'Long Lugs' is finished.

Here is the first one finished! My head is just bursting with ideas for more, and I'm already beginning on the next.

Ginger Miu thinks this sewing lark is a great idea. It's so much more comfortable to sit on a piece of embroidery than on a wet painting.

Snowy Days

This is the reason there has been no painting of late. The daily chores seem to take up most of the day in this weather! Luckily the ponies all seem fairly content to be out in the snow, as long as they have plenty of hay to eat. As you can see, little Austin is so well insulated with his Highland coat that the snow just settles on his back without melting. It doesn't appear to bother him in the least.

Me, I'm pretty well insulated too, but it's hot work hauling hay around the fields!

Piper and Hazel too, are in full winter woolies.

Even the children are doing their bit to help. You can never have enough logs for the fire.
Thankfully it seems to be thawing out. There is more heavy snow predicted for this afternoon, but I find it hard to believe - it's too mild out there, and I suspect it is more likely to come as rain.

Stitched words

Just a quick post to show you how 'Long Lugs' progresses. We are still snowed in, and I am happily sewing my fingers off!

stitched hare

A snow day means no painting, but instead work progresses on the hare embroidery. Here are a couple of details which I have been working on.

I have also finally got around to listing prints of all the paintings below in my Etsy store.
PLUS I have all ACEO prints on sale for the month of January. Lots of them have only one or two left in the edition, so now is the time to grab them!

No school today, but a three hour round trip with the toboggan to feed all the ponies! It's fun the first day - don't think we shall be looking forward to it so much tomorrow!

Pony Update - One in, one out

Things have been a little topsy turvy here with the ponies recently. We have had a new pony here for the last six weeks, to see whether she suited us, and after a rather bad start, things turned around, and she has proved herself to be a little poppet,so we've made the decision that we would like her to stay! This is Tishy, 12.3hh, about 17, with a very happy middle daughter on board.

This has, however, meant that some tough decisions have had to be made. You may remember that I bought this little filly last summer ( see here
with the plan to initially use her as a broodmare, ( she is actually booked into stud with Diptford Star Attraction this spring) to breed a Working Hunter type pony, and then to break her in to have as a jumping pony when the girls were a bit older. She has a fantastic jumping pedigree - she is by Timber - in - the Mist, a Connemara stallion, and her dam is a daughter of Rosewall Mister Softee, a champion JA pony. Hazel, who currently stands at about 13.1hh, has so much potential. She arrived very anxious and bargy, but has settled right down. She is kind and gentle to handle, desperately eager to please, and particularly quick to learn. She also jumps like a stag, and this is where things become tricky!
I rent a little bit of land away from the farm which is where I intended to run Hazel, along with my other youngster, Piper. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be a great plan because Hazel, good in every other way, panics if left on her own and jumps straight out to join us. My fencing is sheep netting or stone walls, and I'm not in a position to re -fence rented land! Obviously, this means that I can't begin to work on breaking Piper in, which is what I planned to start doing. So, I have had to bring both girls back to the farm with the riding ponies, where I can safely leave Hazel when I work with Piper. BUT, the arrival of Tishy puts too much pressure on the land at the farm, and my new year promise to the family was to simplify our lives as much as possible. The upshot of this is that, reluctantly, I have agreed to put Hazel up for sale. I say reluctant, because I genuinely like this little mare. She is an anxious sort, but is incredibly trusting of people. She can't bear to be left on her own, but is just as happy with a person for companion as another pony. She will stand like a rock in the stable to have her mane pulled, her feet picked out - any amount of fussing over. She leads out at walk and trot from both sides. She will follow me anywhere I ask her to, even through the river at full flood. She really does like to work and use her brain. I think, in kind and calm hands, she will make a top competitive showjumping pony.

So, there we are. One comes in, one must go out. Sad as it makes me, I do see that it is more important to have the right pony NOW for the children, when they are starting out, than to be saving them a good one for the future!