My Horses, Dogs and Inspiration

I get inspiration from my horses, dogs and spending time in nature. I play around with photography and create art. I am a painter, thru and thru but also enjoy dabbling in lots of different art mediums.

I will share here some photos of my horses and dogs.

I own 4 horses;

Abbey, a 24 year old chestnut Arabian mare that I have had the pleasure of owning since birth. In fact, I got to watch her being born. I rescued her dam while pregnant, lame, skinny and confined to a filthy stall with no food or fresh water. I got her in the nick of time, because the foal was healthy.
Abbey loves people and spent some time as a therapy horse in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy while I was an equine specialist at a counseling center. She was excellent at it and helped bring insight and healing to many but, alas, she is a sensitive soul and although people blossomed with her helped, Abbey did not adjust well to the barn set up or rotating clientele. She is a stall 'weaver', a compulsive habit horses can be prone to when stalled of shifting their weight back and forth while swinging their head when stalled. At home I keep her stall time to a bare minimum and rarely even remember she weaves. But at the counseling center she dropped weight and began to look stressed so we brought her home. She is happy and healthy and will live out her days with me.

Abbey leading the way (to the pasture)

Abbey

Cimarron, is a big, lanky, 16.2 hand roan sabino Tennessee Walking Horse gelding. He is in his mid to late teens. I bought him a few years ago to be my trail horse, which he excels at! Abbey loves trail riding too but is 100% a follower. She will go anywhere if she can follow but alone or in the lead and she is not a happy camper! Neither am I! :) Cimmaron, or as I call him, Cim, can be ridden alone or in the lead. He can be a bit of a handful when fresh but settles down and is the kind of horse that would go all day in his smooth gaits! I ride him and feel on top of the world! Plus, I think he is so very handsome!

Abbey and Cimarron

Fly!

Cimarron

Porsche, is a 12 yr old grey sabino TWH mare. She is as sweet as the day is long and built like a tank! She is a solid 15.2 stocky, sturdy horse that will step up into my primary trail horse soon, I hope. You will find her in my artwork often. I love her sleepy eyes and since she is white, I can paint all sorts of fun colors in the highlights and shadows of paintings of her. I also use her (as well as the others) in digital horse photography I play around with. Again, white is a handy color for that!

Willow, sweet Willow..... my 14 hand TWH Black Sabino mare who is the newest to my herd. Willow is a joy and a challenge but we have made some great success!! You can read more here- Willow's progress I really like this mare's sweet, puppy dog personality but she came to me as a very unsure, skittish horse who lacked horse socializing skills and zero confidence. The good thing about Willow is 1. She is pretty and petite. (That does help) and 2. She is not a pushy, domineering horse. She wants to please, likes people and really wants her rider to be the leader to give her the confidence she lacks. 3. She is always smooth. Always. That is a huge plus for me and my aging body!

I have learned tons working with her and she rewarded me this summer with some pretty fantastic milestones- like riding out alone calmly. She had the worst case of barn sourness I have ever encountered with a horse!

When Willow first arrived to my place in early 2017.

She is super fun to photograph!

Willow as a wild woman on the lunge line. She improved immensely!

In late summer of 2017, after many ground work sessions and ring riding, Willow was brave and obedient enough to ride out alone! So very proud of her! I always worry when sound, young-ish horses aren't ridden and trained. They become SO vulnerable! I think of this time I spent with her, even though I missed time out on the trail with Cimarron, as a life insurance policy for Willow. If for some reason I can't keep her, she now has a MUCH better chance at a good life.