School at the moment has kept me very busy, I just completed all my Prelim (Year11) tests which i got over 80% in all my classes so I'm stoked about that, but that's not the end, I have a bunch of assessment tasks coming up just before and just after the school holidays so no rest for the wicked.
Horse Hunting.. well It's defiantly been an adventure. I was meant to do a 4 hour drive up to a place in NSW called 'Gullagon' (i think that might be how it's spelt.) Over there holidays to go and see my potential horse in the holidays but it turns out the family is going away *GRR* which means i'll be taking a couple of days off school this week to go up there instead. Which is good, i miss out on school but it's kinda bad because i fall behind on the class work, but i guess it's for a horse so i don't care.
Tack making, well that is something that i have progressed with in a short time so i'm super pleased with that.
The first thing i made was the 'V' Shaped brow band in my last post which i think was pretty awesome.
Next i thought i would try my hand at making a leather halter which..
Next i made my first ever saddle!
I found that i had trouble with assembly, the pattern was a piece of cake but i wanted to know how to make everything fit together perfectly so i did some research and found Keri Okie tack books to which i ordered almost one of each immediately. Within a few weeks they arrived.
And my god are they good, somethings i will be adjusting in my versions but they are seriously the best place to start when making tack, he books tell you EVERYTHING, they are the god of tack books. It didn't take me long before i whipped out my tools, leather and dyes and put together my first ever dressage saddle.
This saddle I'm currently very pleased with, besides the billet strap holes being too big and too close together i can't fault on it too much being it is my second ever saddle. I would really love to work on a new technique for doing my panels as they're not very realistic when it comes to looking at real saddles so i'm going to have a look at how i can stitch and stuff them.
Last but not least, I went to a local art store near me and found that they stock Aves Appoxy Putty and well it is the coolest stuff ever. Not long after i took pictures of sheik in that saddle i took a hacksaw to his head and cut it off :3 oops. I then cut open his mouth and started to to some inner sculpting. for a complete and utter noob i'm pleased enough.
Cheese ! :D
Well that is all for today, i do hope to try and post more often which is unlikely to happen but i'll try.
I'll defiantly be keeping you all updated on how my trip goes up to the new new horse in the next few days so watch this space. :D
PS: please forgive any spelling/punctuation i have failed with, it is late and i need to go to bed but i wanted to post something which i had a chance, i'll come back and amend it later. :)
Really good job with that saddle! I can't beleive it's only your second. Amazing. Congratz on looking for a horse! Where are you gonna keep him/her? I keep Two Up at Kurnell, if you would like, I can give you Shannon's number.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, you follow my blog. ha. Thank you, I did a lot of research before jumping into the saddle which i'm sure would of helped. Thank you again, I'm not too sure yet but i'm thinking of CPEC because of the high end facilities there.
DeleteKurnell i've heard is rather pricey so think it's out of my budget.
i'm trying to put our personal shit behind us and follow you for your awesome tack. Keep it up, and I'll make sure to buy some one day :)
DeleteWhere I board is $220 a week, that's with paddocks and stuff - the other place (KBS) is $198 a week, but has less facilities. But CPEC has a huge indoor so that has big benefits :)
Well that's always good to hear. Yeah once i get better i'll defiantly be opening my books for commissions.
DeleteYeah that's just a little too pricey for me. Housing at CPEC is under $100 a week and although they don't have paddocks, I'll be going everyday to exercise so that's not that big of a problem. And i prefer it much more because of all the facilities, the equestrian grounds are just fab! I would rather have to spell more regularly than house somewhere where the facilities aren't as good just for the freedom of paddocks.