Performance Only Photo Show- English

       The next division of the Performance Only Photo Show was the English division. In the OF division Lady Liberty got 5th out of 10. 

Bring the Mayhem got 4th. 

    There were only 4 entries in AR/CM traditional English pleasure. Bootlegger was at the bottom of the class in 4th place. 

    But Purdy Zippin Chick got first place. 

Up next was OF dressage which had 7 Entries. Bring the Mayhem got 2nd

Over in AR/CM dressage there were 6 entries. Bootlegger got 4th

While Purdy Zippin Chick got 1st!

In OF traditional show jumping Bring the Mayhem got 4th out of 8

 In AR/CM traditional show jumping Bootlegger also got 4th but out of just 5.

The only Cross country entry I had was Bootlegger in the tiny 2 horse cross country class, where he got 1st.

   Other English was a very mixed class. In OF Other English there were 9 entries. Bring the Mayhem's horseball entry got 4th.

And Lady Liberty's therapeutic riding entry got 3rd.

Over in AR/CM Other English there were 7 entries. Purdy Zippin Chick got 5th with her arena trail entry. 

And Bootlegger got 2nd with his side saddle entry. 

      So far my showing was going quite well. One more division to go!

A Funny Thing Happened the Other Day

         I sort of think from now on I am going to do a blog post with commentary on whatever the topic is on Mares In Black. I had an incredibly huge response on yesterday's post about classism in the hobby. I have posts where I am pretty sure people look at the top photo and if it is food, they skip it. I don't just talk about food, even if there is food in the posts. Sometimes I am talking about school or my kids, or life in general. Recently I talk a lot about being tired. It's true, I am tired. But yesterday I talked about classism, which is definitely a hot-button issue these days. A lot of people agreed with what I said. Some people still are firm believers that it is just high end entries that win. I am not going to try and convince anyone. Maybe there are places where judges are pinning their friend's entries. That is not my experience. Maybe there are places where judges are just pinning the "prettiest" entries. I did experience this once and I was not sure it was actually what I was seeing. But I mentioned it to the show holder and other showers had also voiced that concern. Like I said yesterday, for the most part (in performance anyway) it doesn't matter all that much what you spent on a thing. It's how you set it up that matters. The shows I have been to really do pin (usually) by what is the most correct. And if everything is equally correct it then will come down to details. It does happen. Jennifer Buxton did a wonderful post last year on The Wow Factor. If you have not read it, or need a refresher, go take a read. There is a lot that goes into judging performance and also into setting up a good performance entry. And most of it does not rely on spending the most money but creating the most complete picture. And often, time to accumulate the stuff and the skills to do well. 

     Anyway, yesterdays post got shared a lot and has a lot of views. I am glad people are talking about the issue. I wish more of us were better at being in someone else's shoes. I understand envy is an emotion. It is not voluntary. It just happens. Yes, I experience envy at times. About a variety of things. Sometimes I envy people for being able to easily have a date night (alone). Sometimes I have envy about something in someone's collection, a trip they have taken, etc, etc, etc. It does happen. And while you can't necessarily squash all of the envy out of yourself, you can in fact retrain your brain a bit. it's called neuroplasticity. Even though spellcheck doesn't like it and is a real thing. This poem (that I also have taped to the cabinet in my kitchen) is about raising a child with special needs. 

        The poem (which I hope you read) is about planning a wonderful trip to Italy. All the plans and then finding yourself in Holland. And you have to stay there. You can then spend your whole life being upset that you didn't get to go to Italy, or you can appreciate Holland. I feel it can apply to all sorts of areas of your life. You can be upset that you don't have X,Y, or Z, or you can appreciate what you have. Sometimes it is a stretch but you can usually find something to be thankful for. I have a lot of trip envy and definitely some hardcore FOMO at times. And it is hard, I'm not gonna lie. But I can find something to be happy about. Even if it is literally the joy of my friends having a good time and the hope that maybe some day I can be there too. Or being grateful for the Internet so I can at least see the wonderful places they are experiencing. 

       On a lighter note, I am working on a doll that is partially in armor again. I sent this photo of a pile of craft foam to the customer and told her that, clearly, I had a long way to go before it was done. I mentioned to Joan that I use craft foam and witchcraft to make doll armor. It's true, lol. 

      I am still feeling wonky since my migraine the other day. But I am doing better and hopefully today will be better than yesterday. I was told the residuals can last a few days. Super. So a little bit at a time I will be better. Yesterday I actually got to help some kids during a virtual class. It was not a big thing, not yet, but it was a step. We'll get there. We are all learning how to do this. Every day I think will be a little better. A little bit easier. I work with a whole bunch of really amazing people, we will figure this out!

      Since I am limiting my screen time I am going to wrap up this post with a cool photo Juanita Bitter sent me. She said she has her own "field of dolls" and it made me laugh! I love it!

Classism in the Hobby

My very first performance entry

     The other day I was listening to Mares In Black #50, which is about classism in the hobby. I have now tried to write this post 4 or 5 times and I can't seem to find the words to make it work. 

     In the above photo I have an OF Stone Performance horse (may have been $40 when I bought him... may have been less) who is wearing a western saddle I made from a Rio Rondo kit. I made the saddle pad and the doll. The wall is a piece of foam board with printed out "ads" on it. The footing is a piece of ultrasuede I got on sale at Joann's. This was not a particularly expensive entry to set up. At the time I did it, it was expensive to me. 

     We have never been impoverished. We never had to make a choice between putting food on the table or paying the bills. Sometimes the food was the cheapest of the cheap (did you know you can make a "meal" from hot dogs that cost less than $1 a package and mac n cheese that costs 25 cents a box?) but there was always something to eat. I understand being poor. I understand looking at the cost of a $40 (at the time) NIB Breyer and saying it was just way too expensive. I get that. I have lived that. I have also learned to be really good at being poor. 

     What does it mean to be good at being poor? Part of it is not saying you are too good for something. We are not too good to live in a trailer, but we have a lot of people who are struggling to get by who say they are. Being good at being poor is saying that you don't need to have cable TV, to eat out, to eat premade ("easy") foods. Being poor is switching electric companies because you find one with a slightly better rate and you figure out how much you can save in a year (even if it's $20). There are other things as well. So, to me, being good at being poor is finding ways to live on the cheap and then choosing that one thing that is your luxury. And then you go without a lot of other things. 

     Model horses are my luxury. I have a nice collection. I don't have an amazing, out of this world collection, but it is nice. I don't have a large collection, which is how it is as nice as it is. When I started out in the hobby I had a handful of old Breyer horses from my childhood. I also had the phrase "I will never be able to afford that". I don't say that anymore. Some things still fall into the category of I-will-likely-never-be-willing-to-pay-that-much-for-that. That doesn't mean that the thing, whatever it is, is not worth the money, it just means I know that it is not an amount of money that I could spend, personally on a hobby item. That is part of my definition of being good at being poor. Being able to say I can't afford that, without saying that is too expensive. Those are very different phrases to me. 

      And now I have arrived at the part of the post where I have trouble continuing. This portion has been in different spots, at different times. So let me just push forward and we will see what we get...

     There is definitely a difference between the haves and have-nots in the hobby. There are people who can spend $20,000 on a model horse and there are a good chunk of us who can not. That costs a lot more than my car. I personally could not afford to do that and would not be comfortable spending that much on a model. But no one has a right to tell me how to spend my money and I don't have the right to tell them how to spend their money. Maybe they saved up all year to bid on those rare breyer horses. Maybe they just have a lot of money, some people do. I think maybe some of the problem with classism in the hobby is that there is no easy solution. It is not fair or right to tell the people with a lot of money (or really good saving skills) to stop buying expensive items. On the other hand, it shouldn't just be the expensive things that always win. 

     I personally think that performance showing is the great equalizer. You can have the most expensive models, tack and props and you can still F@#$ it all up when you put your entry on the table. My bargain entry above didn't win the class, but it was my very first show, it would have been a miracle if it had. It is possible to start small. Maybe borrow some tack and try out performance showing and see if you like it. I know that some people don't really know anyone in the hobby, which makes that harder. I am not really sure what the solution to that would be. 

     In February of 2013 I wrote a post about showing on a budget. The same day I posted another about budget showing with a twist. Some of the stuff from those posts I still have and I still use. Yes, if you get all of the things all at once it can be quite an investment. But a nice collection usually doesn't happen overnight. For a long time I had just OF horses and not high end OF horses. I had western tack that I made myself. My first English saddle cost $100 and I prepped a lot of horses to work for it. When I first saw it I said "I will never be able to afford that". I would make things myself or trade dolls for things. In some ways I am very lucky. I have a tradeable skill. I also have worked really hard to develop that skill, it didn't just happen overnight. 

    So what is the solution to the classism problem? I don't have one. I know we can't just say to spend the money on the nicer stuff. If you don't have the money, there is just no way around it. But start small. Maybe try your hand at painting or tack making. Or prepping. A lot of people hate prepping but will pay for someone to prep for them. Maybe see if you can borrow some things to try out performance showing. Start small. Get what you can afford or what you can afford to make and work up from there. That is how I started. I made stuff and I bought the lower end stuff. When I could trade for higher end stuff I would. I have sold things to help pay for nicer things. I have slowly built my small, but nice collection over the last 13 years. And it is small. I currently have 6 traditional scale resins and 2 custom horses that I show. One of the resins I painted myself, 2 were painted by artists that either were having sales or were still fairly unknown and had really low commission prices. 2 were painted by a friend as gifts. One I am almost sure I partially traded for. My newest custom was expensive. To me. I have seen customs go for a lot more. But I wanted her badly. So I traded some dolls and saddlebags for her and made up the difference in cash. She was definitely expensive for me, but trading helped her to be within reach. She was also the only hobby purchase I had made (other than really low priced props) in years. And then I ordered a saddle for her from Mandy Claussen, who is a new tack maker, but her work is not at new tack maker level. Her prices are VERY reasonable. I also ordered a bridle from Danielle Hart. Did I spend a bunch of money on a new horse and tack? I sure did. But I have also been just saving for a long time. 

      So again, I have no solution to the problem. People with a lot of money can much more easily get the high end horses and other items. People without a lot of money just can't. And it is hard to be at the bottom of things. It's hard to see the things that you want and know that you may never have them. It takes years to develop the skills to make tack well, paint or sculpt well, or to make incredibly realistic dolls. I have not had the patience to learn to paint to the level that I want. Same with tack making. I CAN make tack, but I don't have the patience to learn to be a really good tack maker. If I had no other choice maybe I would have learned. But I can make dolls and I worked hard at developing that skill. And I can trade those for the things I want. Not always, but enough. So maybe the answer is we all need to learn a little patience. If you are new, don't expect to win everything (or anything) or to have an amazing collection right away. Learn, grow as a shower, grow your collection. These things take time. If you are a long-time shower and have an amazing collection and/or a lot of money, remember that once upon a time you were new. And be kind and welcoming. Not everyone can spend a lot on the hobby. But the hobby can still be fun for everyone if we all remember that we have the same love of tiny plastic horses. 

My Newest performance entry

One Down

      Virtual school is weird. There is no way around it. We followed our Wednesday schedule yesterday (yes, we knew it was Tuesday) so we could meet with all of the classes. I had to log into a variety of different classes. I had slow connection issues often. I got bumped out of the Google Meets a few times. It was a little bit tough. But we made it through. Hopefully now that we got past the first day the rest will fall into place. It does sometimes happen. 

     After school the kids and I went to the eye doctor. Travis really loves those little roll up sunglasses, I have no idea why. But he sure looks good in them. 

     I am exhausted. The school days are going to continue to be weird for weeks. And then probably a different kind of weird after that. But we will get there. The good news is the kids seem really excited to "see" and talk to each other again. At least they have that. And we can slowly get used to groups of kids being in the school again. But not just yet. 

Here We Go...

       I have been doing professional development for the past 11 days. I have read a ton of IEPs, collaborated with all of the teachers I will be working with (and some that I will not be working with), watched training videos on every aspect of Google, SEL, and videos that staff has made about how to fix issues, what the kids are thinking and so on. The video on what the kids are thinking and feeling was excellent. One of the councilors got kids from most of the grades to get on a video chat and they went through a variety of questions. The good news is, the kids seem like they are going to be understanding that this is new for all of us. At least the group that got to voice their opinions on things. So hopefully we all can figure things out quickly and sort of smoothly. The kids want to make connections and they are concerned that the hybrid model of school will make that harder. They think this year will be weird (a couple said that). Well, we can do this. Weird is OK. We'll survive this. 

                                                        

        So I think I am ready for school to start officially. I spent a bunch of time yesterday figuring out my schedule and where I need to be and when and on what day. You'd think with 11 days to prep I would have a clue. Nope. I had other things that were more important than knowing what time I have to be in a class! But I have connected with all of the teachers I will be working with, joined all of the Google Classrooms and I wrote down the times for each class on my schedule. And there are bells so I'll be fine. The first day of school is always a little bit scary. This first day feels like my first-first day. At least I know people. That will help. 

       When I got home yesterday I had a couple of packages, and packages always make me happy. I actually had totally forgotten I bought a mini Gustav from Myla Pierce. Not sure how I could have, I paid and she shipped him pretty much instantly. I must have a lot on my mind. She sent him with a little friend. Trunk-up elephants are lucky. So this was well timed. It is going to be a good year. If I say it enough I will start to believe it. 

      Since I have an eye appointment later this afternoon I had to switch my laundry day to yesterday. It was actually really good and I am considering a permanent switch to a Monday laundry day. I could be into it maybe. While we were out I needed to get some lobster clasps from Joann's to make mask leashes (the thought of putting masks down on the desks and so on is not cool). I have one I made for myself and I wanted to make some for friends too. While I was getting materials I found a new friend for my car. How could I refuse this little Swarovski flamingo? Especially when I had a 50% coupon? So now I have a car flamingo and all is right with the world. 

      So I really have no idea how today is going to go. I know how in person getting-to-know-you goes. Some teachers make little videos about themselves but I always choose to just wing it. I find the thought of making a video about myself, that I can edit, to be sort of scary. But just saying stuff about me that pops into my head doesn't bother me at all. As anyone knows who watches my live sales! Sure I'll be nervous, that is one of my things, but winging it works for me. Anyway, today I meet most of the kids I will be working with this year. And I am a little scared. Wish me luck!

Robin Broke the Doll

       A long time ago, Sometime in the summer of 2008, Robin Briscoe asked me if I could make a youth doll for the cover of JAH. Robin did a lot of (all of?) the cover photos back then. I was a little concerned because I was super poor back then and the idea of donating a whole doll seemed terrifying. Robin assured me it was a loan. She would do the photos and send the doll back and then I could do whatever I wanted with it. That was a lot less scary. Then Robin broke the doll. 

      This might have seemed like a bad thing but it was the start of something really great. Out of the box a Breyer youth doll is basically worthless. They lack the articulation of even the regular Breyer dolls and those are not all that great to start out with. So really, when Robin broke that youth doll it lead to a lot of improvements in youth dolls. At least when I make them. I know Joan Yount also extensively fixes any Breyer dolls before they leave her studio. 

Photo from Google

     While Robin was trying to get the little doll I sent her to behave and to sit and hold the reins properly, without her arms sticking out in weird ways, she snapped the tiny joint the in the shoulder. Which was fantastic. All of a sudden she could get the arms down. So I figured I would fix the doll (everything is fixable) and make her more useful than ever before.

     Fast forward to 2020 and making youth dolls has become incredibly involved. I am not a big fan of making youth dolls. They are far from easy to do. First you had to chop them up and then you have to put them back together. What you end up with is a very flexible, very good doll. Who is also a little bit fragile. 

     Remember how I said the dolls lack the articular of the adult dolls? They sure do. So I chop off their ankles and pin them so they can be moved. I used to literally pin them (with pins) but I decided to try out sculpting wire. Seemed like the right thing to do. Out came my tiny rotary tool with the tiny drill bit. And the super glue. For youth dolls that are supposed to be younger kids I cut a chunk out of the weirdly long torso and cut off some of the legs. There is a lot of cutting, pinning, gluing... it's very involved. 

     When I glue the 2 piece of the torso together I wrap a piece of medical tape around to keep the super glue in and the keep the pieces together while the glue dries. Fun fact: when I remake the legs like this I have forgotten to put them through the pelvis before gluing the second end of the wire into the second leg. Which means I have to take something apart to keep going. Youth dolls make me grind my teeth a little bit at times. 

Making the upper arms out of sculpting wire allows them to be pushed in really close to the body after the doll is dressed. So I attach sculpting wire to the lower part of the youth arm and run it through the shoulders on the doll. Then they get wrapped with gauze and tape. 

       For this little doll I felt her lower arms were too long so I trimmed them down. Then they were too short. So I just cut the hands off and put them on wire. I should have replaced those gorilla mitts with smaller hands. Breyer youth dolls really are terrible dolls!

        I have an order for a shortish, slightly overweight doll. So I am remaking this youth doll to be a bit chubby and she will get a Gracie head. At this point this doll is sort of made of gauze and tape. But when she is dressed she will be OK. Not perfect, because a padded doll is still a padded doll, but I do what I can with what I have. I have limited options for base dolls after all. 

     Sometimes I find when the legs are all together and wrapped that they are just too long and look weird. That happened this time around. I have the really young youth doll, the youth doll that will be an adult and another youth doll which was not specified to be super young (and the reference did not look super young) so I was attempting to make this doll to be a young, but not too young, skinny kid. This one needed to be adjusted so I ripped off all of the layers of everything (which was much harder than usual for some reason) yanked her leg shorter on the other side, pulled the wire out of the naked leg, trimmed the wire, reglued... Hopefully when the glue is dry and I rewrap that leg it will look better. 

      So here is my comparison photo. The doll on the left is going to be a younger doll, the doll in the middle is an unaltered Breyer youth doll and the doll on the right is my modified youth doll to be a shortish, slightly chubby adult. 

     Youth dolls are not easy to make but they can be sort of versatile, even though they are a bit delicate. And it all started because Robin broke a doll. 

Performance Only Photo Show-Western

         There are a lot of shows popping up these days. Sadly for me, not a lot of them have performance classes. The Performance Only Photo Show is clearly different. There are is a separate division for AR/CM, mini AR/CM, OF, and mini OF performance entries. It's pretty great. When I took my new performance photos of Purdy Zippin Chick, it was partially working with this show's class list that helped me plan out what I wanted to do. 

     The first class was AR/CM Western pleasure. Purdy Zippin Chick got 1st out of a class of 7

      Over in OF Western pleasure, Lady Liberty got 4th place out of a class of 8

Next was OF Traditional Reining. Bootlegger was 1st of 4

I didn't have any entries in OF reining, so my next class was AR/CM traditional western trail. Bootlegger got 5th place out of 8. 

And Purdy Zippin Chick got 1st. 

There were also 8 entries in the OF Traditional trail class. Lady Liberty got 1st

Bootlegger got 3rd of 3 in AR/CM traditional natural trail.

Next up was AR/CM traditional cow work. Bootlegger got 1st in a class of 7 with his working cowhorse entry. 

OF traditional cow work had 8 entries. Bring the Mayhem got 4th with his working cowhorse entry.

And Lady Liberty got 2nd with her roping entry.

    To round out the western division we had AR/CM traditional Other Western performance. Purdy Zippin Chick got 1st in a class of 7.

Bootlegger got 5th with his housewife scurry game.

There were 7 entries in OF traditional Other western. Bring the Mayhem also did the Housewife scurry entry and got 5th (what a funny coincidence!)

        And Lady Liberty got 2nd with her Extreme Cowboy entry. 

                              

         I was hoping to hold off on posting these show reports until the champs were done. Recently I am struggling to think of things to post about. So I am just going to post this and will post about champs when they are ready. I still want to do a post about my props, but that is going to take a lot of time to even just take the photos. I seem to be lacking in free time these days for some reason, lol.