Alfalfa Anne

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One more year at the Royal Winter Fair – my favourite part of November! (plus this song is really catchy)

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If you like odd little animals dressed up in finery, then you might like Sarah Ogren. She’s a great artist living in Colorado who likes her animals well-dressed.  And doesn’t that little bay look elegant?

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Fashion Friday: Not entirely sure what fashion magazine this comes from, and I’m not sure what clothing they are trying to sell, but that’s an irish clip I believe.

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Always wanted to paint a horse like this.  I hear it’s great for learning the different muscles and bones, but I just want a horse that looks like Skeletor.

Nothing better than hitting the trails of Southern California on a Paso Fino. For anyone that has never felt their amazingly smooth gait, I highly recommend it.

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Ah, riding and drawing.  Two things that always look really easy to do, but then once you get past the basics… turns out a lot tougher than you could ever have imagined.

I’m a fan of this drawing because of that look in the horse’s eye as he takes off.  I’ve seen that on one or two… or several occasions.

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Yet another etsy find. A friend alerted me about these adorable prints that look like a cross between My Little Pony and that doll painting from Friends, except way cuter and less creepy. Check out this seller for more info.

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My stellar pal Kylie (who writes a blog for tall girls – The Height of Life) found this dress and I just knew I’d have to write about it. Look at that luscious mane!

The appy I ride only wishes his locks could be as luxurious. Also, I don’t know if I’d be able to maintain the same “I’m a serious model” face if I was wearing that dress.  I’d definitely be rocking an uber goofy grin. If you are so inclined, it is on sale here.

Today I was lucky enough to attend a screening of the documentary Horses. For once living in Toronto paid off and I took advantage of HotDocs being in town. The film is directed by Liz Mermin and chronicles the exciting world of steeplechase racing in Ireland.

The documentary blog has posted a great interview where Liz goes into more depth about the film. Overall, I really enjoyed the film – It’s very easy to fall into the sentimental trap when you are dealing with horses (ahem, see Flicka, The Black Stallion, etc), but I found this documentary to be a great fly-on-the-wall treatment of the hustling and bustling world of the Paul Nolan racing stable.

My only issue is that there didn’t seem to be much of an arc in the story – we were introduced to the three featured horses, they ran some races and that was it.  I realize that the documentary can’t invent a narrative, but it might have been worthwhile to spend some more time going into the history of the farm, the people that worked there and take a deeper look into their relationships with the horses.  There was one groom/exercise rider in particular that seemed to have an amazing bond with the horses and I wish he had gotten more screen time.  But this is a small criticism and I still enjoyed the film immensely.  It really made me appreciate the skill and athleticism of steeplechase horses.

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Incredible.