Model project, #1

This doesn't really belong in Sinwaan's blog but I wasn't sure where else to put it. I am working on a model horse currently for a "Secret Santa" partner. It sounded like fun, so I signed up, and now here I am trying to do a portrait model. Yikes! I looked online for a week trying to find the right "body" horse to build on. I did not have any luck. I remembered that my mom had a model that might work so I stopped by tonight and bought it from her. This model was included in a "body box" of multiple models that needed to be repainted. Someone had even gone an extra step and added a new mane and 'feathers' to this one.

Well the mane was on the wrong side of the neck for my portrait model, so it had to come off. It's been awhile since I ran a dremel. Have to admit it was kind of fun.

The feathers had to come off too because they were positioned way too high on the rear legs. This model I am portraying does have some light feathers so I will have to add them back on with epoxy once I get it cleaned up. I also cut the tail away from the body while I was at it. I drilled out the ears and nostrils and even the mouth to some degree.

Then I heated the horse up with a heat gun so I could reposition parts of him. I wanted to bring the head & neck down a little to a more relaxed position. I also bent his back leg so it looked like he had that rear foot cocked and resting.

As you can see, the heat gun was not kind to him, it really changed his neck and now he does not look very realistic! I also moved his ears just a bit so they look a little more floppy, like a lazy gelding expression.

I added epoxy now and sculpted his neck. I was happy with it at the time, but looking at this photo and how the light/shadows are catching it, looks like I need to do some more work on the muscles to make it more realistic. I built up his head, making it more roman-nosed. I added feathers to all four feet and fixed the ear-tip that was missing. I had a wretched time with the tail and the mane, but I think the mane will be ok. The tail kept falling (gravity) as I had the model on it's side working on adding detail to the mane. By the time I got to it, the epoxy was hardening and would not stick together very well. So I am going to have to start over on that next time!

All in all it was a satisfying evening's work! I have a very limited amount of time to get this model done. Wish me luck!

Trail course and new digs

Sinwaan and I participated in the second Detour Ranch fun day hosted by the Blue Mountain Rider's ladies club. Even more work went into the trail course this year, it was really amazing!


After that Sinwaan was delivered to his new home and settled right in with no problems.

Will add more details later. :)

Catching up

Well I haven't been keeping up very well on here. I last rode on the 12th. Levi came out to the barn and rode Ginger the pony on the 13th and Sinwaan had a visit from the farrier on the 15th (long overdue). I had hoped and wished and dreamed of trailering out for a ride on the 19th but after Boston Terrier Meet-Up the weather was a bit windy and damp, and the trailer I would have borrowed did not make it back to town until 6 pm. (It is getting dark now about 7 pm)

The ride on the 12th was....interesting. We rode around again in the fields surrounding the barn. More so in the "scary" field near the snapping crackling power lines. We did a bit of side-passing. Sinwaan was trying to walk around sideways anyway so I thought it best to direct the energy and make him work a little on minding. He had a good spook when the horses in the pasture next to us took off running. Overall he was not very well behaved, as is typical lately. I can't wait to ride on a trail!

One of the other boarders told me about some lessons that are happening out there, I may try to join one if possible. They are on Sundays when Matt is busy filming so it may not work out, but it's something I would like to try and schedule in at some point this winter. I have never had a lesson on Sinwaan and feel it would benefit both of us (and it's something to do on one of those dreary winter days)

I am planning a ride with Ruth at the lake next weekend. She has a new (young) horse so we're hoping they get along so we can boogie. Even if it's a slow ride, at least it will be a change of scenery!! :)

Barn time

I think I forgot to blog the past couple times I have been out to the barn. Last weekend my brother was in town and I did not make it out. (But I did the weekend before) This affected my overall attitude for the day more than I realized it would have. Wow. So I made sure to get out there today as soon as the kids went down for their nap.

Had a chat with Cindy when I first got there, then pulled Sinwaan out and started grooming. He wasn't too bad but his feet were fairly packed. His frog really shed as I was picking out his feet. Saw a little black and white in one hoof (the one with the shed frog) but it didn't smell too bad and the other three hooves looked normal. So I tacked up and out we went. He stood nicely for me to mount up and walked fine to the field. Then the fun began, as it always does now.

I sometimes feel like I am on an Lipizzaner stallion, trotting in place although without all the hair and properly arched neck. Nay, Sinwaan has his head up in the air, dancing around like a moron, not watching where he's putting his feet. He stops, tries to eat and I don't allow it since he isn't behaving and we aren't on a trail ride training for endurance anyway! He could take a lesson or two from Ernie's horse Spot, who can eat on the fly without breaking stride. He walks sideways without me asking for a sidepass. Needless to say it is a test of my own horsemanship - will he buck for real today and will I stay on?

I think he is just full of beans. We used to go out on a straight road and after a short warm-up walk he could trot until he tired. Now I make him walk until he behaves and sometimes that takes a while. I think it is driving him a little nuts. He wants to GO for once in his life and I am telling him NO. At least for now. I too ache for the open road, a destination, instead of circles in a field.

He spooked pretty good at...what? I didn't see anything...not really like him. Maybe the mailbox? Or the sound of a water sprayer hitting a pole? He acted like the shadows of the leafy trees were going to get him. Who is this horse? I steadied him with my voice but twice had to give a quick pop for really acting up. Once we moved up to trotting he did better, finally a place to channel his enthusiasm. But he stumbled twice and then I thought he was a little off. Felt like the same hoof that shed the frog. Not knowing enough about the natural hoof I decided to call it safe and call it a day, not wanting to add to injury if that was indeed the case. By then he was doing reasonably well - it is important to me to end on a good note. All he really wants is to be done so he can EAT anyway.

He is due for a trim again, starting to chip a little. I have not felt that I am out enough to have him shod, although it would be nice to not have to worry about taking to the gravel roads and getting more miles for my time out there. I used his boots once this year, but they were fairly time consuming to get OFF, and I don't always have much extra time right now.

Ah well...at least I am back in the saddle, trying though it may be.

A long time coming

Went out to the barn today. Thought about going yesterday while we had some cloud cover on these hot summer days but just didn't make it. So this morning I was feeling determined. One problem: Ellie. I waited for her to take a nap. It didn't happen until about noon! So there goes any hope of riding in cooler weather. Full sun and 89 degrees. Felt a little hotter than that!

Sinwaan heard me open the barn door and came trotting over. Slightly unusual. I think it's because Cindy has been feeding him treats in my absence so he was expecting a goodie. Too bad, he just got me. Because I rode the motorcycle out and didn't want to carry a backpack in this heat I didn't take any carrots. Poor horse.

He wasn't too dirty so grooming went quickly. I gave his bridle path a trim with scissors...horrors!

Tacked up and took a bucket out with me to use as a step-up. Sinwaan stood still as a stump. Hmmm. Well so far, so good. Confidence.

We headed down the gravel driveway and I glanced over and noticed that the surrounding fields didn't seem to be planted with anything in particular and 3/4 of them were mown. So I turned Sinwaan around and headed onto kinder footing (he's still barefoot). Almost instantly Sinwaan started to jig. He had his head up and was all out of sorts, acting like he wanted to just tear around. Yeah, this was the horse I expected last time I rode. Almost a year off is not good for anyone or anything. Although to his credit, riding in groups he is a perfect gentleman. By himself you had better be an intermediate rider. I knew this time I had my work cut out for me.

So I did my best to keep him to a walk. We turned circles. We halted. We backed up. We turned more circles. We walked laps around that field, changing direction frequently. At first I was sure this was the day I would fall off. I could envision being drug around by the stirrup as he bolted for the nearest hay pile. Withering confidence!!

Finally he settled into more of the horse I remembered from regularly being ridden. So we trotted, up and down and all around. Once when I brought him back down to a walk (headed for home) he gave a little faux buck. Bad horse! At least he is too lazy to follow through with most of his misbehaving. And I was still on. Confidence coming back...

After we finally had a solid good 10 minute jaunt I turned him back in to the barn. He's going to take some more work but at this point I don't think it's anything we can't work through. I am just going to have to get out there to ride more often. It's hard to get motivated when my only ride for the year was cancelled...

It was hot out so he got a bath and then I worked on detangling his mane. I didn't want to turn him out damp again (last tine he rolled right away) so I led him out and let him graze while he dried.

All's well that ends well, and we ended on a good note.

First ride

It has been a long time since I rode, probably last September sometime, before Sinwaan broke my leg in the AHA halter class. This weekend Ruth and Heather agreed to come out to the barn where I board Sinwaan so we could all ride together. I was really glad to have their company because one thing I have learned is that Sinwaan is a much better-behaved horse with company. He prefers to follow, and when he has someone to follow that works out well.

I got there a little earlier so I put Sinwaan in the round pen and worked on walking and stopping. He did great so I brought him in and started grooming him. Just then I heard the trailer pull in so the girls had great timing! We all got tacked up and were ready to go at the same time. Sinwaan's girth was only 1 hole bigger also. I wasn't sure how much weight he might have gained with all this time off but apparently it wasn't much. And it was closer to only being 1/2 hole bigger but I didn't want to make it too tight. He practically threw his head into the bridle, I think he's missed our riding time together.

I also put his red front boots on him since he is currently unshod. I was glad he had been trimmed recently, they went right on without too much fuss.

I was a little worried about getting back in the saddle, but I used an overturned bucket as a mounting block and popped right up. Yeah! Man it felt good to be aboard again.

We headed down Elliot and we walked until we got to the turn, then we did some trotting to the railroad crossing. We walked more to the dirt road and then did more trotting. It was getting warm but while trotting we had a nice breeze. It was a fantastic ride.

I could tell Sinwaan was out of shape because when I would ask for him to transition to a canter from the trot he would stumble on his hind end. He also was slowing down on the way home, instead of speeding up like he usually does.

The hardest part for me of the whole day was getting that last boot off. The first boot was not as tight and popped off pretty easily. The second boot, man, I had to really work at it and I was glad that Sinwaan was cooperative!

It was fairly hot by then so I hosed Sinwaan down before turning him back out in his paddock. The first thing he did was go and find a good spot to roll. What a pig! He looked comfortable and I was thrilled to have finally taken him out for a ride again.

Easing back into barn time

Well it's been a very long time but I finally found myself at the barn again. Chad was scheduled to meet me at 1 pm for a farrier appt. I got out there a little early so I turned Sinwaan out in the paddock surrounding the round pen so he could nibble on some greenery. In the meantime I scrubbed out his water tank and started refilling it. In no time at all I heard a truck coming up the driveway so I went out and caught Sinwaan and brought him in. I didn't notice the time then, but when Chad was done with the trim it was only 1:07 so he must have been pretty early. While Sinwaan was getting his feet trimmed, I worked on detangling his mane again. It sure gets knotted up! I gave him a good grooming, trimmed his bridlepath as best I could with scissors (it looks terrible but works) and then we went out to the round pen for a little refresher. Well Sinwaan started out at the trot like he always does but wasn't as frantic about it as I remember him being when I first started working him when he arrived on western soil. It didn't take too long and I had him walking both directions and stopping on command. Good enough! I took him out of the round pen and held his lead so he could hand-graze on some grass...he earned it today. I am looking forward to the day when I can climb back aboard. Seems our one endurance ride for this season might be cancelled, so there goes my motivation to really get him in shape quickly, but we can still enjoy some rides with Ruth once I am ready.