Affinity ordering deadline Sunday!

Time sure has flown, once again! Sunday is the very last day you can place your order for Affinity. Sales information is on the website. To order simply email me stating that you are placing your order, or send payment (or both!). My email and PayPal are both Sarah@rosehorse.com

Thomas Bainbridge had this to say about Affinity "sooo SOOOOO much nicer in person ... as if that was even possible, but somehow it is. Wow, the detail is just mind blowing ... Sarah sure knows her muscle groups and anatomy, no doubt about that! She is taller than I expected, which is nice. Also, MINIMAL and I mean MINIMAL seam/prep work. Bottom line ... you'll definitely love this sculpt! If you've been 'toying' with the idea of ordering one ... do it! You will not regret it! "


Here is a gorgeous dapple bay Affinity by Sommer Prosser winning big at Jewel Heist Live this past weekend: 

I've been getting a lot of feedback that the castings are fantastic and that she is bigger than folks thought she would be. She is, in fact, a bit taller than Lonestar or the Stone ISH. I think the quality of the castings is due to years of practice and learning little things to improve both the molds and the castings. I am getting better at cutting the molds, something I used to dislike but have finally gotten confident enough to enjoy and look forward to. Todd has gotten better at tweaking the molds to keep the seams tight without distorting the castings. Of course there are still casting 'bloopers', and some end up in the trash can. Nothing like when we first started way back when with Khan. You should have seen the trash bags full of messed up Khans! 


On another note, spring has finally arrived here in the Rockies, and while there is still snow covering the trails in the high country, the lower elevations are dry and ride-able! I'm hoping to get back to riding 500 miles a season this year, and have a GoPro camera on the way for trail videos. Todd and I were enjoying some quiet time on the porch last night watching our little herd happily munching on grass, reflecting on what great horses they have become and how much they have added to our life. Truly I can not imagine life without them. So much of what we do is about them, from moving to this corner of the state where we could afford horse property, to our choice of career, to fixing fences and weed control, to truck, horse trailer, and small tractor ownership, and on and on.  Horse ownership is a lifestyle choice, a paradigm shift, and for a disabled person like myself a way to borrow legs that take me into the wilderness. 

Looking back on last year

With the filly in the mold box waiting for a shipment of silicone, I've had a little bit of spare time catch up on other things. One of the things I've been wanting to do is reflect on everything that was good about last year. It is easy to forget that there were many things to be thankful for in a year that was so filled with sadness with the loss of two great friends, one being just a few weeks ago. It is snowing here, a good day to go through photos from the summer.

In July I got to attend the No Barriers summit in Winterpark, Colorado. I had so much fun! It is an outdoor sports retreat for people with disabilities, to give them the opportunity to try new activities and new equipment. Or in their own words No Barriers is a powerful community of modern day pioneers who use the experience of nature to promote innovation, education and assistive technologies that create transformative life experiences and inspire people with challenges to live full and active lives. Well, it certainly did that for me, a few weeks later we went on a pack trip and this time I put up the tent myself, having never put up a tent before in my life:

While attending the Summit I also for the first time climbed up a rope:

And rode an off-road handcycle:

I also got to kayak and canoe, but didn't take any photos as I wasn't sure about bringing my camera out on a lake. I *adored* kayaking, what a wonderful free feeling, and a good workout. Later in the summer Durango's Adaptive Sports Association held a four day women's sports program. I could only spare two days and got to kayak again, and tried waterskiing. Wow, that was something else! I liked flying over the water, but did not like crashing and rolling and having water forced up my nose.

Even though I was introduced to many new outdoor activities, I still prefer my horse for the ulimate outdoor experience. Here are a few of my favorite photos from this past summer:

Above Crater Lake, near Molas Pass

Rocky Mountain Columbines, Crater Lake trail

Above Crater Lake, looking north

Todd and Brush at Crater Lake

Late afternoon sun near Engineer Mountain

Mineral Creek from the top of the drainage near the Colorado Trail

Jypsi and I with Engineer Mountain

view from camp, Pine River trail near Sierra Vandera

Heading home

Sierra Vandera trail

There were a few other wonderful things that happened in 2011, like a great and much needed family reunion, making new friends and reconnecting with old friends, but this post is already getting pretty long so I will leave it at that. I already feel more hopeful about 2112 just by posting this. Now, off to enjoy the rest of my snow day!

Cedar Mesa trip

We got back yesterday from spending a week on Cedar Mesa, west of Blanding. We really like it up there, not a lot of people on the top and you can see a lot of things from the canyon rims that you might not see from the canyon floors, like these ruins nestled under a big rock on top of a peninsula:

Or these ledge ruins, which I thought were not possible to get to but maybe they crawled along the ledge from an access around the corner of the rock to the left:

We stumbled upon this metate on the mesa, notice the grinding stone is a river rock probably carried there from many miles away:

Once of the amazing things about the desert is how you can usually find water if you know what to look for. The cow trails led us to this pothole on a ledge:

I thought it was interesting how the roots of this old juniper lifted up the rocks when it fell over:

Some of the Claret cup cacti were blooming:

We moved after 4 days to White Canyon west of Fry Canyon. There are a few crossings along the highway, we parked at Soldier Crossing. You can ride a little more than 4 miles upstream, and at least 7 miles downstream from this point. We only turned around as it was getting late. I don't think this canyon sees much horse use, but it was actually pretty nice, about 50/50 sand and cobble stone, nothing very scary. The only real downfall of this canyon from what we saw is that it is close to the highway, which runs along it's southern edge, and you do hear cars from time to time. There were several interesting side canyons and slots, this one is in Long Canyon:

This was interesting, not sure how it happened (natural or human placed?):

A big piece of petrified wood:

A big log balanced on a rock:

It was a nice trip, not as long as we wanted but the weather changed. Today at home it snowed all morning! Hard to believe a few days ago I was having lunch on a big rock in the sun :)