A paper shetland

This is yet another one of my horsey drawing's that i did just recently.
 I found a photo of an American Shetland in one of my horse books, liked it, and started drawing!
 There are quite a few obvious mistakes in this one - like too short a body and the neck is a quite long, but it's all part of the fun. And like they say- we learn from our mistakes!


:-)


(if your wondering - no, this is not a three legged pony, it's leg is just behind the other one!)

Buttons bad fur day

Buttons after her bath!

Sometimes when our guinea pigs get mites or their fur gets a bit to long and yellow (  :(   ) we give them bath. The other day me and Abbi gave Buttons and Percy a bath because percy had a bit of mites and the long furred Buttons had quite yellow fur around her rear end.... and your probably wondering, do they actauly LIKE baths? Well I'll tell you one thing, Buttons hates it. But wherether she liked it or not, she had to get those dags of! So we fill the bath room sink, get them a bit wet,( ok- alot wet) put some ' Fido's Friend Bunny Bath' on them, wash it out and sprinkle some mite powder on them and cut of the yucky bits in Buttons fur. After drying Buttons of with a towl, she looked like a little black and white ball of fluff!!!

 And what Buttons normally looks like.

And after eating all of those carrots Spring has been getting, I think she is destined for the bath room sink as well! :)

Mouse party!!!

 Today two of our mice, Mini and Squeak (they are in photo 2), turned 2!!!!! Me and Abbi decided to make them a cake, some ice creams, and a pizza for their dinner. And they love it!
 Here is the recipe for the cake we made....

Mousey birthday cake!

  

You will need...


the bottom of a plastic bottle
three tea spoons of crushed weetbix
1 1/2 teaspoon of water
one tablespoon of your moues's food (or seeds that are mouse friendly)
one teaspoon of oats
for the topping...

one tablespoon of raspberry jam
one teaspoon of icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon of warm water
and your mouse's favourite treat

First mix the crushed weetbix with one teaspoon of your water until it is a good thick paste and put into the bottle.Then get your seeds, oats, and the rest of the water and mix then spread over the weetbix. put in the freezer for about half an hour or until the weetbix is hard. For the topping mix everything except the treats together to make a sort of runny icing, put on the cake, sprinkle the treats over the top, and you have a cake for your mouse!!

Rugs, saddles, jumps and more!

These are some of the things that I have made for our Schleich horses. The first photo is of a saddle that I made out of some felt, brown material, elastic (for the girth), and a button.

Number two is  a giraff paterned rug made out of giraff paterned material and the same brown material that I used for the saddle. The next is another rug that was made from orange material and some other yellow stuff that I don't know the name of.

The last photos are of two jumps that I made out of four blocks, two skewers (for the red one), two bits of this wood that we have which is all ready in a poll shape, and some paint. I have also made heaps of other things that I just havn't got round to finishing yet! You can buy things a bit like this on trade me and also from Toy world, but why buy it when you can make it?!

 (The bridal on the horse in photo number one is just made from two rubber bands)

My horse drawing

This is a picture I drew about a month ago of a pinto that I found in one of my many horse books. I drew it for an art exhibit for kids at an art gallery in Invercargill. It was lot's of fun, although a bit frustrateing to start of with because I was trying to put in to much detail at the start. Drawing would have to be one of my favourite things to do besides reading, sport, and riding. =)

Our story's, Lilly and Ben

 These are our two pet dogs called Lilly (top) and Ben. We got Lilly ( a labrador ) from a rescue center just out of Palmerston north about nine years ago. The person who bred her and her 11 brothers and sisters was going away soon so she had no choice but to drop them of at the SPCA. But when we  came looking for a puppy, there was one problem, Lilly and her siblings looked exactly the same. So in the end Mum and Dad ( I was only about two or three at the time ) decided to have the one that came up to them when they opened the cage. So the door was opened and out came Lilly to meet them. And as you will have guessed, we chose her ( well Mum and Dad did, I was to busy making sure that ginormous pig didn't get me! ). So after that, one of the staff put some spray paint on her back so we could tell them apart  when we came again the next day to collect her. In her puppy days she did every thing and more you would expect, like chasing us up and down the couches, snuggling up to us during sleepy time, and also destroying a great  many things, such as when we came home one day only to find that it had been snowing in our yard with her bean bag bed torn open.
 So while Lilly was a rescue doggy, Ben's story is completely different....
 After giving away our other dog, Jack last year, we had all been begging for a puppy to replace him. One day me and Abbi were looking on Trade Me at dogs when I saw an advertisment for two free German short haired pionter x Border collie x Labrador puppy's, a little black boy with huge floppy ears, and a golden coloured girl. We showed Mum and Dad and eventually, they agreed. That sunday we went and 'just have a look' at them and came back with the black boy. When we got home, and went inside, everyone wanted to see him. And with all of the excitement of traveling in the car, leaving his mum and his sister, and finally being surrounded by people, dad was the unfortunate person who was holding him and got piddled on.
 His first outing in our yard was very exciting for him, and  chasing cabbage tree leaves was soon found to be great fun! Ben and Lilly got on really well to, if you left him alone in the lounge or something then he would whine until someone came to cuddle him or put Lilly in the lounge or where ever he was with him.
 Ben has just turned one this year but we still call him puppy ( not to mention all the other names he has, Benji, Benjaman, Benji boo boo....)!



Our dogs are both very special to us and I highly recommend you go to a shelter if you are ever looking  for a dog. : )

Tiny Falabellas

 
The Falabella is the smallest horse in the world, being 7 hands high (about 70 centimeters) at the biggest. They are any colour, but black and bay are the most common. Their average life span isn't any higher then 30 years old, just a bit below that. 
 There are two story's about their origin, but the more likely one is that a family with the last name Falabella owned a ranch in Buenos Aires, Argentina, called the Recreode Roca Ranch. They bred some really small Shetlands with a very small Thoroughbred they owned. The result was a almost perfect horse type miniature with a thick mane and tail and a large head compared to it's body. 
 One of the smallest Falabellas was a mare called Sugar Dumpling who was only about 20 centimeters high at her withers!