Horse Life 17 and the Triple Crown

Crushing news came this morning that I’ll Have Another, the chestnut colt who ran to victory in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes was retired today after a tendon injury in his left front leg. I'll Have Another was truly a distance horse and the longer Belmont Stakes was made for him. Scuttlebutt on the track was that this colt had a really good shot at winning the Triple Crown. If he’d been able to do it he would have been the first horse in 34 years to win it! (The last Triple Crown winner was Affirmed in 1978.) It’s a huge shame really. I think the American people could really use something like this right now. Something to get excited about.

For myself, I was so inspired by the thought of a new Triple Crown winner that this week’s “Horse Life” is dedicated to it.

I’d like to say, “I hope you enjoy the comic,” but just like my little heroine Cynthia, I can’t help but being pretty sad over the whole thing. :-(

Click here to read this week's Horse Life. 

Making Black Horses Look Black

"Madison" - pen & ink, watercolor, and watersoluble crayon 

White and black objects are hard to show in art works. Why? Simply because white is not white and black is not black. White on white paper is a blank field, flat and undifferentiated. It’s literally, nothing,

Black on the other hand is just that, a flat color like India ink. Although this is fine for things like cartoons and shadow shapes, it is not as useful when you are trying to imply a color.

Last week one of the racehorses I worked with was a filly who was, according to Hoyle, was a dark brown roan. I recognized this unusual color because we had a mare of this color when I was growing up. She was a dark bay/brown horse with tiny, white hairs scattered throughout her coat. I had never seen a color like that before her. Unlike other roan mixtures she did not get more gray as she got older. Instead, she remained the same color, a brown with a small dusting of white hairs. Most of the time this horse looked dark enough to be almost black. She wasn’t black though, having a brown muzzle and a yellowish-cast to her coat when bleached out. Clearly a brown-bay.

The filly I worked with last week, was also very dark, nearly black, unless you looked at her very closely. For her sketch, I added a palette of colors including several middle blues, blue-violet, turquoise. and a hint of yellow-ochre. The overall effect “reads’ as black. In fact, there is some actual black in this sketch, as the ink I used for the base was black. But the colors you see are not. If I had used black watercolor exclusively, the piece would have looked very “flat.” Certain combinations of colors can trick the eye into “appearing” black even when they aren’t.

Isn’t that strange and wonderful?

Oscar (not his racing name)

Despite what most people may think about Thoroughbreds on the track, most are incredibly well-mannered and are handled with great care. They are curious babies who know their environment and jobs quite well.  

“Oscar” is one of the horses I massage at the racetrack. I work at the track one day a week and massage a variety of horses, whomsoever the trainer picks out for that particular week. I love working there. I grew up with racing Thoroughbreds and I find the environment quite soothing.

“Oscar,” his trainer admits, “is his own worst enemy.” His flighty habits have gotten him into some physical trouble lately that I am there to help. Yesterday was his second massage and during his first one I was warned to look out for his hind feet and teeth. Sure enough, he tried to cow-kick once or twice and strike. (Fortunately not only I was knowingly out of reach, but since my own horse Percy was once a much more accurate cow-kicker, I have developed some high-level dodging skills!) The biting was forestalled by his trainer who put on a lip chain. But this week Oscar seemed very glad to see me and though he still wore a lip chain, the beastie stood quietly and didn’t raise a foot. (Well, he did paw once but what I was doing surely was painful.) I was proud of his good behavior and decided to sketch him for my journal when I got home last night. Here he is, sketched in watercolor pencil and Neocolor II in a Stillman and Birn Gamma 5.5" x 8.5" sketchbook. Well done Oscar!

From my journal...