A few things

Sorry I sort of fell off the wagon last week. It was sort of crazy and I took a minor vacation from life (and did nothing).

My Silversun Pickups station is my favorite station on Pandora, ever. Until they play Vampire Weekend. I was listening to it with my phone while I was riding yesterday, and their song Oxford Comma came on. It was extremely aggravating, and my ride promptly went downhill from there. Thanks Vampire Weekend.

Finn has been weird lately. 99% of the time I can blame this on me, so it looks like we need to go do some no stirrup work. And we need to work on stopping off my seat. Again. He was doing really well with it, until Vampire Weekend came on and I guess he fed through my tension and forgot he knew how to stop like a nice pony, and not like an inverted, gaping mouth camel. It's ok Finn, we all have bad days.

Anyway.

Here is something I'm working on! I'm not all grumpy today I swear. I've been doing stuff.



I'm not sure where to go from here. I have some ideas. I want the birds to be red, even though I know there are no red swallows. I just need some red. The background will stay white & gray. Note to self: never stain blocks with crappy IKEA stain before you draw on them. Because drawing over that crap is annoying. Then I realized I was going to paint oils over water based stain, so I may have to start this over from scratch. Oh well, it's an experiment anyway.

Man... Modest Mouse - One Chance just came on. Damn that's an awesome song.

Finneversary #5

Late July 2005 (as a two year old), the first time I saw him.


The end of May 2009. He was coming back from his "fence accident" when this was taken. He had been out of regular work for close to 4 months.


August 2, 2010

My horse is a beast.

Happy Finneversary to us, to us.


Those massive shoulders. Awful to fit a saddle to, but so great to nestle behind.












Our favorite summer activity.
(I am fully aware of the dangers of this photo... and I don't really care. For the sake of a nice picture)


To many more Pretty Boy. <3

Night riders

Last night was the kind of night that I wish would happen more often. I had an absolutely lovely ride with friends. It was sort of a last minute thing, and by the time we got on the sun had mostly set. My barn owner is an incredibly gracious person. She's always said I could use her horses for any friends that want to ride. My former barrel racing friend hadn't ridden in a long time, so she rode the western pleasure lesson horse. My other friend, a fellow SCAD Equestrian dropout, had never ridden a gaited horse. My barn owner has a little Tennessee Walker mare who is such an odd ride if you're not used to gaited things. It was hilarious on both counts. I rode Finn, and let everyone have a turn on him. We laughed, and played, had a beer or two, and sweated our butts off. Yes, even light riding after dark and I still came home soaked to the bone.

Anyway.

The latter of the two friends, has known Finn since I got him. Our horses are two months apart in age, so they both just turned 7. We've had them both since they were babies. We have decided that 7 is quite a good year. All of a sudden our babies have become "real horses". It's kind of hard to describe what we mean by that, but it's like all of a sudden they have come into themselves. Suddenly I have A Real Horse, and not a dimwit baby. He stands still, he travels in a straight line, he is polite. It's amazing. I mean, he still has his moments, but he's 99% better than he was even 6 months ago. He has just been blossoming and being all sorts of amazing lately (knock on wood). I'm so proud!!!!

Also... I have had the Finn-monster for 5 years this week. I plan on doing an anniversary post this weekend, after I take new conformation shots of him. Finn and I have quite a history in only 5 years together.

Tonight I am working on art stuff, but man... I lost a sketch I did for something and it's driving me crazy!!!! I had this great image in my head, I sketched it out so I wouldn't forget it, and I lost it. Crap.

Perpetually indecisive.

To write about my horse, or to not write about my horse? I go back and forth a lot. A good 75% of the blogs I read are horse related, so it makes sense to write about him. On the other hand, he means the world to me. I don't want someone to say we're doing it wrong. If it's one thing I've learned from the internet, everyone has an opinion, especially if it comes to horses. Finn is almost sacred to me. I adore him. He's mine and no one can touch him. He is my happy place. Almost my sanctuary, of sorts. Maybe I don't want the internet to tarnish him.

Then what about the other side of it? Having a support system would be nice, since we are very trainer-less at the moment. It would be cool to have a place to share our adventures.

I don't know yet. I haven't decided where I want this to go. It's supposed to be about art, but there's not enough of that happening right now (lame). In all honesty I want my life outside of my family (husband and dogs) to be equal parts horses and art. Maybe I'll just talk about both and see what happens.

What would you like to hear about?

time after time

Some days I just sort of float along in my own little world. Always have. I've been this way since I was a kid. My Mom would send me to clean my room and I'd end up reading all the magazines I was supposed to be putting away, or playing with the toys on the floor. Hours later my room would still be a disaster.

I would love to be able to get up at 6am and be all ready to go say hello to the world. I could eat a nice breakfast, workout, walk my dogs, maybe go ride my horse. It would be so nice. I could get so much done. In theory anyway.

Instead I just kind of float along until it's time to make dinner. I feel like I'm getting more focused. Maybe that's why I've always sucked at time management. Lack of focus. I'm always off daydreaming in some distant land. It makes life hard sometimes, but that's ok. I'm getting there.

What do I daydream about? All sorts of stuff. And then sometimes I go and do the things I daydream about.

Like taking my horse for "nature walks" like a giant dog. We discovered a network of trails that lead to a huge field by our barn. Man, he was stoked.



Now we just have to go ride out there. I have a lot of courage issues with riding. Maybe if I daydream about it enough, I can make it a reality. I mean, it's worked for me so far.

What a week

I don't think this has been a good week for anyone. My life and the problems within it feel so trivial after reading the news. My prayers and thoughts are with the people of Haiti.

I'm working on a painting at the moment. Well... I'm on my couch with Papu curled up next to me while I wait on a layer of matte medium to dry. That totally counts.

I'd rather not elaborate in this wide world of the internet as to why my week was so horrible. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Let's just say that if zoning laws weren't they way they are, I'd have my horse in my back yard by now. The dogs would probably not be cool with that.



Oh, Finn. What we go through for you and your kind.