Horsin' Around

I am very excited about a new project. Where I live in Chattanooga, Tennessee there is a carousel horse carving school just right up the street from where I live. It used to be closer to downtown Chattanooga and every time we would ride by there I would see those neat looking carved horses in the windows and think, "Gee, I would love to make one of those." I didn't realize they had moved and, to be honest, I had forgotten all about it. So, the other day I stumbled on their website again, and thought, I really want to try that. So, I called and talked to the instructor, who is a nice Christian man named Bud Ellis. I went by the school this week and he took me on a tour and showed me around, gave me an idea of the kind of horse and the size that I would be carving. He specializes in helping people like me who are wondering or doubtful if they can really do this thing. Apparently they can under his tutelage because he's taught lots of folks to carve a horse, people who have never held a chisel in their lives. Men and women both. Students at his school carved all the horses for the carousel that is at Coolidge Park in Chattanooga and also the endangered species animals that are on a carousel at the Chattanooga Zoo. So, I've decided that I'm going to try it. He told me that they are in the process of planning a carousel in Kingston, Tn and that they need volunteers to carve the horses for it. He said that he already has 6 volunteers to carve them, but they need 33 horses, what they call Jumpers. They are the ones that go up and down on the carousel. The best thing is all the wonderful experience, but also you pay your fee for one year of instruction and then once the carousel is built, you will be paid twice your money back. I don't care about the being paid back part, even though that's a wonderful benefit. But, I'm really excited about having something that I created on something as big as a carousel which will one day be very valuable and also something I feel I can leave to others for them to enjoy. I decided to put this on my bucket list. I think it's the very first thing I've put on it. Or my twenty wishes list or whatever you want to call it. I think about Twenty Wishes when I think of the book by the same title by Debbie Macomber.

I think I have decided which horse I want to carve. It's not the one below, but the one I want to carve is very similar to it.


I've also added a few more pictures of the horses that are on the carousel at Coolidge Park in Chattanoga, TN.