"Strawberry Daquiri", a red roan sabino mare. Carol Williams Matriarch resin recently completed in my studio in June 2010. The western pleasure set is part of my personal collection, made by Dawn Brown of High Desert Saddlery. Daquiri is owned by Karen Holland.

The Passing Of A Fellow Artist

Yesterday I learned of the passing of a dear model horse hobbyist, Kathy McKenzie. I was floored to hear the news, to say the least. Kathy was such a warm person and a true pleasure to deal with. She gained notariety in the model horse hobby a few years back for her airbrushing skills and a talent for handpainted very detailed realistic eyes.
It is such a small hobby that we are a part of with almost everybody knowing everybody else, so when someone is lost - especially such a wonderful artist - it is a major blow for everyone. Her Dragonflight Studio homepage with all of the wonderfully painted models that she has done can be seen here: http://www.dragonflightstudio.com/

There is also a really great Youtube documentary video that has some footage of Kathy and her husband Greg at a midwest show in 2007. It is my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68hEto84Cu4

A tribute video that another hobbyist has made. I have a very hard time making it all the way through this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUWl48F5Bho&playnext_from=TL&videos=5Q02SZ0OmlU


Kathy and Jet. Photo courtesy of Dragonflight Studio.

Above is a picture of "Dragonflight Beureguard" that Kathy painted in November 2004. I bought this guy on E-Bay from Kathy when he was couple of days old - brand new, fresh from her studio. He stands roughly 4" inches tall. I thought that this guy was UBER cool when I first seen him, because he's the top mount of a trophy originally sculpted by Gladys Brown. Remember the old horse show trophies from the 60's and 70's with the plastic horses on top? This guy is one of those! I couldn't resist adding him to my collection. I thought that it took great inspiration and a very adventurous spirit to cold paint one of these guys. Kathy did an excellent job on him. I'm very proud that he is part of my collection, and a great momento of a very talented artist. Via Con Didos Kathy.

-Shannon.

"Kitchi Esger", turkmen for small soldier. Maggie Bennett's pewter micro mini trotting Teke completed in early 2009. I slightly customized the tiny mane and tail and made him into a mealy bay sabino gelding. (As an interesting side note: I have a pair of Japanese models that are half of this fellows size that I'll hopefully be painting later on in the year.) Micros are a challenging test of skill, but oh so much fun!

Klickitat Trek 2010

June 5th and 6th was the weekend of the Klickitat Trek two day endurance rides.
A view of the Colombia river from the Biggs bridge halfway in between the Oregon and Washington border. There are some great views on our way to the ride.

A photo of the Klickitat River coming down the road from Goldendale, WA. The canyon that the road follows into Glenwood is really cool!

Camp Mayfield. We have a tradition of barbecuing either steaks or lobster tails the night before the rides. Our little cheapo Walmart charcoal barbecue does a bang-up job of sizzling dinners. Craig is keeping a watchful eye on our meal.

Camp Leddy. From left to right: Cathy Leddy, Monica Bretherton, and Wendy Connell. All three ladies rode on Saturday. Cathy did the 30 miler on Galen, Monica went on the fun trail ride with Wendy's horse Taz, and Wendy did the 50 miler on Alpowa. Saturday afternoon I stopped by Camp Leddy and chewed the fat for awhile with all three of them. These gals are great, and I really enjoy visiting with them when we attend the same rides.

The weather was great on Saturday, the first day of the two day rides. Sunny and dry - very nice! =:) Nettie and I set out in the morning for our 50 miler. I decided to try the horseboots out on her to see how well she would like them. She seemed to take to them alright, but unfortunately at around mile 20 she ended up getting a big chunk of gravel stuck in the right front boot. I very quickly proceeded to dismount and yank all of the boots off as we rolled into the first vet check. She vetted through in good shape and I made a decisive plan to proceed at a much slower pace into the next vet check. I was concerned about the rock having a lasting stone bruised effect on her, so I made her go slower until I felt that there was no danger of her getting gimpy. Nettie usually doesn't need any hoof protection at all, and she let me know right away that she was much happier without the boots on for the rest of the ride. After the second vet check I found a very nice lady on a gaited black mare that was chugging along at a slow running walk and we kept pace with her for the rest of the way back into camp.

My main goal on any ride is to try and manage to never get pulled. It would be my own personal "walk of shame" if I could not continue on with a horse. If it means snailing along at a much slower pace, then I'll do it. Nettie vetted through the final check in good order and we unofficially came in 39th out of 60 or something other riders.

Mile 18 of the 50. Photo by Jessica Anderson.

I couldn't help but take a picture of this little outfit on Saturday afternoon. Brenderup trailers are soooooo darned cute! What an adorable little camp.

Wendy and Alpowa taking part in a scientific experiment. There was a lady drawing blood for an educational study of muscle "tying-up" in endurance horses. She had a little table by the rodeo arena and people would come by and let her take blood samples.

Also on Saturday afternoon I made a trip over to Katrin Leaverman's camp to introduce myself and to visit Akpai. Katrin borrowed one of Kerri-Jo's purebred Akhal Teke mares to use in endurance until some of her younger arabs become old enough to compete on. Katrin and I talked for awhile about the differences between the two breeds of horses. Katrin is an arabian afficianado and has 12 horses of her own in Idaho. Unfortunately Akpai had to be pulled on Saturday in the 30 mile ride for a muscle injury. Later on the second day, Katrin borrowed a different horse from another person in camp that unfortunately had some issues as well.

Happy as clams, despite the crummy weather on day two. The start of Sundays ride was rainy, soggy, and very boggy. I strapped the hoofboots on extra tight that morning. The mud on the trail was slippery, yet managable. I was thrilled to learn that I had never been on this particular loop before - it was brand new! What little views of the scenery that I did get to see were spectacular.

Octopelle decided that the two ladies on the arabs in first and second place ahead of us were not going to get away scott free without us breathing down their necks a bit. We hummed along at a great clip of around 10 mph into the first vet check. I waited for a few minutes longer past the hold time for him to eat and get a big gut full of water. Then off we went. I was pleasantly surprised that he kept the same pace back to camp as we had left at, even though there wasn't anybody in front of us for him to lay eyeballs on.

By the time we got back to camp I had rainsoaked tack, clothes, and soaking wet soggy heavy boots from the rain. But it was fun! Photo by Jessica Anderson.

We came in 3rd and tried for BC, although I seriously doubt that we got it. Overall, it was a really great weekend. =:) Photo by Jessica Anderson.
-Shannon.