Wendling prelim & SNB upcoming shows 9/16

This is a Wendling prelim drawing for one of the calendar images....

If you loved "My Little Ponies" as a kid, this image will be quite familiar :)

If you can't visit us at conventions and would like to see pics of our booths... search the blog by SDCC or WonderCon. There are also lots of pics from Angouleme from earlier this year.

Read the "House Elf" post to see pic of our Wendling art show from years past.

Stuart will have a table at APE.

SNB will be exhibiting at CTN Animation Expo in Burbank November 20th - 22nd, and Pasadena Book Fair December 4th, 5th & 6th.

Please leave comments and questions. Don't be a lurker :)

Behind the Scenes at Stuart Ng Books 9/12

Welcome dear readers! For those of you who have been following the blog, you can skip this post. Stuart mentioned the blog on a recent newsletter, so for new readers, here's a bit about what you're getting into:

The mission of this blog is to share the anecdotal information you'd get in person when you visit our showroom or our booth at conventions. The subjects I cover are the topics that come up most frequently when I talk directly with the artists & patrons we serve.

New posts are NOT always in chronological order. Look for them by date & title.

For FAQ and background into SNB (Stuart Ng Books), please see the posts from July 2008. There you'll learn how to pronounce "Ng" and how our Claire Wendling connection was established. I also use subject headings that appear throughout the blog. These titles include "POV shot," "Movie Night", "Get Inspired" "Your Science Lesson"... you can search the blog by these titles to find these posts.

All the opinions expressed here are my own.. and these are my versions of the stories. I am not Stuart and he does not read this blog. See the quotes from David Leopold for more on that :)

Thanks for visiting. Please leave comments. This blog is a forum for you to learn more about us, and for our patrons who can't visit us in person to have some of the SNB experience.

2009 Portuguese Bend Natl Horse Show

Can a Palomino horse laugh??? Keep scrolling down to find out....

This post has my favorite shots from this year's Portuguese Bend National Horse Show. I took these on Sunday, during the grand finale event... the $10,000 Seahorse Jumper Classic. In all the years I've been attending this show... I've never been to the Sunday events before. It was a BLAST! The day was pure bliss... perfect weather... I sat under the trees and enjoyed the sea breeze and show jumping. I know it looks like I'm in the ring for this shots, but I'm not... just at ringside. If you want to know what it feels like to have 1,200 pounds of pure power hurtle its heart over a 6-foot obstacle and blow by you... this is the place to be! Hopefully these pics will inspire you to visit the show and bring your sketchbook! Just look at what's here...

The entire horse show is a charity event that raises money for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and has been held for over 50 years. All the funds collected at the booths and games go to a great cause.

I've spread the pics out over several posts... so scroll down and enjoy :) Click on any image to enlarge it.

This is my favorite "Pegasus" shot..

And here's a great landing..

Take a look at the air between the horse and the jump.....



You can get this close to the action:

This grey below was one of the prettiest horses I saw at the show... more pics of him in the posts that follow this one ...

Winner is Clever... and more action shots

The winner of the Seahorse Jumper Classic... and the $3,000 first prize.... was a horse named "Clever". Now I'm sure, between trainer fees, board & feed, farrier & vet, and the list goes on.... it probably costs $3,000 a month to maintain a national level show jumper, so they aren't doing this for the prize money alone, but it has to help a little.

There's quite a crowd for this event:

There were 19 horses entered in the contest.... each horse that had a clean round (no rails or fences down) then entered the final round... where they jumped higher fences... and it is dangerous...

We saw one rider take a bad fall. She was thrown during a jump and she stayed in the dirt a long time. Help rushed right out to her, and when she got up, everyone cheered. All's well that ends well, and in this case there's a victory gallop of the finalists around the arena:

And here's "Clever" headed back to the stall with ribbons on display:

The rest of these images are various action shots. I took A LOT of pictures to get these good ones. It was a fun day!

Here's "Clever" in the arena...

and other horses in action ...

This pretty paint was in the amateur classes... it's sort of unusual to see a horse of a different color competing in these English riding events. Most of the national level horses are European bred imports.

Horse show, behind the scenes

I managed to catch one horse-in-mid-stride-flying-like-Greek-God-shot, so here's my little homage to cinematographer Caleb Deschenal's transcendent work in the film "The Black Stallion" ..... and you thought he was just Zooey's dad
Click on the picture below to enlarge and see the horse better:

Here's the crowd on the hill, watching the events. Families set out blankets and bring their dogs and babies.

The horses are in temporary stalls... they arrived in trailers that are in the parking lot:

Here are some riders who have finished competing and are letting their horses rest and graze:

A detail shot of the elaborate braiding on the manes of the jumpers. It is very difficult and time consuming to braid the manes and tails of the horses for show ring competition. There are people who are especially skilled at this, and are hired just to do that on the morning of the show. The skill is highly valued, and a good braider can make big bucks.

Here's another horse cooling out with a walk after competing.

More views of the pretty grey horse...

w/ fans in the crowd...

Here he is in his stall:

Views of the temporary stalls set up for the show... and the path where the crowd arrives...

Horse Show, kids activities

Who has more fun at the horse show? Horses or kids???


Click on this pic of the Pal amino to enlarge it, and you'll see both horse and owner are grinning :)

Entrance to food booths and kids area:

This large tent is the covered eating area... near the game booths for the kids:

Prize booth and Bouncer:

For those who dare, there's rock wall (I climbed this 2 years ago).

On Sunday, the young set can participate in the Stick Horse Class... Every entry gets a stick horse, a show number, and they can keep and name their horse... Here's the Stick Horse Class lined up to enter the arena....

Taking their turn around the jumps...

Every entry is a blue ribbon winner