I've already mentioned what I'm painting when it comes to NaMoPaiMo (a Maggie Bennett Amber pewter micro). I already mentioned that she was fully prepped and primed during the big prepping party weekend. What I didn't really talk about is who she is going to become. We are less than a week away from February 1st, the start of NaMoPaiMo. I thought it would be a good time to tell a story about the finish work I'm planning for Amber. Saddle up, we are taking a ride down memory lane.
For some reason I really don't have photos of this time period... This is probably the earliest photo I have of Nikki -->
When I was 9, my father bought himself a polo pony on a whim (he has a lot of whims when buying horse things... farm included). Her name was Pache and she was awesome, but thats for another post one day. My stepmother (now ex) at the time was also very into horses. Okay backup, we had been taking lessons as a family since I was 6. It was time to buy a horse and Pache was bought. My father then bought another mare named Sarabi for my ex-stepmother (but she was sold back to the old owner because she was wayyyy too much for us at the time). While all of this was happing and I was left out of the buying spree, we were leasing 2 horses from the polo farm we rode at. Knickers, owned by a big polo rider, and Suade, owned by our trainer at the time.
Knickers and Suade were two horses that were so golden that their owners vowed never to
sell them, no matter what. Suade was supposed to become the trainers daughters future horse. Knickers was such a star that the owners entire family rode her (toddlers and all) and she was named polo pony of the year in Canada in 2002, so she was talent and brains.
Trust me, we begged both owners for the chance to buy both of them, no matter the $. Our trainer refused but allowed us to show lease Suade and take her to several hunts. She was perfect in every way and bonus, she was a stunning yellow dun. Suade would have been for my ex-step mother and Knickers would have been for me.
When my father had a major accident off of Pache, pretty much destroying him (and the start of many many many hip surgeries), he was hospitalized. The polo club wished him and us well but nothing really changed until the owner of Knickers came for a visit and tearfully said:
"Okay... I will give you the chance to buy Knickers because I feel awful. How does $12,000usd sound".
I would like to point out at this point that Knickers was 16 years old, didn't have her thoroughbred registration papers anymore, and we didn't really know horse value. My father said:
"SOLD!"
And the rest is history. Knickers (also referred to as Nikki, Nick Nick, Knickernick...) is still
with us today and is 30 years young. 14 years have gone by and we don't regret spending so much money on a horse. She has been rock solid and never lame. Some of the highlights of her career have been: learning to jump at age 17, competing in D - D1 level pony club competitively, of course playing polo, travelling to other provinces and the U.S. for training clinics and riding festivals, teaching others how to ride, becoming a rock solid first flight hunt horse (only without jumps), and she's dressed up in medieval costume to go on a private hunt! (See photo) Knickers became more of my families horse rather than mine when i was about 12. I was given Pache instead for a variety of reasons, and its not something I regret.
Just after her 26th birthday, Nikki got a nasty case of lymphangitis in her back leg. It nearly
killed her. She did survive, but not unscathed. That season she was still hunting and still riding hard (but slowing down a little), but this was a one way ticket to retirement. Her leg was ripped apart by her disease and destroyed the lymph nodes. Its extremely unsightly but she is pretty sound on it. She is actually more rambunctious than our yearling colts!
So, this is why I have decided to paint my Amber micro as a portrait of Knickers. She was my first horse to call my own and she has taught me more than any other. I hope that by painting at such a small scale, she can in a way help me again and teach me more.
Comments