Happy Caturday My Loves,
It's the weekend, no work, yay :) Hope you are having a good weekend so far. I am doing okay. The weather is supposed to be snowy and freezing rain later on today so not looking forward to more winter weather but other than that all is well.
Today in my "Things I Love" series I have my very favorite breed of horse, the American Saddlebred. Back in the 90's I worked for a show horse barn that was an amazing experience for me and I am so fortunate and thankful that I got to work with and be around this awesome breed of horse. The family I worked for, the Nash's, are also the best people in the world and became a second family to me. I worked for them part time up until they moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in the early 2000's. It was hard to see them go and I miss them every single day. The Nash family has such a special place in my heart for always and forever. I have so many fond and wonderful memories of those days at their barn and being in the Saddlebred horse show world. I have had three of my own Saddlebreds over the years. I do still have the last one that was in my life at my Mom's. He is 25 years old and is the last horse our family will have as horses are very expensive and labor intensive to own and my sister and I are getting too old to want to do it much longer now days.
Anyways, the American Saddlebred is such a proud, beautiful, game, talented and just such a fancy breed of horse. Ever since I was a little girl old enough to tell that there was a difference in some horses I was just so fascinated by them. I truly do not think there is anything more pretty than a Saddlebred. They are high stepping by nature and want to show off which is why they are so wonderful in the show ring. They do however excel in other areas too such as jumping, combined driving or just a nice stroll on a trail. They are very versatile and are a super personable breed of horse so they are fun to be around since they do love their time with people! They are so much fun to ride and to drive too!
You can learn more about the American Saddlebred Horse and see lots of pretty pictures of them here https://www.asha.net/ and here is a good quick You Tube video about the breed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H0eOYGQet4&list=PLPlpjDUN2On_mzBWAg-2EaGM8wi2IqWPC&index=12&t=6s. Search You Tube and Instagram also for more about them. They are mesmerizing to watch!
Anyways onto the nails. I did do these twice, the first ones I did didn't turn out quite the way I wanted them too. I was going for a twilight look but it was too dark so then last night I did these daytime look ones and they turned out so much more awesome. I have the original first mani below these if you want to see them. I did not hate them just wasn't what I wanted to represent the breed on my nails. The horse image was from an acrylic plate so it was a slight learning curve for me with scraping and picking up the image. Once I got the image picked up clear I was in love. I am so happy to have this plate in my life so I can do Saddlebred nails whenever I want now. I did get this horse themed plate thru a Facebook group many years ago now and this was the first time I used it. I did have to draw the tail longer with a black nail striper as the image was a cob tail horse which is a horse that has a very short tail. But just adding the tail completely transformed it into a Saddlebred horse from what appeared to be a Hackney Horse breed (look them up, they are super pretty horses too).
Here you go, my American Saddlebred nails. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these! Hope you like them too :)
My bases are ILNP "Top Down" (blue) and Starrily "Grinch" (green). I did brush some ILNP "Sundance" on the nails to stamp for the grass. I stamped using Maniology "Limelight", "Bam White!" and "Straight Up Black" with ZZ Forest 2, Clear Jelly Stamper CJS-138 and a plate I got from a Facebook group years ago that doesn't have a name on it.
Here below is my first shot at them, see, they are not horrible, just not great, but, oh well, that is the lovely thing about nail polish, if it is not what you want, just take it off and start over, lol.
My base is Polish Me Silly "Paradise". I stamped with Maniology "Rind", Twinkled T white and Maniology "Straight Up Black" for the images with Clear Jelly Stamper CJS-138, ZZ Forest 2 and a plate I got through a Facebook group several years ago. On the other nails I put a coat of Polish Me Silly "It's Magic" and "Sparkle Me Silly" flakies on to finish.
Paradise on it's own, this is an awesome multi-chrome, wish I could take pics to do it justice, it has a green and teal shift to it also but only the navy and purple showed up in these under my kitchen lights.
There you have my American Saddlebred Love nails. Saddlebreds will always have a special spot in my heart adn soul. I love the breed so so much! Have a great rest of the weekend, talk soon. I leave you with my old man American Saddlebred, Dusty Bucks. He is the best horse. He is such a good boy with a wonderful personality. He's my boy and I love him so much! Even in his old age he is still so handsome!
Melly
Have you loved your cuticles today?
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