Next Few Days = Horses and More Horses!

Tomorrow morning I'm off to meet with someone in a neighboring city who is going to take me to a horseback riding club!  I'm going to see where it is, check out the barn, the horses, and be introduced to the people there.  

 

I've recently learned that there are TWO riding clubs in that city.  This club that I will get to see tomorrow is the Yabusame (horse archery) club.  That is their main focus.  The other club focuses on jumping and dressage; it was them that let me ride a horse on that magical day last October.  As of this past weekend, I have contact information for them too and know where they are located.  I'm hoping to get to go meet them (again?) soon.  But first, the horse archery horses - and people!

Then on Monday morning, I'll be going back up to see the wild horses at the lighthouse.  Recently I met a woman who is new here.  She is a fellow horse person and a photographer.  She's already hit the ground running and after just a month here has done a lot of traveling and taken a lot of pictures!  (I can relate)  She hadn't been to the lighthouse yet and was very excited to go when I offered to go with her up there. 

So, out of the next three days, plans are for two of them to be full of horses.  I most certainly approve!!

Bad Blogger - That's Me

Somehow it has been a month since my last post.  Sorry about that.  I could come up with some excuses as to why I went from (mostly) daily posts to nothing, but really what it boils down to is depression.  This is a bad time of year for me, for several reasons.  It's a complicated thing, because...  I absolutely love spring; it is my favorite time of year.  To top that off, I'm finding that springtime in Japan is breathtaking.  It's hard to be depressed for long when you are surrounded by sights like this:

Stay tuned as I return to regular blogging, starting with this post.

I have been quietly working on several things in the studio.  In addition, Jeff and I have been doing a fair bit of traveling and I have been taking a LOT of pictures.  Horses!  Mounted Archery!  Cherry Blossoms!  I should have plenty to share.

Model Stable Names - Thanks!

Thank you so much to everyone who commented (and e-mailed) me about their model stable names!  I really enjoyed hearing about all of them.

I've been giving more thought to what mine should be and I'm leaning heavily toward: "Blue Bennu Stables".  I've always had a fascination with the legend of the phoenix.  My (currently dormant) model/fantasy horse racing stable is called Firebird Farms and I thought about going with that for my model horse stable as well, but I wanted something a bit different.

The Bennu bird is the Egyptian version of a phoenix and may have even inspired the Greek phoenix, which is arguably the most well known.  In my research, I found it interesting that many cultures across the world have some sort of phoenix legend.  There is even a Japanese version, which I have seriously thought about using as inspiration, given my current location.  ;)  However, I think I like the Bennu the best.  One reason is that it is most often depicted as a heron.  The heron is a favorite bird of mine - since that is the last name (slightly different spelling) of my Granddad, Granny, uncles, aunt, etc.  "Horse Tender" come from a book of my Granddad's that I had read many years ago.  It seems fitting to me that my model stable name in some way be a nod to my Granddad too.

From what I've read, the bird who most likely inspired the Bennu was the grey heron, but I like "Blue Bennu" to be more like the blue heron and, well, blue is my favorite color.

Oh, one other thing, this name - or any variation of it - seems to be available.  In other words, I can't find another Blue Bennu Stables mentioned anywhere.  That's a plus.

Yes, I think I've just about talked myself into it...

;)

Model Stable Names?

For the last year or so I've been tossing around different ideas for a name for my model horse stable.  As I've mentioned on here before, I used to enjoy coming up with names, profiles, and so on, for my horses.  I've been thinking I'd like to get back into that, but I really want to have a name for the ranch, or stable, or farm where they live.

Do you have a model stable name?  What is it and how did you decide on the name?

Yabusame! - Awesome Day

Just a couple of days ago, I randomly happened to visit the website for the horseback riding club nearby.  I still haven't visited them since the magical day last October when I was able to ride a horse. 

I saw that they were advertising an event taking place this weekend, at a mall in a nearby city.  It would be a Yabusame (Japanese horse archery) demonstration/information booth, without horses.  Jeff and I decided to go and check it out.  I was afraid with the language barrier that I might not be able to get much information, but I wanted to try.

It turned out that there were (at least) a few people there who spoke English, including a woman who is here teaching English in the city where the riding club is based.  She goes out and rides once a week.  She doesn't speak much Japanese, but she called over a friend who speaks Japanese and English and helps with translation for people who want to ride.  They said they would be happy to show me where the club is, make introductions, and help me get started!

There was a type of competition going on with the riders who do Yabusame, but sadly I didn't get any pictures of that.  Instead, Jeff and I wandered around the mall for a while.  When we stopped back by so that I could take pictures, they were actually letting people try out the bow from the back of the "horses".   

We were on the second floor, looking down on the happenings.

I was struck by this saddle.  It looks like a McClellan...??  (with traditional Japanese stirrups)  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; so far I've already seen a lot of western saddles here, plus English, and even an Australian stock saddle.

I was asking Jeff if he thought I should go down and try it...  Right about that time, the man on the left of the pictures had noticed me watching from above.  He looked up at me and, with a big smile, beckoned me to come downstairs!

As we made our way down, I handed Jeff the camera.  I bumped into the lady I had been talking to about the club and she went along to introduce me to the man who'd invited me to come down.  He was extremely nice and spoke English.  He asked if I spoke Japanese.  I said, "I'm learning, a little"  He laughed and said, "Me too, with English".

I had the chance to shoot three weighted target arrows with a BIG bow (compared to what I'm used to).  I wasn't able to hit the target, but I got closer each time.  My arrows were hitting low, I think it was partly the different bow and also that the arrows are weighted on the end.  I was working my way up toward the target, but alas, my turn was up before I managed to hit it.

When I was talking to the two ladies earlier, they confirmed that I can do Yabsame lessons and even participate in the competitions!  (I had been wondering if foreigners were allowed to participate)  They said before each competition is a three day "intensive", a training/practice for the competition.  They were saying that I could do the intensive in April and then be in the competition at the end of April.  Whoa!  I don't think I'm ready for that, haha.  I told them I wasn't sure about that and they said "Maybe October" (the next one).  Yes, that sounds better.

Here is a (beautiful) poster advertising the next Yabusame competition in April, during cherry blossom time.  I can't wait to see it.

Today actually started with a reminder on FB of what I was doing a year ago today: sitting with Bo in our backyard in SD.  Seeing that put me in a bit of a funk, I miss him so much, and I just miss horses.  I didn't think I wanted to go to the event today, but I am SO glad that I did.

Costume Prep

I've been amassing a small collection of fabric that I intend to use for Arabian costumes.  I have two costumes in the works right now: the Traditional one, in shades of pink, and another that is...  Stablemate scale!  The colors on that costume are yellow, grey, and brown.

When I first started looking into making these costumes, I read about braiding embroidery floss by separating all of the stands into three groups, braiding them, and then sewing the braid side by side for halters, collars, etc.  I've been braiding floss for a bit now, starting with my first attempt at presentation set.  I also braided some lengths for the "royal" sets I have planned for Darkness Falls and Ashley (my prize Classic scale Arabians).  So far though, I've done almost all of them as solid color braids.

They last few days, I've been working on my first multi-colored braids, to match some of my fabric.  I went over to a friend's house for a craft and movies afternoon and I hauled a bunch of fabric, all of my ribbon and floss.  I started matching up colors and putting the spools of ribbon and bobbins of floss into sandwich baggies, along with the fabric in the case of the smaller pieces.

As a result of that little project, I now have fabric/ribbon/floss groups set up for at least 7-9 costumes!

I thought I'd share some of the braids and the fabric they were made for.

First up is this one in brown with a hint of green and a cream color.

It was made to go with this fabric.

Next up: light blue, dark grey, and off white.

Made for this fabric.

The last, and most recent, is my favorite so far!  It is golden yellow. green, and blue.  I love how they look.

It was made for this fabric, which is also my favorite of the fabric that I've found.

That fabric is the reason I say I've got materials matched up to make 7-9 costumes.  There are so many colors in it and I was able to find matching floss for just about all of them.  So by going with different groups of floss colors for tassels and braids, I'll be able to do several costumes with this fabric alone.

Next up will be this one: maroon, green, and sort of a sand color.

It will go with this fabric.

I've been having fun working on a bit of costume prep!

Prep Day - Sorta

My least favorite thing to do when it comes to customizing is...  prepping.  I don't know why.  I love repositioning horses, sculpting, painting, and even hairing.  The thing that comes before painting?

Ugh.

I think it's because I'm so picky and it feels like prepping is never done.  I always seem to find another thing I want to make look better, then another, and another.  There have been many times (in the past, before my hobby hiatus - and now) that I've thought it would be wonderful to pay someone to do my prepping for me.  But, I do like being the one who has done everything on a custom horse, so I slog away at my most dreaded creative task.

Today I decided there was nothing for it, I had to prep some horses.  Lately I've been wanting to paint some horses - very badly - but alas, I have no paint ready horses.

I wasn't sure which horses I wanted to prep first.  I ended up dumping out the whole box of unpainted stablemates that I have.

Then I sorted them by mold.  Seemed like the thing to do.

I started looking them over, envisioning all sorts of wonderful colors: appaloosa, pinto, chestnut, bay, palomino, grulla!

But first...  prepping.

Sigh.

For the heck of it (and probably still procrastinating, let's be honest) I decided to unwrap all of them and set them up on my desk for a little photo shoot.  

If you've ever wondered what 48 unpainted G2 stablemates might look like, wonder no more.

Pretty cool...

I'd absolutely love to say that I prepped them all today (ha!), but actually it was only these four that got attention.

All four now have their ears, nostrils, and hooves carved.  I started doing seams on the TB.  The Paso should be ready to paint...  I think.

Are they ever really ready?

I'm hoping to prep more tomorrow, maybe even paint something if I can call a prep job "good enough".