but in 4-H, unless you are doing speed events, they require you to use a bit. They also like the horse to canter. The kids were taking lessons with me, and when the parents saw what I had been able to accomplish with Darlin, they asked if I would be interested in working with Echo. I said, sure, bring her over and I will see what I can do. I also cautioned them that it may take awhile.
Echo arrived, I put her in one of our runs with an open shed so she would not feel too confined. I gave her a couple of days to settle in and get used to things before we started working. The first thing we had to overcome was the head-shyness. I marched out to her pen with a bucket and a smiple headstall with a loose ring snaffle. I sat the bucket on the ground and myself on the bucket. Echo watched this production from the corner of the pen. After about 10 minutes she inched her way over to me and started nosing around. I grasped her halter and slowly stood up. She snorted and pulled back but stopped when she realized I was not going to hurt her. I talked gently to her as I slid my hand up her neck, placing my hand on her poll between her ears. She exploded, dragging me around the pen like a ragdoll, but my hand never moved. After a few laps around the pen, she stopped, panting and shaking. Huh, someone was touching her head and it didn't hurt! I stood with her and rubbed her head and ears for a good half hour, getting her used to the sensation. I then introduced the headstall, after a prefunctionary sniff, she allowed me to slip it over her head and the bit in her mouth. She chomped madly on it for hours. I let her wear it for a little while each day, spending a lot of time practicing taking it off and on to get her used to the whole process. As time went on, she objected less and less to the bit. I got the impression that rather than trying to overcome this issue, the people who had "trained" her just avoided it by using a mechanical hackamore and disassembling the headstall and putting it back together on her head while she thrashed around, thereby allowing the behavior to continue.
The first few rides were interesting, it involved taking her out on the trails and learining to GO. She was at first very resisitant to the idea of cantering, but after a few rides began to enjoy cantering down the trails. She had boundless endurance and was very non-reactive when it came to "scary things" like trash cans and paper bags. We did a lot of work in the arena on bending and giving to pressure. I taught her the basics she would need in order to compete in the local 4-H shows in both English and Western events. She learned very quickly and seemed to enjoy the work. I got her started over some low jumps and was pleased with her willingness to try new things. We also worked on ground manners like picking up our feet and standing for the farrier. She also had issues with water hoses (gosh, I wonder why) and had to learn that a bath was a pleasant thing, especially after a long workout. It took a great deal of patience to bring her back, but she went home a usable, showable animal. Her people were delighted with the results and I was happy to have had the chance to work with her. A great deal of her issues, like with so many abused horses, seemed to stem from a lack of trust in humans.

Model Horse Customizing Tip #1 - Choosing an Airbrush

For painting model horses, one of the most important tools you can aquire is an airbrush. The difference a good airbrush will make to your painting is amazing. You really need a dual-action airbrush, not a single action, go to your local art supply store and ask a knowledgeable salesperson to show you what you need. DO NOT let them try to sell you a cheapie, this is a big investment, and the quality of the supplies you use will be reflected in your work. I suggest that you buy an artist quality airbrush, there are several great brands out there. A very popular brand is Iwata, I know of many professionals that swear by them, and while fairly pricey are reported to be real little workhorses. I personally use a Paasche dual action. It is a plain little creature and kind of heavy, but it is super easy to use and to clean. When I replace mine eventually I will probably stick with a Paasche and just upgrade to a better model. I strongly suggest learning how the airbrush is put together and how to do regular maintenence on it. Keeping it cleaned and the mechanism well lubricated will save you a lot of headache. As for a compressor, bite the bullet and buy one, don't bother with canned air, it doesn't have the power to get the job done. I have a little portable job, fairly quiet (as far as compressors go) with more than enough power to get the job done. You can find small compressors specifically for airbrushes at Micheal's or Hobby Lobby or you can look at hardware stores like Harbor Freight. They frequently have non-name brand tools for good prices, and as long as you aren't going to use and abuse it it should last a long time.

Colorblind

One of my biggest peeves is the large number of people who are trying to market a horse and have NO IDEA WHAT COLOR IT IS!! Geesh folks, it's not rocket science. Learn the difference in the colors of horses. You would not believe the mistakes people make. Just go have a look at DreamHorse any day of the week. I see dapple grays advertised as "silver dapples", bays as "sorrel", sorrels (flaxen chestnuts for those across the pond) as "palomino", grays as "white", and on and on. There are a large number of websites out there on horse color, look it up people. And for Pete's sake, palomino is a COLOR not a BREED!!! I don't care if they have a registry, they will accept ANYTHING that remotely resembles a "yaller horse"! Also, Haflingers and Belgians are NOT palominos, the creme gene is not found in those breeds, they are CHESTNUT.

There really is no excuse, there are TONS of references out there for equine color genetics. There are several good websites and also a couple of books that are very useful. Here are a couple of each...

Horse Color Explained: A Breeder's Perspective by Jeanette Gower

Equine Color Genetics by Dan Phillip Sponenberg

http://www.equinecolor.com/color.html

http://www.geocities.com/baja/outback/2936/

http://www.angelfire.com/wi/foreverfarms/project.html

HOLY SHIT $13,500 FOR A PLASTIC HORSE!!

Yes, you heard right, when the real horse market is in the crapper, leave it to an individual from the nutso model horse crowd (of which I am proudly a member) to spend almost as much as a person will pay for a CAR on a plastic horse. Apparently this year at the annual convention, Breyerfest, one of the auction models (a smutty palomino Alborozo) sold for $13,500. It was a one of a kind model from a mold that has been destroyed. The celebration model Alborozo was a true limited run this year, they broke the mold after the celebration horses were created. No word yet on just exactly how many were made, but there will be no more. If I can find a pic of him I will post it. Here is one of the celebration model...

On another note, here is a lovely specimen from DreamHorse for your perusal today...

STOP RIDING BABIES PEOPLE!! This horse is WAY too small and way too underdeveloped to be hauling your ass around!! He looks like a yearling in this pic. If the ad is correct and he is indeed two and also if the pic is a recent one (which I doubt) this horse is very underdeveloped for his age, he looks like he has a LOT of growing to do still. There is NO WAY he should be being ridden. He needs another year at least to mature. And good grief, downhill much? I realize the camera is tilted a a weird angle, but if you look, his feet are on the same plane. His shoulder appears fairly upright and he seems to toe out some in the back. Throw this one back for a year and let him grow up. Here is the ad link ... http://www.dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1241663