Truthfully, what it comes down to is that I've been getting gradually sicker this past week. It started off with fatigue and a mild upset stomach, then right on Thanksgiving, I found out that me and turkey aren't agreeing with each other right now. I can keep sweet potatoes and green beans down, but everything else is iffy at best, and makes me feel dizzy, and gives me a headache similar to a mild migraine. Why I had to get sick in the lead up to Thanksgiving and my birthday, I don't know... Needless to say, it's tricky working on a model horse when you're feeling nauseous, so I've been making very slow progress over the last week.
Due to some unexpected bills, my birthday present's going to be a bit late too, I have to wait for the next paycheck before I can go get my camera. Even if I wasn't sick and had finished him, Antar was destined to be a late foal. And that's fine by me. If he needs more time, he needs more time, but I really really want to have him done before the end of December, because I really want to help someone else achieve their breeding goal for the year.
This past day, I've been continuing to finish the final touches on what sculpting needs to be done. I was watching Gone With the Wind yesterday, and during the jumping scenes with Rhett and Bonnie, I noticed Antar's face still needed a lot of work. As is typical of Stablemates, he had almost no real detail to his face, it was just a horse-head shaped blob, really. So I got started working on restoring missing details, because I want this model to compete in head study as well as halter classes. He's an Egyptian Arabian, and the classic head contest is where the inspiration for photo show head study classes came from, so I thought it a must to have something presentable in a head study class. Right after Gone With the Wind finished, in went my DVD of Black Beauty to watch while I worked, because it'd be a convenient quick reference to glance at when I got stuck. By the end of Black Beauty, I still had some work to do, so in went The 13th Warrior, where I could watch Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan (Eben) and his "dog" to get more details.
As of 17:05 on the 26th of November, Antar's head is looking a billion percent better than it was. He now has his jibbah, and a nice muzzle, and a much more chiseled cheekbone and brow, but I still need to resculpt his right eyeball and lower eyelid. My boy is starting to look really nice and chiseled now, and I'm really proud of my progress, even if I am behind schedule.
Still on my to-do list is finishing his stallion parts, which are being stubborn, and a touch more work on his neck and throat to blend the work I've done on his head with the style on the rest of his body. I'm hoping to have him in his first coat of primer by the 28th.
Today's movie to work by: The Neverending Story. The scene with Artax makes me cry every time, but then, so does most of Black Beauty. Perhaps after The Neverending Story, I'll put in The Horse Whisperer. At about that point, I'll only have The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King left in my list of movies with lots of horses, but I think I want to leave a whole day for working to the whole trilogy.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Upcoming Races
LRH Wafiyah to race in Iskoola Stakes
It's going to be young filly against mature stallion in the Iskoola Stakes, unless more entries come in. It's also going to be a great exhibition race for those who want to see Egyptian arabians.
LRH Wafiyah is matched up against Cherox Park's Majeed, an ABRB 2011 Triple Cup contender. Whatever happens, this race will be good for Wafiyah, we think she'll benefit from running with Majeed.
The track is expected to be springy, which will suit both horses well. We expect a fun, fast race, and we'll be happy even if Wafiyah loses, because it'll be wonderful to see these two racing together.
LRH Backfire to race in Vristina Stakes
Another two horse race, the Vristina Stakes will be run on muddy track, which won't suit either horse very well, though we anticipate White Pine Stables' Liberty An Justice to have more trouble with the conditions. Arnold's looking forward to this race. We switched his originally planned ride because we think Wafiyah needs a more active jockey.
This is the first race Backfire will actually have to work at, since she was the only runner in her maiden race.
LRH Shes All That to race in Tarn Lake Maiden
Once again, Cookie's racing Black Cauldron. This time, Shes All That is at a disadvantage, as the track conditions are expected to suit Black Cauldron better. Cookie was calmer this afternoon, we think keeping her at the track has helped. This time, she'll be backed by Ryan Kelly, one of our more junior jockeys. Ryan's been out there exercising Cookie for us, and they're working well as a team. Yesterday morning, he got Cookie to load with less fuss than she made in her last race, so if all goes well, Cookie will be keeping her gate card. We're not hoping for much from Cookie in this race, we just want her to get used to life and work at the track.
Ryan brought up an interesting point in our phone conversation yesterday morning: he thinks Cookie might still be a bit mentally immature for this. He mentioned that when he was walking her around the yard she was making the "baby face" at a lot of the other horses. The "baby face" is where a horse raises its lips slightly, then slaps its gums. It's a submissive sign that young horses use to say "Don't kill me! I'm a baby!" to other horses. I'm really hoping it's not that she's immature, because I really expect better from my late three year olds.
(Why am I mentioning the baby face? I think I actually want to make a few customs that are doing the baby face, since it's not something you see very often. Cookie will be one of the baby-face horses.)
Also, I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner yesterday! Because my mother-in-law was working yesterday, we're having ours today instead.
It's going to be young filly against mature stallion in the Iskoola Stakes, unless more entries come in. It's also going to be a great exhibition race for those who want to see Egyptian arabians.
LRH Wafiyah is matched up against Cherox Park's Majeed, an ABRB 2011 Triple Cup contender. Whatever happens, this race will be good for Wafiyah, we think she'll benefit from running with Majeed.
The track is expected to be springy, which will suit both horses well. We expect a fun, fast race, and we'll be happy even if Wafiyah loses, because it'll be wonderful to see these two racing together.
LRH Backfire to race in Vristina Stakes
Another two horse race, the Vristina Stakes will be run on muddy track, which won't suit either horse very well, though we anticipate White Pine Stables' Liberty An Justice to have more trouble with the conditions. Arnold's looking forward to this race. We switched his originally planned ride because we think Wafiyah needs a more active jockey.
This is the first race Backfire will actually have to work at, since she was the only runner in her maiden race.
LRH Shes All That to race in Tarn Lake Maiden
Once again, Cookie's racing Black Cauldron. This time, Shes All That is at a disadvantage, as the track conditions are expected to suit Black Cauldron better. Cookie was calmer this afternoon, we think keeping her at the track has helped. This time, she'll be backed by Ryan Kelly, one of our more junior jockeys. Ryan's been out there exercising Cookie for us, and they're working well as a team. Yesterday morning, he got Cookie to load with less fuss than she made in her last race, so if all goes well, Cookie will be keeping her gate card. We're not hoping for much from Cookie in this race, we just want her to get used to life and work at the track.
Ryan brought up an interesting point in our phone conversation yesterday morning: he thinks Cookie might still be a bit mentally immature for this. He mentioned that when he was walking her around the yard she was making the "baby face" at a lot of the other horses. The "baby face" is where a horse raises its lips slightly, then slaps its gums. It's a submissive sign that young horses use to say "Don't kill me! I'm a baby!" to other horses. I'm really hoping it's not that she's immature, because I really expect better from my late three year olds.
(Why am I mentioning the baby face? I think I actually want to make a few customs that are doing the baby face, since it's not something you see very often. Cookie will be one of the baby-face horses.)
Also, I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner yesterday! Because my mother-in-law was working yesterday, we're having ours today instead.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
All Breeds Racing Board Annual Starters Auction
The All Breeds Racing Board Starters Auction just ended. I bid on a few horses, but some of the bidding was crazy competitive, and I didn't have as many points to bid as some of the older members. I bowed out of bidding on two of the horses I was interested in, and put in bids on two more horses toward the end. I lost one, but kept the other, and I'm very happy I picked up at least one of the lots I bid on.
Here's the details for the horse I won in the auction:
2008 Arabian colt or filly by Before The Storm (Silver Prince X Layla) out of Johar (Dahess X Truely A Dream). Consigned by Emory Oak Stables.
I got to choose some of the details, like color and gender, and I've chosen to make a one of a kind custom.
Here's what I've decided on:
She's going to be named Aasifa Bint Johar.
She's going to be made from a Classic Andalusian Stallion, with a lot of customizing to turn her into a mare breaking from the start line. Here's a basic idea of what I want to do for the pose. I'll be replacing the neck, mane and tail with original sculpts, and the head's going to get a lot of detailing, and I suspect I'll be doing a lot of remaking around the flanks. This might just be one of the most drastic models I'll do.
Color wise, I want dapples like this, but with a chestnut base:
Aasifa is my next project for myself after I finish Antar, and get a few sales pieces done. I'm going to get bits and pieces of her done whenever the mood strikes and I've got some time to spare to get on with it.
Who knows, perhaps one day, an Antar Al-Ahmar X Aasifa Bint Johar foal might show up in the Starters Auction? ;)
Here's the details for the horse I won in the auction:
2008 Arabian colt or filly by Before The Storm (Silver Prince X Layla) out of Johar (Dahess X Truely A Dream). Consigned by Emory Oak Stables.
I got to choose some of the details, like color and gender, and I've chosen to make a one of a kind custom.
Here's what I've decided on:
She's going to be named Aasifa Bint Johar.
She's going to be made from a Classic Andalusian Stallion, with a lot of customizing to turn her into a mare breaking from the start line. Here's a basic idea of what I want to do for the pose. I'll be replacing the neck, mane and tail with original sculpts, and the head's going to get a lot of detailing, and I suspect I'll be doing a lot of remaking around the flanks. This might just be one of the most drastic models I'll do.
Color wise, I want dapples like this, but with a chestnut base:
Aasifa is my next project for myself after I finish Antar, and get a few sales pieces done. I'm going to get bits and pieces of her done whenever the mood strikes and I've got some time to spare to get on with it.
Who knows, perhaps one day, an Antar Al-Ahmar X Aasifa Bint Johar foal might show up in the Starters Auction? ;)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Custom in progress: LRH Antar Al-Ahmar
As a complete newbie to the idea of strains of Arabians, I've been doing some hasty research to get LRH Antar Al-Ahmar finished in time for my birthday. I needed to know what differentiates an Egyptian Arabian from other kinds, and wanted to find a good source of pictures of them to make sure my custom is on the right track. (It's a bit late to change anything major at this point, so I'm not sure why I even looked.) I came across this very useful blog, for the love of a horse, which is all about Arabians (and seems to have a focus on Egyptians). It's packed with history, pictures, stories, and even current sires, dams, foals, and champions. Very nifty, and very useful for me as an Arab newbie.
I'm getting close to crunch time with Antar at this point, since he's still not in primer, his head fell off (now partly fixed, I have to go back in with the bondo glazing putty again to fill in the cracks), and he insisted on a new tail and new boy parts. He didn't like his G3 Mustang tail (now lost! darn, I might need that for someone else!), he wanted a flippy tail, come hell or high water. This gave me a bit of a problem, since I've never sculpted tails before.
Fortunately, inspiration arrived in the form of Samantha Kroese's fantastic Friesian x Arab Legionario custom Ethereal Knight. Ethereal Knight has a string mane, tail and feathers, and is absolutely stunning. Well, honestly, my mind stopped somewhere between "oooh! pretty!" and "string". I'm thinking "string tail? I can do that, how hard can that be?"
I built Antar a tail with paperclip coated in superglue/baking soda resin, and got to work gluing on sections of tail. The problem is, I only have runny superglue, so it's a bit tricky affixing the pieces of tail without fixing myself to the model.
I did find a trick for wiping up any excess, however. I've been using a tiny piece of craft felt to wipe the wet superglue. That way, it soaks into the felt, rather than bonding to my fingers or taking too long to fully cure.
I've got half of Antar's tail done, and hopefully can get the rest done today. After that, I'll need to finish his boy parts, then get prepping like fury to meet my self-imposed deadline.
Of course, the deadline isn't just looming close because my model's taking a long time. I'm possibly one of the worst procrastinators in the history of procrastinators. I can always find a way to do something other than what needs to be done, and end up leaving things until the last minute. Fortunately, I'm lucky to thrive under that kind of pressure. My best work is always the stuff I bang out quickly and close to deadline, where I don't have time to edit/tweak a bajillion times and ruin all the good stuff. Here's hoping that works again this time.
No progress on the show halter though, I need paperclips, and I have none. Another thing to add to my list of things to do today.
I'm getting close to crunch time with Antar at this point, since he's still not in primer, his head fell off (now partly fixed, I have to go back in with the bondo glazing putty again to fill in the cracks), and he insisted on a new tail and new boy parts. He didn't like his G3 Mustang tail (now lost! darn, I might need that for someone else!), he wanted a flippy tail, come hell or high water. This gave me a bit of a problem, since I've never sculpted tails before.
Fortunately, inspiration arrived in the form of Samantha Kroese's fantastic Friesian x Arab Legionario custom Ethereal Knight. Ethereal Knight has a string mane, tail and feathers, and is absolutely stunning. Well, honestly, my mind stopped somewhere between "oooh! pretty!" and "string". I'm thinking "string tail? I can do that, how hard can that be?"
I built Antar a tail with paperclip coated in superglue/baking soda resin, and got to work gluing on sections of tail. The problem is, I only have runny superglue, so it's a bit tricky affixing the pieces of tail without fixing myself to the model.
I did find a trick for wiping up any excess, however. I've been using a tiny piece of craft felt to wipe the wet superglue. That way, it soaks into the felt, rather than bonding to my fingers or taking too long to fully cure.
I've got half of Antar's tail done, and hopefully can get the rest done today. After that, I'll need to finish his boy parts, then get prepping like fury to meet my self-imposed deadline.
Of course, the deadline isn't just looming close because my model's taking a long time. I'm possibly one of the worst procrastinators in the history of procrastinators. I can always find a way to do something other than what needs to be done, and end up leaving things until the last minute. Fortunately, I'm lucky to thrive under that kind of pressure. My best work is always the stuff I bang out quickly and close to deadline, where I don't have time to edit/tweak a bajillion times and ruin all the good stuff. Here's hoping that works again this time.
No progress on the show halter though, I need paperclips, and I have none. Another thing to add to my list of things to do today.
Racing Results
Sorry, no long article this time, I'm busy at work on my Arabian custom, now named LRH Antar. Here's a quick write up of the races my horses ran.
Little Eagle wins Band O'Green Maiden
The Band O'Green Maiden was raced on springy turf, with underdog LRH Shes All That breaking handily from the gate, followed by pre-race favorite Black Cauldron and solid contender Little Eagle. LRH Shes All That dropped behind as Black Cauldron and Little Eagle found their stride. Little Eagle made the push to win by a neck over Black Cauldron in this very close race.
LRH Solar Eclipse beats Big Red in second meeting
A fortnight after their matchup in the Empire Bay Maiden, Big Red and Sunny met for the second time in the Copperley District Stakes. The fast ground suited LRH Solar Eclipse, who went on to win his second against Big Red.
Little Eagle wins Band O'Green Maiden
The Band O'Green Maiden was raced on springy turf, with underdog LRH Shes All That breaking handily from the gate, followed by pre-race favorite Black Cauldron and solid contender Little Eagle. LRH Shes All That dropped behind as Black Cauldron and Little Eagle found their stride. Little Eagle made the push to win by a neck over Black Cauldron in this very close race.
LRH Solar Eclipse beats Big Red in second meeting
A fortnight after their matchup in the Empire Bay Maiden, Big Red and Sunny met for the second time in the Copperley District Stakes. The fast ground suited LRH Solar Eclipse, who went on to win his second against Big Red.
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