Posts Tagged ‘painting
Pony Artist
On Saturday Minnow and I attended the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show. Minnow performed some of his tricks and then painted a few paintings for onlookers. This year’s event drew a much bigger crowd for Minnow than last year. Many people had even heard of Minnow and we’re excited to see him. This week I plan to share with you some photos and videos from the event (as soon as I am able to snag them from my dad).
"Adeline's Pinky"
So today I thought I would share with you the two new paintings that Minnow created while at Ludwigs. This was the first time Minnow painted since our trip about a month ago to Chincoteague Island. His first painting was titled “Adeline’s Pinky” aptly named by the 4 year old girl who it was purchased for. She dawned a little pink cowboy hat and was in love with everything pink. So her wonderful grandmother decided to purchase the painting for her. It was evident after Saturday that Minnow needs to get more in touch with his feminine side. All of the little girls were wanting their parents to purchase them the pink painting. Sadly I only had one, but I told them not to worry – Minnow’s always up for custom work.
"Feathers in the Wind"
The next painting was meant for the boys (or girls) – with its bright blue background. This painting I titled “Feathers in the Wind” because the light airy brushstrokes reminded me of floating feathers. This painting is still available for purchase and would make some lucky child (or adult) very happy. So if you are in love with this one you better snatch it up fast. Minnow’s paintings have been flying off the shelf this year and I’m not sure when we will have time again to paint more.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Will a fat pony resist lush grass?
So after a mini-vacation for Minnow and myself after our trip to Chincoteague I finally got a chance to do some trick training yesterday. We basically took the whole month of August off (aside from our mounted games competition in NJ) and it was high time I got back to some training.
On Saturday Minnow and I will be attending the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show as part of the entertainment on Family Day. We’ll have a small fenced in coral near the booths and tents to perform in – with a 1pm and 3:30pm show. The key is that this coral will be placed on a bed of lush grass. Very tempting for a fat pony that spends most of his day with a muzzle on due to his arthritis and inability to be exercised.
So in order to not embarrass myself I decided it was probably best if I practiced performing with Minnow on grass. And what better place than the pasture that Minnow is turned out in! So I lugged all of Minnow’s equipment out to the pasture and set up my camera (of course I thought of all of you who read my blog – how kind of me to make a video for you!)
First I will let you watch the video, then I’ll explain further:
As you can see Minnow stayed with me the entire time. Even though his trick pony partner, Boomerang, is in the background grazing. I think Minnow displayed great self control, and demonstrated just how clicker training can help create a language and a bond between horse and trainer. I can guarantee you that if I was training Minnow with force or pressure (as many trainers do) he would definitely not stay with me. Clicker Training has created a positive experience for Minnow, and even though I know he’d much rather eat grass and not have to work at all, he has chosen that being with me and working for a reward is something that he would like to do. Did I mention I love this pony?
Tomorrow I will share with a video of a new trick that I taught Minnow yesterday. Its quite different in that this time I have decided to work with two animals at once. You’ll just have to check the blog tomorrow in order to see the debut of this amazing new trick!
-KD
http://www.ponypaintings.com
A Roof of My Own
So something really big happened last weekend that I haven’t mentioned on this blog yet. Mostly I’ve held back about it because I guess its not really “trick pony” related. And while I like to keep this blog mainly devoted to the Trick Ponies of Chincoteague (and the occasional Dachshund post), I couldn’t not post about this because its a pretty big deal, in my life atleast. Anyway….I bought a house!
Really scary actually – I was on the verge of a mild heart attack throughout the whole process. At 25 years old, my husband and I have been saving our money for this day since we were about 16 years old. You probably don’t believe me when I say this, but its true. We met when we were 16 – at our very first jobs. We have both always been really really good savers (I guess something we can thank our parents for instilling in us at a young age). So since we were 16 years old, and started our very first jobs at a local art store we have been stashing away our hard earned cash. Now mind you we weren’t hermits, and he did go out and do things, we went to college (bought expensive books) and basically lived – but cash consciously. No big ticket purchases for us (well ok my husband bought his beloved big plasma tv and I bought a pony last year….but thats it I swear!). But our main goal in saving has been a house. Being design oriented people we both have dreamed of the day when we could own something that would allow us to paint the walls, decorate the way we see fit, and basically do whatever we wanted!
Now neither one of us has high-paying jobs (actually far from it) – but the fact that we socked away enough cash for a down payment really “payed” off. Not to mention our parents were great enough to have us get credit cards at a young age which allowed us to rack up a pretty high credit score. We were always sure to pay off our bills in full each month.
So now onto the house part. The process was rather nerve racking – looking at houses was the easy part. But when I first saw “our home” I wasn’t totally convinced it was the one I wanted. I liked it, but I didn’t feel that “oh my god I have to live here” feeling. You know the feeling you get when you see a horse you must have! 🙂 So I took a little convincing to get on board with the home. So we made an offer – which the sellers countered and then of course being first time home buyers we chickened out and walked away from the table. After saving our money for so many years it was hard to us to justify letting it go all of a sudden. But a few weeks later (and after seeing a few more dump houses) we finally came to terms with letting our money go. So back to the table to make another offer.
Late night pizza while we work
This time it was accepted and we were on our way into the process of scary home buying. Inspections and snags that come with buying a 40 year old house began to pop up. And with each little road bump we got more and more scared we wouldn’t be buying this home. We worried about affording the monthly payments, we worried about everything. Luckily we had a great realtor that kept us on track, and my dad who is infinitely filled with knowledge about everything never failed to calm our nerves.
Ammo settles into his new home
So last Friday, we signed a few papers, forked over a majority of our savings, and got keys to OUR HOME! Ahhh! I of course then I hopped in the car and headed to a competition with the ponies – I think I have my priorities straight!
So since I got back last Sunday my husband and I have been hard at work getting ready to “officially” move in this weekend. We’ve been staying at the house until the wee hours of the night painting walls and stripping carpeting. I’m so exhausted, but so happy to be doing this manual labor. And as we are nearly finished “re-doing” one room I feel this great satisfaction. Not only did we buy a house at 25 years old (rare in this economy and at our age) but we’re making it our own with our bare hands. My blistered and sore bare hands that is.
Painting
I’m looking forward to many happy years in this home with my wonderful husband and our Dachshund Ammo. Its just a shame there isn’t a little shed barn in the back yard for the Trick Ponies. (humm..project in the future?? haha)
So as a final thought I leave you with a little video about how Ammo decided to help us christen our new home. Don’t you just love a Dachshund!
Fan Mail
Chincoteague Minnow recieved his first fan mail letter today. I have to say it put a big smile on my face to know that people are really enjoying Minnow’s artwork.
I bought a picture your pony, Minnow, painted at the pony show on Tuesday, July 28th at the 8pm show! The painting is great! I ended up giving it to my nieces because I couldn’t buy them their own pony, so I got them the next best thing! (haha) They really love it!
It was then requested that I kindly sign a newspaper cliping of an article that Minnow and I had published in the Chincoteague, VA paper 2 weeks ago, and mail it back. Of course I was happy to ablige!
This simple little letter really has brightened my day, because I know that Minnow’s paintings are out there, scattered all over the country, putting smiles on people’s faces. I was asked in a newspaper interview last month, if Minnow were to leave behind a legacy, what would it be? I’d like to change my original answer now. I’d hope that Minnow’s legacy would be that he was able to touch each and every person that either owns one of his paintings or has seen Minnow paint/perform. I hope that he’s able to put the sparkle of a life-long love of horses and Chincoteague Ponies in a child’s eyes.
Big kisses to my Chincoteague Minnow today!
Trick Pony Friends
I’ve discussed most of the happenings at Pony Penning 2009, and as the week of re-caps is now coming to an end, I figured I’d go over the last few things about our trip to Chincoteague Island. Minnow attended the Pony Center shows as a guest Trick Pony, but did you know that the Chincoteague Pony Center is already home to another talented trick pony? Thats right, Teaguer, official mascot of the Chincoteague Pony Center, had to take a week long vacation from his tricks while Minnow was visiting. But, I was lucky enough to be able to watch his adorable skit, even if he didn’t perform it during the shows that week. Watch our special viewing below.
Talented Bowing foals at the Pony Center
Not only is the Chincoteague Pony Center a place to go to watch performances of what the amazing Chincoteague Pony breed can do, but its also a place to buy foals. Now these foals aren’t wild born like the Assateague Ponies, they are instead bred in captivity, many of which have parents that started off life on the island as a wild pony. There can be great benefits to buying a foal that has already been handled since birth – it can be a lot easier to train. Anyway, I was able to get some photos of some of the foals at the Center, many of which have already sold and will go to new homes as soon as they are able to be weaned from their moms.
Once of the foals, Calypso Blue, is actually a half brother to my own Boomerang and Blitz. All 3 ponies share the same father, Chesapeake Powhattan’s Promise. In getting to watch this foal, I can tell he’s related to my boys – he’s got the same quirky personality and facial expressions. This foal has already been sold, and I’m sure whoever bought him will be taking home a very special baby.
Calypso Blue, half brother to Boomer and Blitz
And finally, who can forget the imfamous Misty of Chincoteague. Thats right, I even got to visit with Misty (and her last foal, Stormy). The stuffed versions of them that is. Now I know a lot of people are thrilled that they can still visit with the horse that made the book “Misty of Chincoteague” so famous, but is it just me, or are they just totally creepy? I don’t know about you, but as much as I LOVE Minnow, I definitely don’t think I would ever want to have him stuffed and displayed in my living room. Talk about nightmares! But either way, Misty and Stormy are on display at the Beebe Ranch for all to see.
Stuffed Misty of Chincoteague
Stuffed Stormy
So thus completes my trip to Chincoteague with Minnow. We had a wonderful time, and we’re very hopeful to return next year for Pony Penning 2010.
For more photos from the week please visit www.greenhorsestudios.com
