Had a Photo Shoot of ME!

Well this was an interesting week.... I had my first professional photo of myself taken in over 20 years! Well that is not true - 11 years ago I did have wedding photos.... So this was great fun! Bulldog Solutions has an amazing photographer who is in charge of corporate photos and so I had the opportunity to meet renown photographer - Dennis Fagan who happens to be based here in Austin, TX. Dennis was the official photographer for the Lyndon B. Johnson historical archive and took many photos of the Johnson family. The studio was wonderful. I walked from room to room looking at beautiful photos of Ladybird Johnson in a field of bluebonnets, and several of Dennis's amazing pieces from his equine fine art collection. Dennis was kind enough to give me a few lessons on utilizing histograms to ensure proper exposure... He also gave me some additional pointers on white balance and shooting in RAW format. I am hoping to have an opportunity to learn some additional techniques from him and see more of his work in the future. He has an equine exhibit opening up in Longview, TX in February. I'm going to get all the details on his exhibit and make sure that our arabian horse lovers in that area are aware of the exhibit. For more information on Dennis - check out: http://fagan.com/ You will be blown away by his portfolio... In particular I love his "MUSIC" portfolio - definitely impressive!

Forgot to tell you I got a New Job

I forgot to mention that I got a new job at a company on the cutting edge of lead marketing. The company is called Bulldog Solutions and my new manager is my ex-CEO from HotData - Johnny Anderson. I love the company because I'm finally getting to sell marketing solutions that improve sales teams ability to close deal faster.... This is the same thing that I did when I started my own company back in 1998 (MarketIT). Now however we have 50 people instead of just me and the company is very well respected in the industry of Web 2.0 marketng. Web 2.0 is the term which describes the idea of having more 2 way communication on the web.

I am actually looking forward to using some of the web marketing solutions at Bulldog in my Horse Marketing World... I'm turning in my USEF professional status next week so that I can market horses for other people as well as train horses professionally down the road.

I set a personal goal of lising 50 lbs for the Egyptian Event and showing my filly - Diva in the Open Class. My good friend Samantha said that she would publish my photo if I did that!!! How is that for inspiration...

My friend Diana Cantey made me some beautiful stallion post cards for marketing the boys. I'm going to bring them to Scottsdale and Vegas and also mail them to a few hundred of my favorite friends!!! I love promoting and PR!!! And I feel so fortunate to have people who are so supportive like Di!

I spoke with Robert Cass and I'm hoping he will come visit soon and help me figure out what to do to "beautify" my big red metal barn! Its been raining like cats and dogs so visitors are out for now...

I'm looking forward to doing some training of the horse next weekend and perhaps some in the evenings if it will stop raining!!!

Carol

What are you looking forward to in 2008

So here we are in our new home in Lockhart, TX. We were able to celebrate our first Thanksgiving and our first Christmas in the new house. It has been a whirlwind of projects - everything from putting up over 4800 feet of new fencing to adding 9 more beautiful stalls. The garage is packed to the ceiling with boxes and my grandfather's piano is now in our living room.... What a difference a few months make... Reilly got me a new round pen for Christmas and now it looks like we have a state of the art training and breeding facility.

Alot has happened lately - everything from getting a call from Gigi Grasso and being invited to collaborate on a new and exciting project with him, to hearing more from my good friend Robert Cass who is always a great source of inspiration to me. I'm really looking forward to having him come over and see the new farm. I have made some new friends - in particular Candi Weeks who I am glad to be getting to know. Aspecial is doing well and should be coming over to the new farm by next weekend as this is when all the new stalls will be complete. I am thinking of taking him to the EE this year. I would love to get him under saddle so that people could see his versatility. The new year has just begun and I have many exciting plans which include showing my filly professionally at the EE, moving forward in working on some equine consulting efforts and getting in the best shape of my life. So what are you goals for 2008? I'd love to hear about them... Please reply to this post and let us know what your plans include!