Thursday, February 2, 2012

Playing around with Photoshop Textures ... warning, it's addictive!


I have just learned how to layer textures in Photoshop and this is my second attempt.  I took a ten minute free tutorial at "Kim Klaussen's Cafe" and used her texture "More Magic".  I'm thinking of making this into a poster for my daughter's bedroom wall.  She is riding her (our) horse, Oberon.

and just so my other daughter won't feel left out, I have her with my horse, Sebastian

I found a heart-warming testimony about the importance of horses in a girl's growing up years.  Click HERE to read it.


Both of my daughters are coming along real well with Oberon on ground work and riding lessons.  Neither one of them have cantered yet and are mighty competitive about who will be the first one.  I feel it will be happening soon for both of them.  I rode Oberon on the trial all by ourselves, away from the herd and he was fantastic.  Didn't hurt that we had done quite a bit of work in the arena.  I rode in my dressage saddle and really liked how I sat in than as opposed to the "All Purpose" saddle.  I guess I like to ride with my legs a bit longer.

I think I will be riding Sebastian within a month or so as he is coming along very nicely under his (and my) trainer, James Cooler.  Sebastian responds to leg pressure quite well and a very gentle touch on the reins (many times he is ridden with a rope halter).  Sebastian is coming along with the canter, but we have to remember he is just a "baby" and getting used to his long legs - he;s like a "gangly" teenager.

Oh, and by the way, here is a link to the Cooler Horsemanship February Newsletter.  This is the place where my daughters and I board, ride, and take lessons with my horses.

9 comments:

  1. Looks like she is getting along well with Oberon. Such a nice horse. It'll make a great poster.

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  2. Not too many horses like hacking out on their own, a tribute to your relationship with him that he took it all in his stride!

    Love the photo's..

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  3. From an ex-horsewoman...awesome pics of pure delight!...:)JP

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  4. Those are really nice. I like the subject matter and the word effects.

    Buckskins are so darn photogenic!

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  5. Very nice job, Margaret! I'm going to go check out that tutorial myself. I have a lot to learn about photoshop/illustrator.

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  6. Great work on the pictures. Sounds like both horses are coming along really well.

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  7. I'll be back to read this post in a minute, just wanted to respond to your comment on my blog.

    Clicker training has rules. Rules that I sometimes don't follow, which is why I sometimes have problems. If I followed the rules with 100% consistency he wouldn't act the way he does. So please don't fault clicker training, because it's a really fantastic training tool. You can go to Karen Pryor's website http://www.clickertraining.com/ or Alexandra Kurland's website http://www.theclickercenter.com/ to learn more about clicker training. I've been using it with my dogs for years, but Chrome is my first horse to clicker train so sometimes I make mistakes. We're working through it and like I said he's not disrespectful in a dangerous way. I just have to be more consistent about not give "freebie" treats. I work with him all the time without clicker training, I just usually don't videotape those sessions, but I can if you would like. :)

    In fact I think I've only had three clicker sessions with him this month. The clicker is for teaching the behavior, then you're supposed (sometimes I don't, which again is my fault, not clicker) to wean them off of it so that they are doing the behavior without the clicker. On some things like the Chase The Tiger game I always use the clicker because otherwise he gets bored and loses interest quickly. :) I'll figure it out. Without a trainer (no one around here does clicker) I'm having to figure it all out on my own, so some of it is trial and error, but rest assured I won't do anything dangerous. And he's a total snuggle bug even when I don't have treats. Thanks for your comment!

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  8. The photos look great!

    Reading about your daughters being competitive over who will canter first makes me miss those long days spent on horseback with my sister. We used to have so much fun!!

    Also I prefer to ride in a dressage saddle over an all purpose saddle too. It's a lot more comfortable!

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