The Gift--Heartfelt Thanks to Artist Karen McLain

As a few of my faithful readers are aware, my very good friend Linda's horse Shorty has been diagnosed with cancer and given six months to a year to live. Being quite heartbroken by the news, and feeling horrible for my friend, I got to thinking.....

I had found Karen McLain's blog a while ago and had contacted her regarding pricing and information in order to find out about getting an oil painting done of my horse Jackson. Since I always seem to have other things come up monetarily, that had been put onto the back burner for awhile. After Shorty's diagnosis and with Christmas coming, the wheels in my head started to turn. Wouldn't it be great if....

So I contacted Karen once again and explained the situation with Shorty, and that I would like to commission one of her oil paintings for Linda to have to commemorate their life together. I was having computer issues at the time so I went to a friend's house and shot her an e-mail to please call me. She called me back the very same day and we went from there. The whole experience was wonderful and Karen was a superb communicator throughout the whole experience.

Karen wanted to know everything about Shorty. From personality, age, to what disciplines he has been ridden; there wasn't much she didn't end up knowing about him without actually getting to meet him herself.

I told Linda about the gift. Why not keep it a surprise you ask?  I thought long and hard. If my horse had cancer and someone was having a painting done for me, I would want to pick the details out myself. Did she want to be in the picture? Would she want a close up or him running in the field? Halter or no halter? After her partnership with him of sixteen years, there were things I needed and wanted to know so that the finished product would be special. Although I love Shorty too, I have only known him for two years and he is not my horse. I wanted a masterpiece, and in order to make that happen she had to know. She told me that it didn't really hit her until a few hours after I had told her, and then she cried.

Last evening I was finally able to see her face as the letter from Karen was read to her (she tried to read it out loud herself, but....tears...), and she saw the painting for the first time. I had already looked at the painting and read the letter, and I CRIED when I saw such a perfect rendering of Shorty. Even though I had very carefully looked at Karen's paintings on her blog, you worry when giving a gift that is so important. That your expectations won't be met. That the horse you know won't be the one in the painting. I need not have worried. As soon as I saw it I gave a HUGE shout, "She got him! She captured him perfectly!" And Linda thought so too. His soul shines through; this is not a generic horse painting. She had also seen Karen's work on her blog, but she commented, "This is her best yet!" Of course it is... :).  I wish I had captured it all on video. Her face was a Christmas gift to me. She got a bit teary, but her best friend Lorri was sitting across from us wiping her eyes copiously for all three of us.

Thank you Karen. Your painting was a beautiful way to thank my friend for all she does for me and Jackson, show her how much I love her, and to thank Shorty for being the amazing horse that he is.  Folks, you will not regret a painting from this amazing artist!

Sunday Still: New Artwork for My Wall!

THIS is a Wonderful Life....

Anne, Lorri and me...Can you believe that Lorri and I both have Anglo Arabs? They are SO different!

Linda on Red (Missouri Fox Trotter), Anne on Allie (Arabian) and Lorri on Ozzie (AngloArab)

On Wednesday we had wonderful 68 degree weather and it was the perfect day for us to hit the trails! I haven't been riding too much in the past month with sickness and weather getting the upper hand. Oh. And work. And the kiddo. There were actually five of us who rode out, but we took these pics without our friend Kathy (later pictured in pink) because she was being a slow butt... :) J.K., Kathy!
We took along tools to clear some trail, officially beginning our work on the annual Triple H Equitherapy Scavenger Hunt. We have changed the date from June to early May because we think the cooler weather in May will attract more riders. Adding new trails and obstacles are imperative to keeping the interest and freshness of the ride alive. Three of us cleared branches and forged trail on foot, while two held the five horses; I'd say we spent 45 minutes clearing and the rest was a relaxing, invigorating ride. Even though we waded streams, and traveled at a pretty fast pace for five riders, it felt as if we were all very much in sync and we all had a ball. If you have ever ridden with this size group, you probably know that this does NOT always happen! :)
As we rode, I reflected on the past year a bit, and how far I have really come with Jackson. When we trot now it feels like another extension of me; we have both gotten so much better at this gate, I am no longer thrown up into the heavens gulping at the stars. We can canter. Collection, check. (OK. Much more collection than ever before, how's that? :) On the bit? Most of the time. Doing things with such comfort and ease that they are automatic? OH YEAH! :) Lost 54 pounds? Done that too. That in and of itself has helped my riding immensely. There are people out there who are overweight and ride superbly. I am not one of them. I was a thin person in a fat body. Seriously. At my thinnest I weighed 127 lbs. at a height of 5'10. Of course, this was at the age of 22, and I was VERY thin. Realistically, I will be happy to lose another 10 lbs. for a happy 135-140. My horse loves the weight loss too. Did I lose the weight for my horse and to be a better rider? Absolutely. My dressage lessons have also been a wonderful thing we have started this past year. With Allison my instructor(who is 79 and was a Grand Prix XC rider in her time), it has really been an eye opening experience, and benefited my riding more than I can say. Although I don't know if I will ever be what you call a dressage rider, I DO take lessons to help our partnership, further our learning, and to aid in mine and Jackson's jumping abilities down the road. I firmly believe if you can perform classical dressage (at least the basics) you are ready for anything! In the next year it will be time to add the next piece of our challenge. JUMPING! We will also be working on obstacles and add a few competetive trail rides and our usual trail riding to the mix for variety and to keep it fun! They don't call him a sport horse for nothing and we both love changing it up!

Back to our ride. We did lots of different and advanced terrain: small spaces, up and DOWN steep hills, deep streams, switchbacks, etc. All the horses took it in stride. We even did a couple little jumps over a log and one drop off. Kathy was riding a seasoned Warmblood XC jumper, and Lorri did them at a wild hand gallop (gotta love those mares!), but Jackson is nothing if not practical, and is so attuned to me. He is one smart guy, and knows just what I am ready for these days! We popped the jumps at a trot...Don't get me wrong. This horse is SO MORE THAN capable of a wild, fun hand gallop in a heartbeat, and could run all day, but he knows that we have that on the list for next years post! :) What a good boy!
As it neared 5pm a really cool mist hung like a light cotton batting with the sunlight over the water. It looked so cool. I am in the light blue in the pics below...wish they were better, I had my camera, but Linda actually remembered to grab hers and take a few! Sometimes it is not a picture taking day, I felt the need to commune with the day, my horse, and my friends...

All I could help thinking was, THIS IS THE LIFE!

Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas to you all!
May your rides be many, fun, and fill you up in 2010!

Holiday Goodies Everywhere....

Below are my HOMEADE HOLIDAY HORSE TREATS! The recipe is from the November 2008 issue of Horse Illustrated but I will include it in case you want to try them! They were REALLY easy! I also included the peppermints after I baked them--just the old fashioned soft sticks which are really easy to break....I made a double batch because I was baking for seven horses--Jackson, Lorri's three and Linda's three. Each batch yielded 15 treats but you could easily make them a bit smaller--mine were a spoonful each--give or take a bit! I used one Granny Smith and one Red Delicous (for sweet and sour taste) and two average size carrots for a double batch...

Also note Miles with his yearly gingerbread house, and of course the torture of the cat turining her into a reindeer. Really, didn't go all that well. She is bent out of shape over the new dog and has declined to celebrate the Holidays this year.

Carrot/Apple Horse Cookies

1 cup grated carrot

1 cup grated apple

2 TBSP. corn oil

1/4 cup molasses

1 tsp. salt

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup flour

Combine the grated carrot, grated apple, corn oil and molasses in mixing bowl and blend well. Gradually fold in the salt, rolled oats and flour and continue blending. Drop the dough by spoonfuls two inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. ( I found it only took about 12 minutes in my oven so watch carefully!)

AND ADD THE PEPPERMINTS AFTER BAKING!!! :)