Pandemic Performance Panorama

The pandemic has spurred the hobby to return to its roots - since live shows are currently not safe to hold or attend, many hobbyists have returned to photo showing. Only instead of doing the ol' physical photos stuffed into a large envelope with a SASE to return them, modern photo showing is done digitally and online.

The options for specialty shows have been creative, but probably none more so than Jennifer Buxton's Pandemic Performance Panorama. (The teacher in me LOVES that alliteration! A+, Jennifer!)

The class list is unique and allows for a great deal of personal expression and creativity from the exhibitor. I'm not great at making tack, props, or dolls, but I can use what I have and come up with entries.

I have a whole bunch of Thelwell rubber horses and riders. Using some appliqués tucked away in my quiet book supplies, I created a scene of dedicated fox hunters heading out despite the looming hurricane. (The appliqués are taped to the wall.) This is for the Teeny Tiny Performance class.

My lovely doll from Anne Field is here, and while I intend to use her for a more elegant entry in live shows, I also used her as I toyed with ideas for the Mixed Scale Performance class.

Another quiet book appliqué was taped to the wall and a narrative was posted with the entry.

When I saw there was a Vintage Performance class, I entered this photo taken in the early 1990s.  (I love looking at the entries in that class - so many old photos that bring back lots of memories.)

I am working on one last photo that I will enter in Bad Performance. It will include my new doll and my new Rubbernedz. Anne inadvertently gave me the idea when she sent me progress photos on the doll, and I am hoping I can pull it off. 

I'll post the photo here when I do.

The Old Barn

The old barn is my favorite of the barns on the property. It's not original to the site - the original barn burned down decades ago and the old barn was moved here to replace that one. But it, too, caught on fire, and if you go up into the hay mow, you can still see charred spots on the rafters and beams up there.

Diablo, Hokey (barely seen) and Trouble.

Tim checks it regularly and repairs and reinforces any weak beams. Like most old wooden barns, there are some cracks between the wallboards that let in light as well as fresh air. Surprisingly, though, it stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter despite those cracks. I love to hang out with the horses in there and listen to the barn creak and sigh. 

There are two huge box stalls, each with their own entrance, on the southern side of the barn and the horses have the freedom to go in and out at will. 

I'm glad that Abby has that freedom and can live as naturally as possible.

Shelter, pasture, water, salt and mineral blocks, with frequent offerings of peppermints and carrots...

Life is good!

Suitable for School

 You know, if I'd won a mutton busting champion belt buckle, 

I might wear it on the first day of school, too! (Who needs belt loops?)

Give Me a J! (Sort Of)

Earlier this year, Karen Crossley (aka Pawprint) wrote a blog post about the models that Kathleen Moody had sculpted for Breyer and other companies. In it, she mentioned that she loved Kathleen's Trail of Painted Ponies Norwegian Ford. Wait a minute! Kathleen had done a Norwegian Fjord?

Curious, I clicked the link in her blog and my jaw dropped - I was expecting the standard Trail of Painted Ponies model that had been decorated around some particular theme. That certainly wasn't what I saw.

It was a realistically painted Norwegian Fjord! I fell in love with it, did a little research, and had soon ordered one for myself. Then I emailed Karen through the link in her blog.

Hi, Pawprint! I read about Kathleen Moody's TPP Norwegian Fjord on your blog, looked it up and fell in love, and now have one myself. I'm writing a blog post about the piece and I want to include a link to your blog post that prompted me to get my own. If you don't mind, may I use your real name? I won't if you'd rather I didn't. Thanks much!  Lynn

Karen responded right away.

No problem.  I just use the pseudonym to protect myself from spammers.  And I'd love it if you linked to the blog -- the more readers I can get the better! My real name is Karen Crossley -- I use pawprint because it's been my email address since I first got connected online many years ago. I'm so glad you like your fjord! Cheers!   Karen Crossley

I knew what I wanted to name this piece right away - Affjordable. (See? There's the J!)

Affjordable lives on top of the china cabinet that houses my Metlox, Freeman Leidy, Cheval, and other non-Hagen Renaker horses. He's out where I can see him frequently, and has been a reminder of Karen ever since.

That reminder is even more poignant for me now.

Give Me a J!

A week or so ago, I got a message from Jennifer Buxton asking me if I would be interested in helping her honor Karen Crossley, a Canadian Hobbyist and active blogger who had suddenly passed away in July. She wanted to finish Karen's project of going through her collection by alphabet and talking about the models whose names began with those letters.

Anne Field, another daily hobby blogger rounded out what I have come to think of as "The Three Blogateers" and we started making plans for finishing Karen's project. Jennifer has already given the background information on the project in her blog post, Give Me an I, so I am going to jump right in with the next letter of the alphabet, J!

This is Jack's Oh Boy, named after my father and the circus pony that he owned and loved.

I still have Oh Boy's bridle and some old pictures of him. He got his name because that is what my father said when his dad brought the pony home as a surprise. Oh Boy came from a circus that was traveling through town. Apparently my grandfather asked if the pony was for sale, it was, and home with him he came!

Next, meet Jamaican Me Crazy!

This old Hagen Renaker Lying Foal was made in the mid 1950s and is older than me. I bought it from Nancy Falzone several years ago and then needed to come up with a name for it because I was entering it in a show. I did a search online and saw a real horse with that name and borrowed it. (The name always makes me smile.)

When Breyer made their first porcelains, I snapped up this Icelandic Horse. I really wanted a Scandinavian-sounding name for him.

My horsey Finnish friend, Merja Voutilainen, came to mind. Merja has a son whose name begins with a J, Jaarko. Perfect!

There is one more model to feature with the letter J, but it gets its own blog post. Why? Because Karen herself and her blog are the reason I got it. Stay tuned!

The Down Side of Summer

 Summer is wonderful, but it has its down side, too.

Bugs and bug bites are one of them.

Poor Abby had a big welt on her side from something that bit her when I went out to check her today .

Of course, summer also means red clover season. But even that pretty pasture flower has its drawbacks.

It makes the horses, especially Abby, very drooly, and if you aren't careful,

SPLAT!!

Thanks a lot, Abby. Yuck!

(Red clover photo from Google Images.)

How Far We've Come/How Far I've Come

While I wait for the USPS to deliver my new circus doll, I pulled out my model tack trunk and tried to see if I could recreate the performance set-up that I made and used to show way back in the early 1990s.

Performance showing has come a long way since the 1990s! 

The leather was twisted and I tried to straighten it out, but eventually I could tell that I'd need to undo all the buckles and straps, and I just didn't feel like tackling that job.

I remember buying a package of very thin leather in white and red at Michaels along with a packet of red and blue crystal stars to make the surcingle. Jump rings and buckles came from Rio Rondo. Not sure where the plumes came from but probably Michaels, too. The ribbon loop on the surcingle for the doll's hand was from my sewing supplies.

I no longer have the giant quilting hoop that I painted white with red and blue stars around its sides but I do still have the ziplock bag of the sawdust that I used for footing inside the ring. 

Despite its very amateur look, I am still proud of what I created. Why? Because I tried something I did not think I could do. (I am thinking about Can Do Gracie here.) Like the 2020 NaMoPaiMo where I painted a Stablemate to look like Sultanna, I took a deep breath and tried something out of my comfort zone. I had fun designing it, making it, and taking it to shows.

Liberty, his tack, and the doll (she never got a name) won't ever go to a show again. But they still mean a lot to me because, not only do they show how far performance showing has come, they also represent how far I have come, too.