Upgrading

Earlier this week, I received my first new model of 2015. 

This girl is an order I placed with the lovely and talented Sue Kern, and I am in. Love. 

For a few weeks leading up to this purchase, I was torn. Longer time readers here will recall that I have a very similar CM G4 Driver that I did myself last summer. His nickname on here is the Fjord monster, which is mostly just me poking fun of his semi-cute fugliness. 

I put a lot of bloodsweat&tears into the original Fjord monster, and he did pretty well at the single show I took him to, but at the turn of the new year I decided it was time to crack down on my performance entries and start seriously shaping up. Why?

I am absolutely over the moon to say that Anna and I will be making the long voyage to Lexington, Kentucky this summer for Breyerfest 2015, and will be trying our hand at the Open show. 

We're entering this show with the full knowledge that we're out of our league- the competition there is probably borderline the toughest anywhere. Amongst the huge, elaborate, gorgeously detailed and I'm sure sharply correct entries, our collective goal is to win a ribbon (even if it's an honorable mention in a class of 12!). 

Just to achieve that, I figured it was time to invest in a performance horse that isn't slapped together in my basement. 

I am so, so excited for this girl to test her performance chops in March, and of course for the adventure of Breyerfest this July!

I didn't think my guy was too bad until I put him next to this new girl...

As for the Fjord monster, he isn't forgotten. I have a performance idea cooking that could possibly feature him as a prop horse... an entry can never have enough Fjords, right?

Thank You, Breyer

Disclaimers: the product pictures belong to Breyer, and I'm not being paid to post this. Though that would be a pretty sweet deal if I was.

Long time no post, and this isn't exactly a satisfying end to this dry spell, but I had to share my excitement over Breyer's recent nod to us Stablemate lovers: you can now individually buy riders!

Had to giggle over the resemblance between the top product pic and
this shot from a few weeks ago.

Gone are the days of spending $10 on a horse and rider set just to get your hands on a doll to futz with. They're even offering a Native American and Jockey-- two riders that have been especially elusive (and therefore pricey) in the past.

Now, these dolls aren't perfect. I realize that. They all have issues, some more than others, and none of them are show ring quality, but they do offer a good starting point for tweaking position or customizing entirely. There are some extremely talented mini showers out there who just sculpt their dolls from scratch, but I'm personally grateful for a starting point (and face!) to work with.

At $3.99 a pop, I honestly can't complain too much. I mean, it would be nice if they didn't come with the plastic tack and were maybe a dollar less, but this is so much better than it was before.

On the studios news front, things are slow as snot. My free time has been minimized to almost non-existence, and I only get to sneak in a few studio hours a week. I would blog more, but there just isn't anything to see! So expect some more creative (and/or "random hobby thoughts") posts in the future. 

Thanks to all my new followers (hello) and old ones for your patience. Now excuse me while I go buy that cowgirl.

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!