Horses on Display

Hello! Yesterday afternoon we just finished our kitchen. My parents decided to add display cabinets along the ceiling and I put two of my model horses in there! I think it adds the finishing touch to our kitchen. The good news is that once coronavirus is over, whenever people come over they can see my model horses on display!

Another thing is to make sure to be careful with sharp objects. I was opening my tacky glue bottle with a needle, and I stabbed my self. It hurt but I’m okay. I guess you could say that my tack really is made out my own blood, sweat, and tears!

 

I’m Hot

      Hello! Today I’m feeling hot. So basically what happened was our air conditioning broke yesterday. The electrician can’t fix it until next week so we’re stuck being hot. The weather outside is souring to the 90s and inside the house it feels like it’s 100 degrees. So I haven’t spent much time upstairs working, but I did make another saddle.

I made two of these and I’m going to keep one. The other is going up for sale on my Etsy page.

I love this saddle! I wanted to keep both, but what am I supposed to do with two identical saddles!

Look at the tunnel that the gerbils dug!

Photo Friday: Double Colored Saddle

Today I finished my first double color saddle. I really love the combination of black and light brown. Here are some pictures of the making process:

I still don't know if I want to sell it, or keep it. I'm in the process of making a bridle and breastplate to go with this saddle.

 

Painting Jump Rails

Hello! Two days ago my brother needed something from Michels, so I happily tagged along. You can get so many project ideas from the craft store! In the clearance aisle  I saw a pack of six wooden dowels for only three dollars! 

Then I remembered something that I’ve always wanted to make. A butterfly jump! So I bought them along with some painters tape. Here’s how I did it:

First I measured out one inch increments. Then I wrapped tape around each end. You can do any pattern that you like, but I decided to do black, blue, and white.

The good thing about tape is that you don’t have to worry about painting straight lines. 

Once the black paint had dried, I put some more tape around the edges to paint in the colors. 

Once I did that I was done! I think that the poles that I painted came out great! Now I just have to build the wooden butterfly and the jump cups.

I hope that this was clear. I’m not really good at writing tutorials.

 

Kinetic Sand

A few weeks ago I talked to my mom about kinetic sand and how awesome it was to use in model horse photos. Well, guess what was in my Easter basket this year... kinetic sand! This stuff is so much fun to play with! Its like regular sand, but it sticks together so you can mold it into shapes and clean it up really easily.

It holds the shape of hoofs really well, and it doesn't stick to my model horses. Right now it's sitting on my shelf in a plastic container, but I plan to use it with my fence that I just finished. I can't wait!

Oh, and I've been experimenting with using leather and ribbon in my halters. In real life horse halters have leather behind their ears to break away if they get caught. I thought that this was an awesome detail so I decided to recreate it into 1:9th scale.

I'm working so hard on model horse tack because I want to be ready for Breyerfest!

 

Model Horse Bargains part 2

         I'm so sorry for not posting on my blog for over a week! A lot of big things are happening, I started softball and we're getting our kitchen renovated! I had to help my mom move all of the things out of the kitchen so that people could work on renovating our kitchen.

So... I know it's been awhile since I've talked about the wooden fences that I bought at the dollar store, but here it is! 

    First I had to sand down the rough edges to get rid of the splinters. I didn't sand it too much because I still want it too look worn down. My dad does a lot of woodworking, so I borrowed some of his stain. For this project I used the Special Walnut color from Varathane. Isn't that a "special" name? 

To apply I got a sponge brush and I painted on the stain. Then quickly I wiped it off with a rag. I did this a few times until the color was perfect. 

One of my pieces had some glue on it so the stain didn't dye properly, but I think that this just makes it look worn down. ( in a good way!)

Other then fences, they could also make an awesome bridge! 

Now all that I need is a long piece of wood to secure a fence onto.

By the way, I'm going to Breyerfest! I can't wait to enter the shows and participate for the first time. I already have some diorama ideas!

Equestrian Jumps

Happy Easter! So I told you that I would post about the Frying Pan Parks Equestrian center, so here it is.

Since people weren't allowed inside the barn, my family had to stay outside. When we were walking around, I spotted this cross country course! I've never seen life sized cross country jumps before so it was really fun. I know it's hard to see, ( I took this photo from my phone and from far away) but there were three jumps that caught my eye.

Of course, my model horse brain started thinking of ways that I could recreate these jumps in 1:9th scale. The pile of rocks looked fairly easy to make, but I was wondering how to make a mini log jump, or the house. Popsicle sticks? Well it was great to look at the real things, instead of only looking at pictures.

 

Frying Pan Park

      Today it was officially the first day of spring break! After golf camp, we went to Frying Pan Park to see the animals. Let me just say, the farm has TONS of animals! This turkey puffed up to twice his size when he saw Benji come close. It was really cool to see all of the feathers puffed out.

Right next to the turkey was this beautiful peacock. It’s feathers were such a vibrant turquoise that they seemed to glimmer in the sunlight. I really want to paint a miniature peacock now! (With glitter, of course!)

Piglets!

 

There were many other animals too, but I was exited when I found the horses! In fact they had a whole equestrian center!

It had an indoor arena, and three giant horse barns. I really wanted to go inside, but we weren’t allowed.

But I did manage to snap a photo of this draft horse that was in the paddock. What breed do you think he is, Belgian draft horse?

I’m going to talk more about this equestrian center soon, so check back tomorrow!