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Apr
30
12 Step Program
Filed Under Bethany Caskey | Leave a Comment
It may be broadly stated that, with the single exception of goldfish, of all animals kept for the recreation of mankind the horse is alone capable of exciting a passion that shall be absolutely hopeless.
-Bret Harte
The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem
My name is Bethany Caskey and I’m a Horseaholic.
Pat Parelli divides the human race into two groups. There are the people that love horses…and “the other kind”.
If you have the affliction of horse love, you understand the condescending nods, the bewildered sighs, and head shaking of the “other kind”. You are viewed as otherwise sane and but for this eccentricity, a pleasant companion. You may or may not remember the exact moment the horse bug bit.
For some of us it was a genetic wildcard that came as easily as our first smile. There was never a conscious effort. It was just always there.
Popular for quite some time have been the twelve step programs. I would suggest a similar program for horse-a-holics. There is no hope for a cure as with the other programs, mostly because we don’t really want or need one. We can use these steps to help explain our linear passion and to understand just how hopeless we are. The majority of our society has been trained to understand and tolerate an addiction.
The Twelve Step tradition is a time tested method used for various obsessive-compulsive behaviors. These simple tools for living have been used by millions of people to successfully change their lives and recover from certain behaviors. Sharing and support in groups with like-minded individuals and ongoing fellowship is a major ingredient in the success of this program.
The Twelve Steps of Horse Addiction
1. We admit we are powerless under the rule of our horses - that our lives have become periods of servitude interspersed with occasional chances to purchase new play things for the horses that “own” us.
2. We have come to believe that there is no power greater than our horses that will keep us sane and happy.
3. We have made a conscious decision that we have turned our will and our lives over to the care and entertainment of our horses.
4. We have made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our barn, and still think we might have room for just one more horse.
5. We have admitted to God, ourselves and our friends that our shoes will always be muddy and there will be horsehair and horse snot on our clothes.
6. We were entirely ready to remove all these defects of character, but decided against it when our horse nickered and nuzzled us.
7. We humbly asked for removal of our shortcomings - so we could have more time to spend with our horses.
8. We made a list of all persons we had slighted when we were late because of chores or a long trail ride, and became willing to make amends to them all – even though they still didn’t want to hear about our horses.
9. We have made direct amends to these people wherever possible, except when they didn’t want to help us unload the feed bags.
10. We have continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it to our horse… who knew it from the start and had been telling us all along.
11. We have sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our horses as we understood them, praying only for knowledge of their will for us and the power to carry that will out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we will carry this message to those faced with Horse Addiction and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(This parody is based on the original Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, which can be found at the Alcoholics Anonymous website. In no way should this be looked on as an insult against those with a drinking problem. Warning! Actually following these steps will only make you more popular with the horses around you, and should not be attempted by those who wish to be anything other than horse people for the rest of their lives.)
©Copyright 2008 by Bethany Caskey. See original post here.
Apr
29
Donkey ears photos, which one?
Filed Under Donna Ridgway | 1 Comment
The thing you love about a donkey is their ears!
I took photos of our Daisy’s ears and got two I really liked. Now the problem is, I can’t decide which one I like best. They are very similar.
The bottom photo gives you a hint of where her eye is, even though you don’t see the eye. It also shows both of her ears.
But there’s some reason, I seem to like the top photo better.
I wanted my photo of Daisy’s ears to capture her softness, her fuzziness, her cute personality and the wonderful expression of her ears. The background color worked perfectly with what I wanted to convey..the colors matched the colors of Daisy, so they help to create a soft harmonious look.
In the top photo the one ear is definitely the center of interest. I think that’s why I like it best.
What do you think? And why do you like one photo over the other? You can click the photos to enlarge them.
Donna Ridgway
Email Me if you have questions, or want to inquire about purchasing a painting or photo.
Remember, you can find horse art, Western art, Mule and Donkey art
wildlife art, cow art, and animal paintings, my Montana Photosfor sale on my website.
©Copyright 2008 by Donna Ridgway. See original post here.
Apr
29
…
Filed Under Bethany Caskey | Leave a Comment
All horse things progressing well. Dulci now comes to the gate when I arrive and says “Catch me, please.” In a few days they will get pasture privileges. It was super cold last night so did not do much with any of them, the wind cut right through everything. I can pick up all four of her feet and hold them and tap on them. She has been extremely good about her feet. I have four others in need of a spring hoof trimming. Oh joy.
I have been using the bicycle to tool around town, doing errands and getting the mail and such when I don’t need the truck or car. I have a shoulder bag that works well for carrying small things.
I have noticed a change in my take offs and landings. I used to be able to slow down, stand on the near side pedal and step off the bike and walk it to a stop. I tried that the first day and not only did my knees scream obscenities at me, the walk to a stop was more of a stumble forward several running steps. I have resorted to doing a full stop and putting my feet down and even that has lost any sign of grace, since I usually forget the proper brake or which foot I want to put down first. I used to be able to step on the off side pedal, push it forward in one fluid movement and be in flight as the bicycle seat gracefully met my bottom side. No more. Now it is one, okay two, hops, the bike wobbles forwards (if I’m lucky) and then the seat smacks rudely into my hind side. I can’t imagine that my bottom has dropped one to two inches in only twenty years. It has to be that new padded seat the bike shop put on.
©Copyright 2008 by Bethany Caskey. See original post here.
Apr
29
Project for Spruce Meadows!
Filed Under Jennifer Pratt | Leave a Comment
I received an email earlier this week inviting me to be a part of an exciting project that will be unveiled at the Masters held at Calgary’s Internationally renown show jumping facility Spruce Meadows. It is called “Le Cadeau Du Cheval”. A mural using 238 paintings created by some of the world’s finest equine artists from Canada, USA, Peru, Australia, [...]
©Copyright 2008 by Jennifer Pratt. See original post here.
Apr
29
Two New Large Scale Paintings
Filed Under Alecia Underhill | Leave a Comment
“Belle” oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in.
You are looking into this horse’s soul. This is another foray in to these large-scale paintings, and the composition of this one makes it the first one that is actually larger than life size. Belle is a mare that I hardly know at all…I photographed her on a visit to the stable where I used to work, and she was just looking over the fence in a way that made the shadows fall over her face in an interesting way. I think she must be a kind, gentle mare, from the soft look in her eye.
“Controlled” oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
“Controlled” is a look at the harmony between horse and rider. This horse is not straining against the bit, there is no tension, just perfect acceptance of the rider’s cues. He’s cantering between jumps and his rider is probably rating his strides to the next fence. A glossy bay thoroughbred on a sunny, late-summer day brings out the sharp lines of the shadows, the crisp highlight on the nostral, the soft highlights on polished leather. The light greenish yellow of the background evokes the color of dried-out late-summer grass, while complimenting the reds in the horse’s coat.
©Copyright 2008 by Alecia Underhill. See original post here.
Apr
29
Revel Sel de Mer
Filed Under Jennifer Pratt | Leave a Comment
Revel Sel de Mer - Summer ‘05
One of the most exciting parts of my series is watching my subjects mature. It is amazing to see all the proportional changes foals go through. As most horse people reading this know, there can be some gangly and awkward stages in their development. Times when the hind end is high, [...]
©Copyright 2008 by Jenn Pratt. See original post here.
Apr
28
Shows and chutes
Filed Under Judy Wood | Leave a Comment
The weekend has come and gone, and with it a couple of events and a flurry of activity. My sponsored studio sale was on Saturday afternoon, and it went quite well. I didn’t have a huge number of visitors, but those who came were very satisfactory and quite a few photos went out the door with them. I’ll be passing a percentage of the proceeds on to the Reece Ryde Memorial Fund, in memory of a little girl who left her grieving family behind in late December. They are planning, among other things, a children’s park in their small town in her memory. Such a sad thing to deal with, but I was glad to be able to help with fund-raising for this project that will aid in keeping her memory alive.
The second event for me on Saturday was going out to the barn in the evening to photograph the chute jumping at the indoor riding ring. This is something that normally happens at Ebon only in the fall in conjunction with the Canadian Warmblood evaluations, but this weekend there was a visiting instructor giving a riding clinic, and the chute jumping evening was part of the clinic.
The simple explanation for this is that a contained passageway or chute is constructed along a long side wall of the riding ring, with crosspoles and a few jumps placed along it. The young horses are then turned loose (one at a time) to make their way up the chute and over the jumps. This is done as part of an evaluation process to see how they will deal with the obstacles, to assess their style and “problem solving” ability, and generally get an idea of how they handle themselves both physically and mentally when faced with this challenge.
The bonus of this evening was having the clinician, Sandy Alexander (from BC) there to explain and interpet the whole thing to us as a learning experience for the young horses, and from his point of view as a seasoned trainer with years of background at evaluating young equine prospects. There are always moments of excitement at the Ebon chute jumping events, since some of the youngsters haven’t done this before, and others have but only once or twice. It’s amazing how even the least experienced of them will catch on quickly to what is required, and how fast their performance over the jumps improves.
For me, it’s always the most challenging shoot of my photographic year, since the horses are moving fast, sometimes unpredictably, and in really poor lighting. I’ve fine-tuned my approach–I was going to say “over the years” until I realized that last year was the first time I was willing even to try these shots. I did learn a lot about how to approach it in the couple of go-rounds I had last year, plus I have a new faster lens this year that makes quite a difference. Still, it’s kind of a “best of a bad lot” situation for me and I can’t say I’m ever proud of the results. However, I’m doing these for my instructor who owns these horses as part of the record of their development, so I do the best I can with what I’ve got.
First of today’s photos shows one of the young mares flying over the jump in nice style. For the non-horse people who read this, the large whip (lounge whip, or lunge, depending on I’m not sure what) you can see in the mirror, is used only to keep them moving forward when necessary by moving it quickly behind the horse, never to touch or “whip” them.
The second shot will likely be the last snow one I’ll post for a while. Inevitably when I’m printing out photos for a sale or show, I’ll get distracted with different ways I can work with my material, and wander off into playing in Photoshop instead of sticking to business. That happened with my “Murphy on Snowshoes” one. The original had him standing facing the other way on a snowdrift with a big blue sky behind him. I had the urge to see how he would look trekking through the northern woods, so then of course I had to do it just because I could. I have a number of ideas for future adventures that Murphy will be involved in, as the seasons progress. I’ll keep you posted as I work them up.
©Copyright 2008 by Judy Wood. See original post here.
Apr
28
YL Duncan, Part 7
Filed Under Carrie Lewis | Leave a Comment
Once again, I finished work on Duncan today thinking it was very nearly finished.
And once again, after uploading the image and looking at it here, I see some things I missed!
It looks more and more like the computer’s biggest benefit to me is as an artwork proofing device. There sure is nothing like a digital image viewed on the monitor to point out all the little things I missed!
But Duncan is getting very close to completion. I worked on the eyes and nose tonight. They are not finished, but I will need dry paint to add the brightest highlights to the eyes. As for the nose, well, that just seems to resist all attempts at correction.
I also broadened the chest down into the background a little bit further and added vague shapes to suggest a front leg. I also dry brushed highlights into the ears and around the face.
All in all, it’s looking pretty good.
If I get a chance tomorrow evening, I plan to do a little bit more tweaking, with a planned finish on Wednesday. Since Duncan is my April project, that will be a good finish date! April 30! I’m cutting it kind of close this month, but adjusting to the slower drying time for the M. Graham Oils will take some time.
©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
Apr
28
The Horse Gift Mural Mosaic
Filed Under Sue E. Kroll | Leave a Comment
©Copyright 2008 by Sue E. Kroll. See original post here.
Apr
28
Fellow artist, rephrase that super talented fellow artist Laura Hardie had this on her blog a few days ago. I gave it a shot et voila….
Museum quality…
I bet nobody thought graphite could look so good so big!!!!
Dreams can come true so I am told….
Back off to the drawing board make that dream board.
p.s: if you want to give it a go yourselves this link will get you there.
©Copyright 2008 by Sheona Hamilton Grant. See original post here.
Apr
28
diving into the realm of blogging
Filed Under Michelle Grant | Leave a Comment
*Splash*!!
I have just dived into the realm of blogging! I thought I would never do this, I have far too many ‘other’ things to do in my life, let alone allow the Computer to drag me away from my artwork with yet another distraction.
Its all Mosaic Murals doing. I wanted to be part of the online sharing and interaction that will be going on with the Le Cadeau du Chavel project.
http://muralmosaic.com/
Having said that, I need to find my towel and climb outta this ‘pool’ and go get some stuff done!
©Copyright 2008 by Michelle Grant. See original post here.
Apr
27
On Friday I had what seemed like a somewhat panicky email from Mary at Horses In Art magazine wondering if I would “please” join the Equine Art Guild group ad in the summer issue since they had only three artists signed up. That issue will be going to The Draft Horse Classic in the fall, so I did a little quick mental figuring and decided that I could use The Green Team for the ad, even though it’s not finished, and it would be appropriate for a show of all draft horses. The images in those ads are fairly small after all.
Yesterday morning I was supposed to go riding, visit with my barn friends and then come home to work on “the boys”. Didn’t happen. The arthritis had really kicked up, and I was hurting a lot. I had worried all night about our cat, Annie, because she hadn’t seemed to feel well for the past couple of days. She has digestive system problems, and I wondered if she was taking a turn for the worse and wondered if I should take her to the vet. In the end, I decided to stay home, keep an eye on Annie, and catch up on some reading time after taking an Aleve. The thought of sitting on a moving horse or sitting at the easel held no appeal whatsoever.
By today, the pain had pretty much subsided, but time was short, so instead of laying on a heavier layer of paint, I opted to glaze green over the blue trailer in an attempt to build up some luminosity and depth of color. This time, remembering my difficulties with the Bard portrait a few days ago, I oiled out the canvas first, and the paint went on really smoothly.
After that, I set up the camera on a tripod, shot the painting and adjusted it in Photoshop. Just to be sure, I printed out the image in a nice big size with my Epson 2200 printer and was very pleased with the results. The image is now ready to send to Mary by tomorrow which is the deadline she gave me.
And, just in case you’re wondering, Annie seems to be fine now. In fact, she stole a piece of cheese from my dinner not once but twice while I was watching 60 Minutes! It’s a good thing that she’s very lovable and cute!
©Copyright 2008 by Karen Baker Thumm. See original post here.
Apr
27
Watch my donkey video on youtube.com.
I can’t believe I did this. I got the idea to record the donkeys talking to me. Then I decided if I did that, I should have some pictures to go along with it.
So I added some photos, and some noise, from me and the donkeys, and put it all together.
Hopefully, the link to you tube works and you can see my movie! Pardon my voice, as I have a bad cold.
Donna
©Copyright 2008 by Donna Ridgway. See original post here.
Apr
26
Success!
Filed Under Bethany Caskey | Leave a Comment
I thought it was time to post an updated photo of the new rescues:
Oh, wait, wrong photo. This is the neighbor’s bison. So easy to get confused. It is the same color as Jim’s rescue :^P
Tonight all the patience paid off. I went into the round corral and the chestnut filly let me walk up to her and touch her, but walked away. She let me walk up and touch again and walked away. I went to the corral panel and snapped the rope onto the vertical post and laid the rope out. The filly watched. I walked up to her and caught her. She knew once the rope was up, she was caught. Figuring out she needed to be in the corner was beyond her figuring. Thank goodness they are smart and understand what happens next so quickly. I used that to an advantage. I love it when things work out like I think they should! She even let me lead her by her mane up and to where I wanted to play with her. I put the rope around her neck, went and got oat toasties for the two of them and then took the rope off while she ate and I gave her a good grooming with a curry and picked up all four feet. So here is a photo of her tonight. It will be worthwhile to see how she fills out in the coming months.
She has a name now. Dulcinea. Dulci for short.
“Dulcinea is a fictional character who is referred to (but does not appear) in Miguel de Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote. She is also known as Dulcinea del Toboso, Aldonza Lorenzo, and Aldonza de Toboso.
Seeking after the traditions of the knights-errant of old, Don Quixote finds a true love whom he calls Dulcinea. She is a simple peasant in his home town, but Quixote imagines her to be the most beautiful of all women. At times, Quixote goes into detail about her appearance, though he freely admits that he has never seen her.
Don Quixote describes her appearance in the following terms: “… her name is Dulcinea, her country El Toboso, a village of La Mancha, her rank must be at least that of a princess, since she is my queen and lady, and her beauty superhuman, since all the impossible and fanciful attributes of beauty which the poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are gold, her forehead Elysian fields, her eyebrows rainbows, her eyes suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her fairness snow, and what modesty conceals from sight such, I think and imagine, as rational reflection can only extol, not compare.” [Volume 1/Chapter XIII]
In the Spanish of the time, Dulcinea means something akin to an overly elegant “sweetness”. In this way, Dulcinea is an entirely fictional person for whom Quixote relentlessly fights. To this day, a reference to someone as your “Dulcinea” implies hopeless devotion and love for her.
She does appear in stage and film adaptations of the book. In cinema and on stage, she has been played by (among others) Sophia Loren, Joan Diener, Hollis Resnik, and Vanessa Williams. In the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha, she is a self-described whore. Her given name is (Aldonza), and a prominent arc of the musical follows her distrust and then fervent belief in Don Quixote’s quest. She begins as someone who has no self-worth, Aldonza, and through Quixote’s belief in her, she begins to believe in herself as someone of great worth and takes on the name Dulcinea. Also in the musical, a priest sings a song called “To Each His Dulcinea”, in which he reflects that although Dulcinea does not exist, the idea of her is what keeps Don Quixote alive and on his quest.”
I think it fits her. Only the delusional see the potential beauty there.
Meet Dulcinea!
©Copyright 2008 by Bethany Caskey. See original post here.
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