Flash in the Sky

     I have not been doing as much as I need to with doll work so it's time to talk about my horses again. This is Flash in the Sky. She is my Matriarch resin Joan Yount painted for me a whole bunch of years ago, but I don't remember how many. I may still have been St.Onge then, but I am not sure (and I can't currently get at her to check and see if she has a date on her. 

     Flash in the Sky was the name of Dr. Mike's horse in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. I love that show. I used to watch it mostly because it's full of horses. But now I also just really like the show. Somewhere I have the entire series (plus all the movies, which were not as good as the show) in a DVD box set that Ethan gave me as a gift a few years back. Anyway, my Flash looks nothing like Dr. Mike's Flash, but I like the name. Joan did an amazing job on her finish work. Joan did the paint work as a gift to me. I have loved this special horse since I added her to my collection. She does do some performance showing, though not a ton of it, and even with her light showing career she will always stay with me. 

     As a standing horse Flash in the Sky is not necessarily an ideal performance horse. You can absolutely show a standing horse in performance, but it is certainly easier with a horse that seems to be paying attention to a rider/handler and not just standing there. She does work well enough for things like this two barrels and a pole game (all of the reference is from the Braymere blog). I have put it in the show ring for years as a game. And it certainly can be a game. It only just now occurred to me that it can be used as a trail obstacle. Which is basically what Jennifer's post says. You really do learn something new every day. 

     Flash in the Sky also works nicely as a roping horse. She really should just be standing there, waiting for her rider. The fact that her head is slightly turned works out nicely, in my opinion, because I can't imagine a horse wanting to stand with a rope laying across the side of it's face. 

      One of my favorite uses for Flash in the Sky is this Extreme Cowboy entry. The idea of the class is very simple, but you need some specialized equipment (aka, super bendy doll) to make it work well. The idea is that the rider rides to one cone and picks up a tennis ball without dismounting. Then they ride to the next cone and put the ball down on it. As the reference shows, the horse really is just standing there and the rider leans way down, and basically hangs off the saddle, to complete the task. I made this doll specifically for this entry. Though he also is my roping cowboy, sometimes a random side walker in therapeutic riding, and whatever else I can get him to do. 

     Anyway, I am sure I have done some other things over the years with Flash in the Sky, but I know she has done the Extreme Cowboy set-up often. Maybe one day, if I ever feel like going to a live show again, I might want to see if I can get her to do more things. Maybe. But I have so many horses that I can show I don't know if I would try it or not. Maybe if showing starts to get boring. We'll see. 

     Most of my traditional scale horses really need to earn their keep. If they don't do well in the performance ring they often move on to new homes. But Flash in the Sky will stay with me even if she just hangs out and looks pretty.