Moldy

I was going to make this post about being "performance-friendly," but I totally forgot the point I was trying to make with that post, so instead I'll treat you to a montage of molds I've made tack for. And which ones I like. And which ones I don't.

95% of the tack orders I get are for hunter or jumper type sets for these guys:

Breyer G3 Jumper

Breyer G3 Cantering WB

Breyer G4 Driving

Which is totally fine. I like these guys. These guys are nice. These guys are my friends. Notice how they all have existent backs, clean bridle paths and their hair do's are nicely sized to accomodate a bridle. They each have their individual "flaws" I've become accustomed to working around; like the Driver's chunky-town legs, the jumper's withers and the Warmblood's forelock (not really a flaw... I love that mold), but for the most part they are fine examples of English performance horses.

Then there's the other 5% of my orders. This consists of Dressage tack, always without fail for this guy...

Breyer G4 Dressage

And the odd "specialty" project, like my current Paso set for this guy...

Breyer G3 Paso

And past Tennessee Walking Horse sets for this guy.

Breyer G3 TWH

Then there's the "normal" set for molds that aren't in the Big Three. Like this guy...

Breyer G2 WB

And this guy.

Breyer G4 Paradressage

And him, too. (He's like the perfect example of tack friendly. No intrusive mane, nice long back, clean head... sigh...)

Breyer G3 TB

You'll notice that these are all Breyers. And I can understand why- Stablemates are cheap, easy to come by and actually really nice little sculptures. The first three horses in this post are excellent performance horses and consistently win at shows. The only real alternative (besides resins, but I'm talking about simpletons like me) is Peter Stone's line of Chips.

They're also great little sculptures, but they tend to get overlooked because honestly in the performance ring Breyer has them beat. They also tend to be more expensive, and the factory paint jobs I have aren't really up to scratch ("Dapples? Nah, I think I'll just fling paint at the horse's side.").

Of course there are exceptions. When given the choice, I will always vote for this pony...

Chips pony

Over this pony.

Breyer G3 pony.

They're roughly the same size, but check out the space on the Breyer pony's back, in between the bulky mane and point of hip. (Hint: There's like a centimeter of space there. This pony was not sculpted for a saddle).

Now scroll up and check out the space between the Chip pony's withers and hip. Very nice, right?

The saddle doesn't go all the way to a horse's hip, of course, which further proves why you'd better take a hacksaw to her mane before you think of tacking up the Breyer pony.

The other "exception" Chip:

Chips WB

This guy is actually quite nice as well. Ya know, for a Peter Stone.

And thus concludes my mold rant. Well, my first mold rant. I have another post about Stablemate generations cooking, so get yourself braced to be educated!