Comments on: Custom Portrait Giveaway : Week #9

By: Horse Portrait : Phoenix - Custom Pet Portraits - Leanne Wildermuth : Artist by Nature

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:24:41 +0000

[…] of Week #9 was was Karin with a heartbreaking tale of Phoenix, and his life before she rescued him. Read Karin’s story here. Next Project […]

By: Custom Portrait Winner & Call for Entries : Week #10 - Graphite Portrait Giveaway - Leanne Wildermuth : Artist by Nature

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:00:52 +0000

[…] Last week’s winner, Karin shared a touching story of Phoenix and what he went though before she rescued him. Phoenix is a registered Arabian gelding that is 14 years old. He had a terrible life until he was eight years old and was finally rescued by the humane society. He lived as a stud on a breeding farm in central Illinois. The farm owners for some reason had stopped feeding/rarely fed their horses. They subsisted on whatever grass was growing in a pasture that had too many horses in it…so basically most of it was bare earth. Because he wasn’t fed regularly as a colt Phoenix’s growth was stunted and he has never attained full “horse” size and technically is a pony. Eventually someone reported them the entire herd was confiscated by the humane society. After that, Phoenix was then owned by an alcoholic woman who also neglected him. […]

By: Leanne

Leanne — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:59:34 +0000

Thanks for your entries! I look forward to reading them!! 🙂

By: Becky

Becky — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:46:12 +0000

Alright Leanne, I’ve read the other entries and there are a couple that really tug at my heartstrings. I don’t know that we’re the one this week, but I’m entering this one again anyhow because I know that my daughter would absolutely cherish a sketch of her baby.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=198471&id=1426307131

If you crop this photo it makes for an adorable subject, and I would know this because my daughter did just that and framed this photo for me as a birthday gift. It’s fitting, because to her Mylie in a frame is just the most wonderful gift in the world.

This little one gets lots of love and is just a joy.

Becky

By: Sheeshintx4ofakind

Sheeshintx4ofakind — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:37:28 +0000

Picture of Daisy My link didn't work before, let's try this again.

By: Nikki Lowson

Nikki Lowson — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:42:38 +0000

I have an entry Leanne! :wave:

My cat Raffles.

(I hope that link works!)

My entry is of my beautiful cat, Raffles.
The story of Raffles and myself goes back to 1987, I had just moved from Wales up to Scotland with my family. Ihad very few friends because I was the “new girl”

A girl around the corner from me, Ann-Marie came to my door one day and we became friends (and are still friends today!) Ann-Marie’s cat was pregnant at this time and I had asked my parents if would could have one of the kittens when they were born. They said yes….so everything was all fine.

But before the kittens were born, this tiny little bundle of gray fur followed one of Ann-Marie’s neighbours home. Ann-Marie’s family took this tiny bundle in and called her Turbo under the mistaken impression that she was a boy. Notices were put up about this little lost kitten who couldn’t have been more than a month or two old…but no-one claimed her. 🙁

As we were to have one of the kittens anyway, it was decided that we would have this little stray. We took her in and called her Raffles. 🙂

I had a horrible time at primary school, was really badly bullied. At times it felt like I had no friends at all…. but Raffles would always come and cuddle in and make me feel better. She was very much my cat as opposed to the whole families.

She was a beautful cat, so gentle and friendly. Never hurt anyone in her whole life. Very playful, maybe slightly crazy (she used to dart about the living room, over the sofas etc for no apparent reason!) and like I mentioned above, always there for me even when it felt like i had no-one else. She was my best friend. 🙂

She never really had any health issues, although milk tended to make her sick. Which I found strange when I was younger, cats and lapping up milk just seem to go together. 🙂

I guess her never having health problems previously was what made her actually getting ill that much harder. She started to lose weight, a lot of weight – she went off her food and started to have “accidents” everywhere. But the most distressing thing was watching her try to walk, as near the end it was like her back legs collapsed on her. 🙁

We took her to the vets and was told that she wasn’t going to get better from this. Her kidneys had failed for reasons unknown and the vet said she was in a lot of pain. We had to make the heartbreaking decison to have her put to sleep on the 24th of November 2007. She was 20 years old….most of my life! I have been lucky in that I have never lost anyone close to me before this. But losing Raffles really hurts. 🙁

The photo I have sent you a link to was taken not long before she got really ill, although she has lost some weight already….

By: Sheeshintx4ofakind

Sheeshintx4ofakind — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:54:37 +0000

The picture I am submitting is of our youngest dog Daisy. We have always been an animal loving family, we usually have strays that somehow find us and we work to get them back to their homes. This story is a little long but I really felt the history was important to know why Daisy is so special to us. When my daughter was 4 years old, she wanted a kitten something fierce. We found a black and white tuxedo kitten for her and Alyssa found her new best friend. Two years ago, I suddenly started having horrible hives and allergic reactions that would cause my throat to swell. Within a years time frame I was seen in the ER a whopping 13 times and had to start carry emergency pens to give myself a shot of epinephrine. I had an episode that put me in the hospital for four days in order to get the reaction under control. Of course during this time we tried desperately to find out what was triggering these reactions. Since we had the cat for about five years we just knew it couldn’t be her, but the doctors insisted that we get rid of her. Unfortunately since I was having such severe reactions, they could not do the test to see what I was allergic to, I was taking massive doses of Benadryl, Zyrtec and steroids so the tests would not be accurate. My husband had the horrible tasks of finding a new home for our cat. Luckily we found a rescue organization that took her in, but it still was the worst experience any of us have gone through and my husband even admitted that he sat in the car and cried when he dropped her off. Needless to say my daughter was beside herself and although she knew it must be done, was extremely sad. In January 08 we went to Petsmart to get our older dog Rebel a new collar, we were looking around a bit when my son wandered over to the animal adoption group that was set up in the store. I heard him call my name and he was motioning for me to come over, I just shook my head and said honey you know we can’t have any cats. He insisted I come over. I walk over and my daughter and husband follow and he points to a crate with a cat in it. Mind you this isn’t just any cat; it is a black and white tuxedo cat with the same name as the one we gave up. Of course all our eyes widen as we read the description. It gave our story! The wife had suddenly become allergic, etc. all the way down to the husband was extremely heartbroken to give her up. This was her, my daughter immediately said this was fate and we needed to take her back home. Of course I felt like a horrible mom! The lady from the adoption group said she was fostering her and she would continue to stay with her until the right person came along. I knew we couldn’t take her and go through that again, we left the store all feeling extremely sad and my daughter in tears. We had a few other errands to run and one of the last places we went had a truck with Lab puppies for sale. We all came to the conclusion we would think about it and took their number. My husband, before we got ten blocks away turned around and went back. Of course this was an impulse buy, but we immediately fell in love with this little lab puppy. Daisy wasn’t recued and doesn’t have a heartbreaking story like so many animals do, but I don’t think it was her that needed the rescuing, I think it was my daughter. This is her dog and she has formed a very special bond with her.

By: Karin Kearney

Karin Kearney — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:16:43 +0000

The picture I am submitting is of me and my pony Phoenix. I love this picture because it was such a warm and wonderful day. We had just successfully
walked to the duck pond and back which is located on the farm where Phoenix lives. He is pretty scared of the pond and all the critters that live in it/near it. So I was very excited that we completed our journey without any
major blow-ups!

Phoenix is a registered arabian gelding that is 14 years old. He had a terrible life until he was eight years old and was finally rescued by the humane society.
He lived as a stud on a breeding farm in central Illinois. The farm owners for some reason had stopped feeding/rarely fed their horses. They subsisted on
whatever grass was growing in a pasture that had too many horses in it…so basically most of it was bare earth. Because he wasn’t fed regularly as a colt
Phoenix’s growth was stunted and he has never attained full “horse” size and technically is a pony. Eventually someone reported them the entire herd was
confiscated by the humane society. After that, Phoenix was then owned by an alcoholic woman who also neglected him .

My friend Patty heard of Phoenix and bought him from this woman. At the time, Phoenix was still a stallion, emaciated, and extremely frightened of people, trailers, being bathed, and being tied. In his new home with Patty he would hide with his head in the back of the stall…sweating and shaking. Patty spent five years rehabilitating Phoenix.

I met Phoenix last February. Originally, I was looking for a large saddlebred, but there was something about this little guy that I just fell in love as soon as I met him! Patty let me ride him for a couple months, and she kept asking me if I wanted to buy him him. Finally, I admitted to her I just couldn’t meet her price. You see, my husband had given me a set amount to spend on a horse. Even though she had another buyer who had offered her more than she was asking…Patty lowered her price for me to match exactly what I had. She told me later she wanted to make sure he went to an owner who would love him. And I do.

Phoenix and I have bonded pretty quickly. People kept saying he would not warm up to anyone other than Patty. But, almost immediately he started following me around in the pasture. He also calls out to me when I enter the barn. He still gets scared of stuff now and then. When I ride him I can feel his butt twitching and that means he’s about ready to blow. Usually if I tell him, “It’s Alllll-right,” in a low, quiet voice he will calm down immediately. One of our
favorite things to do is to stand forehead to forehead while he nibbles on my hand (this is a way a horse gives kisses).

Recently I was diagnosed with hemochromatosis and acid reflux…both diseases cause pain in/around your stomach. Phoenix knew I was sick before I did. He would follow me around constantly sniffing at my abdomen! I had a lot of pain in that area…but how could he know? It was cute but the constant repetition got a little annoying. Go figure-he was trying to tell me something!

So that’s pretty much the story of my “Booger-butt Pony” Phoenix.
Cheers! Karin

By: Karin Kearney

Karin Kearney — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:56:50 +0000

Lenanne, I love your work! You always capture the “feeling” of your subjects! I think I will try to enter this week. I’m scrolling through my pics of my “kids”. I am hoping to find a decent one of my pony Phoenix. Since I am clueless about linking I’ll attach it to an email and include his story.
Thanks- Karin