November Photo Challenge Week One

Here's my first set of photos from the challenge. Enjoy!

Day One: New Beginnings

When you realize your horse was pregnant and find her with an unexpected foal.

Day Two: From A Distance

A very colorful mustang herd.


Day Three: Something Old

Vintage ponies!

Day Four: Clean

Endurance Arab getting a bath after the race.

Day Five: Movement

Or LACK OF movement...

Day Six: Pattern

Mini Congas Combined!

Stay tuned for more photos next Sunday! :)

November Photo Challenge

I really like doing photo challenges on Instagram as well as ones other hobbyists make. I decided to make my own.

I'll be posting my photos once a week as to not clog up the blog. However, if any of you all want to do it I will do posts with your photos every week.

When I was making it I purposely left them pretty vague so the photography can intemperate them there own way. There is no right or wrong answer if you are having fun. :)

Hopefully some other hobbyists will join me in this little challenge! And if I'm the only one, oh well. 

Your regularly scheduled posts will be back tomorrow, and the first week of photos will be posted Sunday!

Haunted Horses Halter Placings: OF Breyer

Haunted Horses was yesterday, and it was great! I had a lot of fun and while it wasn't my best show placing wise, I stayed very organized and kept track of a lot. A big part of that I think is that I culled about 10 horses who haven't been performing or have only been placing 9th or 10th consistently. With my show string being pretty large, I can't sustain that.

Today I'll show my horses that placed in OF Breyer. Not minis yet, only traditional. :) Enjoy!

Light Foals started out strong with all of my entered horses placing in the top five. RRS She's Got Chrome scored a fifth...

My new guy, RRS Goober Grape picked up second place...

And RRS The Judge Is Blind got third.

Next, I entered draft foals, where Wallflower got sixth. 

I didn't have any Arabs, so in my next class, other light, RRS Words With Friends got fourth. 

In the same class, my Wynona got third.

Meanwhile in the Stone ring, RRS You On Kazoo got fifth. I'm happy with that, the class was full of super nice QHs! He's not super flashy and is mainly a performance horse, so I think he did well.

My Fleetstreet Max, Here Come Dat Boi, got 1st in Paint, but I didn't get a photo.

RRS Popalock got sixth in Mustang.

Then in Other Stock, Danke Memes got fifth.

My TWH got second in her class, but again, no photo...

In other ponies, RRS Ever So Clever got a third. With a better breed, I think she could do well.

My donkey (who I literally bought like 15 minutes before the class) also got a third in his class. 

I didn't get any rosettes this time, but still I did well! Stay tuned for Customs, Performance, and OF Mini!

My next show is Holly Jolly Live this December. I'm trying not to procrastinate and get everything done before the week of the show, but knowing myself, we'll see. 

Pay It Forward

One of my favorite websites is Model Horse Blab. I've done various gift swaps with them and I've always loved giving and receiving! :) However, the one thing I haven't done is the Pay It Forward. It's a monthly thing where you post a wishlist and if you get lucky, you might receive some stuff in the mail! I have plans to ship some things when I have a bit more cash. I didn't expect to receive anything, though...

!!!

I got lots of great performance goodies from Fastapp! Unfortunately, I didn't have a ton of time to take photos, so they aren't all the best.

First I got this awesome cross stitch saddle pad! <3

There's also a kind of matching woven cinch!

Next, I unwrapped a lasso made of waxed thread! Because it is waxed, it's posable. 

It has so much detail, and all the little knots are awesome!

There's also this breastplate. I think it is an English one, but I'm not quite sure. It's great though! :D

One of my favorite items was this english pad!

The quilting and scale is the best.

Lastly, I got a red cinch that matches my red western pad I made. 

*Correction, I also got an awesome running martingale that I forgot to take a picture of.

Again, thank you so much! This made my Monday much more bearable!!

Portrait Models

Are definitely my favorite type of custom! I recently received this amazing model in the mail. He's a custom I commissioned from Rusty Key Studios on Facebook.

He's a portrait of one of the two horses I ride in real life. He turned out perfect!

His marking is spot on.

Merlin is pretty green and one of his biggest issues is flower boxes... So I had to have him jump over some.

I highly recommend the artist. The price was great and she was very nice.

Merlin isn't my first portrait horse, though. Last Breyerfest I picked up a portrait of the paint a ride, Steps!

He was painted by Emily Foltz.

I've also painted two portrait models for Becky. One SM driving horse, and a Haflinger (who I can't find pictures of...)

One of the reasons portrait models are so special to me is that I ride lesson horses. My dad is in the army and we aren't in a position to own one. The sad thing is that horses come and go, and when you don't own them... You have no say.

Portrait models are a great way to remember! I have 2 more real horses I want in plastic, now to find painters and molds! :)

Some Random Photography Tips

I was really inspired by a recent (real) horse show I watched to take some more photos and thought I'd share some of my tips. Posts like this really helped me when I first got started and I want to pass that on!

Obviously, this isn't the only way to take photos and everyone takes them differently, so develop your own style. This is the way I like to edit and take my photos.

Today was the first time I set up an indoor arena diorama. First I tried it inside, but even with editing it pretty heavily changes I wasn't happy with it.

It just seemed a bit too dark to me.

So I moved the whole setup outside!

It's a really simple thing, just a lid with some Brookstone Sand and scrapbook paper as a background.

One note on the sand; make sure it's not smooth! Unleash your inner six-year-old and 'gallop' a horse around in different directions to create a nice effect. This makes it look like the arena has been used.

Anyway, I think moving the whole thing outside was a good idea. It's still not perfect but I think it turned out nice! Don't hesitate to change things if you aren't happy with them.

I also took photos of my Picasso and one of the people trying to lunge him.

That reminds me of another tip; give your people some movement! In the bottom photo, the guy is stiff and just standing normally; he looks like a doll. In the top photo, he is is moving and looks much more natural.

Another thing is to never be afraid of editing. I normally just use iPhoto for my basic edits but Picmonkey and Photoshop are also great.

I used my Chanel to look like she is refusing a jump. The edits, while not huge, made a big difference!

Just straightening out the wall, darkening the photo, and defining it more made it look much better.

The last tip I have is to have fun, and don't force yourself to take photos if you don't want too! If you aren't enjoying yourself, it will be clear in your final result.

Hopefully you all enjoyed and learned some things, or were inspired to go take photos! You don't need a fancy camera, some of the best photos I've seen were done with an iphone!

Hurricane

If you haven't noticed, there's a pretty serious hurricane right now.

So leave those halters on...

Spray paint your number on those horses...

And keep your family (including the pet variety) close.

In the worst case scenario they get out, they'll get home somehow.

On a serious note, please stay safe! Belongings are replaceable, but life isn't. My family has been lucky enough to not have to evacuate. I will be praying and keeping you all in my thoughts.