I received a nice surprise in a box from England today: a claybody-custom bone china Caprice made for me by Donna Chaney!

I asked if she might be able to remove the existing mane braids and replace it with a short neat mane and forelock, and slim down the tail a bit. She was able to accomplish this in the greenware stage, before firing the china for the first time. (I wanted to be able to take this china to model horse shows and exhibit it in both english and western tack, which motivated me to ask Donna if she’d be interested in giving the changes a try. Ironic that I got this piece right when I think I am done with performance showing…!) Anyway, I’m totally thrilled to have this one-of-a-kind china in my collection. Now, what color should he be, hmmm!

Here’s another shot of the new horse in the works.

I’ve got the limbs and the proportions more or less where I want them. So I’ve started refining refining refining. You can see how much clay I’ve carved off; lots more to go! He’s no longer going to carry the “Imperium” name. That’s for some other work, someday. This one has morphed beyond that idea and will need a much more fun and exuberant name—which is how I feel about the project so far anyway!

Unresolved… is this horse going to be able to stand on those 3 legs??