DIY Beaded Braided Horsehair

I was bored the other day and decided to dig into my horsehair pieces and beading supplies. I ended up braiding together some horsehair with beads, and the result was really neat! At times the process felt like I didn't have enough hands to succeed, but using tape really helped. :)

• Some type of not-too-sticky tape
• About 15-18 strands of healthy, lengthy horsehair
• Seed beads
• Clasp and smart thinking if you plan to turn it into a bracelet

The only tape I could find atm with some beads.

The setup to keep things more manageable.

Tie the horsehair in a knot at one end, tape it to the paper, and separate it into 3 even strands.  

Feel free to tape down a strand or two when you need it.

Start stringing some beads onto the strands.

Slide down the excess beads, but use one bead on each strand *before* you cross over into the middle.  Keep sliding beads up as needed. 

Keep braiding.

Put on more beads after you run out.

When you get near the end, it's helpful to tape all three strands down to bead them. 

Knot it off at the end.

Heavy Harnessing a Draft Horse

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to heavy harness a Clydesdale! The horse's name was Tom, and he was pretty tall (that part should be obvious). Like many other Clydes, he was a bay sabino.

I was able to take pictures of Tom being harnessed, and also of other drafts at that barn. :)

One of the many bay sabino Clydes in the herd. :)

Awww. It's a rotten picture, yeah, but I love draft horse heads. <3

This is what some of the swirling-ish white looked like on the flaxen sabino Clyde.

They have such large muzzles. XD 

Isn't the horse beautiful? I reallllly really like the white extended stockings.

And there's the heavy harness before having been pulled out over the back and rump.

Okay, yes, I *am* obsessed with the hind legs. But hey - they're so pretty! The white stockings with the bay is just lovely. 

The flaxen chestnut Clyde.

I'm pretty certain this mare is Abigail.

This black mare is a Percheron x TB cross, which makes her a warmblood! It was really neat to meet her, because I've always liked warmbloods and she was the first I've ever been close to. :)

His white markings are just fabulous.

As a scale, here are Tom and I. I'm about 5'8", so yes, he is a big boy. 

Feathers! We got to touch these, and they're really silky.

A Short Photographic Journey: Part Two

Here's the second part of some photos I got of the stable horses! The first part may be viewed here.

This is Top Secret, a chestnut National Show Horse. NSHs are an Arab-Saddlebred cross.

Yes, he does have a lovely tail.

Annnnd, Secret from the side. His age actually is starting to show - I think he's 18 or 19.

Nom nom nom.

Here is Billy the QH stud munching on some hay outside the upper barn. 

Yes I know the picture really isn't the loveliest of him. You can see how nice his conformation is, though, and also how good he's looking for a 22-year old horse.

This is Noah's muzzle. He's a very curious boy and was checking out the camera!

"You mean you didn't bring me any dandelions this time?"

"Are you sure? Come on, go grab me some and I'll wait for you!"

"Aww really? Well okay then I'll just leave."

This is Promise (and yes she does really have a tail!). On her right side as shown here, she has a hunter saddle color patch. On the other side she has an English saddle. :)

Here you can see the English-saddle side of her.

A Short Photographic Journey: Part One

Today I had the opportunity to hit the road for my daily with with the camera!

It took quite a while to discover that the camera was on auto-focus (which has issues) instead of manual, so not all the pictures turned out showable quality. And even the ones that did are somewhat blurry - which I guess is somewhat nonescapable when you have a moving camera + moving objects.

Anyway, here some of them are from my walk around the stables. It started with following behind as the field horses were being fed, led to the upper barn, and hit the road up by Legacy's pen.

Also, this will divided up into two or three posts. Be awaiting them. :)

Spirit, Nolia, and Fantasia giving the tractor space (and also heading towards where they get fed).

Nolia (palomino and white) with Spirit.

Just chillin'.

Rave (the black mare) walking with Nolia. 

And again. (:

Fantasia with Nolia waiting for her to move.

Rave (the black) is so pretty in this one.

Nolia, Fantasia (bay), and Rave

Spirit's lovely Saddlebred tail.

Oh what now, silly? 

Rave with her pile of hay.

And yay, sitting in the emptied-of-hay tractor bucket with my horse-inappropriate shoes!

IEBHA Horse Show

The IEBHA horse show was last Friday, and it went quite well!

It was dual-judged, which means there were two judges from which you get placed, but also means each class is about twice as expensive. Angel and I went in six classes: Adolescent Lungeline, Non-Stock Type Halter, Miniature Mare Halter, Adolescent Trail, Open Trail, and Miniature Obstacle (which is also trail).

In the lungeline class Angel did pretty well, and placed two seconds of three horses. In the two halter classes she didn't do that great - she wouldn't stand still for me and kept fidgeting. So, she has room for improvement there. :)

In the trail classes she did quite well, and got a fair amount of thirds, firsts, and seconds. I really cannot remember which ribbons she got from which class - I just know I got two firsts, four seconds, and four thirds.

Overall I'm quite happy with how it went. Here are some pictures. :)

The trail course for all three of the classes Angel and I did.

Waiting for our turn to go at the trail course.

Yay! Over a few of the cavalletti poles she was jumping (not the best, really), but she did it right on this one. :)

This step was turning the horse 360º to the right. Angel was doing it pretty good when this shot was taken, but getting her to properly turn on her hindquarters is something we should work on!

Aww, tired little Angel.

Of course it isn't till after the classes are over that she actually stands still and doesn't fidget after being squared up. But that's okay - I guess she's just photogenic. :)

No, she's not crying. She has a bit of a sinus infection though, and that's what is causing the eyes to be a bit drippy.

Okay, I love having Angel sport my hat! (And the reason you guys are privileged to not see the handler in this one is because her hair was a horrid mess. Believe me, I saw it.)

Because Angel is just epic like that.