BreyerFest 2017 Store Specials

I know I posted some preview pictures of this year's BreyerFest store specials, but I thought it might be nice to take some time to get to know the horses (and dog) behind those models!

First up, we have Repeat the Beat - a Tennessee Walking horse that was formerly a part of the high-stepping breed circuit, but now turned jumper! Pete, as he is known by his family, competes in Jumpers, Handy Hunters, and even Three-Day Eventing. Standing at only 15.1 hands and sporting a flashy black roan sabino coloring, Pete proves that you should never judge a horse by their breed.

Pete's portrait model on the Bluegrass Bandit mold. 

Pete's original owners on the Spotted Saddle Horse circuit believed that the then Two-Year-Old World Champion, and so sold him to Lisa Murray shortly after so that he could have a lovely home being trail ridden with her daughter, Jeren. He never took to trail riding, either, always extremely tense under saddle on the trails.

After one day of some friends of the Murrays' riding Pete over fences on the trails, Lisa and Jeren noticed how calm and focused the gelding seemed to be and it was decided that Pete would begin his career in over fence work.

A photo from Pete's time on the UK Eventing team.
Photo by Rachel Norton.

Next on our list are the "dynamic duo" themselves. No, I don't mean Batman and Robin- I'm talking about Dally and Spanky!

As a two-year-old, Spanky the Miniature Horse was rescued by Francesca and Steve of Rother Horsemanship. Apparently the little gelding was a handful to start with, as all ponies are, but developed into a quick favorite throughout the barn. 

Eventually, Spanky was taught a multitude of tricks, and one day Dally, the Rothers' Jack Russell Terrier, took an interest in those tricks. Hopping atop of Spanky during one of Francesca's training sessions so she could get a better look, Dally has been learning tricks alongside her Miniature Horse friend every since!

Look forward to more Breyerfest Special Run announcements and stick around for the actual event in July!

Good Times and Great Ponies - St. Nazianz

It's no secret that horse show judges are people with their own opinions on what makes a model ribbon-worthy or LSQ (live show quality,) and that's why it's nice to have more than one judge in the ring. My mother and I have gone to several double-judged shows recently, and it's been more than interesting to see how one judge places the class versus the other. Sometimes the placings are the same (which often happens in the individual classes,) and sometimes they're definitely not the same (as we saw in the Section Reserve titles.)

You can have a horse place first with one judge and sixth with the other. Whether that's opinion-based or based on some small flaw or detail that one judge caught and the other didn't, double-judged shows give you the opportunity to basically attend two shows on the same day. Maybe we need to look into double-judging one of our shows...

(I think we could do it. Those Manes & Tails kids are getting really good at their horse judging. ;) )

This show started off just like any other, though - incredibly early and amazingly quiet.

A brief look at the show hall before the commotion began.

Looks like my mom caught me vlogging. Whoops! ^^;;

We brought a rack of consignment ponies and some goodies from the store to sell.

And as the show progressed, so did our placings...

Mr. Myxlptlk - Euro Draft - 1st/4th

Deputy Clyde - British Draft - 2nd/3rd

Blizzard Warning - British Draft - 1st/4th

Soleil - American Draft - 2nd/2nd

Kingsman - Other Mix/Pure Draft - 1st/1st

Icicle Junior - British Pony - 1st/2nd

I don't just mean for me, either. My mom really started racking up the ribbons at this show, too. Her donkeys completely stole the spotlight!

Whiskey Business came home with two seconds.

Perseus came home with two firsts and a section champ!

(She really does love her donkeys.)

As for the rest of my horses...

Sheza Mane-iac - American Pony - 1st/2nd

Before U Go-Go - Paint - 2nd/4th

Lexington - TB - 1st/3rd

...they definitely pulled their weight in the ring...

Black Cat - Spanish - 2nd/4th

Mirror of Erised - Carriage - 1st/3rd

Mischief Managed - Sporthorse - 2nd/3rd

Bleeding Hearts - TB - 2nd/2nd

Choco Chex Mix - Sporthorse - 1st/3rd

...some more than others...

Pocket Full of Sunshine - Spotted Stock Foal - 1st/1st

Peppered Gold - WB - 1st/1st - Section Reserve Champion

Cat Trax - Other Breed Foals - 1st/1st - Section Grand Champion

And last but not least, my big winner of the day. I know it's not an Overall Grand or a Section Grand, but TWO Section Reserve Grands are definitely a big step forward for this guy. 

Careless Whisper - Other Light Breed - 1st/1st - Double Section Reserve Champ

Breed research is one of my favorite things about the model horse hobby. It allows so much freedom; your horse doesn't have to be what the box says it is. And that's the fun part! I love to do a little digging and come up with something unique that fits the horse, though you always have to cross your fingers and hope that your judges will see the documentation you've done and agree with it. 

Some judges spend the majority of classes scanning documents and comparing/contrasting them to the horse... and some don't. That's okay - each of us as judges have different styles, and we need to take this into account. At the end of the day, judging is more subjective than it is objective.

Well, that's all, folks!

I hope you enjoyed this little peak into our most recent show. Don't forget to check out the YouTube video below with the vlog behind all the action. There will be more coming soon!

New Arrivals!

For Christmas this year, I decided I was going to order my mom a Design A Horse from Stone. Originally, I had thought about doing a portrait of her mare, Lilly, that we had to put down last year, but I also wasn't out to break the bank on this one. After deciding that I couldn't design Lilly just yet (I will get there. Some day,) I went with the next best thing: a Palomino.

My mom loves palominos. Personally, so do I. I had been really sneaky the few weeks before I ordered this Christmas pony, going through the DAH color options and asking her what she thought of each color. This is something we do on a regular basis, so she didn't seem to find it suspicious - which was excellent for me. 

Figuring that I wouldn't have this pony in time for Christmas, I drew him on a 4 x 6 piece of Bristol board and gave that to my mother to open instead.

Well, this cute little Christmas pony showed up at our door just a few days before Rainier. In fact, he showed up the exact day that we left for a model horse show. Go figure, right?

His name is Mr. Wonderful (a.k.a. Clarence,) and if anyone understands that reference, good for you. I'm not sure how many people will.

And because it was 50 degrees here in the Upper Peninsula this weekend, I've also got some close-up shots of Rainier for everyone!

Sorry to tease you with this shot in the last blog post preview.
I didn't have these when I wrote the original entry!

Stay tuned for more new ponies and adventures coming soon- we have a Stablemate Club horse on the way along with our most recent order to unbox. There's lots going on in the model horse world right now!

2017 Web Special - Rainier

I'm a big fan of drafters; I'm also a big fan of pintos and roans. So when it was announced that Breyer's first web special of the year was a blue roan pinto drafter, my jaw just about dropped! 

Look at this hunk! <3

Breyer has definitely outdone themselves with this one, and congratulations to those lucky enough to be drawn for him... which includes my mother. He's not a sales piece at this time, and because the both of us are splitting the cost, his show name is "Joint Custody."

Because we really love humorous horse names, and this was just too good of an opportunity. Here's a list of some of the other names we came up with but didn't decide to use:

• Collaboration
• Double Vision
• Two-Steppin'
• Joint Effort
• ...and their were others that I cannot for the life of me remember.

(I asked my mother, too. She wasn't much help.)

After getting lucky enough to be chosen for one of these boys, it takes Breyer a week if not longer to ship to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, so I have been anxiously awaiting his arrival for quite some time now. And here he is! 

The video below is of me unboxing our Rainier, which I did promptly as soon as I got back from class just the other day. Enjoy, and look for more YouTube videos from Paint Pony Studios in the future!

Spotlight - Marwari

Seeing as this year's BreyerFest theme is "Gateway to India" and the Celebration Horse is one of my favorite breeds of all time, I thought I would do a breed spotlight on...

The ever-lovely... Marwari!

The breed first came around in the 12th century and was used as a cavalry horse by the Marwar people. It started to deteriorate in the 1930s, but thanks to a good number of fantastic breeders, the Marwari is back and better than ever!

Marwaris can come in most colors outside of Appaloosa patterns, but some colors are favored. In India, though white horses are usually bred for specific religious reasons, white coats don't often occur in Marwaris. Gray horses are considered to be the most valuable with pintos coming in at a close second. Black horses are said to be unlucky as black is a symbol for death and darkness. 

(Jeez! I like black horses. I like black horses a lot!)

And check out those EARS!

The characteristic that this breed is the most well-known for, Marwaris' ears curve inward at the tips. Isn't that something? I think it makes for some adorable facial expressions.

Might be considered "unlucky," but he is SUPER cute.

Breyer has one Marwari mold, and (like the breed,) it is also one of my favorites. But they haven't used it very often. 

Originally sculpted by Brigitte Eberl for the Premier Club in 2012, the Marwari mold started production as a pinto named Kalahkaari.

Then came a Live Auction lot in a soft palomino pinto.

Then the Regular Run model in a bright palomino that is now discontinued.

A special run for BreyerFest 2015, Haute Couture. However, the mold was changed. Given a new mane, tail, and ears, this mold is no longer a Marwari.

Then there were more Live Auction lots:

And a Collector Club special named Rajah in 2014:

Now, for this year's Celebration Horse... Nadruddin! This was the only image I could find of our 2017 Celebration Horse, but he is a cutie.

I think he makes for a very good portrait horse, and I'm excited to say that we should be coming home with at least one of him! Don't forget to check back for BreyerFest and Equilocity updates come July!