Margaret Dent Fine Art

Humbled again!

There are times in every rider's life when we think our knowledge is extensive and simply become overconfident. There is nothing like a horse to humble us and return us to reality. For me today was that day.

I have not ridden since June but had a make-up lesson scheduled tonight. Driving to the barn I was not nervous (which is a good thing as I am not a confident rider yet) and even though I wasn't sure how it was going to feel riding again after a month's break, I hopped in the saddle and felt like I've never left. Until I actually started riding...

Yeap, I got humbled all right. Couldn't find my balance in the saddle, kept leaning too far forward, flopped all over in rising trot, could not for the life of me SIT the trot and my toes, when my feet weren't bouncing all over the place, were pointing west and east!... I didn't even attempt canter. And, to add insult to injury (or injury to insult), I badly rubbed... well, let's just say female dressage riders will know exactly what I mean...

I felt like a complete fool and to think that I was actually considering part-boarding a horse. Ha, the likes of me shouldn't be allowed within a mile of non-school horses! I thank God for my coach Allison who patiently guided me to relax, lean back and just LET GO! It must have been painful for her as well.

I know we all have bad rides and they should be appreciated so that we can really see the difference when we have a great one. But really! Days like this make me think I should just stick to drawing horses...

P.S. In the photo is Clyde, my teacher today, with my daughter on board.

Back to Graphite...

My newest portrait commission is of this lovely, gentle golden lab named Loki. I had the priviledge of meeting Loki in person. I prefer to do it this way if it's possible. I can "read" animal's character quite well from photographs, but nothing really compares to meeting them and being able to touch and interact with them.

Loki is a sweet, gentle guy but don't let his relaxed attitude fool you. He is also very protective of his family and friends. Drawing him was a lot of fun. It would seem that white and black hair is the hardest to render in any media so I spent a lot of time making sure he looked just right! But all the work was worth it. I am very proud of this one!