More Jumping Please All the Time

I had my first taste of cross-country jumping last weekend and I’m itching to do more. Unfortunately the rain here has closed the course. But I nonetheless had a lovely ride yesterday, and managed to make some weird new jumps to scare Cochise with.

I also made a liverpool, which I thought we’d conquered the other day. But apparently this liverpool had a HORSE-EATING MONSTER living inside of it. So that was fun.

I also made this rather inspired (if I do say so myself) pumpkin jump. I was at a garage sale a few weekends ago and this woman had a ton of these. I’d seen people use little toy pumpkins as model horse props with jumping and trail set ups, and I thought well, why not extrapolate that out to real horses?

In my quest to add fun new toys to our arena, I’m trying hard to find things that are widely applicable. For example, the brush boxes and gate that I shared previously make nice jump fillers, but they can also be used in obstacle or trail courses. The jack-o-lanterns are fun for jumps, and can also be used by the kids when they play horseback games. Or maybe that’s just something I tell myself when I’m loading bags of plastic jack-o-lanterns into my trunk…

An recent unrelated but excellent acquisition are these fun shiny crops. Robyn bought two one day and then sent me back to the tack store for several more that she’d regretted not buying. The red star one is mine

So I’ve been doodling courses on scratch paper and morosely watching the rain, thinking about the muddy cross country course. But at least there’s lots of sweet videos online. So I’ve been watching a lot of videos from past Three Day Events like Burghley and Rolex. I also watched this interesting three part series on finding your distance. Meanwhile, I’m putting the first layers of color on the two MEPSA horses and working to finish up the Saddlebred’s remaking before I add a new mane and tail.

American Saddle-blarg

So, early in my model horse renaissance I did a custom of a fancy ASB mare in palomino. Her creation was inspired by the word Chryselephantine, which means  ”made of gold and ivory.” I heard it in my classical art history class and thought it was the coolest word ever.

“Chrys” was a new challenge at the time, as I redid her long mane and tail, did my first facial re-sculpting (that mold has some serious asymmetry), and attempted a palomino. She has her merits, but I quickly progressed in skill and she’s looking a bit shabby next to my newer horses. Since I imagined her as a fancy show mare, I’ve been a little disappointed that she’s nice enough to live show. And since I really like the Pebbles ASB mold, I decided to make another mare. She’ll have the same name, potentially spelled with a k. That part is undecided yet.

I acquired my Pebbles ASB body last fall and she’s been waiting for some attention ever since. Of course, being me, I can’t just paint her- I want to slighty turn her head, fix her uneven cannons, trim her hooves to a more natural length, and give her a natural, non-cut tail. But I still want her to be a bit of a flirty show off.

First step, after a lot of sharpie-drawing, was to dremel. And dremel, and dremel. My first session was to chop her 2 uneven legs and her head. I re-attached those, and then went back to dremel off the mane and tail. I had quite an impressive pile of plastic shavings by the time I was done.

I hadn’t thought of this as a drastic custom, but it sure is adding up to be a decent amount of work. I have a lot to resculpt where her mane and tail was, not to mention for the fixing of her throatlatch and legs. And I have a feeling I’m going to end up giving her new ears, as her OF ones are rather… unshapely.

After the dremeling, I went to work with foil, baking soda, and super glue to fill in the holes in her next and haunches.

One nice cheat on this project is that because she’s standing square, I can use her other, non-mangled side to guide me as a resculpt her shoulder, neck, and haunches.

a quick horizontal flip and I’ll have a lovely reference

The next day I got a chance to start adding epoxy. I’m used to making too much epoxy at once, since I’m often doing wee things like a Stablemate’s cheek. But for this Pebbles scale gal and all her holes, I did not have that problem.

She’s got a long way to go, but I’m excited.

MEPSA Donation Colors

Thanks to everyone who voted in my MEPSA donation color polls. I’m pleased to say that the models are finally prepped and primered, and ready to get some color!

The Morgan Stallion will be a silver dapple and the Appaloosa gelding with be a sooty buckskin semi leopard. I’m excited to be working with color again! Once the pastels are out I’ll also be starting work on my Hale resin, who has been chillaxing in the cabinet as a half finished blue roan while I was traveling.

In the sculpting arena I’ve got my WIP Racehorse Ornament coming along. I dremeled off his mane and tail yesterday in anticipation of adding my own. He’s also got ears, although they need some serious work where they connect to the head. And yes, his muzzle is still small while his cheek and jaw have added epoxy. I promise to even out his poor face (and get rid of the scary sharpie).

And, because I am a little crazy, I’ve also started another semi-drastic custom. More on her next time!

MEPSA Donation #2: Color Poll

The second custom I’m working on as a MEPSA donation is a G1 Morgan Stallion. I’ve given him a better tail, delineated mouth, more refined forelock, real stallion parts, and completely redone his club feet. He looks rough without primer, but he’s going to be really nice with some color on him.

I’m torn about what color to paint him. I definitely want it to be something found in Morgans, since he has such nice type. I’ve picked out a number of option and want you to help me decide! As with my previous poll, please vote for your three favorites using the gallery and poll below. Click to enlarge the pictures.

#1 dapple palomino

#2 dapple brown

#3 silver bay

#4 buttermilk buckskin

#5 bright dapple bay

#6 bay minimal sabino

 

MEPSA Donation #1: Color Poll

I really enjoy showing with the Model Equine Photo Show Association, or MEPSA. This year I am working on two models that will be prizes in the year end championship show. Last year’s show was super fun and I was very thankful to win some beautiful prizes, including the First Draft resin that became my little foal Kaylee. I wanted to help out this year so I’m working on some customs. But I need your help picking colors!

The first custom is on the G2 Appaloosa. I’m envisioning him as a dun appy, but I’ve picked out a few possibilities. What do you like best? Please vote for your three favorites using the gallery and  poll below. Click to enlarge the pictures.

#1 chestnut with blanket

#2 buckskin snowcap

#3 chestnut with minimal blanket

#4 red dun blanket

#5 sooty buckskin semi leopard

#6 chestnut snowcap

#7 chestnut semi leopard

#8 bay pinto

Back at the Barn

I was so excited to head out to the barn this weekend for the first time since getting back from England. It was a wonderfully sunny weekend. On Sunday morning the ponies were enjoying a lovely nap in the sun.

If you click for the big version you can see the heart shaved into the mini’s rump

We took advantage of the summery evening  to build two jump fillers. As always, I’m a cheapskate, and wanted to make these with as little expense as possible. I’m happy to report that the fake brush, pallet, and bench (?) parts were all free from road sides or Craigslist. Robyn’s dad graciously lent us his tools, expertise, and a bit of scrap lumber to finish them off. The pallet idea came from this sweet website.

And those are only the beginning! I’ve got the materials for several more jumps, including a couple of flower boxes!

Of course, having made these new jumps we had to try them out! We set up a course of exciting scary things with these, a faux liverpool (made with a tarp), a skinny made from barrels, and a blanket jump (vertical + horse blanket = scary looking jump). I was so proud of Cochise- he went over every single one with minimal fuss, and was clearly enjoying himself by the end. I was especially proud that he went over the liverpool- tarps have long been his worst enemy, despite many attempts to desensitize him.

I’m pretty sure the first time over looked something like this:

I have lots more jumping fun coming up- a lesson on Wednesday and then our show (gulp!) on Sunday. Cochise and I have never made it around a jumping course at a show in our 10+ years together, but maybe this time we can….

Meanwhile, I’m itching to get working on models. I wish I had some prepped so I could get painting. I’ve also got a bunch of ideas for tack to make. The only problem is I have a repetitive movement injury in my elbow which may make things like prepping and skivving painful and/or impossible. Fingers crossed!

And finally, here’s a picture of wild gypsy ponies on the fell in Northern England:

The Real Alpo

If all goes as planned, this post will publish while I’m flying back across the pond. It’s always sad to say goodbye to travelling, but I am excited to be home, looking forward to a wonderful summer with a lot of jumping and other fun.

I’ve been following a bunch of horse picture tumblrs lately (a dangerous habit!) and I ran across this awesome picture. This horse looks stunningly like my snotty little model pony, Alpo. I wish I’d had this picture for a reference when I was working on him!

Compare:

Want to drool over some pretty ponies yourself? Fall down this here rabbit hole- but don’t blame me for any lost productivity How about some beautiful models? Jennifer Buxton has been photographing and cataloging her amazing collection.