THIS week, about horses.

Niece April Carantes owns a few, and she is currently and definitely the poster child for Baguio horsewoman. A tidbit:it was her horse that was used as Antonia Luna’s horse in the smash hit film about him, Heneral Luna (2015).

It goes without saying that April’s favorite pets are all horses, and her skills with them are quite well known. Besides, one need only look at her pictures with them, nod, and agree.

At the lobby of the UP Baguio there currently are horses of a different nature. They are made of paper mache, measure 8.5” by 8.5” by 2.5”. They started out plain, as in like blank canvasses, in this case, blank horses, if you will. They then had life breathed into them, i.e., customized, by artists from the UPB, to be offered to the public on auction, via FB. As of this writing, the auction ends in an hour and a half, at noon of Friday, 17 May.

The objective is to raise funds for the UPB Animal Welfare Committee. Their FB page features the customized horses, and so too the running bids on each miniature.

I am attracted most to four of these.

First, there is Jhoan Medrano’s black beauty, adorned with beads and “original embroidery” – the latter making it look like Black Beauty has a saddle. One can only marvel at the painstaking work that went into that detailing. Is the talent and skill on show worth the Php3K which is BB’s current bid price? Oyes.

Next, there is Jandy Carvajal’s deep mauve horse in acrylic with “original brass repousse” as a diamond on the forehead, a bigger one on the breast, a saddle, and flecks of color scattered about. Its current bid price is, like Jhoan’s BB, PhP3K. Worth every centavo.

Another tidbit: if you are familiar with Jandy’s repousse work, you will know that Mauve is worth more.

And then there is, actually are, Adonis Elumbre’s version of a BB and Kelly Agra’s BB, but in her case, Brown Beauty. I can’t decide which I like better, but why select one, right.

Adonis’s BB has a rough cloth saddle in sack-like color and texture. The horse’s hooves are gold-painted, and so is the chain harness. There’s also a metal adornment on the forehead. Current bid price is likewise PhP3K, for what is described as “acrylic and found objects on paper mache.”

Brown Beauty, also so described, has a red and white native blanket as a saddle, and metal and beads as a harness. I think Kelly Agra “found” one of my earrings, blue beads and all, LOL. Current bid price is PhP1.2K.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, always. So is everything else. So my eyes, well. They see those four as the standout pieces.

The keeper of the bids is of course the trusty Grace Subido, and winning bidders have till 31 May to make good on their bids. Should such a one be unable to do so, the next highest bidder involved will be contacted promptly.

It’s 11:16 by my clock. Hmmm. Maybe I’ll go after one of the BBs.

Next week, more on horses.