RXR

I am aware that I am a huge slacker when it comes to blogging. Usually I can't think of things to write about and I don't want to post about the craziness of my life, I don't think anyone really wants to hear it. Region X Regionals was last weekend and it didn't occur to me to write about it until yesterday. And then I could not get my computer to cooperate and load pictures. And blogs are not as much fun without photos in my opinion. So lets get to the fun!
Anyone that knows me knows I am a performance junkie. When I remember (or have time to) take pictures I take almost only performance pictures. I do love certain halter horses and may take pictures but I love the action of performance photos. And mostly I take photos of horses with dolls. I get a kick out of seeing my dolls out at shows but I admire any nicely done dolls and take lots of pictures if there is something I really admire. So onto some performance photos and doll fun!
First we have the start of the day. Last year the dolls "played" a lot and everyone had a good time playing with them. So this year I got this lovely swing set for the dolls to play on. At the start of the day they were mostly well behaved.

This next doll belongs to my friend Joan Fauteux. Joan has more of my dolls than anyone else and always comes up with more that she wants. This cross country lady is the newest in her collection. I can't remember the horse's name but I believe the tack was made by Jana Skybova. Joan made the awesome cross country jump herself.

This doll was made for me by my good friend and doll maker buddy, Joan Yount. This was one of the first hunt seat dolls that Joan made. The only thing I did to this doll was remake her boots when we were working out how to make the leather hunt boots. This was my OF dressage entry. I got reserve champion in the patterned performance stakes this year. I was pretty excited about that one. The horse is Lady Intrigue and the tack was made by Cari (Godwin) Chaney.

Joan Yount made this lovely Western pleasure doll as well. Joan sent me a photo and said she was for sale and it was love at first site, I had to buy her. The horse is Skippa Latte (I "borrowed" the name from Joan as well) which is a Breyer Party Girl. The tack was made by Kirsteen Haley and the lovely saddle pad was made by Elise Patisan. She makes beautiful saddle pads and they are super affordable. It made coordinating the set incredibly easy and her turn-around time is super quick.

I did actually make this cowboy. He is another one belonging to Joan Fauteux. I think she named him Jack but that is the only thing I know about the set-up. I don't know the tack maker, the horses name or anything. I do know I took the photo through the trees on someone elses entry because I thought it looked cool.
These 2 western ladies also belong to Joan Fauteux. I think she has at least 3 western dolls I made. The doll in black and pink was one of the first western dolls I made. The pink doll was one of the sales dolls at regionals last year. The funny part of Joan's doll collection is she has more of my dolls than I do. I should work on that :)

This was my natural western trail entry. This doll (I think her name is Mary) was cleaning up the trash on the trail. Her horse, Lady Liberty, is waiting patiently. The saddle was made by Pam Perkins and I can't remember where the bridle is from. We had some trouble with the doll falling over but several of us worked on it and she stayed up long enough to get first. I also made the diorama.

This nest western doll was a custom order from Lauren Upton. I don't know anything else about the photo really. Lauren has been doing an awesome job with her performance set-up.

This doll is Muffy. She is owned by Marisa Evans. The horse is Electric Mayhem who is a stone pony customized by Liesl Dalpe. The tack was make by Cari Chaney. Muffy is a very versatile doll and has a removable hunt coat.

The dolls seemed to have fun with the swing set but they did not do as much as they did last year. Maybe the lack of toys inspires more silliness. They did get a bit silly throughout the day...

...and so did this cow. He thought he was a jumper (he needs tack and a doll!)

This lovely lady belongs to Linda White however the entry was by Corrie McDermott. All I know about the rest of the set-up is that the horse is a CM ISH that Corrie won in the raffle at last year's regionals. I love the tack though, perhaps I should ask about it one of these days.

This is That 70's Godiva owned by Morgen Kilbourn. Morgen just started performance showing and has done extremely well. She asks questions of everyone and had gotten her stuff down. She won several large rosettes at regionals this year. The doll is one of mine and was a custom order. She has removable chaps as well as a removable collar and cuffs. This doll and the cowboy that went with him was the reason I decided to no longer to anything removable, lol. They made me crazy. They turned out nicely though.

This next doll was done by Darla Curtis. I took several photos of her from many different angles. She is a wonderful doll full of amazing detail. One day I may make dolls of this caliber but today is not that day, lol.This last entry is another one of mine. It is my OF showmanship entry. I made the handler and the judge as well as the horse's halter and the little judges kit (that you can't see). This set-up got champion for the second year in a row. I was really excited about this one and hope to keep the title next year as well.
I took a ton of photos this year but couldn't load them all here. The show was a lot of fun and the weekend was nice. Regionals is always a very interesting show and unlike any other. In my opinion it is a great way to end the show season and gives everyone something to look forward to next year.