(this is a reprint from my wordpress.com blog dated February 1, 2012)

 

So I’ve been working on several things this week in the studio. Got a Look! sculpture back from the patineur who will be doing the patinas on my sculpture – he is now a beautiful blue/green/brown with lacy white underneath.  I believe Deb said he has 7 different coats of various types of applications she used to get the effect.  Look! is very proud of his new “look”.

It is a beautiful patina for sure (and the photo below does not do it justice, but stay tuned…they will be on the website soon).

Thanks Deb!

I have been working of Step High! as well, while waiting for various parts of Leap! to dry…since Step High! has only two feet on the ground, I am doing a lot of thinking about how to keep her free-standing.  It may not be possible to do until she is bronze, as the foundry could perhaps weigh her feet to keep her from falling over.

I cannot believe that it is February 1^st already!  I have this voice that whispers that I must hurry…and so I do.  It is an exciting thing to have the time to work on the horses full-time and I love every minute I spend in the studio.

I got to spend time with real horses this week, as my cousins have a couple of them and we visited and groomed and it was a fun way to spend part of Sunday!  Thanks girls!

I finished reading “Straight from the Horse’s Heart” by R.T. Fitch.  If you love horses, it’s full of great stories and a portion of the proceeds from the book go to help Habitat for Horses help horses.

Every day horses are abused and across our borders (perhaps within our borders again soon) they are slaughtered.  There are proponents for and against the slaughter of horses.  Some people have the opinion that a quick death at a slaughter-house is preferable to a slow death from abandonment and abuse.  But is that really true?  Or is that just something we are told so that we will feel okay about it?  I think that they are just different sides of the same awful coin.

Rather than argue the ins and outs of how a horse dies in a slaughter-house (is it quick? Is it painless? …are you sure?) – I would simply argue that they are every bit (more so throughout history) as important a companion animal to us as dogs and cats.

Do we slaughter the dogs and cats no one can take care of and eat them?  Or ship their shrink wrapped bodies overseas so other people can eat them?  Does the thought of doing that make your stomach turn?  And since when do slaughter houses kill any animal in a “humane” or “painless” or non-terrifying-to-the animal way?

Why are the only alternatives to unwanted horses abuse, neglect or …slaughter?

Could it be because there is potential profit made from horses being slaughtered?

Hmmmmm.

As it says at the end of R.T.’s book, “If these issues speak to your heart and soul contact Habitat for Horses and become a part of the movement to stop the shipping of horses across our borders for slaughter, save the wild Mustangs from extinction, and educate your family and friends on the plight of the American Horse in general.”