Introducing...

I did promise pictures of the two newbies, so here I am- delivering! I have way more photos of Ricochet than I do of the DAH Andy, but that's because I'm a super-protective dummy (and it started raining during his shoot yesterday).

Ricochet's new name is "IBS Rhodochrosite" or "Rhody". Naming him after a pink and white banded gemstone seemed pretty fitting to me.

It's not often that I am entirely happy with a paint job from Breyer on these little guys, but they have certainly kicked it up a notch with this one. There's not a hint of overspray on him whatsoever- not even around his eyes. He's got a slight pearlescent sheen to him, but it's not so overpowering that it makes the colors pop completely, keeping that soft, cotton candy pink.

He's a little masterpiece in my opinion, and I love him. Hopefully he'll do well at future shows.

Next up is my new drool-worthy Stone whose arrival I've been waiting on since I ordered him in April. There's a bit of a funny story behind why he took so long to come to me, and I might as well tell it.

When you do a DAH (Design A Horse) through Stone, you have lots of bodies and colors to choose from. They want you to be as specific as possible during designing so that the artists can easily get horses done in batches as the orders come in. For those of you who don't know the website, it's a lot of drop-down menus that make things super simple to get the horse you want.

So I ordered my boy in "White Pearl", which is basically Stone's "Cremello" color, but with a pearlescent finish. I waited about two months for my horse to ship, and he came in June, as expected. I had ordered him when I did in hopes that I would get him for Stone Age Live, and I did, but... he wasn't the right color.

Whoops!

There had been a little mistake at the factory, with someone mistaking his "White Pearl" color for just plain "White". He was gorgeous, yes, but not what I was after. A few messages to their customer service, though, and he was sent back for "repairs".

A couple days ago, I caught this picture of him in progress in their Sneak Peek Thursday post.

He's the windswept one in the middle, but I'm loving the white color on all three of those. (Couldn't Stone have shipped me all of them?)

So, yes, the same horse came back to me, just in a different color. And, boy, does he look good.

Meet "IBS Careless Whisper". Yes, like the song, of course! I have a lot of plans for this guy, including getting him a set of custom-made parade tack and a new show halter. Definitely look for some performance scenes with him in the future.

He's about as flawless as flawless gets, which is why I love Stone's quality; I haven't gotten a bad horse from them yet. His pink shading is in all the right places, his eyes are beautifully done to give him a touch of attitude, and the slight pearl tone does wonders for this mold.

I'm so excited to get these two in the show ring, but I'll have to wait until November, probably. I won't be showing at our next show in the Palooza circuit- I'll be judging! All of the horses we brought home from BreyerFest and Equilocity will be there, however- plus these two and the two surprises coming (maybe) next week.

Look for that unboxing video when they arrive, but I should be able to do a couple more posts before then. I'm planning on making a few stock halters soon. Maybe a little something on that?

~Emma