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!

Double-Judged? No problem!

Double-judged shows - what are they? A double-judged show means that each division in the show has TWO judges, essentially making it like two different shows. The judges work side-by-side on the same tables, looking at the same horses, but that doesn't always mean that their placings match exactly.

One judge could give a first while the other gives a third, so on and so forth.

Good morning selfie!

Emma's table. A couple newbies hit the show ring today.

Our view of the hall.

This wasn't a performance show - just halter - so, despite the double-judging, the show flew by. There were CM/AR divisions for both breed and workmanship, China classes, Hartland, Northlight, Stone, Breyer, and Collectability. Lots of options!

Check out these cool decorators we found:

Emma's favorite - the Riddler!

Pisces (not OUR Pisces, though)

I definitely want those lucky charms!

And some sweet fantasy models!

The tiniest of Pegasi!

Also, a special treat- the rare "four-eyed Misty!" This version of Misty, released in 1972, is the first and the rarest version of Misty, but it actually looks nothing like the real horse. In fact, all of Breyer's versions of Misty are not true to the real pony. 

The real Misty did not have this odd white patch around her left eye, nor did she actually have a bald face with a patch around her left eye. When the original Misty was first produced in 1972 with in this "four-eyed" version, Marguerite Henry actually requested that it be changed as it was not accurate. Same with the "three-eyed" version that debuted in 1973. 

Here's a picture of the actual Misty:

Definitely doesn't look like her model, does she? 

Anyway- the show this weekend was fun, and we're working on plans for both our Black Friday/Small Business Saturday event and our January show. Stay tuned, there's lots in store!

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