MEPSA Sleepers

Yesterday I began the daunting process of verifying just who all is qualified from my photo show string to go to the MEPSA Championship Show next month.  Last year I'd started showing with MEPSA just in time to go to the last Mini qualifier.  I had a few horses earn their way to the BIG show right away, but...  I didn't send them.  I reasoned that it wouldn't be "worth it" to send just a few pictures.  And then I kicked myself for months afterwards.  I swore that next time I would send whoever I had qualified.  I also swore that I would enter every single Mini Specialty qualifier for the next show year, and possibly a couple of others.

I'm proud to say that I did it!  As this show year comes to a close, I can report that I successfully entered all four Mini Specialties AND the Vintage Specialty as well.  There were a few others I'd hoped to enter, but it didn't happen.  No matter, I stuck to my original goal and followed through - which is sort of a big deal.  I'm all about making plans, but, uh...  yeah.

I started pouring over the spreadsheets of qualifiers and comparing them with my own results.  I decided that the best way, for me, to do this was...  low tech.

Bring on the scraps of note paper!

I scribbled down every qualified horse, the class they were in, placing, and how many were in it.  In MEPSA 1st-3rd gets a qualification, but if there are over 100 entries in a class, it's 1st-6th.  

Wow, I have quite a few from my meager string that made it in.  

This is one of my "sleepers" an ordinary horse that I had no grand ambitions for.  He went to the beach, got a few pictures taken, and off he went to the shows.

I named him Granite Range, he shows as an Icelandic stallion.  I can't even say where his name came from.  I decided I wanted to show him, he had to have a name, that's what he ended up with.  I wish he had some cool, meaningful story, but..  nope.  Isn't that the way it goes sometimes?  

In three shows (he wasn't sent to the first one) he's been Champion Gender once and Reserve Champion Other Breeds twice.  He's qualified at every show, double and triple or more.  

It amuses me that I have him only because I saw him in one of those mystery foals sets a couple of years ago and thought, "Huh, I don't have that mold yet."      

Another sleeper is Backflip.  Oh, Backflip...  He's been mentioned in my blog before.  Some have heard his story, I'll quickly tell it again.  He is one of my old customs and he has never been a favorite, just something...  I don't know.  Despite that, in true pony style I suppose, he insists on doing well at the shows.  He's qualified in every Mini Specialty, in Pony stallion and/or British Pony class.  

I just shake my head.

The last sleeper, of sorts, is Not Today.  She is named from Game of Thrones: "What do we say to the God of Death?  'Not today.'"  I like giving these sassy little ASBs equally sassy names.  She is another older work, though not as old as backflip.  I've always thought she was pretty, but not particularly a favorite.  She has qualified in the Black color class at every Mini Specialty for the show year.

Those three will be joining other obvious favorites, like Wild Honey, and all of the other qualifiers in a "trailer" over to The Show very soon.  Just as soon as I make sure I know how to properly enter the thing and get all of my ducks (pictures) in a row.  

I'm also looking ahead to the next show year, which starts in August.  I'm hoping to increase (double) the size of my show string.  Also, I'd like to branch out from the Mini Specialties and try to enter some of the regular shows and other specialties.  

And...  I'd like to dip a toe, or three, into performance.  *gulp*

Revisiting Goals

Back towards the end of January, I did a post on my goals for the year.  I thought that I'd revisit that list, see how I'm doing, and decide what to work on for the last two months of the year.  (yes, it is flying by, isn't it?)

Here's the list of goals I had set and my notes on where I'm at with them now:


--- Keep up my blogging momentum
I've done pretty well with this I think, overseas move and all!  I was able to do daily posts for a few months before the move and thing were a little sporadic over the summer.  But I'm on track to finish strong for the year.  Hoping to do daily, or near daily posts this month and for December.


--- Organize my collection of horses
Well... not so good here, especially since my OF collection is all still (safely) packed away.  I need to finish figuring out my earthquake proofing before they come out.

Recently I did see this post on Rachel Fail's blog about organizing her show string and it got me excited about some options to organize my herd.


--- Finish my Rio Rondo saddle and build more tack
Hmm...  not so good here either.  I did get some parts of it out not too long ago to show a local crafty person, when I was trying to explain more about model horse stuff.  That did make me want to get back to work on it.  I'm hopeful that maybe I will finish it this year.  Added bonus: I now have pounce wheels to do the stitch marks before I put it all together.  Maybe, sometimes, procrastinating is not so awful...  ;)


--- Make progress on the Stagecoach
The stagecoach has not even seen the light of day since arriving in Japan.  The box is sitting on a shelf in the studio, waiting for me to get back to work.


--- Create several new custom horses
I did finish 5 new horses for the show that I went to back in early March... although it dawns on me now that I don't think I ever properly photographed them afterwards.  It appears that I did do a tiny post about them the night before the show, but I never did take those pictures.

Here's a picture of the table in the motel room when I was working on them, and others.  ;)

--- Attend a couple of live shows
I did this!  One at the end of February and another one (or two) - a double show, in early March.


--- Work on some performance entries
Didn't do this...  It's an ongoing long-term goal of mine to assemble some really nice performance entries during my time in Japan.  Then hopefully I can finally take the plunge into performance showing when we go back to the States.


--- Thin out my crafting stash
Nor did I really do this.  I did get rid of some stuff, but once I found out I would have my own studio room again, I, uh, sorta just brought everything else with me.  This is something I should still probably do, since I just don't have time to make ALL the things that I'd like to.


--- Get all finished work posted
Eh, not so much.  However, I did finally get some of my cross-stitch saddle pads listed on Etsy for the very first time.


--- Do more giveaways/donations
I did donate a couple of saddle pads to be raffle prizes at one of the live shows.  Also, I'm cooking up some more giveaways right now to finish out the year.



Okay, so that's the recap!  I think I'm doing okay overall, but it was good to go over this list again and ponder the things that I had wanted to get done.  I'm hoping to finish out the year on a high note, having gotten even more of these goals crossed off the list.

Random - A Few More Goals

A little while back, I posted a list of my Hobby Goals for 2015.  I've been thinking of a few more and thought I'd go ahead and type them up.  After all, I've always heard that you should write your goals down.  I'm not very good at that, but I'm trying to get better!

Along with organizing my herd (figuring out who all I have), I'd like to give them all proper names.  At the last several live shows I've found myself with nameless horses, leading me to now have NAN-qualified horses with names like "Jake" and "Sarah"... also "Salt" and "Pepper"...  When I was younger, I used to put a lot of thought into my names.  I had pages of name ideas, song titles, places, etc., and I'd use them to name horses.  There's nothing wrong with short names I suppose, but "Fool's Game" and "Prince of Thieves" just sound so much cooler. 

I'm also thinking it would be fun to make things for each of my horses, like say a stable halter (with nameplate??) and a blanket.  I've come across things lately where people made a blanket for each of their horses or have a halter for each horse.  That just sounds cool and would be a(nother) fun project to chip away at.  Plus, in the case of the halter making, it would give me an excuse to further my budding leather working skills.  As a result of a big lace sale at Tandy a while back, I have a TON of leather lace to play with.  May as well start cranking out some halters!  Along the way, once I get good at it, I'd like to offer some for giveaway/trade/sell.

I've never done the halter nameplates, but I know there are different ways to do them.  Mainly though, I'm thinking I'll use our LASER to make them and who knows, maybe that is another product we could offer in the future if I can get some neat ones made.  We can do etching on metal, though we haven't tried it yet.  Again, making a halter for each of my models would be a perfect excuse to practice that!

As for the blankets, I used to make those when I was younger too.  I still use one of them on one of my Pacers, since I don't trust them to stand well. 

It was made from felt and I use it as a pullover type.  It does have buckles on the chest straps, no belly straps.  I'd like to make ones that are fancier than this, it was made a loooong time ago in the era of my duct tape tack.

My other Pacer wears an old Breyer blanket.

In preparation for the move, Jeff and I have been going though our clothes lately and deciding to get rid of a lot of them.  I have a LOT of fabric to choose from if I want to repurpose it (always something I think is good to do).  Of course we are planning to get RID of the clothes, but I see no harm in hanging onto some of the material for my now planned blanket-making crusade..  ha! 

So, that's about it.  I thought it would be fun to share one of my recent brainstorms. 

Does anyone else have a neat idea for something I might make for each of my horses?

Goals for 2015

Of course now we are already about a month into the New Year, but... better late than never?  I had this written up during the first few days or so of January, but hadn't posted it.  I thought I might add some things, but I think this is probably plenty!

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Inspired by Janna at Shady Creek Farm and her post on 2015 Hobby Goals, I decided that it'd be a good idea to write my own goals down. 

I figure most of these will be geared toward my own model horse hobby goals, as that is where I really want my focus to be.  I've been working here and there on a lot of other creative pursuits, but my first love has always been the horses.


--- Keep up my blogging momentum.

Last month (December) was the first time I ever managed to blog every single day.  I'd really like to keep it up.  I enjoy blogging and it is definitely becoming something I feel like I have to do every day.  (not in a bad way - but something I really enjoy and look forward to)


--- Organize my collection of horses.

Several times I've started an overall inventory of who I have, as far as Original Finish, Custom, and in the body box, but I still haven't actually finished it.  It'd be nice to get that nailed down.  I still have some in my collection that are packed away.  I know at a couple of times I've sold some of my OF horses and I'm really not sure who all I have anymore from my childhood collection.  I like the idea of photographing all of them too, like Janna had mentioned.  It would be nice to make sure they all have names too.  Once upon a time they did, but now a lot of them are nameless.


--- Finish my Rio Rondo saddle kit and build some other tack as well.

I've been wanting to make tack for a long, long time and I finally have the supplies to do it.  This will be the year I dive in and see what I can make.


--- Make some real progress on the Stagecoach.

I'd like to see some real progress on this Epic project.  I'd like to get started on the team this year, maybe even finish a couple of them, and get started on the harnesses.  The coach itself needs a lot of work and while I'd love to finish it this year, I'd be happy with a rolling chassis and maybe the bare body of the coach assembled.


--- Create several new custom horses.

I have a ton of in progress horses and I plan to buckle down and get some of them finished.  Hopefully before the next thing on my list...


--- Attend a couple of live shows.

I've got my eye on a few shows this spring.


--- Work on some performance entries.

I've wanted to try performance showing forever and coupled with my interest in making tack, I figure it has to happen.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to have anything all set to go for the shows this spring.  However, I'd like to at least decide on the horses, events, start collecting documentation, and see how far I can get in the tack and prop department.


Last, but most certainly not least...

--- Finish all outstanding custom orders.

That is really goal #1 for me and it is something I desperately need to do. 



Non-model horse related...

--- Thin out my crafting stash.

I have a WIDE range of interests - and all of the stuff to match.  It will be hard to narrow my focus and get rid of things that aren't at the top of my list anymore, but it is something that I really need to do.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do and make everything I want to make.  Model horses have always been my first love, from a creative standpoint.  Now that I'm back involved and going full speed ahead, I feel like I can let go of a lot of other things that kept me engaged creatively (off and on) while I was going through some very dark times.


--- Get ALL of my finished work posted up for sale/donation.

There are most likely hundreds of finished pieces in my Studio, waiting for a purpose.  This year I hope to send them all on their way, whether it be through sales or by donating/giving them away.  On that note...


--- Do more giveaways and donations!

I really do love to give things away, it is a lot of fun for me.



I'm sure I'll think of more that I want to do, but I'd say that's plenty to start with!