R.I.P Risa

Our amazing dog Risa, was put down about 30 minutes ago. She was a great dog. She had a bunch of cancer and impactions. Nothing we could do to help her. if she had surgery to remove the impactions, she would only live afterwards at max 1 month, and she would be in pain. To us it wasn't the best for Risa, so we let her go. 


Risa was almost 10 years old. 

Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you very much. 

~CBL

My Model Horse Hobby Journey

Hello everyone!!

I realized that I have never really given the full story of how I got into the model horse hobby and where it has taken me in my photography skills and in my collection. I thought that it would be fun to share it with you!

It all started December of 2006......when I was 7 years old. 

I got my first Breyer horses. They were named Apple (the appy mare) and Spots (the foal). After the first night I had them, Spots broke his back legs and I used glue to "repair" him, which didn't work very well (I knew nothing about fixing models back then). 

In the summer of 2007 I saved and saved by hard earned money (15 dollars) and I bought the Classic dapple grey draft horse.

He didn't stand very well, so I used Play-doh to stand him up. He was eventually traded to a friend. 

I got my first Traditionals for my birthday in 2007. They were the Chubasco and Caravelle set, and I actually didn't care that much for them at first because they were bigger than my Classics and I couldn't play with them.  Caravelle was eventually broken by one of my sisters, but I still own Chubasco..a.k.a. "Paintball."

 

In October of 2012, I only had around 40 models, and only 5 Traditionals. I found MEPSA and then started showing in the Novice Division. My first photo I entered was this:

I won Reserve Grand Champion with that photo (yes, I was in the NOVICE division and I was only competing with about 4 other people who has also started out). 

I kept on working on my photography, but they were all pretty bad photos. 

But I continued to get better and better, and at the end of the MEPSA show season I had quite a few qualifications with some of my models for the championship show. 

2013

Later that year, I got multiple ribbons and prizes. I continued to collect and tried performance showing. 

We also moved from town into the country, which is mostly how my photography improved. 

Yes, I know she is in the wrong lead here. This was my first performance picture
PICTURE IS FROM 2013

 I decided to stop performance until I had good tack (I still do not....)

In my last year of Novice, I didn't do as well because all of my models were placed in the wrong class by accident (it was my numbering fault, I had no idea how I put nearly ALL of my horses in different numbered classes but oh well!)

2014 winnings

After graduating from Novice and going into Open, I only did one qualifying show. Four of my 13 horses entered places 1st-3rd out of as many as 91 models per class, so I was very pleased. But after that I just got so busy I didn't keep showing. I still have not entered in a class yet. It has been over a year now and I do miss it, but we no longer have a color printer and I just do not have the time to put into so many photos and getting my horses qualified.

Because of that, I have been doing a lot of IMEHA stuff, and my horses are doing great!! My photography has improved very much, and you can see a big difference in the photos. 

Oct. 2012

May 2015

Also, my collection has improved. From only 40 horses in 2012 to over 130 now and 36 Traditionals, I would say that the collection has grown!! :D 

2006-My first Models

November 2015-My favorite models....or as many as I could fit into the picture! 

Who is your favorite model? Do you show? What is your model horse story? If you send your story to cowgirlyssa@gmail.com I will post it on here!


~CBL

Model Horse Snow Pictures

It snowed two feet in the past day so today I went ahead and tried to take some pictures with the two of my hardest horses to photograph. For some reason unknown to me it is very hard for my to try to get good pictures of Sonsela and OT Sara Moniet. I got a few good ones today, but they still are not photos I would use in the show ring.  

~CBL

Snow Day!

Riding with Mrs. June

Hello everyone!

Today Ollie, Billie, my mom and I all were trailered (well, we rode in the truck...the horses were trailered) by Mrs. June to her house where she has a big track and 35 acres. We worked on lots of stuff, like flying lead changes, passing horses on the rail, the cloverleaf pattern, collection, bending....etc. I also saw Rusty again, who was the horse I learned the start of my Natural Horsemanship with. I thought y'all would probably enjoy some pictures, so here you go!

"Mommy wait! Let me pose for the camera! 1, 2, 3....tongue!!!"

Mom and Billie Jean

Ollie and I trotting. 

Trot race!! 

In sync. 

Canter Collection-after only his 2nd day doing this I think he did really well! 

Random Saddle picture

Ollie and Rusty

I have a few more exciting things to tell you, but they will have to wait!! :D STAY TUNED!

~CBL

Do you think I should still post about Ollie on this blog as well as Ollie's actual blog? Let me know in the comments!