Bam! Right into a wall..

No, not my car.. My brain!

I'm working on the crownpiece for the braided bridle and I'm having a hard time making knots overtop the tassel/knot combo thing at the end. I've done it once but the knot was too big and the decorative knot didn't cover it completely so I had to cut it off. After that, I haven't successfully made another decorative knot over top the "Functional" knot which makes the tassel head. I guess my brain just doesn't "Understand" it or maybe it's too advanced for my skill level right now. I dunno but I'm just going to keep banging my head against it until I get it right. (as usual!)

I've had some very nice folks tell me that they don't believe that any of my tackmaking is hard for me, but I'm here to set the record straight! I just have a stubborn streak a mile wide and the unfortunate desire for doing things the hard way

Inbetween banging my head against that knot/tassel issue, I'm working on another "braided" western show halter for the Peter Stone Ideal Stock Horse Mold. I am going to "lottery" it off on my yahoo group to thank those folks for joining and being so patient. That way I don't have to fool with Ebay, which is getting stranger and stranger with it's rules.

I also have another bosal/hanger on my radar to sell because I'm saving money for my Breyerfest Trip in July. I Fooled with it briefly yesterday because it's made the "old way" that I used to make bosals instead of the "new way" that I learned earlier this year. That's going to take some time too.. I may just scrap it and start a new one.. it might be easier and faster.

My Son is more aware of the world around him now. Last week he turned over from back to belly several times on his own, but he doesn't seem interested in doing that this week. This week he's been crankier than usual and has been sleeping more, getting up at 7am instead of his usual 6am. This is good because it's been giving me a bit more sleep which I desperately need. I think he's closer to teething now because he loves cold teething rings on his gums. The bad part is that I'm getting less time in the studio. Before he'd just stare at the TV's colors and music but now he seems to need my attention more. He seems to be on par for development for his age which is very comforting.

I should probably say something about the Poor Filly Eight Belles from the Derby but I don't want to go on and on about my theories about why it happened or my "issues" with Racing horses. I think that if you do a Google News search you'll read opinions of all types. Some more informed than mine and some less. There was a really good article on the ESPN website about all of the factors contributing to all of the more frequent race horse breakdowns over the last few years. To read it you can go here It says a lot of things that I already knew and suspected. One point was raised though that some of the same bloodlines here in the US that supposedly cause unsound horses race into their 4 year old and 5 year old years abroad in England and Australia. So clearly this is a complicated issue. I'm eager to see what US racing does to try to curb the "breakdown" trend.

Lastly, the picture above was taken by me in my Senior Year in highschool. In the 1980's there was a mostly arabian horse Subdivision in LaGrange Kentucky called "L'Spirit". It was made up of 100's of acres all carved into gigantic farms that mostly bred Arabians. The mares above belonged to Bittersweet Arabians. In my Sr year of high school, gas was less than $1 and to amuse myself I would go out driving and taking pictures of horses. Kentucky is a wonderful place to do this :)