"Lonestar Lollie and Little Ollie" - that is the nickname that I gave these two while painting them in the studio. =:) This pair is Sarah Minkiewicz-Bruenig's wildly popular Haflinger mare and foal duo, Elsie and Oliver. They are small traditional scale resins. I customized the mare with some braids and bows in her mane and tail, and dropped little Ollie's head and tail for a more level topline. They're painted as a pair of pinto Chincoteague ponies. Owned by Christy Mangle of Texas.
"Veiled Valentine", a Linda York small traditional (9" tall) ASB show gaited mare. Painted to a homozygous black and white tobiano for Nigel Watterworth of Canada.
A very dark photo that Craig took of the halter class. The indoor arena is really dark, and we were a long way away from the door (which has a little bit of light), so the halter photos didn't turn out all that well.
Warming up for the riding classes. It was a very cold day and foggy outside, but luckily there was a nice big round-pen available outdoors to practice in before heading into the indoor arena. Tommy was a real squirrel when we first got to the show, so I kept working on him consistantly throughout the day. It was a mixture of nerves and some juvenile green horse antics on his part. But he got the picture pretty quickly after about the 100th lap - that we were there to get to work. 
He sported his new green saddle pad at the show. I purchased it for him last fall, but hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet. You can see by his breath how cold it was.... I'm hoping that at the next show it won't be quite so chilly. 
We did the green horse walk/trot classes and he did really well. His lope is still a little bit too fast for advancing yet, so we opted not to do the western pleasure open classes. He performed very well under saddle today in a relaxed manner, so I didn't want to over-do it by pushing him even more. He was pretty tired by the time we left too. So the next show we'll give some more of the advanced classes a try. 
He's learning how to hold a slow jog and stay collected up. He did really well, but the judge said that he would've liked to seen his hind-end pushed up underneath of him more. I told him, "thank you, and I'll work on it." The QH's and Paints that were in our classes were kind-of naturally gifted in that department conformationally - so Tommy and I will have to work extra hard to achieve that effect. It's not easy for him, since he has a longer back and frame, but we'll work on it and eventually get it down.
An abstract funky blurred shot that Craig snapped of us at the trot. The camera was obviously on a different setting at that moment....
The nice thing about a schooling show is that the judge will tell you what you need to work on, which is good. I always like to hear constructive critisism and find out what I can improve upon for the next time. You can bearly see us at the end of the line down by where the judge is standing. 
It was a good day. Good enough for a few grins....
If you're wondering what an "aladja" is.....well, it's the decorative neckpieces that are generally exhibited on Akhal Tekes. Usually, they are given out to horses who have earned something or have some great importance. Generally turkmen race horses who have done well for their owners at the racetrack get an aladja.It's reputed that the neckpieces are supposed to be "blessed" by a holy man in Turkmenistan when they are awarded to the horses - (but I'm not sure if this is a romantic tale, or a cold hard fact.) Unfortunately, I don't have any holy men lurking around my household, so these have to be a considered a couple of good ol' fashioned americanized versions.
I made these two out of heavy duty saddle skirting leather with some thinner russet latigo leather on the ends. I dyed the saddle skirting leather to an antique brown and saddle tan (to match the entrants horses), and then decorated them with silver and red crystal conchos and some matching silver buckle ends. A few of the aladjas that I've seen in photos of Turkmenistan have a rope or some yarn ends fastening the leather pieces together, but I had more of a "tougher" heavier duty idea in mind.
They aren't exactly the easiest things in the world to photograph.....(my landscape angle on the camera couldn't capture the lettering when they were laid out flat). So, I buckled them up and did my best to snap a couple of photos.
I hope to do some more of these in the future and add more stuff to them. I'm still learning how to stamp, scroll, and sew on heavy leather - so the more that I practice on smaller projects like this, the better I will get.
