And then came Sophie

Sophie and me in Sept 2006

I’ve already told you that I bought Saab, a 16.2hh bay thoroughbred gelding (in December 2001). What I didn’t tell you was that earlier the owner of a gorgeous bay Anglo Arab had refused to sell him to me. Why? Because he had a very low opinion of my riding skill! And now, looking back seven years later, I totally understand. I already knew before I bought a horse that I wanted to learn dressage – how to ride to a high level and how to train a horse. What I didn’t understand then was how far I had to go, and how long it would take before I had even some basic competence. A month after buying Saab we bought a 5 acre property on the north west fringe of Sydney.

Having realised that Saab would never be competitive, I persuaded my husband that I needed another horse (for competition and as a companion for Saab). So Saab became my husband’s horse. Not really a great idea, as he was a complete beginner rider and Saab was a wily horse with a lot of personality.

I bought a 10 year old chestnut thoroughbred mare, who I called Sophie. Sophie and Saab were in love at first sight and are still joined at the hip. He is the ultimate boy, and she the ultimate girl.

We built a dressage arena on our property in August 2004, so I suppose you could say that my dressage education started from that point. A few months later and I had started having regular weekly riding lessons with a very experienced horsewoman and dressage judge. Nearly two years later and my position had improved tremendously. But I couldn’t get Sophie into a frame and my teacher wasn’t able to help me. So I changed teachers.

Does your life lack meaning? What is your passion? Are you doing it?

Well here it is, 28th April – almost May! – and only my second post for the year. Originally this blog was started to record my journey with art and graphic design. But I haven’t done any painting since the Bushfire painting completed in early Feb (before the fires in Victoria broke out). And I really want to express my thoughts on another subject dear to me, a lifelong passion for horses and riding.

Let me introduce a little history here. I owned my first pony at the age of 13 (after many years of pleading and nagging). He was a handsome gelding named Finnegan. Poor Finnegan. If I knew then what I know now, our whole experience and relationship would have been so much more gratifying. I owned Finnegan for several years. We trail rode. Riding teachers and riding lessons weren’t so prevalent in those days. I went to  pony club. We didn’t have a float. There was no dressage arena at the agistment paddocks. Riding was all about long rides to the river, or over the hilly paddocks. Eventually my parents divorced, owning a horse became unaffordable and I gave up riding.

 Until I turned 42, when I bought another horse. The reason? I had been working long hours in the IT industry and was feeling very little joy. At a work seminar a speaker asked the audience, “Do you feel burnt out?” (Yes, I answered privately.) “Does your life lack meaning?” (Yes.) “Then what is your passion? And are you doing it?” Oh, I thought. Well, riding! And dancing. Hmmmnnn. Could I ride again? I asked my husband how he felt about me getting a horse. His answer was surprising, as we had never discussed horses. “I love horses!” he exclaimed. Lucky me! I know many women whose husbands have quite a different emotion….So along came Saab, a twelve year old, 16.2 hh bay thoroughbred gelding, noble, kind, a showy. If he were a man, he’d wear an open shirt with gold chains. And unbeknownst to me, a stifle injury which would render him uncompetitive. (I didn’t get him vet checked when I bought him. Which is a good thing because if I had,  I wouldn’t have bought him – and that would have been my loss.)

It’s hot

It’s a hot day today. 38 degrees celsius. Too hot to paint outside. This painting is of a tree in our backyard. It’s huge and I love it. Behind it is a dressage arena (for schooling horses). My neighbour sometimes lunges her shetland pony on this arena. (lungeing means circling around on a long line – in his case this is done for exercise reasons). I don’t think the composition of this painting is good, but I’m such a novice at painting any real assessment may have to wait several years…

Oil on canvas 40.5 x 51 cm

Is Talent Necessary?

It’s taken me a long time to start learning how to draw and paint, even though I have, for many years, loved to look at art and have to have it to hang on my walls. This is because, at the age of twelve I took a statewide aptitude test for various disciplines. Apparently I had no aptitude for art. I still remember though, carefully drawing my hand for this test. The first drawing I had probably done since the age of six!

Clearly that drawing failed the test. I was very disappointed that I was such “a failure”. So I took classes in physics, maths and science and never attempted to draw again until I started a graphic design course in 2008, where drawing and painting were required assignments. I was anxious, nervous and thrilled to be learning these new skills. Thrilled because I loved doing it. Anxious because I had already been assessed as having no talent. Now in my graphic design course it is apparent that some people have a better ability to arrange shapes, choose colours and make a pleasing-to-the-eye-and-heart picture, than others. But I am not dispirited anymore. I believe that all of us can contribute something of beauty. In the same way that Cezanne differs from Rembrandt differs from Van Gogh, so does my art differ from yours. But I believe all of us have the potential to be brilliant. We have to want to create beauty and work hard to achieve it. And then, after many hours of effort and learning, our art will start to sing and suddenly we will be labelled as “talented”. My art isn’t singing yet. But I believe it will. One day.

Toy cupboard symbol for a childcare centre

3 apples, watercolour and graphite

The toy cupboard symbol was one of six for an assignment. The apples were a diversion from assignments.