12 January 2008

I shot this a few weeks back but had it entered in a challenge on DP Challenge. Of course once again it didnt score that well, pretty average, I keep getting knocked for my horse pictures, not the most popular subject and in my opinion it is a pretty solid striking image, oh well, I like it that is all that counts. This is Dream, one of the two year old stallions. He has this one blue eye and the other one is brown. It had been muddy the day before and it looks kind of odd for him to be covered in mud but in the snow LOL.

I have really been slacking but am gearing myself up for a project which I will let you all know about and ask you all for your help with promoting it as soon as I have worked it all out. MiKael of MiKaels Mania - Arabian Horses is my mentor here and if you havent visited her site before please do so, she is a great story teller and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to horses especially Arabian Horses. http://blogvillage.gotop100.com/in.php?ref=471 . I am posting this link, to her blog, if you page down on it you will see a button to enter the blog village and then page down and she is currently ranked number 1 so click on her name there to enter her blog it will give her a rankings boost too, you can also give her a rating from that page.

I am trying to make a concerted effort to break my depressed state and start something positive. I love my horses and I love photography and it is time that I made the two work for me to support them LOL. I will keep you posted.

We had a beautiful day today, topped out at about 41F but it is expected to get colder tomorrow. The horses spent the day out in the sunshine and enjoyed that too. I havent taken any pictures for a number of days, just not photo opportunity/inspiring weather. I have to say apart from a few really cold snaps it has been a really mild winter so far, I hope I am not tempting fate. My white stallion is actually starting to shed his winter hair a bit already.

It was my birthday yesterday and I had a nice restful day, Larry bought me some chocolates, a bottle of wine and a birthday cake which were all scrumptious LOL. I heard from my brother in South Africa wishing me happy birthday and it got me crying because I really miss them all so much.

Well that is my story from the past few days, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. (((Hugs)))) to you all.

Lori
xx

21 December 2007

No horse pics again today, I am trying to revive Friday's Catblogging trend. This is a shot I took a few years ago, it was my first entry in DP Challenge and didn't fare too well. The theme was Wooden, where wood had to be an important part of the composition. I didnt know how narrow minded they could be on that site at that time and I shot this on a day in the upper 80s low 90s with an actual wooden frame propped against the outside of our cabin and the co-operation of two of my cats. I thought it was so clever, unfortunately the DPCers didnt think so and most of them misread the challenge specs and thought that wood was meant to be the main focus. Oh well, I love the picture LOL. This is Huggy cat and a kitty which I have since lost to Feline Leukemia. I titled it "Living Portrait in a Wooden Frame"





My little dove was still under the bush this morning, looking much perkier and wary and later when I went out to see if I could see it again it was nowhere to be found. A bit later I looked out of the window and saw him eating again but havent seen him since. I hope that he has found a nice safe place to hide and will keep an eye open for it and keep putting corn and oats down. I will go shopping tomorrow and get proper bird seed.



It was a really dull dull dull day today, no sunshine at all but pretty warm, in the 40sF. By this evening a heavy fog had started moving in and we are expecting the low 50s tomorrow and then a sharp drop off in temps again and below freezing for Christmas day and after. The horses stayed in for the day, I dont see the point in putting them out when it is just so muddy and it takes forever to put out and bring in 11 horses as I do them one at a time.



Abraham do you think this is a Mourning Dove that I posted, it doesnt have the black mark on the side of its's neck. For everyone who loves animals you need to visit Abraham's blog , he and his wife Patty have led a very interesting and varied life and his stories and wealth of knowledge are worth a read.

MiKael's Blog is another must read if you love horses. She is an very talented story teller, raises Arabian horses and has experienced just about everything that a horse breeder can experience, good and bad. Be warned she likes cliff hangers!!!! When she tells her stories she normally leaves you hanging at the most crucial part LOL.

Well my herd are all well. I am coping so far but am so stoked that tomorrow is when the days start getting longer again!!!!!! Yaaaaaay!!! Have a great weekend everyone ((((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

18 November 2007

Another of my winter sidelighting pictures. I hope I havent posted this before, but I had it entered in a Challenge on DP Challenge so wasnt able to use it at the time until the voting was over. This is a link to this site, it is fun at times and frustrating as well LOL but sometimes it gets me inspired to shoot something as they give you a subject and you have to shoot something to fit during that week. They dont allow a lot of digital editing either which keeps it interesting http://dpchallenge.com/portfolio.php?USER_ID=40386&collection_id=1 . This is Mike's buddy Taxes.

I went and fetched the girls from down the road this evening with a friend of ours, Stan, who owns two of our horses and they all loaded into the trailer like little angels but not before Cat (the B&W) and Piglette (the black) tried to avoid us by heading to the far corner of the pasture when they saw the halters LOL. We got Wiggle and BB loaded and the other two started running circles around the pasture, kicking and bucking and having a great old time LOL. I think they knew they were going home to stables but I enticed them with oats and they let us catch them and load them up.

I still havent got the temporary stalls built but am hoping that Paul, the chap that has been helping out will be over tomorrow afternoon to help me do it, so they are in spare stalls tonight as the other mares are outside still. it is cold but not below freezing so they are coping well out there and I may as well take advantage of it while I can because it wont last long before the temps plummet. Now my problem is to figure out who can be turned out with who during the day without causing a riot and upsetting the heirarchy. Believe it or not, there is one Boss mare in a herd and she has more authority than the stallion. She runs the herd not him. I have a few mares who like to think they are Boss Mare and they just have to get the pecking order sorted out.

Wiggle is so glad to be home, she is already playing with me and being a total brat. Hand raising her has made her a handful LOL. I cant wait to put a saddle on her now that she has picked up her weight, and see how she behaves.

Hopefully I will be able to use this pasture next year again, it has been a godsend not having to worry about the four of them.

Well that is it for today, tomorrow is another one and it has 1000 things to be done. I have a few online orders for business cards, trading cards, a collage made up of 7 pictures I shot and a few prints so the internet orders are starting to work.

(((((Hugs))))) to you all.

Lori
xx

2 October 2007

October is Halloween month here in the USA. Last year DP Challenge had a pumpkin carving photo competition and having never carved a pumpkin before I got a whole lot of stuff together and came up with this but unfortunately didnt get it in in time for the challenge. I am pretty sure it would have done well but who knows, so I am going to share it here. I was quite proud of it LOL.

I got all but 5 posts set today for the fence so hopefully will get going on the cross bars tomorrow. I will have to go and buy two 12 foot gates and some electric tape so they dont chew the wood!!! but at least I will finally have my other turnout for the three boys, Blue, Gee and Taxes having their turns out there. I am going to take the roundpen down and use the panels to put stalls into the bottom of the barn for when the weather gets really cold and need them to come inside.

Working on my print orders and paying bills. Have been watching The Biggest Loser tonight and now Dancing With The Stars, in between catching up on e-mails and blogs!!! Sheesh talk about multi tasking, and they say women cant do two things at once HAH!!!!!

Taxes has a new home. He will be staying here but we decided to give him to our neighbor, Richard, who helps us when we are away, he comes and feeds the horses and makes sure they have water and is always available to help out if we need him. He does a lot for us around the property and we really appreciate his help, he never asks for anything for compensation, in fact wont take anything. The other day he made a comment about how much he liked Taxes. It turns out it has been a dream of his to own a horse. He is in his 60s so Larry decided that he would make him a gift of the brat!!!! I am quite sad but at least I will still have him here. He is going to be gelded so that he is more manageable as Richard is not an experienced horseman. The other plus is that if anything had to happen to Richard we know that he would leave all of his animals in our care. He has two dogs too. So Taxes would come back to us in this event heaven forbid.

Well that is about it for tonight. Need my beauty sleep, am getting old and wrinkled LOL. Will check in tomorrow again. Hope you are all having a good week.

((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx