New years have an energy to them. They’re a time to reflect on the year that’s passed and to set goals for the year ahead. I don’t really make resolutions, but I’ve been thinking about goals for my personal life, my horse life, and my art life for the past few months and I thought I’d like to share some of them here.
My Yearly Business Goals
Create more art pieces than last year
Grow my social media (Focusing on Facebook and Instagram)
Complete at least 12 custom commissions
Participate in 6 markets or fairs
Blog regularly on my web-site (which I’ve already started, but I’m hoping to turn it into a habit!)
Get a daily/weekly routine in place to maximize productivity
My Yearly Personal Goals
Make healthier diet decisions
Increase my water intake
Begin a regular exercise routine
Declutter and organize my space
My Yearly Horse Goals
Spend more quality time with my horse
Keep Glory healthy and happy
Go for a trail ride!
The other night I finally pulled the trigger on ordering the Powersheets planner, which I’ve been looking at and wanting to get for months now. Ordering it right at the end of 2019 isn’t ideal, because I should have done the planning work before the new year began, but I finally had the money for it so I did it. I’m really excited to try this system out! I’ve tried a lot of planners and none of them have stuck for more than a few months, usually because life throws me a curveball or because the planner gets buried under junk on my desk (see above goal of trying to organize and declutter my space). But I’m hoping that this planner will help me break down my goals and help me achieve the things I really want to this year! I will probably do a review of the Powersheets after they arrive if I like them.
What system do you use to track and achieve your goals for the year? What goal are you most excited about achieving in 2020? Let me know in the comments!
My favorite thing to do with my horse is spending time brushing her. I love to ride, and to drive, but I find that even just going and brushing Glory on a day when I’m not feeling great is enough to boost my mood. There’s something magical and satisfying about just spending some quiet time talking to my horse, brushing the mud off her coat and picking her feet, and getting the tangles out of her long tail.
Maybe you’re new to horse ownership and don’t know what sort of grooming items you should have in your arsenal? It took me a long time to find the tools and products that I really love and that work for me. So here are my favorite grooming tools and products and why I chose them.
I have no affiliation with these products and this is not a sponsored post. This post does include Amazon Affiliate links that provide me with a small commission if you click on one and purchase something, at no extra cost to you!
Sleek-EZ
Photo from Sleekez.com
My horse gets a super long winter coat because of her Cushing’s. Because of this, I have tried a LOT of shedding aids. The Sleek-EZ and the Grooming Gloves are my favorites out of everything I’ve tried, but let’s concentrate on the Sleek-EZ for a minute. I have the large Sleek-EZ and I absolutely love it. The size is perfect for Glory’s body, and it really gets the hair off! Plus it’s comfortable to hold too. My current one has lasted me through two shedding seasons already and will soon be on its third, and though it probably could use a new blade it’s still going pretty strong. Bonus, I’ve noticed it’s also very good at bringing up dust and dander when I’m using it!
Grooming Gloves
The newest addition to my anti-shedding-season arsenal are a pair of grooming gloves. I didn’t think that these things could do as good a job with getting out the winter hair as my Sleek-EZ, but boy, I was wrong! I like to slip these on each hand and go to town, massaging Glory with circular motions and watching the hair come out like crazy! After ten seconds of using them the first time, I was a changed woman. The long winter coat doesn’t stand a chance against a good pair of grooming gloves. These gloves have also taken the place of my curry comb for everyday use with getting caked on mud out of Glory’s fur. She loves having her neck scratched with them!
Stiff Brush
Any equestrian will tell you that a grooming kit should include a good hard brush. After I use my grooming gloves and/or Sleek-EZ, I use the hard brush on neck, body, and upper legs to get the majority of the dirt, dander, and loose fur off my horse. My hard brush has nylon bristles with a wooden handle.
Flick Brush
After I use the hard brush, I go over where I just brushed with a flick brush– a long-bristled soft brush that really gets into Glory’s coat and throws the dust off. I use the brush with a flicking motion, hence the name! Again, this brush isn’t anything special, just nylon bristles and a plastic handle.
Flex Finishing Brush
I finish up my body brushing routine by using a short-bristled soft brush on my horse. I go over her face with this same brush, as well as over her body and legs to make sure I’ve gotten as much dust off as I can. My soft brush is “hinged” so I can cup it in my hand and make it curve, which is why I like it as a face brush as well.
Hoof Pick
I like my hoof pick to have a plastic handle, a thick metal pick, and a brush. I find the thinner picks with metal handles to be hard to hold, and I like having the brush so that I can clean the flat of the hoof as well as the grooves, without having to use the pointy metal part too much!
Mane and Tail Brush
I have been blessed with a horse that has a thick long mane and tail. Though her mane isn’t as long as some horses, it’s still pretty long, especially up near her poll. Her tail is long and fairly thick, and I love that it falls naturally into pretty little ringlets. But it can also be a giant pain in the rear to brush! I do use a detangling spray/leave in conditioner, which I’ll talk about later in this article. But for my brush, I like a nice hefty handle that’s comfortable to hold, and bristles with the round plastic bits on the tips. I love the big circular head of my current brush because I feel like it covers more area with each stroke, making the process a little faster.
Thrush Buster
Glory has little feet with deep grooves, which makes them a great place for thrush to grow. She spends 99% of her time in a dry lot that has great drainage, but still gets muddy when we get more than a moderate amount of rain. We keep a bottle of Thrush Buster on hand for when we need it for both the horses! (Though, if we can find something that works as well as this product and won’t stain our hands purple every time we use it, we would definitely switch!)
Eqyss Avocado Mist Conditioner Spray
My best friend and I use this on both our horses and we love it! We spray this on manes and tails to get the tangles out. Not only does it condition and get knots out easily, it smells AMAZING. Sometimes their tails are even easy to detangle the next day or two after we use it because it’s so good.
Eqyss Equine Spray Marigold Scent
We bought this once when the store was out of the avocado spray, and we don’t like it as much as the product above this on the list. However, I do use this every few days on Glory’s coat to help with her dry skin. I can brush her for thirty minutes and still have dust coming up because her skin is dry during the winter, and I don’t have access to hot water and heat lamps to give her a bath when it’s cold! So, after a ride or as a step to a grooming session, I will spray this on her coat, especially her back and flanks where the skin is the driest, and then work it in with my flick brush so it gets down where it needs to be. I’ve found that doing this a few times a week, along with regular brushing, helps keep the dandruff down until I can give her a proper bath.
And those are all the tools, brushes, and products that I use on a regular basis in my grooming box! I hope this post gives you an idea of my daily routine and maybe helps you out if you’re shopping for your first grooming kit. What brushes and products do you use to groom your horse? Let me know in the comments!
The subject of which horse was the “first” I ever rode is a tricky one. I never took lessons when I was a child, but one of my cousins owned horses while I was growing up and I remember getting pony rides on them when we would go there for Easter and Christmas. I know there were other pony rides as well, most likely at the Maryland Renaissance Festival and carnivals. So the answer to the “first” horse is not very clear-cut at all!
Instead, I’ll write about the first horse I ever took riding lessons on. I had just turned 30 years old that year and found a local riding center to volunteer at. In exchange for volunteering for the summer camp sessions, I got a few free lessons. Plus my parents paid for me to take a session of lessons as well, which was awesome and was something I was very excited for – despite the fact that I was the oldest rider in the beginner’s class by a few decades!
Since I’d been volunteering at the riding center for a few weeks already, I was familiar with the horse I would be riding for lessons. She was a gentle giant named Ivy, a 16hh-ish Percheron/Hanoverian crossbreed with the slowest gaits ever. Her show name was “Island Time” because she did everything at her own slow, plodding pace. I’ve always had a soft spot for big draft horses, so the moment I met Ivy the first day I was at the riding center I fell in love with her, and I was seriously excited to start riding her.
Ivy was an amazing teacher, patient as could be and just lovely to ride. She was also comfortable to ride bareback because she was like straddling a couch with her wide, flat back! I am not a naturally gifted rider, so having a patient teacher who could handle a six-foot-tall adult was a real blessing. I’m sure that Ivy hated my inability to post the trot, but she never acted up or stepped a hoof out of line, no matter how much I bumped around on her back. She was big enough to carry an adult, but gentle enough to teach a child to ride.
The most “advanced” thing I ever did on Ivy was trotting over small crossrails. We were supposed to be trotting over those crossrails, but because I was such a bad and inexperienced rider she would get right up to the poles and stop suddenly before gently stepping over them. I don’t know if I was incapable of keeping her in trot or if she thought I’d go flying off if she went over any faster than a walk!
Riding Bareback at Christmas
My lessons on Ivy went for a little over a year, until I got my own horse and started my first barn job. Because I was working at another barn in exchange for board for Glory, I didn’t have time to continue volunteering at the riding school. A few years ago, Ivy passed away suddenly. It was a huge blow to me when I found out, because she wasn’t very old and it was out-of-the-blue. I hadn’t been down there in quite awhile, so I hadn’t seen my old teacher before she passed. I was extremely upset about this, and I admit that I cried several times over the next few days because of the news (and I went and gave Glory some extra hugs).
Ivy taught me how to brush a horse, how to pick burrs out of manes and tails, and how to tack up. She taught me how to ride the walk and trot, both posting and sitting, and how to go up in two-point jumping position. I hated posting the trot on her because her trot was so slow that in required a lot of work, and because of that I learned that I have muscles in my thighs that I didn’t know could hurt so much! She taught me to be proud when I made progress, and how to be grateful for a patient horse who would deal with teaching me to ride. I do wish I’d been at a point where I could’ve cantered on her, because apparently she had a lovely canter, but I wasn’t at that point when I stopped taking lessons there so it didn’t happen. I am forever grateful for the things she did teach me, however. She gave me a steady foundation for my riding, and even though I am still learning every time I climb into the saddle, I know that my basics are strong.
What was the first horse you rode, and at what age did you first start riding? Comment below and share your story!
As long as I can remember, I’ve been creating art. Around high school, I developed a love for cartooning, animation, and manga. Up until then, I had drawn mainly realistic things, or at least as close to realistic as I could get at such a young age. It was this shift to cartooning that made me realize how much I loved telling stories with my art. This made sense in hindsight because I was always a prolific writer as well as an artist.
When I was very young, I remember creating “books” out of pads of post-it notes, complete with hand-lettered text and full illustrations. In middle school, I wrote an entire novel in a Marble composition book. Well, it was probably more like a novella, because it was a wide-ruled notebook, but at the time it was much longer than any other story I’d ever written.
Telling stories and creating something beautiful to look at have always been my goals as an artist. If I can combine those two things, then that’s all the better as far as I’m concerned!
My goal with my Horses of the world series is to tell the story of the horse, its contributions throughout history, and how deeply intertwined the history of the horse is with the history of humanity. This way, I can combine the subject I’ve loved to draw since I was very young (horses), with storytelling aspects. I choose both well-known and very popular breeds for my illustrations, as well as less known and less popular breeds. Many of the lesser-known breeds in the series are endangered or have dwindling numbers, like the Misaki and the Akhal-Teke, or are even extinct, like the Quagga. By using these breeds and combining them with world maps, I hope to inspire learning, discussion, and conservation efforts for the breeds that can be saved.
Horses have been part of human history since prehistoric times. They have been used for food, transportation, war, and to help shape civilizations. When someone sees my art and sees a horse breed they have or haven’t heard of, along with a map behind that breed, it opens up a conversation. Children and adults love to learn about horses and especially breeds they don’t know of. I hope that my art encourages giving back to these amazing animals who have given so much of themselves over the centuries to help humans.
My mission as an artist is to bring joy, to start conversations, and to inspire curiosity in those who love these animals as much as I do. I hope that my art and my words will inspire the animal lover in you, and open a dialog with other horse lovers so that we can make sure these beautiful animals don’t disappear.
I’ve gotten a good bit of attention locally for my Horses Of The World series. This series of art is very special to me and is one that I really enjoy working on. As I write this blog post there are 20 completed horse breeds.
In this series, I use mixed media to attempt to tell the story of horse breeds and where they come from. Each breed of horse is drawn on a vintage map page from a page of the Goode’s World Atlas by Rand McNally (11th Edition, 1960). I pick the map page to draw on based on the area of the world the horse breed originates from- so the Arabian horse, for example, is drawn on the map of Saudi Arabia. I use this as a way to tell a story about the horse breeds that we all love but may not know where they originated from in the world.
I create these pieces of art by first researching the horse breed I want to illustrate and then checking to make sure I have a corresponding map page. The first eighteen horses in the series were sketched directly onto the map pages, but recently I have started sketching on plain paper and then transferring the sketch to the map via a lightbox instead because sometimes it’s difficult to see the sketch overtop of the map lines, especially on particularly busy maps, and I have a difficult time with the inking process. Once the sketch is complete, the drawing is inked with waterproof and alcohol marker proof Copic Multiliner brush pens. The inked lines are allowed to dry for a while and then the coloring process begins!
Coloring occurs directly on the original map. I use a variety of materials to add the color to the horse drawings. White/gray horses get a light coat of white acrylic paint as a base, usually from a white paint pen. Darker colored horses get large areas filled in with alcohol markers (Copic or Spectrum Noir, I have both kinds). Then additional shading, highlighting, and details are added with colored pencils. Horses who had paint used on them have any lines that were painted over touched back up with the same inking pens as before since the paint tends to wash the ink lines out when it goes over them and I like for the inking lines to be bold and dark!
This series of drawings is very important to me. I have loved horses ever since I was very young, but I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and there was nowhere around for a young girl from a middle-class family to do anything with horses. I remember pony rides at various events on occasion, probably especially at the Maryland Renaissance Fair, and one of my cousins had horses on their farm when we were younger so at Easter and Christmas we would sometimes get pony rides there as well. But I never had the opportunity to actually learn to ride, or to have a horse of my own. So instead of being around horses in physical space, I was with them mentally. I read every book on horses at my local library, and read every book with horses in it that I could find at thrift stores or flea markets. Horses were the first subject that I could draw fairly well. I remember having a How To Draw Horses book that I studied almost religiously. I would doodle horse heads on everything. I couldn’t be around horses in real life, so I was with them in my mind and in my art.
Eventually, as I grew older, I gave up on the dream of ever actually being around horses, or owning one, or riding them. But I still would stare at a field of horses as we drove past, or watch horses in movies, or make sure my character had a horse in a role-playing game. All of that changed when I turned 30. I had just quit my day job to make a go at being self-employed, and I was looking for some sort of volunteer opportunity. I had been collecting My Little Pony figures over the past few years and decided that I wanted to find something horse related. I stumbled across a local riding school looking for volunteers to help with their summer camp, and no experience was needed!
I volunteered and that was the beginning of horse madness. Through all of this, a friend I had who owned a horse realized that I liked horses. Two years later, her horse became my horse. Glory and I have been together for five years now and she is my constant muse and source of stress relief. I wouldn’t trade her for anything!
