Out of the woodwork!

Hello blogland, just a random post to say hi to everyone and check in.

Hannah is 13 months old now, and she's on the go. She started walking slowly about a month ago, but this week she got a confidence boost from a friend's son, and now is out of control. I actually took her on a little hike on the trails today! She's amazing.

Taking after Mommy

This is what I look like, too, after I finish an art project.

 I've been freelancing like crazy, because I got laid off again in early February. Thank you for the terrible luck, Universe! But actually it's been kind of ok. I've been doing lots of different work including logos and fine art. If anyone is looking for a horse portrait, web work or design work, I'd really appreciate the referral! My Etsy store is located at www.etsy.com/shop/polarsquaredesigns.

I designed the RISPCA's annual Benefit Horse Ride design again this year. I think this is year #6. It came out nicely and it is always cool to see them on t-shirts everywhere the day of the ride, which this year is the first weekend in May.

There is still a serious lack of horses in my life and though I sometimes feel sad about it, I know they'll come back to me at some point. I did go riding a few times in February thanks to Maddy, and had a blast.

I haven't seen Lucy since about November. We had a really terrible winter here and there was no way I was going to take Hannah to an unheated barn to visit her. Now that it's nice(r) out, I need to contact Kayla and see if we can go bring her some carrots!

Hope all is well with each of you.

Recent artwork

I've been pretty busy lately!

A graphite portrait of Cuna

Hunger Games saddle pad

Shepherd doggie ornament

Pit Bull doggie ornament

Friesian Heritage breed logo pad

RPSI breed logo pad

I love what I do!

Art!

Here are some of the commissions, saddle pads, and ornaments I've done so far this season! Some I cannot share because they are surprises. Some of the pads are still for sale on my Etsy store (click for link) and I am also running a 25% off sale on saddle pads through Dec. 31st -- use the code 25PERCENTOFF.

Shaklano's portrait and catching up to speed

Here is the first of two prizes for the Horse Shaming Contest:

Crystal's horse "Shaklano"

In preparation for Lucy's sessions with a couple of trainers that I am having come out, she is getting her feet done tomorrow, then the saddle fitter is coming out on Friday, and the chiro is coming out on Sunday. I want to make sure nothing physical is going on before I have a trainer get on her. I don't think it would be fair to the horse or the trainer if I didn't double check all this stuff.

I had a pretty good ride yesterday, which I appreciated because it was my birthday :) She still felt quick but was happier going forward and didn't give me any sass.



I hope the trainer(s) will help me lengthen her stride and slow her trot down.

I've had a couple of comments asking for a recap of what I've done with her in terms of diagnostics. I will write a basic list; if you want more info just search through the entries via the tags. There is a "vet" tag that should bring up any physical stuff or injuries.

-I had her feet and ankles x-rayed when I bought her (no issues)
-Treated her for Ehrlichia in 2010
-She had an impaction colic in 2010 that I caught super early and the vet was able to clear it out
-I have a lyme titre pulled every year, has never been positive
-She sees the chiro every month or two, as I can afford it
-Also sees the massage therapist as I can afford it, though my MT got hurt in the fall and hasn't been able to come out in a while
-Saddle fitter appt every six months
-Teeth every six months
-I treated her for ulcers in 2011 successfully and she gets dosed with GastroGard any time we go off the property, starting three days out from the date of travel. If you look at videos of her before the ulcer treatment and compare them to videos of her today, she is 100x better, believe it or not.
-When she was injured in November I had the vet x-ray her ankles and her injured stifle. All x-rays were clean.

She does not have kissing spine per my vet.

She could probably go on ReguMate but a) I don't want to deal with that and b) I cannot afford it. Depo is a possibility.

I am not interested in spaying her.

She is hot and spicy whether she is in heat or not. She gets better in warm weather; she hates the cold. Her attitude depends very much on whether she *likes* what we are doing at that moment.

She is on three supplements: SmartHoof, SmartMare Harmony, and E/Se/Mg. I just recently took her off TractGard after being on it since I bought her in 2009.

What I really do not like in the horse world is the automatic assumption that if a horse is bad, there must be some physical reason behind it. Quite honestly, Lucy is very hot and very opinionated. I have spent a good amount of money treating and testing her for various ailments, and more time than I care to admit researching these types of things online, and I have a very good relationship with my vet, who is the same vet who did her PPE four years ago. My vet understands what is going on and is totally on board with me looking into things as I can afford to do so, without going way overboard on the diagnostics end of it.

In other words, I could x-ray her entire body and send her to Tufts for a $2000+ bone scan, but I personally do not feel those measures are necessary at this time.

Hopefully that brings everyone up to speed.

Kenny's new tattoo

Kenny and I spent the weekend in New York meeting our new nephew, Kamden. While we were there, Kenny got a new tattoo, based off a drawing I did of Cairo.

The drawing:

The tattoo in progress:

The finished product:

"Faithful friend" in Swahili. Cairo's registered name is
"Akili", which is Swahili for "intelligence"

Ornaments

Here are some recent ornaments I've done! All of these ponies are loved by Terry of Moondance Ranch. They have beautiful and unique markings and creating their likeness in the form of ornaments was a really fun challenge! Thanks Terry :)

handmade is better

Being artistic can sometimes be a curse. While I am crafty and capable of making things myself a lot, sometimes I wish I just let myself buy things! I have wanted a stall sign for Lucy's stall door for ages. I was going to order one online and then I looked at the photos and thought, "but I can MAKE one!"

So in all my spare time (ha, ha), I made this:

I bought the plaque at a craft store, found a font online that I liked, sketched out the text, and went to town with a Dremel tool.

the swirly bits were the worst parts!!

After I finished with the Dremel tool, I sanded the whole thing down to get the extra pencil lines off of it, then stained it with a really beautiful rich wood stain. I am really pleased with how it came out!

saddle pads galore

I worked on two more saddle pads last night. One sold almost instantly when I put them on Facebook, which was really cool! It is going to "live" with Dom so I am sure it will have many adventures.

I took some photos of the pads last night with my camera to get some better shots than the ones I took with my cell phone.

The purple swirl one was the dressage pad I painted a few days ago, but
I wanted to get some nicer photos of it!

I am so in love with the Koi fish. Someone needs to buy that before I decide to
keep it.

This is the pad that Dom claimed.

I will hopefully have time this weekend to paint some more. I have so much fun doing this!