Powder day!

If I get accepted to any of these schools in the northeast, I'm going to have very few of these. But today was just fantastic. We woke up to a momma moose and her baby standing right outside the big sliding glass doors. They then proceeded to stand in front of my bedroom window and eat the plants right outside. Total win.

The snow was coming down very hard. There have been... 8 inches in the last 24 hours on the mountain. I think that's a modest estimate seeing as there was a LOT of new powder on the mountain. Practically every run we found more. And more. And MORE. It was great.

Aside from the joy of lovely new powder, I've been thinking about breaking in my new saddle. (I have no idea why this is on my mind, please don't ask, I don't know.) I sometimes have trouble keeping my leg in the right place so I thought maybe I should tie my stirrup to the girth just to make sure I don't break it in wrong. Heaven forbid. Anyway...

Oh! Wait... I forgot. Agh, I'm so tired. I need to go to sleep now...

One application is gone!

That's right, one of my applications has been sent in. Now I just get to wait until I'm in Big Bend for the decision letter to come back. So I'll be biting my fingernails until then. Joy. And they're already so short!

Still, no further progress on Klondike. I need to kick myself back into action, since he's already such a late present. As a total newbie to customizing I totally underestimated the time it would take until I finished him. I don't think I'll ever underestimate it so grossly again. Yikes.

So, I have a question for the model horse people. How in the sam hill do you pay for all these model horses? And nice tack? And props? And Breyerfest? And... Okay, I better stop now. I can't figure out how model horses are really going to fit into my budget. I suppose I'll figure it out eventually. Until then... I should look for someone needing a babysitter.

Today we all went into town and I was dropped off at the toy store to drool over the Cloud Nines and Rachel Alexandras and the Big Chex to Cash and all the other lovely ponies they had. I should really stop torturing myself with all these pretty ponies. I probably never will, though.

Applications blues... again.

[Insert sound of despair and frustration here.] These stupid applications! This falls under "writing" so I might as well vent. One of the schools has essay questions for applicants for grades 9 and 10, and then for 11-Post Grad. I've been working on the two I have picked for 9-10, but because I was in such a state I looked at the 11-PG questions. Now I'm in more of a state, because I'd rather answer the questions for 11-PG! I like defined questions like that. Not the extremely open-ended ones. At least on this sort of thing. Because I'm worried that if I stray too much I'll just start rambling, and then what will happen? I just can't make any of these essays flow, either. I prefer to write the way I write this blog, which is just casual and relaxed. I don't like to write those irritating stupid annoying bothersome FORMAL essays! It's just not me writing them. I don't know who it is, but it's not me. So now I'm having issues concentrating on them because my nerves and brain are so ridiculously frazzled. Maybe I should erase that part because I'm giving the schools a link to this in the applications... no, I won't. Might not recommend me but at least I'm speaking my mind.

Oh, I have no idea what on earth I'm going to do. I keep re writing one of these for a certain school and I'm totally sunk if I have to send it in to them. Which I do. And I am sunk already.

On a more focused, not-frizzled topic, do you ever get tired of these books that impart a signifigant message to mankind? I do. We were reading Sherlock Holmes last night and I certainly don't see a signifigant message in that. It's just a darned good story written really, really well is all. And that is still good literature. I think in English class instead of reading all these stories that impart some important theme we should read things like Sherlock Holmes. It would be so much more to the point. From what I've gathered Humanities class is the place for important topics within writing. I may be wrong, but having to read these soul-searching things, no matter how well written, isn't always to the point.

Anyway...

No more progress on Klondike. I've been busy frying my brain on applications.

But. I did send money for a Headley Britannia from someone off MH$P. I have no idea of her condition... or maybe I do. Yes, she's "New in Bag". I'm very excited to receive her. She'll be the second in my hopeful conga of the Strapless mold.

I just took out a two-year sub to Just About Horses (the Breyer magazine). I haven't gotten it yet because obviously I'm not home, but I was looking around at the JAH page. The current Connoisseur model isn't my favorite and I don't think I'll be buying it second hand. The current Special Run, though... she's lovely. As model horse collectors probably know, she's on Brigitte Eberl's Giselle and is a gorgeous bay pinto. I really want her but I don't think I'll be getting her. But the model to die for in my opinion is one of the SRs for the 2011 Sunshine Celebration in the spring. He's on the ASH mold and is a beautiful dappled palomino. The ASH is my second favorite and the coloring is so nice, I just wish I would be able to go to Florida for the event. It would be a lot of fun but I can't go for two reasons. One is that it would be expensive and I couldn't ask my parents for the money, plus they'd have to come with me. The second is that it would probably be during school and with all these school visits I have no excused absences left.

So... today is just not the best day for me. My brain is fried so even if it were a good day... I probably wouldn't notice.

That's all for today.

Merry Christmas!

I don't know about you, but I have to say I have had a pretty darn good Christmas so far. It FINALLY got cold again--this morning it was 2.3 degrees. Strangely enough, that was one of the things I wished for for Christmas. It's nice that the snow is actually frozen instead of steadily melting. And there are frost feathers on all the trees... well, on everything, really.
This morning we woke to a thick fog all round and a moose standing outside eating the neighbor's plants. Again, I got pictures but don't know if my grandpa's decrepit computer could handle the upload. Later in the morning we opened our stockings around breakfast and started opening presents. The moose wandered around to the back of the house so we could see him out the back window and try to take pictures through the glass. It remains to be seen if the photos turned out well.

One of the presents we gave to my dad was a helmet camera. He's been wanting one since he first saw people using them in the ski area. Wednesday was really when we decided to give him one for Christmas because we were in the Gondola and one of the other people in our car had one. That kid could have been a salesperson. After about a minute of his talking about it, my dad was sold. So we splurged and got him one. It's his new "toy." After skiing tomorrow we will be able to see what it's really like for him to ski. It should be interesting; yesterday he fell over and was laying on his back, head downhill, skis all over the place (I got pictures of that too).

One of the items I received was a Breyer. My sister picked out Sapphire (on the Gem Twist mold). I originally intended to leave her in the box until we got back home but I couldn't help myself so I took her out. She has two box rubs, sadly, but she's still quite nice. I look forward to photo showing her. And of course since I don't want her to get any more scratches I made her a fleece pouch. Since there's no sewing machine here I had to do it by hand, but it didn't take long. It's just stitching up two sides and big stitches work perfectly well.

Speaking of Breyers, I'm hoping to get a Headley Britannia soon.
Here's a stock photo of her...

In case you were wondering and if I haven't said this before... the Strapless mold is probably my favorite of all time.

One other thing is that I'm debating getting an Enchanted Forest. He was a major duplicate in the grab bags so people are selling him very cheap. As in, $15 cheap. I'm debating getting one but shipping is $10 so it would be $25 overall and I'm not sure if I even have that much with getting Britannia. Anyway, I have to simmer over it for a while.

So. Merry Christmas!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Last night I tried to prime both the SMs, to disastrous results. I sprayed the primer from too close to the horses so it globbed and dripped off. The second, the G2 Morgan, was a little better to the point where I could have just sanded off the bad stuff... but then it fell over. Imagine the joy.

Anyway, after they dried I finally plucked up the courage to strip the paint off the Morgan (it's going to be a present for my grandpa, remember?) . He was done by the time I had to go to bed and since I was allowed to take a day off skiing anyway I decided to prime him this morning.

And guess what? It worked! He's a lovely, smooth grayish color (lovely for primer, I mean). I'll snap some pictures of him when he's all dry. I couldn't bear to take any after the previous attempt, because it was so hideous. Forgive me.

Hopefully I'll start work pastelling tonight, then finish up tomorrow evening and Christmas Day. It'll be late but at least it will be there, right?

The horse is going to be a portrait of my aunt's old horse Klondike, as I said before. He was a light palomino Morgan, which makes my job a little easier. And he didn't have any dapples as far as Grandpa remembers, so there's another thing I don't have to worry about. The only think that worries me is his mane and markings. I have absolutely no clue how I'm going to do that. How does one do a blaze with pastels? I don't have acrylics with me, either. That is something for my list of stuff to get, certainly.

Okay, I caved. I'm loading the pictures now.

The Morgan before original prepping:

The Arab before the original prepping:

Sorry about the terrible lighting. I've been working mostly in the evenings until now.
That's about as many pictures of these horses I think I'm able to sit through uploading... but I do have some other stuff to talk about, plus pics.

This morning as my parents were driving to the ski area, they saw a moose eating the neighbor's plants. They came to get me so I could take pictures but since I didn't have my dad's telephoto lens with me, the pictures aren't very close-up. And of course I wasn't going to walk any nearer, was I?

Here's one. The moose was eating over the net protecting the plants.

I think I'm going to go strip the Arab of its horrible priming job, so bye for now.

Skiing and SM customizing

Ahh, how I love skiing, especially when the snow is wonderful and lift lines are short. The ski area had a record opening this year--it was early AND the entire mountain opened at once.

The Tram line was very short, always a good thing. The snow on the entire mountain was amazing and there was almost no one on the mountain. Towards the end of the day, of course, the powder became a bit heavy and the Hobacks with their chop was not as enjoyable as it might have been. Tomorrow we (my family and I) hope to ski them a bit earlier so we have the benefit of their being not partially melted plus there should be new snow on the mountain. Anyway, today was a very good day back. It felt almost as if I hadn't had to take a big break during the year and not ski because everything was so much the same as last year. Wait, I take that back. The snow is much better than last year. MUCH better. I've only seen a few slightly exposed rocks... as opposed to last year, when you couldn't go twenty feet without putting another gash in the bottoms of your skis.

I have two old Stablemates up here which I have been planning to CM for a while. This year I think I might actually get around to it. One of them is a G1 Arab and the other is a G2 Morgan. Both of them have been prepped and I plan to primer them tomorrow evening, given it's not too cold. It probably will be. As to colors... I think the morgan will be a palomino, in memory of my Aunt Andrea's old horse Klondike. According to Grandpa, that horse could do almost anything. He didn't like being harnessed up to a cart, though. I think the customized SM might be Grandpa's Christmas present, if I do manage to make it come out well.

I just got the supplies to customize it tonight, actually. The file was on hand already so that was done quickly. I just didn't have primer or Krylon Matte Finish. Ace had them, thankfully. There was a huge wall of Krylon products and it took me a while to find what I needed. But I did get it.

I have progress pictures so far but I can't upload them to Grandpa's computer. I might have some later this week, or after we get back.

We're waking up early tomorrow so I have to go. Good night!

SNOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow we (my family and I) are FINALLY flying up to Jackson to see Grandpa and SKI! In the awesome powder that they've been having up there! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH I am so excited about this that it REALLY DOES warrant caps. We've been stuck down here drooling and bawling alternately over the snow reports without being able to go up there.

Going up to Jackson means two weeks of sheer cold, fires in the hearth, snow, and skiing, without horses or model horses or anything, but since it's such a great snow year that doesn't matter to me at all. But, I do have two SMs up there that are just ripe to be customized, and I think I might be able to convince Grandpa to help me make one of them (a G1 Arab) into a clock horse for Ruth (his "girlfriend" I guess), because one of the major things he does in wood are little clocks. Anyway... I'll probably do the horse in increments, maybe in the evenings after skiing-- I assure you, I don't think I'll take too much time off to do it.

I urgently have to go pack, so good bye for now.

Applications blues

I finally got some photos of Strapless or Black Tie Affair as the specific model is called. She's on the Strapless mold, as we know.

She is body quality as advertised. I hope to eventually make her into a black sabino, bay sabino, or some other type of sabino... in case you were wondering, I just really like sabinos. I'll probably make her over when I get some experience customizing. This will probably take a few years.

I have been working on essays for boarding school applications. If I had to choose three words to describe them, I would say: Annoying, necessary, and time-consuming, in no particular order. The most important word is "necessary" because if I want to get into any of these schools I have to submit the essays--and they have to be really friggin good (pardon the language). I've been trying to work on them for the past two weeks and I'm finding it hard for me to really concentrate. I dislike writing essays like that, but I suppose I have no choice.

There's nothing else I really need to say so... off to applications again.

Last real school day before Christmas Break.

Thank goodness. All that's left to do is to read with the rest of Honor Society at Lessons and Carols. We're the "Lessons" part.

I have very little time but I will say two things.

One, pictures of Strapless will be up tomorrow. Two, we have decided to buy the Beval Salem. It's a great saddle, leather is breaking in already after two rides.

Ah, I've been allotted a few more minutes by the parental units. I might as well say something about today's lesson. Jones was quite good. Though a bit slow (but nippy) to come out of the pasture, he was pretty good under saddle. Because he was going so well, we could focus on my eq (equitation to you, Sara). Basically since we couldn't really get my leg to stay in one place with the slick leathers, all we had to focus on today was hands and shoulders. I think I fixed my hands a bit, but as always my shoulders need more work.

After Jones was all put away and my tack was clean, I decided to make my move on cleaning the old leather halters hanging on the halter pegs. There are so many nice leather halters back there but none ever get used, let alone cleaned. Dust is literally caked all over them. So I took two of my numerous tack sponges and started working on them. They look much nicer, though they could all use a good, long oiling. After break I think I'll ask Kim if I can take them all home and oil 'em up. They bother me just lying around gathering dust.

I think that's all I can write for now. Good night all.

Strapless is here!

My body quality Strapless arrived today. I was of course very excited, seeing as I only paid for the cheapest parcel post possible and she was shipped on Friday. I don't have any photos yet, but I hope to have some tomorrow.

Riding today was great. The tack shop just got a new test ride Salem from Beval, and I got to be the first person to ride in it. If I like it it can be mine. We rode in it today and I really liked it. The leather in the Salem is much nicer than in the Stamford and I prefer the seat. I have to use a riser with both, but the Salem is better.
The one I rode in was, as I said, new, so I had difficulty keeping my legs in the right place and my heels down. Debbie said that should go away when it gets broken in, and I certainly hope so. It's a lovely saddle. I think I'll ride in it again on Thursday. I'll probably have my camera so we'll have some relevant photos.

That's all for the moment (what a sad, short little post) because I have homework.

Now, all posts should have a photo: Jones's eye, because you so wanted to see it.

Horse Info

For the benefit of the non-horsey people (Sara!) reading this blog, I've decided to add a little thing at the end of all my posts about some horsey term--so maybe I won't get as many questions from my friends about what the heck something means.

To start us off, I'll say that I ride English and focus on Hunt Seat equitation. This means that I favor a more forward position that allows me to jump effectively. I use shorter stirrups than a Dressage rider would, and ride in a saddle with a shallower seat and more forward flaps than a Dressage saddle. See stock images below for a reference.

Dressage saddle: long, straight flap and deep seat

Jumping saddle: shallow seat, forward flaps

Hunt seat equitation: Forward with short stirrups (it's a horrible picture of me, but I think it's one of the few on the flat I have available right now).

I don't have any pictures of dressage riders but they use longer stirrups and don't ride in a way specifically designed for them to be able to jump. They do only flat in competitions. Hunt seat riders can do Jumpers, Hunters over fences, and Hunters on the flat.

And that's our little lesson for the day. I'm sure other people could explain it better but that's what I can do for now.

Tomorrow I'll be out to ride Jones. Most likely we'll be doing a "torture day"--AKA working without stirrups on equitation. Oh, and for the non-horsey--equitation means how the rider rides. So far I've just been trotting without stirrups but Debbie says we'll be doing cantering and jumping eventually. Of course, at my old barn I trotted without stirrups every day. Now I haven't been doing that and my leg is dying a horrible death. Hence I'll probably try to ride bareback sometimes to help with that.

Now for writing about... writing.

Sara has been trying to convince me to do NaNoWriMo next year. She's already planning a plot for her novel. I have tried time and time again to write even a chapter of a novel but so far nothing has turned out. However, since I've never really planned exactly what I want to write. Sara suggested a murder mystery involving horses and the horse industry, which seems like a great idea. I'll just have to work on developing a plot before NaNoWriMo rolls around once more.

Another point we've talked about is keeping lists of vocabulary we want to use or don't know. I usually keep lists of phrases but I think vocabulary lists are a really good idea. I just have to find a good book to read that has a lot of obscure vocabulary. Several of the novels around to day have little exiguous particles of words that make up the entire book... or they talk about death, "hot" boys, yellow eyes, and sparkling. (Guess which series I'm pointing at, hmm?)

I think that concludes our little post for the day. I'm off to look at the BCS blog and drool over all the lovely model tack. Care to join me?

Why hello again.

What a weekend this has been. I decorated the entire pretty-new-tool-shed section of the tractor barn at the lake house with Christmas lights and it looks amazing if I may say so. It's all draped, wrapped, and hung just so--and it took a while. But it was fun.

On the horsey side, Rusty and Pepper at the neighbors' place seem to be doing all right. Neither of them show many signs of care other than being well-fed. Rusty, with his much shorter coat, looks great. Pepper... is another story. He has long fluffy hair and it looks like no one has groomed him in ages. Maybe a quick once-over in the saddle area, if that. His rear is so full of dust that if you touch it your hand comes away gross and his front end is just horrendous. He has these little lump things if you run your hand over and if you move all the fur aside and take a look--they're ticks. Not all of them are ticks: some are little clumps of yellow stuff that looks like dried pus. But very, very many are ticks. It is disgusting. Isabel and I were planning to get some brushes and combs to get some of it out but we had to come back into town before we could. Next time I see him he's going to get one serious grooming.

Here are some pictures of them from a while ago.
Rusty:

 Pepper:

They're so cute.

I just deleted 10 posts. I'm not sure it was the best thing to do, but it's done now. The blog is going to be about horses, model tack, and writing.

Taking a new spin on the blog.

If you've read the first several posts on this blog, you'll know that they're disorganized ramblings written either late at night or while being hyper--in other words, it's horrid. I'm taking those posts down and taking a new spin on the blog. It's going to be more focused on horses, model horses, and writing. Well, along with the occasional personal update.

So please just take a note of that. I think that's going to be all for today seeing as I shouldn't be writing this right now--rather applications. Expect the next post Friday-Sunday at the latest.

And just to add a little interest, here's a picture of my horse Jones. I don't think I have any up about him yet.

Doing his favorite thing--eating. I love him. 

Drawing myself deeper into "The Hobby," otherwise known as the fiscal deep end.

And on $8 a week, too. Not that I'm complaining about my allowance! It's one of the higher allowances out there, not to mention that I get one at all. No-- it's just that somehow or other I can't seem to 1) save it very well or 2) bring myself to sacrifice procrastination time in order to babysit. Imagine my dilemma.

Obviously (or not obviously, I don't think I mentioned it much on here), I can make model horse tack and sell it to others who have gone off the fiscal deep end with me. Unfortunately, until you dig deeper into The Hobby, you might be under the impression that my tack could sell for much more than it does. That impression is so egregiously incorrect that I might... well, I have no idea what I might do. The point is, my tack is very beginner-looking and will not sell for much--or at all, in fact. So as a source of income to keep some pocket-money firmly in my pocket at all times, that isn't great.

I could, I suppose, babysit. There are two things preventing me from that, though. Or maybe three. The first is that I don't want to give up my procrastination time. The second is that my procrastination time is also my barely viable source of income, and probably not a good thing to give up. The third and probably most valid is that I have a ridiculously busy schedule. I'm tutoring Esme on Mondays, riding on Tuesdays, doing homework while my parents go out on Wednesdays, procrastinating on Thursdays, and riding again on Fridays. And my weekends are generally packed, as well. Sometimes I ride, sometimes I sleep, sometimes we go to the lake. On Sundays I'm back for my Spanish discussion group (which sadly, deviates farther and farther from Spanish every time we meet). Then I have to do homework on Sunday evening--speaking of which, I should be doing right now. But it's not much, so if I spend 15 minutes or less on this I should be fine.

Since I talked about model horse tack, I might as well give a few updates. I've been working on (yet another!) pattern for blankets. This most recent has a lower-cut neckline and straighter sides, in order to sufficiently cover the horse's butt. So far it's worked very well. The only blankets I've made with it so far are two show scrim sheets, both in plaid. One is green and black, the other red and black, both with white trim. The sewing on the edging is... well... let's just not talk about it. You can see for yourself, I'm going to post photos. The thing I like is that I finally managed to incorporate a dart right above the tail so the blanket naturally curves around it. And I've put in a different mechanism for closing the blanket in the front which is so much better than having to sew on Velcro.

Here's the green blanket. I rather like it on this horse--thanks again to Zoe for him for my birthday.

And the dart.

The red blanket:

I love the mold this horse is on. It's so majestic and beautiful. I kind of want to have a conga of them, but I'm afraid it would be rather expensive.

Speaking of this mold, Breyer released the Diamond Jubilee model. It's on this mold (which you now know I love) but the color is, well, repulsive. There are two reasons I would buy the horse. One, it's on my favorite mold. Two, it holds the key to a competition which I would love to enter. It's a writing contest. Basically you buy the horse, write your favorite memory about Breyer horses, and send it in with the receipt. And the prize? Well, first prize is a factory custom from Breyer worth $1000.

Aannddd I was just looking over on Model Horse Blab and found out that the receipt has to be dated from before December 1st. Now I don't have to say any more, other than DARN IT!

Some other news. I've changed the name of the model horse tack thing from The Model Horse Tack Shop (yay, imagination!) to Queen's Gate Saddlery. I love it, except for the fact that I don't actually make saddles. But it sounds better than Queen's Gate Tack Shop, and I do hope to start making English saddles soon. Then I can get a stamp and stamp QGS on there. And if I do start making saddles, then maybe I'll be able to make some money off  of this.

Also, I started making leather longe lines now that I have crimp beads. The one pictured is made out of really thick leather lace, though, so when I order from Rio Rondo again I need to get some of that.

And now I really do have to go, so there'll be more next week.

At last, a post.

Yes. The world must be coming to a close. I'm actually posting.

Anytime anything interesting happens in my life I usually plan to write a post--but then I forget, or procrastinate until I don't have time, or make an excuse not to. I do write a ton in my journal every day (how strange to have both a blog and a journal, right?).

So, since I last wrote 5 zillion years ago, I won the End-Of-Year Championship in Open Hunter on the TSSA circuit. Which is the schooling circuit, and therefore the class is very small, and thus it's not as big an achievement as it sounds. We missed one of the shows before the EOY show because Jones had a bit of a colic scare, but he's back to normal and doing great.

We also went to the CTHJA EOY show and rode in Youth/Non-Pro and Modified Child/Adult Hunter. I believe we won one ribbon if I remember correctly--a 6th in the Modified Under Saddle. The class was huge--35 people-- so we were pretty lucky to pin at all. Also, Jones's original owner told me it was hard to get him to do well in the hack, so I'm very pleased. Our jumping rounds went very well also, thanks to the addition of roller spurs along with a crop. Since we started using them Jones has seemed to like moving rather more quickly than normal, though admittedly he still goes pretty slow.

There was something else I wanted to say but I forgot...

Oh yeah! Debbie's been introducing us to the first full off season Jones and I will have (and the last, since I'm probably going away next year). This entails not only jumping, but also flat work. LOTS of flat work. Without stirrups. We've only had one flat lesson so far, in which all Jones had to do was to jog around lazily and bend to the corners while I strained to post without stirrups. At my old barn I trotted stirrupless every day, but I've been getting lazy. In other words, it was painful.

Thankfully, at our next jumping lesson and all lessons after that, I've finally been "introduced to the corners" as Debbie would say. We've really been improving this year... makes me want to take Jones to the north-east next year. But it's too expensive and besides, who knows if I'll have enough time for him? Of course I could take him and lease him out... maybe do a quarter lease or something... but transporting horses is pretty hazardous as well as costly.

On another tack, I didn't fail my SSAT. I actually did pretty darn well: 98th percentile overall. I got an 800 on the Verbal section but actually did worse point-wise on the Reading section than I did on the math. Percentile-wise, I got a 96th on Reading and 88th on Math. So many of the answers in the Reading section were so arbitrary, though, and since each person's mind operates differently, isn't it to the advantage of people with certain mindsets to have such questions? I think Reading on a test like this should be eliminated--it's just not fair for people with very different outlooks to have to take a test like that.

One final point. I'm hoping to get a cell phone soon. Which is the reason I'm leaving off this post. Because my mom agreed to discuss getting one tomorrow IF I get my room and rather disused but still messy "lair" here in the basement cleaned up by 7:30 and all the litter boxes are cleaned by that point as well. And I should probably get my (very dull) homework done, too.

I promise to try and post more!