The model horse project has been pushed so far onto the back burner, I don’t think it’s on the stove anymore. I look at the pretty pictures from the show, and think, ‘Hmmm, maybe.’ Then I read how much work goes into taking quality close-up model shots, Desktop Stables: How I Photograph My Models – Revisited, and I think, ‘Eh, maybe not.’
Since I am now showing Milton (Kermit dance!), I feel less pressure about side projects. If I get to them, I get to them. If not, then not. So, I will continue to buy the annual book [2015, 2016] and use the idea of photo showing as an excuse to buy models [Fire2015, Peppermint Kiss & Sam2016, Illumination2018].
Breyer models, LEGO sets, My Little Pony knickknacks. I certainly have no trouble admitting to childlike enthusiasms. Some adults have trouble admitting, or get grief when they do. I’ve read about model horse aficionados who don’t tell their co-workers about the live show they attended over the weekend. MLP bronies get a raw deal. Unless I go to a LEGO store, I gotta shop in the kids aisle.
Why?
If a humanoid form is made of plastic and costs $10, it is a toy. If a humanoid form is made of china and costs $1000, it is an objet d’art.
Who determines these things? Is there a Board of Toys?
One of the best parts of being adult – aside from being done with school – is the ability to impulse purchase a shiny, pretty, transparent blue horse model in the gift shop of the Kentucky Horse Park. No nagging of adults. No waiting for Christmas. From want to have in the time it takes to run a credit card.
So what? I’m not doing it in the streets and alarming the horses. Why does it matter if spend money on toys or on decorator pillows?
As I kid, my big deal was stuffed animals. I had over a 100. All sizes. All species. Didn’t matter. Now that I am hoarding giving houseroom to live animals, my need for the stuffed variety has declined. As an adult kid, I have a handful of Breyers, more than a handful of LEGO bricks, and a smattering of MLP. While I’m fond of these, they remain side enthusiasms to the aforementioned live animals.
What childhood toys have you discovered, rediscovered, never left behind?
Illumination
Breyer model #1799
“Nokota was introduced in 2007. The mold name refers to a feral and semi-feral breed of horse native to the North Dakota badlands. It was sculpted by Kathleen Moody and is Breyer mold #1279.” Identify Your Breyer: Nokota
Progress Notes
Big camera! On manual! Pressed many buttons! Took way more shots than I do with phone! Dunno why.
Procedure for Low Key Photo Challenge
1) I post a photo on a given theme.
2) You comment below with a link to your photo on that theme.
3) We all click over to see what you have.
That’s it. No prizes. No rules. No submissions. For more explanation, see [Inaugural Edition].
First they added length, like little kitten-shaped Dachshunds. Then they grew legs. Now they are bulking up. From an aesthetic point of view, I’m a little concerned about their heads. They have adorable kitten-sized skulls, which don’t seem to be growing. Will we end up with adorable kitten-sized heads on cat bodies?
How is that comfortable?
The kittens have turned into full-on purr machines. They purr when I pat them. They purr when I pick them up. They purr when they decide I am a large, oddly-shaped kitten and dog-pile (cat-pile?) on me.
Still no names. Three-quarter tail thinks she (he?) might like to be called Princess, but isn’t sure. Long Tail & the Stubbies remain as before.
Lots of sleeping kitten photos.
1) They are fast when awake.
b) My house is enough of a hot mess that I don’t like having it show up in the background of photos.
3 or c) I’m trying to enjoy the moment rather than obsessing about catching the moment on film. So to speak.
Mostly, they are too fast for me.
Still haven’t see a pattern in who plays/sleeps with whom. Lots of two and three kitten piles. Not many 4 piles or 2+2 piles. Usually 3+1 or 2+1+1. If a kitten is off alone, it is often Long Tail. The male Stubby is the most likely to be meowing because he has lost everyone.
A friend was visiting when the pseudo-Siamese were young [Gratuitous Kittycake]. (That may have been the last time my house was in an acceptable condition for company. But I digress.) She said, “They look like popcorn.” These guys even more so. Apparently the accepted way to great one’s sibling is to leap high in the air with one’s front paws spread wide. Whaaa!
They are adapting to the dogs and other cats. Dogs and kittens ignore each other, by and large. The kittens are fascinated with the cats. The cats not so much. Much hissing and staring down from tall objects. The kittens are appropriately submissive to the cats. When reprimanded, they hunch down and back off. But they don’t back off far. I foresee bolder gestures of friendship in the offing.
A rarely sighted 4-pile.
The cats have a point. I was doing something on a table. All four kittens came to check me out. That’s a lot of eyes suddenly staring at you.
They are also fascinated with the bathroom, particularly the bathtub. The surest way to get all four together is to take a seat on the throne. They all come running in to bounce in and out of the tub, slid off the side, and play ruffle games with the shower curtain.
They are not jumping yet, but are climbing like squirrels. They’ve conquered great heights by climbing everything they can.
Note: As before, photos are in chronological order, not necessarily bearing any relation to the surrounding text. The border is taken from the tummy color in the four-kitten photo, not the color of the laundry hamper. I felt that needed to be said.
It was 2014. I was riding in my second National Academy finals. I had moved up to walk-trot-canter, which wasn’t as much of a big deal for me as it is for the average Academy student, I suspect.
I don’t remember which class it was. There wasn’t the feeling of infinte possibility, so not the first day. I wasn’t overcome with despair when it happened, so not the Eq Final pictured above. Probably one of the Saturday classes. [Show Report, list of posts]
I do remember exactly were we were in the arena. Right at the end of the ring, going past the in/out gate in the first direction. Details like that stay in your brain.
We had cantered. We were walking. I felt my left – i.e. inside – stirrup slip off my foot.
Crap.
I have a good leg position, which translates to my feet staying were they are supposed to be. I rarely lose my stirrups. However, when I do, they stay gone. Earlier that year, I had manged to lose both at a fun show. [Show Report]. This was Nationals. I couldn’t exactly pull up and fish around for a misplaced bit of metal.
So there I was, foot hanging in the breeze. We walked. They called for the reverse. ‘Okay,’ I think, ‘At least the judges won’t be able to see that I’ve lost my stirrup.’ Nationals may have three judges, but they are all in the middle of the ring. Sins committed on the outside are not visible.
I was on Sam, so I wasn’t worried about staying on for the trot or canter. I was worried about keeping myself from looking lopsided when posting with one stirrup. (One is actually harder than none. Try it sometime.)
As we swung around, the stirrup slipped neatly back on my foot. Off we went.
That was four years ago. I can still feel the stirrup sliding off and sliding back on.
Our first centerline. I know it’s looks as if I am pulling his mouth open. I’m not, see below. I have many sins, but riding with heavy hands is not one of them.
Horse is being a twink. Rider is clearly amused by this. Circle at A(?).
Our best scoring move. 7 for the halt.
2015 USDF Intro B
A passing moment of pleasant. Circle at E(?).
Loose reins, mouth still open. Milton likes to talk. Circle at B(?).
Joint relief at surviving our first dressage show!
More photos in gallery. Jeremy Villar Photography > online store > Full Circle Horse Park – August 25th > enter email > 286.
In many of the gallery photos, I look as if I am talking to Milton. I actually did pretty well at keeping my voice commands to myself [Into Each Life A Little Dressage Must Fall]. I think I am forcibly exhaling, which I do to keep all the hamsters in my head scampering in the same direction.
Under Milton’s mane, the coat is solid gray. As if the spots are a result of sun. Any coat color experts out there?
~~~
Yes, I braided for a small schooling show [Show Report].
It occupied my time while we waited. Turns out Milton needs practice in standing still to be braided and in having his neck hairs tied in knots. Better that he get used to it now rather than springing it on him for a big occasion.
Virtual Brush Box 