The Adventure Continues

In my last post about my big adventure I let you all know our final destination: The Big E in Springfield, MA. We had arrived safely and had a few days before the kickoff. This turned out to be a good thing because due to circumstances (weather, delivery schedules, trouble finding certain products) I got to strip and re-bed our 10 stalls 3 times LOL! Quite the work-out. Between that, the crazy schedule of shows, and stripping and repacking everything at the end, I managed to lose 10 pounds without even trying. Combined with the weight I had lost during the spring and fall of this year helping with the training and general upkeep of the horses, my weight is now back to what I consider a good one!

We were very happy to wake the morning after our arrival to sunshine. After all the rain on our trip, the sun was a very welcome sight. We got ourselves set-up for the next couple of weeks and spent some time seeing who else we new as they arrived. It wasn't surprising that we knew some of the people because we were there for Sylvia and the horses to perform with The Big E Super Circus and this was not the first time Sylvia had performed in this venue. The picture they use on this link is one of the ones I took of Sylvia earlier this Spring... I felt sort of famous. It was fun seeing old friends and making some new ones.

In answer to some of the questions in the comments of the last Adventure entry.... The horse hauler will haul 12 horses, but we were hauling only 10. Yes, there is an area in the front for a person to sleep, and actually that is where I was bunking during the trip and the show.

For anyone interested in what the horses do in the act, here are links to two videos of Sylvia and the Horses. It's in two parts, but is actually just the one act. I had to split it because of the length of video was too big for You Tube.

Hope you enjoy the horses!

It's Thursday... and I'm actually posting 2 days in a row! ;p

Ooooh... Look! Two days and two entries! Don't get used to it, but I do plan to be around a little more often than I have been the last couple of months.... which would be like um... Zilch. I've been around the interweebs.  I read journals/blogs. I even do online research. I just couldn't seem to find time (or maybe inspiration) to actually write an entry. Part of this has been my lack of time to play with (or even take) any photos. Now, why would that keep me from posting? I'm not sure, but I have gotten into a habit of posting a photo along with an entry even if the photo had nothing to do with the subject matter. No time to play in Elements equals no new photos to post equals no posts. And part of the problem has also been that even though I'm busy, I'm boring!

Yesterdays photo was me playing with my new Photoshop Elements 6. Yep, I went straight from Ver 4 to 6. I skipped Ver 5 because it didn't offer anything new that I felt was compelling enough for me to switch from the version I was used to. I'm not sure I really needed this version either, but it had a couple of new features I was curious about AND I found it on sale for half price. I had been wanting it, and I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. LOL! I only played with it for a few moments, but I think I really like the improvements in this version. The new interface is really nice. I don't know if it is new for Vers 6 or from 5, but I like the darker colors and ease of switching from one thing to another. I also think the organizer is faster than the version I was using. I still haven't deleted Ver 4 from my hard drive because I want to be sure I have all of my brushes and things switched over to the new version before I do that, but it is just sitting there for now.

I'm also recycling! I'm sending the disks and the books I bought about Ver 4 to my DIL as she was interested in it when she saw it on my computer when we visited. She has been using whatever came with her camera and it was very basic. I think she is ready to move up to something a little more, and I am glad to be able to help her out by sending along Ver 4 to her.

Tonight's picture is from a photo shoot that I did for a friend who needed some new publicity shots. After we were done doing her pictures we had her daughter do a few poses with the horses since they were already cleaned up and looking pretty. She is a lovely girl and with such subjects it is almost impossible to take a bad picture. I'm finally starting to go thru the rest of the shots I took from that day and get them printed out for her. I worked on her mother's photos right away so she could send them out, but hadn't gotten around to her pictures till now. She has been amazingly patient..... and I've been amazingly slow! Still, I thought I would post one of the shots here and see what you all think of it.

Oh, Oh, Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I'm officially a published photographer!! One of the publicity shots that I did for my friend (during the photo shoot mentioned above) just appeared in a magazine. She showed it to me today. The ad for her appearance is on the inside of the front cover and it is one of the shots I did for her! Yeah, I know it's not like really being published, but I'll take it! LOL!

Anyway, here is the shot of her daughter and Ricco. Some of you might remember Ricco. He is an Andalusion stallion and I have had shots of him up here before.

 

Introducing Ricco!

 

 

This is Ricco. He is an andalusian stallion and just about the sweetest stallion you could ever hope to meet. In fact, unless you looked, you would probably assume when meeting him that he was a gelding. He is that docile and gentle. But don't let that sweet attitude fool you, he can be quite the handful if he wants to be!

Isn't he beautiful? His Poppa is an award winning stud, and Ricco doesn't want you to forget it! While he is very sweet and gentle, he just radiates attitude. "Look at ME!" would be his favorite phrase if he could talk. Probably followed very closely by, "Got any Food?" He is a real Mooch.

The little scamp slipped out of his fenced off area the other day. It is just an area fenced off by hot wire so he can spend his days outside since he has to be turned out alone... (the whole stallion thing!) He slipped under one of the strands of hot wire  and went out into the yard to look around and visit with the other horses in the regular pastures... and probably look for food LOL!. I looked up and saw him loose, and quickly walked outside to make sure he wasn't getting into any trouble. A "Hey You!" and a "Come Here, Ricco" was all it took to have him come trotting over to me. I looped my finger in his forelock and led him back to his area and put him back in, tightening up the piece of fence that had stretched out and allowed him to slip out. I swear he looked at me with a "Who Me?" look on his face when I was telling him what a little rascal he was. This is why he gets put back in his stall at night! The picture above was taken under the tree that he likes to hang out under in the afternoon.

Andalusians are usually born dark and then gray out (i.e. turn white) as they age. Occasionally you will also see other colors, but gray is the dominant color. Ricco will slowly lose his dapples as he ages, but will probably maintain the black on his legs for many years. The full body shot of him at the bottom of the entry shows what I mean about his legs being darker. That shot was taken in one of the big pastures this last summer.

Here are a couple of links if you are interested in learning more about these beautiful horses. There is one from Wikipedia, another from The International Andalusian and Lusitano Horse Assoc, one from Lipizzaner.com (the Andalusian was a major influence in the beginnings of the Lippizzaner breed), and finally one from the Dept of Animal Sciences at Oklahoma State University.

I hope you enjoyed meeting Ricco as much as I enjoy having him around!

 

A Horsy Post

 

 

 

It has come to my attention (both thru e-mail and comments on my Blogger and AOL Journals) that some of you may be interested in hearing about the horses that I take care of. Before you hear stories about them, first you need to know the cast of characters. Today you get a glimps of all my 'babies' and a little about each. Then, if people seem interested I might do some individual entries.

Only one of these horses belongs to me personally. He is an arabian and his name is Boo. You've seen a few pictures of him over the years. The picture at the top of this post is of my handsome boy. I've owned Boo since he was a baby and he is going to be 18 next year. He is what we call a black bay, but, since he lives in Florida, he is usually sunburned to a lighter brown ;p

The rest of the horses are owned by a very dear friend of mine who I knew before we moved here. Her farm turned out to be right across the road from where I live now, which makes it very convenient for me! She own performing horses, and is often away performing with them. My normal compliment of horses are the ones who stay home when she is away. All of her horses are gray and either Arabians, Andalusians, or an Andalusian crosses. Yep, they are all supposed to look similar.

The cast of Characters that stay here all the time, in addition to my guy,  are:The Five who are retired from the ring for one reason or another (mostly because of age--two are over 30 years old!). They are Ten, Omar, Orin, Mahome, and Abduhl. All five of them are Arabians. The next two are also Arabians, but they are Yearlings (soon to be 2). One is a smokey color, and the other has a pink cast, but both will eventually be gray. They are known as Bebe and Bizou. You probably guessed that Bebe is French for Baby, but Bizou's name means Kiss. Why French names? Because my friend speaks French to her horses as that is her 'first' language. The last two are my andalusian crosses. They are both 2 years old (soon to be 3) and they will start their training this year to join the act. One is an andalusian/percheron cross and the other is an andalusian/quarter horse cross. Their names are French for thunder and lightning: Eclair and Tonnerre. All of these guys are geldings.

Currently my friend is on vacation for 19 days, and in addition to the normal cast of characters I also have 7 extras! The 'young guys' are four geldings known as: Gomlet, Sahab, Bajo, and Gazie. I'm not sure I got the spellings right, but that's how I pronounce them! We also have Alidar who is a little bit older. He is snow white and gorgeous. They are all arabians. The last two are the stallions, Rico and Shagal. Shagal is a smokey gray arabian  and the apple of his mama's eye. My friend has had him since the day he was born and you can tell. He just worships her. Rico is a beautiful andalusian stallion.

So, there you have it. My friend was worried that adding in the extra 7 would be a problem, but really it doesn't take that much extra time to take care of the extras. Everyone is outside in pastures enjoying the Florida winter weather most of the day. The stallions come in at night so I don't have to worry about them getting into trouble, but unless we get a cold snap everyone else is happy in their pastures. We are a little cramped with double the numbers, but with a little shuffling of pastures everyone has a place.

Have I bored you all to death yet? LOL!