Watercolor + Horse Lineart

Within the past two weeks I've been working to draw a yearling horse. Well, I can't take all of the credit; I originally traced the horse from a picture in my "96 Horse Breeds of North America" book. Some minor changes were made, most of them being accidental and originating between tracing traces of traces.

Last week I finished the line-art copy of the drawing, and today I felt bored and dug out my watercolor paints.

I would have used our oil paints, but the supplies were in hiding. :(

Stuck with the watercolors without the right colors for a buckskin, I attempted painting a red bay.  Fortunately the paints had a lovely shade of cherry brown to use. :)

Considering I haven't touched a paintbrush for years, it turned out much better than I had expected!

The mistakes are bothering my perfectionist side, but most of those are housed within the horse's conformation (not the painting). The horse's neck looks oddly shaped due to the mane, the face is a bit disoriented, and the head looks disproportionately small. Oh, well. At least this counts as painting practice!

My favorite part of this is most likely the nearer hind leg. The shading on it turned out nicely. :)

Video of Traveler and Jiggers Playing

Meet two of the 2008 foals; Traveler and Jiggers!

Traveler was a sociable and playful buckskin Saddlebred colt. His dam was Spirit, the buckskin field horse.

Jiggers was a little bay colt with a spunky attitude. I'm pretty sure he's Arabian.

I recorded a few videos of the foals during one of my bicycle trips to the stables in 2008 (yikes, I was young then). Traveler and Jiggers rear up, kick, and chase each other in the video. If you have a few minutes to spare, watch it!

Photoshoot with Caesar

Caesar is a very photogenic horse and seems to know it. He also permits me to shoot photos of him (without a permit - yay!) and gives me the time needed to snap a rare, really awesome picture.

Along with taking pictures of Caesar last week, I was able to ride him twice! I used my favorite saddle ever: the bareback pad. During the last ride he got grumpy because I was riding him away from the herd. It took stubbornness and determination on my part, but I did persuade him to follow my directions.

Here is Caesar. :)

Hii! 

What?

This girl does seem to be obsessed with me, and yes, it is just a little odd.

Ohhi.

Again?

*blows* Really? 

Let's make this weird face for the camera! 

Finally, I can relax.

Tails

Tails are awesome. Horses use them to communicate, tails show tell-tale signs of a horse's breed, and they are also useful to swish flies away.

Here are some pictures of tails. :)

Pretty tail hairs.

All Breed Pedigree

All Breed Pedigree is a free, easy-to-use website that has lots and lots of horse pedigrees. People can add horse pedigrees themselves, and I've found nearly every horse pedigree I've searched.

The pedigree features are self-explanatory and simple. Beside each horse's name are its color, breed, and year of birth. On an individual's page you can also view its height, information, and picture if available.

The standard view is five generations, but you can opt to only view four. Also, all duplicate horses in a pedigree have their names highlighted.

Today I researched Feather's bloodlines with All Breed Pedigree to learn more about her genotype. Feather's pedigree isn't on the site, but her sire's and dam's pedigrees are! I was able to trace their ancestry all the way to Arabians in the 17th century or so.

Here is Feather's great-grandsire, Jabbo, modeling for me to show you how easy All Breed Pedigree is to use.

Viewing Jabbo's picture. 

Viewing Jabbo's information.

Viewing Jabbo's 5-generation pedigree.

Heads or Tails?

Or, rather, heads or shoulders? Lately it has seemed Feather would prefer to give me her shoulder than head, which isn't all that awesome when I'm trying to halter her.

MiniOwner suggested I try something new: spend a training session or two without the halter; showing her that I'm not out to hurt her and she doesn't need to be head-shy.

Today I didn't have the time or light to work with the filly - instead I helped clean most of the stalls in one of the barns! Which wasn't bad; it's nice to muck some stalls! Not all the time, of course, but occasionally. :)

Anyway, I was able to do this with Feather last Saturday. She moseyed over to me as usual, and after a few minutes of scratching she let me gently hug her head towards me. I had one hand on the far side of her face (not squeezing the bridge of her nose), and as soon as she gave in to the slight pressure I would release some of it. The other hand kept scratching her and encouraging her when she gave the right answer. After a few moments her head would  wander away from me, thus I would gently cue it towards me again. We did this back and forth for about 20 minutes.

I'm hoping she'll remember it the next time we work. I don't really like returning to the basics, but at the same time I know it is important and for a horse to be head-shy is not cool, at all.

I'll let you know as more things progress. 'Night :)

Bites

It was a cold and windy Saturday. Much windier than usual. At about four-thirty in the afternoon I arrived at the new barn and grabbed up Feather's halter and lead. As with the previous times, she didn't want to be caught. I got her somewhat cornered in the shelter and had her stopped with the lead around her neck, but *every time* I lifted the halter she turned her head away. Which makes it really difficult when you don't have four hands!

Five minutes of her game and still no results. Finally she let me halter her when MiniOwner brought her hay down. (And no, Feather did not get to eat until after we were done working.)

Once haltered, Feather behaved decently. She didn't mind the wind at all, which was a nice surprise; but I didn't feel she would follow me without the lead, and thus didn't attempt it. A bit annoying that I haven't been able to do what I did awhile ago with her lately, but ah well. We've returned to a slow start and reviewing the basics.

Since it seemed Feather felt unwilling to do all I asked of her, we didn't do anything extreme. I led her up and down the slight hill, occasionally halting her and squaring her up. She still doesn't like it when I first reach for her lips to "show teeth", but that doesn't worry me.

Things had been going fine until I stopped her and was asking her to back. She had remembered that hay, lovely sweet hay, waiting for her in the feeder, and wanted to go pay it a visit instead of backing for me. She became mad and impatient and decided the best way to deal with that was to bite the side of my jeans!

It didn't hurt much, but as soon as my brain registered what happened she got a firm "no" and a slap on the jaw. Yes, it's not the kindest, but if a horse doesn't receive discipline for things like biting the horse will start to walk all over humans. Obviously I don't want that happening with this yearling!

After she realized biting was the wrong answer, she still backed for me. Even after being disciplined she still should do what I had asked her to, so I re-asked and she did it (yay!).

Following that we did more leading, halting, and backing. She bit my jacket sleeve twice in an attempt to let me let her go eat sooner. Didn't work! Both times she got in trouble for it and also did what I had asked of her.

I'm really hoping things will go better for us this Tuesday. I don't mind the biting much (that should be simple to fix), but it kinda sucks when she doesn't listen and I feel we're not progressing much. On the other hand, she's a yearling, has a short attention span, and could have been having a bad day. That doesn't give reason for her to bite, but does offer a few possible reasons the last training sessions haven't been amazing.

Planning to keep things slow again this next time, but hopefully we can work on showing teeth and working with her hooves. Wish me luck!

More About Feather

Working with Feather has been fantastic! Less than ten sessions with her and last Saturday she followed my movements and cues without using the lead rope! I find this amazing and cannot emphasize it enough. I had no clue she liked me this much and was this willing to follow me. Hear me out: she is an awesome little mare.

These pictures had been taken a few sessions ago by my younger sis. Feather looks so much better now. :)

You go this way, sweetheart!

Attempting to pivot her on the hindquarters. 

Here's Feather's "I'm tirrredddd are we done yet?" expression.

So I really like this picture.

Sweet girl.

I can't recall a time this Paint filly hasn't been fine with anything I've done. She's so awesome.

Horse Sketches

I've been working on drawing a couple decent sketches a day. I'm not sure how much this is improving my skills, but I think today's canvas turned out quite well! (:

Sparkles. I like this one! 

You can see a bit more of the shading detail in this scan. :)

This one doesn't have a name yet. Any ideas?

Caesar

Caesar is a very charming Quarter Horse gelding that I got to know better this past month. He's about six years old, had been a wild bronc, spent time being professionally trained, and now is a dependable ranch horse. :)

His personality is that of an attractive gentleman who gently and persistently lets you know his thoughts on matters. I tremendously enjoyed riding him, even though he had a magnetic force gravitating him towards the fenceline and gate.

He had an enchanting personality in the pasture as well. He came up with the other ranch horses to see what I was up to and sniff the camera before going about his own business (HINT: food). Every time he realized I was focusing the camera on him, he would pause a moment to look and blink at me before wandering off. It was so funny and cute. (:

And yes, if you can't tell by looking at the pictures, this dude really knows how awesome he looks. Which makes him even more attractive. :)

Hiiii guys.

Wait, what are you doing here, exactly?

Sniffing the big, black, clicky object. :)

Yeahh, ain't I hot. And I know it.

And yes, I do have gorgeous eyes and a steel jaw. 

What is this lens hood thing, anyway?

Ugh, more pictures already?

Fine, I guess I'll look nice in this one.

Notice the little birthmark type thing near his flank? I have no idea what it's called, but it's interesting.

Yes, I really am all that.

Airplane ears. (: 

I love how masculine he looks. :) 

I like his tail. AND HIS DAPPLES.

<3 the conformation.

Kicking at a fly.

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, look at his dapples, muscles, and conformation. Now tell me this guy isn't gorgeous..... And I'll still disagree. :)

Yes, We Are Going to Move Forwards

Feather and I had a few discussions today. She was certain that when she wanted to halt she could do just that. I needed to convince her otherwise.

I wasn't able to persuade the filly by myself, though. I had attempted a few times with urging, kissing, and spanking her rump (she ignored it), but unsuccessfully. After realizing my plan of action wasn't working, I had MiniOwner aid me in my persuasion conquest. It took quite a few spanks to the Feather's rump, but finally she grasped the idea!

Just as when I started training Angel, Feather doesn't want to listen to me unless MiniOwner is around. Oh well. That will change with time - I just need more hours with her. To start, though, I will need MiniOwner to back my training and help persuade the filly that what I'm asking of her is the right answer.

Once Feather understood that her idea wasn't as pleasant as mine, things greatly improved! Especially after I brushed her down and we had some peaceful time.

Oh yeah, it was kind of funny. I was grooming Feather next to an empty feed tub, and decided to see how she would react to me rubbing it against her side. I grabbed it up, let her sniff and eye it (even though she already is familiar with it), and then proceeded to gently rub it along her barrel.

She seemed completely fine with me doing this so I started rubbing it along her sides more eagerly. She didn't care. I slid it up her neck, against her chest, down the top of her legs. She still didn't care. I even set it on her rump and she gave it no attention. This filly is seriously WHAT-THE-HECK-AND-WHO-CARES about new things. She is awesome.

Training stats for what we're working on
Leading: Needs some work, but she's improving quickly! Next goal is to have her start following me without hesitance.

Backing: She's about 70% of the way done learning this! I turn to face her hindquarters and then start moving towards her and she just backs. No hesitancy. However, we should start working on turning her while backing!

Turning on the hindquarters: This is a tricky movement that involves the horse's attention, precision, and knowing how to move their body in unnatural ways. Today Feather turned perfectly during 45 degrees of an attempt. I think she's slowly understanding the movement, it just needs practice!

Halting: This is good. :)

Squaring up: Feather is okay at this! Not great, but considering I've worked with her less than five times, she's doing awesomely. We need to work on her precision, but she has the concept straight.

Nacho the Shetland

Nacho is about the cutest pony out there. He is adorable and has a charming personality.

There are quite a few horror stories I've heard concerning the meanest little creatures ever, known as "Shetlands". Well, I'd beg to differ.

Just like with any breed of animal, about 80% of an animal's character comes from training, or lack thereof. To say all Shetlands are the meanest equines is absurd.

Anyway, Nacho is a chestnut pinto Shetland. Somehow his front segment of chestnut was bleached more than on his hind end, and thus he has a very individual look.

Chillin' with his buddies. :)