New Horse at the Barn!

It is always exciting when we get a new horse at the barn. Sunday Laurie's new horse, Indy, arrived. He is a 14-year-old OTTB gelding. Got off the trailer and was just as sweet as good be. He will share a pasture with Slim, another OTTB. And Slim was so happy to have a buddy again, their meeting was a total nonevent- because after all, there was grass! (Indy is the smaller lighter bay with the halter.)

The Invisible Woman

Gerry says I look like the Invisible Woman when I'm masked and gloved up. I can't say that I disagree. Especially when I have my sunglasses on. PANDEMIC TIP: as soon as the call to wear masks came out I rummaged around and found all the buffs I own that I use when I ride in the winter. They are lighter and much more comfortable than wearing a traditional mask.

Sleepy Boys

This is what greeted me the other day at the  barn. Both the boys were taking a little nap. Doc waited a long time to get up, but Dallas knew that Mama likely had treats and got up immediately. I think his photo is especially cool because it kind of looks like he is levitating.

More Video Commercial Photos

A co-worker took these nice shots of me and Dallas when we did the video for Delaware Tech's Employee Recognition, doesn't Dallas look awesome! 

That day took me back to the days when I was an associate producer for AF&V-

boy does that go back a long time ago!!!!!

The leader of the pack....

I like to play around leading the equines from horseback (ponying.) Doc looks less than thrilled about it. 

Gerry, Doc, Dallas and MJ, this past summer.

Another long break in blogging

I love the expression, don't make excuses, make the time. So I feel offering up excuses as to why I haven't been blogging would be a big fat cop-out. But I will, anyway. Work, school, sick-me, sick-Doc, visitors from out of town, major redecorating.

OK. that's over with. But I'm back. Some kind of recent photos of the mule and horse (I love saying that, it's like saying, moose and squirrel (anyone else get that pop culture reference?) Until tomorrow then folks! I promise, I'll be back!

My handsome Boys at the Barn

Dallas is so freaking handsome, but even better than his looks is his wonderful temperament, he's saved my ass more than once, he is truly a one of a kind.

Doc and Gerry. Doc is completely devoted to Gerry and I think the feeling is mutual.

The New Girls

We have two new horses at the barn, ex race horses, Ellie and Lucy. Ellie has got this amazing curly mane and Lucy makes me think of my Immy- a lovely chestnut with a lot of chrome. The girls have settled in nicely and even had a male suitor from the next barn forge the creek to say hello!

Dallas in the sun

 

Gerry drove me out to the barn to see the boys. Doc usually comes down from the top field as soon as he sees his Daddy (knowing that when he does there will be treat and scritches a plenty) But it was a sunny day, mid-afternoon, And nobody came down, so Gerry walked up. Who can blame the boys are not wanting to move, it was siesta time!

Winter Uglies

It's cold and windy out today, so I thought I'd post this pic from last summer. Dallas was show ready (right now he is hairy and muddy); his whites were gleaming (right now they are kinda yellowish); and he was in tip top shape (right now he's kind of porky and very not fit.)

 

I'm not picking on Dallas because the same could be said of me -
well, except I'm not hairy and muddy.

 

 That's winter for you.

Thowback Thursday...not so far back....

 

A cowboy, a palomino and a Miata walked into a bar...

 

I have no idea where to go from there,  but love this photo!

I miss riding...

I wish this was a recent photo. Not going to go into the gory details (yet-I'll do that later : ) but my riding has been derailed for a couple of months due to having a much needed surgery on my foot.

 

I miss Dallas!!!!!!

Silly Selfies

MJ and GW horsing around, LOL. (From the summer of 2015)

Dallas with Show Ready Braids

While Dallas learned his dressage moves in 2015 I worked on his improving his turnout; I started teaching myself to braid (with help from all the ladies of the barn.)

I did an underhand French roll first, which I LOVE the look of, the issue is when he rounds up his neck arches and it pulls the braid loose.

So I settled on the lattice work braid, which looks stunning if I do say so myself!

Last Year: Show Time

My equine goal for 2015 was to have Kris train Dallas as often as possible and show him in local schooling shows. Kris did an amazing job with Dallas- waking up his inner dressage horse and we ended 2015 with him showing Training Level and First Level. His high scores for the year were:

Intro B:  77.2 
Training 1: 67.391
Training 2: 69.038
Training 3: 68.864
First Level 1: 64.259

We took him to 6 schooling shows in total. We learned a lot about him including: he LOVES dressage, he does not do well when its hot (no summer shows next year) and the judges all recognize what a good boy he is and how hard he tries to please.

I'm undecided about our goals for next year. With my foot surgery putting me out of commission for a while I think I'll just need to take it week by week.

Taking Doc's photo one step further...before and after

In yesterday's blog I talked about using Photoshop to improve and clean up a potentially great photo. Today's photo shows what I did with it next.

 

I imported the cleaned up image into my iPad Pro via Dropbox, then opened it up in an incredible app called "Waterlogue" I have no idea how they created this magical app but after playing around with the settings I ended up with several versions that I liked.

 

Next, I imported those versions back into Photoshop (on my desktop) and then layered them and began brushing out parts of each layer to create the finished image: the photo of Doc you see below. 

 

I love technology!

 

The original image below:

Doc and Dallas in the movies!

I had some fun with iMovie over the weekend, enjoy!

Dallas and Doc Play in the Snow, Part 2

More snow day fun with Doc and Dallas,
thanks for the video of the boys Paula!

Doc and Dallas Play in the Snow, Part 1

Many thanks to Paula for sending me this video of the boys.