Proxy showing performance

 I had a plan. It was a good plan, both color coded and detailed. When I said I would proxy show my friend Fabian's new Knightly Cadence resin at Quabbin Valley Performance Open in the hopes of getting him some NAN cards so he could show there this year I was confident I could snag him some cards. I am a pretty good performance shower most of the time so I figured I could do it. Then after I said I could probably do it (no guarantees though, I live in the real world where you can't always win even if you work hard at it) I started to get nervous. Not only was I going to show a horse I don't own IN PERFORMANCE but this was the difference between NAN and no NAN for a good friend. Holy crap, what did I get myself into! So I made a plan. As I mentioned it was color coded; my horses and what they were doing in each class were listed in blue. Fabian's horse was in green. Details (tack, doll, etc) that needed to be changed was listed after each in red so I couldn't miss it if I spaced out a bit. Did I mention it was detailed?
   QVPO is a very cool performance show with a Stockhorse, Western, Other Performance, Sporthorse, English and Costume division in both OF and CM. Really, if you have never gone and get the chance to be in Region X at the end of April (it is always held the last weekend before the NAN cutoff) it is absolutely worth attending. So since I was still showing my own horses, though I did keep my entries down to make it easier on myself, I decided to show Fabian's horse in Western, English and a class in Other performance. There was a reason for this but I will get to that later. So the first class was western arena trail. I think I did a carry the bucket from on barrel to another but I forgot to pay attention to the doll (I had to borrow one because I didn't have enough. Yes, I am ashamed) and she wasn't looking at anything in particular. The class was huge so that detail really mattered. Crap, time to start paying more attention. The next class was western games and I decided to do a rescue race because that is often my lazy go-to set-up for a fast moving horse. Well he got honors (the show places to 6th) in a very large class but still no NAN card.

The good news on this is Fabian had never seen the set-up before and was interested. It IS a good one for a faster moving horse...just not overly interesting.
   The next class was other western performance and I decided to do western riding because while it's a fairly simple class it often does really well. We managed 4th place on that one. Still no NAN card and I am almost out of western classes!

My last chance for the western card was in western pleasure-other type. I was a bit nervous because I was really hoping to do well for Fabian. The classes were HUGE and as anyone that has shown in Region X knows, the competition is fierce (friendly, but fierce). But the good news is...

...I managed to snag second in western pleasure-other type! I was so excited! I grabbed my camera and my cell phone so I could text Fabian the good news about the western card. I almost didn't make it but I was VERY happy to have gotten it in the end.
   After the western division was the other performance division. I put Fabian's horse in a Liberty set-up because again, it was what I could think of that was sort of easy. And this wasn't about a NAN card so the placing didn't matter overly much.

I did at least make up some Morgan horse specific liberty documentation but that was also my downfall! The judge pointed out that in the second line of my documentation it says the exhibitor will wear the show number. I didn't put a show number on my guy or the set-up would probably have placed higher according to the judge. It really does come down to teeny tiny details at times. But we got 5th which is placing and that was cool.
   After that I had to wait through the sporthorse division (not really "wait" I showed my horses in all the divisions) for the English division. That started off with English games. I decided ahead of time that I would show Fabian's horse in side saddle because side saddle is his thing and I have learned A TON from him about side saddle. Plus it gave me a chance to show my awesome side saddle tack made by Jennifer Buxton on another horse. That was a bit of a challenge because the stuff I am used to is with a standing horse! So For Fabian's horse I did a simple looking tennis ball carry game. You ride to the first cone (which has a tall extension for the tennis ball) and pick up the ball. Then you ride to the second cone and put the ball on it. My beautiful side-saddle specific (with a photo) documentation says walk to the second cone. Crap! So last minute I covered that up with a hand written piece that says generically to move it to the next cone. Well it was worth it.

The set-up got 1st and I got to text Fabian a picture of his English NAN card! Boy was I excited about that! My two biggest goals for the show were complete! 
   Next was other English performance and I did a side saddle riding lesson. I had only a card saying side saddle riding lesson, I had to do a doll change and play with all those reins but I thought it was kind of cool.

and placing at all in the classes was fantastic because they were very large and full of awesomeness. 
   I was getting a little bit stressed then and since I had the English card now and I didn't have a cool set-up for arena trail I skipped it and just got the horse ready for English pleasure-other type. I got third in that one but that class as well was very large.

So my last goal of the day was to try for one of the special awards. For the Versatility Challenge you needed to have 2 western classes, 2 English classes and an other performance class. You pick the classes that you want to count towards the award at the beginning of the show and write them on an index card with the owner and horse info. At the end of the day the hostess tallied the points from the people that entered the special performance challenges and awarded rosettes for champ and reserve. And this is what Fabian's horse got

Reserve Champion in the CM Versatility Challenge. I wanted to be able to send one of the beautiful rosettes to him with his (still really new) horse. I was very happy to have gotten both the Western and the English card and then a really pretty rosette to send back to Colorado. Proxy showing performance is a bit scary since it's not my horse and I want to do well for a friend. But it was fun and not too crazy. I might even be willing to do it again sometime.

BCS Winter Photo Challenge

So recently Jennifer Buxton posted a winter photo challenge on her blog. Awesome. If you'd like to compete here is a link to the post. I knew that I had to get in on this so I started thinking about my entries. Some of them were easier than others. Plus I wanted to come up with some ideas that were at least a bit original or not what you'd necessarily automatically think of from the prompts. So here we go:

1. Vintage

 My mother had this china horse for a lot of years before I was born. I'd say this is one of the most vintage horses I own. I still have no idea what it is.

2. Nekkid

This photo was from the Breyer vs Yvonne comparison post I did when the Yvonne doll first came out. Yvonne was showing off in this one. Brenda just can't move like that.

3. Scale issues

 I wasn't overly clever with this one.

4. I see spots

As far as I know my "I see spots" entry is (so far) unique. What I see is an OPEN SPOT on my shelf!

 

5. Unbridled passion

 Come on, who can top a little girl for unbridled passion about her model horses?

6. Rare breed

This is my ultra rare black and pink winged horse (created for me as a Secret Santa gift by Lindy Pinkham). I have never seen another one like it.

 

7. Portrait

This is my Elecktra doll next to a photo of my real Elecktra.

 

8. Conga 

Doll conga!

 

9. The great outdoors

 One of my all time favorite outdoor photos. Enchanted Eve out on the trail.

10. Best in show

Not too clever on this one...

So there are my entries. I hope you enjoyed them and I hope you enter the contest. I have been having a lot of fun seeing what everyone else has come up with.

 

Happy New Year! 2014 doll year in review

I have had a busy dolling year this year! I went through my books to see just how many of each type of doll I made and here is what I came up with:

  36 western pleasure

20 hunt seat ladies

 17 specialty 

 14 cowboys

 10 casual western

10 youth dolls that aren't hunt seat

9 saddle seat
7 western side saddle

8 youth hunt seat

5 upper level dressage

4 cross country

3 casual English

2 male hunt seat

1 side saddle

1 showmanship

for a total of 145 dolls finished this year

This year I hit 2 dolling milestones with my 700th doll in April

and my 800th doll just a couple of weeks ago.

Which leads me to believe if I work extra hard this year I might be able to hit 1000 dolls! But I don't know if that is likely to happen. One of my new goals for this year is to work on more miniature food items and keep up with my etsy store. I really have been having a great time sculpting the miniature food.

I guess we will see what this year brings. I know for sure there will be lots of dolls and tiny food. Happy New Year!

# 800

Are you ready for this? Last night I completed my 800th doll. That's pretty wild and I have to say, I feel pretty good about it. The very first doll was this Arabian rider doll who was completed in November of 2006.

In my first ever blog post, November 2008, I said since I had been making Arabian costumes I figured I should start with an Arabian rider. Made sense to me. I don't think she was bad for the first attempt at anything in this scale. She is not very much like anything I can do today though.
   So in the beginning of November I finally got to meet Jennifer Buxton in person when she came to judge at The Region X Championships. I wish we had met years ago. Anyway, Jennifer has a show-ring style Arabian costume that she doesn't use because she doesn't have a doll to go with that. I can get behind that kind of thinking. So she brought the costume with her and asked if I could make a doll to go with it. When she found out that I was nearing my 800th doll she asked if I would please make her doll as my 800th doll. 
   Of course I did, how perfect is that? The first doll ever was an Arabian rider and what a great milestone another one would be as #800. Challenge accepted!
   So here is the costume.

 I really like this costume. The colors are beautiful, it's very well made and VERY easy to use. All things I like in an Arabian costume. The challenge however is that I did not make the costume and it was made over 8 years ago. How do you match a doll to something like that? Carefully.
   Jennifer asked that I make the doll as "Hollywood" and blingy as possible. Super gaudy and obnoxious? I can do that. And here she is:

 

I had a very hard time matching the green color in the costume. Noting that Joann Fabrics carried was an exact match and I was looking for exact. The closest I found was some wide green ribbon. I figured I would piece it together to make her long vest. Not the coolest option but if it was what had to be done, I would do it.

 It turns out I did not have to piece together ribbon to make fabric. I have had this wonderful green silk for years now. I keep using a piece here and there for projects but since I bought so much (I was going to make a real-person sized clothing item with it) I still have plenty. It was a fantastic match to the drape of the costume! Not that you can see that in any of the photos since the long vest covers everything. It doesn't HAVE to I guess.

 My photos are a bit washed out and I can't really figure out how that happened so I will just keep talking about the costume. It really is obnoxious. I started with a black shirt with puffed sleeves tucked into gold harem pants. You will be able to see those pants across the show hall. They are shiny and catch the light and are just...obnoxious! But they go really well with the costume.

 Next was the long vest. It was made with green silk outlined in a gold and green sort of braided/fancy trim. In all of the green spaces on the trim I added an emerald green swarovski crystal. That thing has bling.

 If you look at the photo of doll #1 you can see she is wearing sandals. Well that is not safe in any way so #800 was much more sensible and put on some boots. Nothing fancy, just boots. Around the cuff of her pants I added some more emerald crystals. You know, because the pants weren't fancy enough.

 

# 800 also has a semi-repainted face under her veil. Mostly I did some quick work on her eyes to make her look a bit more exotic. She has on gold triangle shaped earrings with more emerald crystals on them and a veil with gold trim and gold "coins" added. Some for weight and some just because this costume needed more bling.

 The doll does ride well and fits on the costume perfectly. Nothing needed to be adjusted which was a happy bonus for me. I split out the doll's fingers so she can properly hold the reins English or Western, depending on what is correct. I honestly have no idea what is correct on this type of bridle.

 This next photo shows a bit of the drape as well as the doll clothes so you can see how nice a match the color is on her vest. I was really happy this worked out. The green silk has been used to make some of my favorite things and I was happy it worked for Jennifer's costume.

 What am I missing? Oh, the doll has rerooted black hair that was pulled back into a long braid and wrapped with gold thread. Just in case someone peeks through the layers of the veil I didn't want her hair to be boring.

 There is also a decoration on her back which has more emerald crystals on it.

 A vast portion of the vest is actually fairly plain so I wanted to add as many little extras as I could. This doll had to be special, there was no other way to do it.

 So to wrap this up, I have now officially been making dolls for just over 8 years. I have now made 800 dolls in total. Hopefully I can continue to make dolls for years to come and perhaps I will get another cool project for # 900. Thank you to everyone that has helped me to reach this point in my dolling and a special thanks to Jennifer Buxton for asking me to make this very special doll for a very cool milestone.

The coolest people ever

People in the model horse hobby are some of the coolest people ever. I have known this for a long time but it is more and more apparent recently. When I started live showing I got lots of help and LOTS and LOTS of help when I started performance showing. My personal experiences have been mostly positive and the people I have met are very giving and fun. I know it's not true of everyone in the hobby but most of the people I have met, or had interactions with, are fantastic.

Just recently I joined Model Horse Blab which is something I have been avoiding for years because I know I can get sucked into that forum and then get lost for hours. So far I have been doing OK and only check it for a few minutes...every single time I am on the computer. I catch up on posts I am following and sometimes catch something new. I am behaving for the most part. The point though of my mentioning joining was I started sending out PIFs (Pay It Forward) which I think really a better name for that would be random gifts. I have also received a couple of PIFs myself.

I received these dolls. I even have used one of them to make a gift for someone (I will post photos after Christmas)

 and just this past weekend I got this GIANT bag of Kisses. I will never run out of chocolate! (that's a lie)

I also signed up for the Blab Secret Santa which was SO much fun. I had a great time getting a gift together for my person and I received this great group of gifts from my Secret Santa partner.

There were doll making supplies, treats and chocolates, cozy socks and this AWESOME CM

I have never been into decorators but when I opened this I was so excited! It's a pink and black horse with wings and a pink crystal necklace on my favorite stablemate mold! It is MUCH cooler in person and I am actually excited to show in the fantasy class at a show now.

I think the most touching gift I have gotten from a model horse person recently was from my friend Jennifer Buxton. She mentioned she sent me a "little" present in the mail. It arrived today and it is indeed small in size. I would not call it a "little" gift. I opened up the little package (which came with the most adorable card that I totally forgot to take a photo of) and this is what was in it.

As usual when receiving a piece of tack from Jennifer I was awed by all the incredibly detail. I have never seen a stable halter this fancy! It still has tiny tongue buckles with rollers! Stitch marks, buckles on both sides of the crown and under the chin. Then I turned it around...

...and it has a name plate. I was amazed, awed, very touched and I came right home (seriously, I opened it at the mailbox) and got Enchanted Even down and put her in her new halter. Of course it is a perfect fit, looks absolutely gorgeous on her and is just so amazing.

This is not a "little" gift in my opinion. Eve thinks it's pretty fabulous as well. She is still wearing it and I think she is smugly looking at her shelf-mates and taunting them. What a lucky pony. And I am lucky too, to have such a great friend. Thank you SO much Jennifer for sending me this amazing "little" gift, I love it!

Human Trafficking

  

    I'm in human trafficking. 

    Don't freak out, it just means I sell dolls. But if you read my blog or know me at all you already know that. I've actually been selling dolls since 2007. I have never yet been to NAN to do room sales or to Breyerfest to do the artisans gallery. Some day maybe. What I do get to do every year is sell all weekend at The Region X Championships (TRXC). There is nothing quite as fun as seeing the people who are buying your work. My first weekend sales were at Region X Regionals which was the first incarnation of the annual championship show that region X holds. 

    In 2008 people played with the dolls. A lot.

 The dolls were dancing.

 Fighting

and being sweet to each other. Among other things. Since everyone was so into playing with the dolls that year I got a swing-set for them to play with the next year.

There really wasn't much playing as I recall.

   This year I had all sorts of things for sale. I had dolls as usual but also extra chaps, eventing kits, judges kits and miniature food items. I love making the miniature food. It's a fun distraction from regular doll making stuff.

And in the end while I do enjoy making other things I will always first be into human trafficking.

It makes me happy and seems to make other people happy too.

*note* top photo was by Jennifer Buxton. Used with permission. Brenda Bednar posed for the first and last photo so I could have them for this post.

Meeting Jennifer

Years ago when the newest incarnation of the biggest Region X show of the year became The Region X Championships (TRXC) it was decided that no one person would host or be expected to host, every single year. It is the regions show so everyone should help. With that in mind many people stepped forward offering to host the show. This year it was my friend Marisa Evans turn. Marisa is one of the busiest people I know and several months ago she asked if I could do something small for her (I can't remember what) and I asked if she needed more help. We carpooled from last year's TRXC so had been working on the list of volunteer judges. I offered to help her with anything she needed help with and became the co-host. So I actively started looking for judges for the show, specifically out of region guest judges.
   I immediately thought of Jennifer Buxton. She and I have been trading buddys and online friends for many years. Anyone that reads her blog knows at least some stuff about her and her life so I knew she was an experienced judge and would be a wonderful judge for both halter and performance (the qualities that make for a good stakes judge) and I emailed her to see if she was interested and could fit a weekend trip to New York into her schedule.
   She said yes.
   I was as excited as a little kid at Christmas because not only did we now have two amazing guest judges (Eleanor Harvey was returning this year and is always very welcome and appreciated) but I would actually get to meet Jennifer. I got on Google chat and told Marisa right away (how else do you talk when someone is at work?), I told my daughter Elecktra. I am sure I told my husband. Marisa and I decided to keep Jennifer a secret for as long as we could because I knew we couldn't be the only ones that would be excited she was coming.
   So the time went by and we finished plans for TRXC and then it was just time to finish getting dolls ready since I always have my big TRXC weekend sale every year. Friday came and I had a full day of making sure the house was clean, last minute errands and waiting for Elecktra to get home from school so we could head out. We finally got to Albany, did some hall set-up, went to dinner and when I came back I got to meet Jennifer finally. And from the first moment it was like I had known her forever. I love it when that happens. We have a lot in common but enough differences to keep things from getting boring. I heard stories about her kids (I NEED to meet them!) and I told stories about mine. We shared dog stories and stories upon stories. It was a wonderful weekend and I was sad that it had to end. I wanted to get home to my guys (Ethan and Travis stayed home) but Jennifer lives so far and I have never left New England. But I might just have to find a way to make that happen. Hopefully soon.
   I have never had any awe of Jennifer, I am in awe of her tack, I can't begin to make anything as beautiful and realistic, but she has always been a person I wanted to meet. I am very glad that got to happen and hope that she can come out and judge at TRXC again in the future.