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April 26, 2007
Derek and Daddy playing
Derek is not really possessed. He's just playing with Daddy!
Posted by Jessica at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)
Derek with his sand box
One of Derek's favorite things to do is to play in his sandbox! It's a really nice one that has a cover so we can close it up to keep out rain, neighborhood cats and other undesirable stuff!
Posted by Jessica at 08:48 PM | Comments (0)
Derek playing outdoors!
It certainly was nice to finally have some spring weather last week! We celebrated by playing outdoors and eventually walking to the Dairy Queen.
Posted by Jessica at 08:46 PM | Comments (1)
Comparison view of Hope and Hershey
Hope's mold really doesn't have a name. I call it the "Turned-Head Hunter." It's a much rarer variation of the Hunter mold. There is also a variation on the old Julip Thoroughbred mold called the "Turned-Head Thoroughbred." Maybe it was easier to produce models with a straighter profile. For whatever reason, in both cases the molds were changed shortly after production started.
Posted by Jessica at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
Julip Event Horse
This is the Julip Event Horse. This model dates from the late 1980's. This mold is sadly discontinued, but collectors have hopes of a new mold being cast. We keep our fingers crossed! This one is named King Crimson, and he is an Anglo-Arab gelding.
Posted by Jessica at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)
Julip Lipizzaner with two Dressage Horses
This is a comparison photo of the old Julip Lipizzaner, Othello, standing next to two Julip dressage horses, Sirius (the black one) and Mercutio (the chestnut one.) Othello is in the middle.
Posted by Jessica at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)
Julip Old Lipizzaner - "Othello"
This is Othello, a black vintage Julip Lipizzaner. He was found on eBay along with two Julip buddies. It is unusual to find Julips on eBay U.S.
Posted by Jessica at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)
Julip Chocolate Hunter - "Hershey Special Dark"
Julip called this color "chocolate with black mane and tail" and told one collector over the phone that it would be "Malteser-color." I ordered it, and it wasn't! I think it's a lovely Julip Hunter. If I could change one thing, it would be to make the eyes bigger, but then I am much fonder of the old-style Julip eyes.
Posted by Jessica at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2007
Photo from Dubrovnik
A friend of mine has flown to Dubrovnik in Croatia for a conference, she sent me this wonderful photo.
I read up on Dubrovnik on Wikipedia. It has a long and fascinating history, formerly as the Republic of Ragusa. Long before any other country, the Republic of Ragusa abolished slavery. The oldest pharmacy (still in operation) is in Dubrovnik (it opened in 1317.)
The city still has many historic buildings and is a World Heritage Site. It is now a popular resort and hosts many festivals and conferences.
This photo was taken by my friend, Karin!
Posted by Jessica at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2007
Derek and Mommy!
Danielle took this photo of Derek and I at the local Big Boy restaurant.
I have hardly any photos of myself with Derek, as I'm usually the one behind the camera taking the photos. So I'm very indebted to Danielle for this lovely photo. Thanks, Danielle!
Posted by Jessica at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)
Derek at Big Boy
Bob the Builder was scheduled to appear at a local restaurant, and Derek was keen to go!
He ran around the horse stable where we had gone to clean Kai's stall and told everybody there that he was going to see Bob the Builder. Well, we met Ryan and Danielle at the Big Boy, and sat down at our booth. Bob was a person in a scary big-head suit! When "Bob" stopped at our booth to see Derek, Derek took one look and said, hiding behind Mom, "Bob is scary! Bob is not my friend!"
Bob didn't take it personally, and kept stopping by to see if Derek had changed his mind!
It took almost an hour for Derek to unscare himself enough to actually say "Hi!" to Bob. Then, he told everyone proudly, "I said Hi to Bob!"
By then, it was time for Bob to depart. Derek wanted to say "Hi" one more time, because by now Bob was his friend! The waitress told him that Bob had been called away on an emergency, Bob had had to fix something! Derek understood. Derek received two giant Bob stickers as a souvenir of the scary Bob experience, and we were on our way home to eat delicious brownies for dessert.
Posted by Jessica at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2007
Stop That Right Now!
Firefly the foal is unhappy about having his mother leave without him, so he grabs ahold of her tail.
Posted by Jessica at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)
What Julips Get Up To When You're Not Looking
Julip foal Smartie visits Mr. Tumnus in Narnia.
The quality of this photo is just terrible, but I tried!
Posted by Jessica at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)
Julip Stable Scene
Philippa and Janie ride out on Kelpie the Shetland and Cadfael the Cob Stallion. Patti is left behind doing the chores that she hadn't finished that morning due to sleeping in. (Her sister, Prill, is in the tack room cleaning tack.)
You can just see Othello, Hope and Melchoir in the background!
This photo is for a contest that is being held on the Julip Forum I belong to!
Posted by Jessica at 09:44 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2007
Trading Up
A much nicer used western saddle is coming my way, hooray!
A couple of years ago I embarked on a quest to find saddles to fit my horse, Kai. It took me several months to find a western saddle (I had bought Kai in October, and I found the western saddle early the following year, I think.) It took me even longer to find an English saddle that fit him!
I made the mistake of settling for a cheaper quality western saddle. It fits him, and looks pretty, but I was used to a better quality saddle so it had issues that annoyed me. The rigging was a slot instead of a huge, round ring. This made it very, very difficult to do up the cinch. Also, the stirrup leathers were fairly stiff, and flat against the horse's side. This meant if I lost a stirrup, I wouldn't be able to easily regain the stirrup unless I used my riding crop to reach down and physically turn the stirrup towards my toes. (Not easy at the trot or canter!)
I only used the western saddle until I was able to find an English one that fit, but I did use the western one if anyone else came out to visit and ride Kai.
I did have fond memories of my old Circle Y saddle (which I had obtained quite inexpensively and sold along with Chizzam so that he would have a saddle that fit him.) I did try looking for another one, but found that the prices for even the well-used, older, unfashionable Circle Y's were out of my ballpark (much less the shiny new fashionable ones. But I wasn't looking for fashion, just good quality and comfort!)
I finally found one on eBay, but I had to drag out the credit card to pay for it. (It had dust on it from lack of use, fortunately.) I intend to recoup the cost of upgrading to this saddle by selling my old western saddle and the two old English saddles that don't fit Kai. Brian and I are having a big garage sale next month, so come on over and buy stuff!
Posted by Jessica at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)