I've always loved participating in photo challenges and have shared many of them here over the years. There's a new one going on, called the Yuletide Photo Challenge, started by Kristen and Sarah Wellman.
I knew keeping with it would be, well, a challenge - for me. I'm not sure I've managed to fully finish one of the month long daily challenges, but I'm giving it a go! I did figure that doing daily blog posts for it would be extra tough, so I've been posting them on Facebook, both my personal page and my Studio FB page. I decided that maybe I'd try and do a weekly recap post here and so this is the first one!
First up, here's the prompt list:
And, away we go!
Day 1: First model in my collection.
My first ever model horse was the original Smoky.
My grandparents bought him for me for my 3rd birthday. He was extremely well-loved, even after his tail and one leg were missing. Sadly, I don't have him anymore. I do have his... I don't want to say replacement, but I do have have another well-loved (and unbroken!) original Smoky - from my dear friend, Sue. He came with the name "Indy" and that's what I call him. He's been quite the star here, having appeared in many "bad performance" set ups.
His biggest adventure was probably when he took to the skies, hanging under a drone, in a rescue sling that I made.
I still have a love (obsession) for the Smoky mold. More on that, tomorrow!
Yesterday, I talked about how the original Smoky was my first model. I have a few others on the Smoky mold in my collection, and several more for custom projects, but there was one that I really wanted to add someday. Sandman, from the Vintage Club, because: Smoky and also because I have always LOVED a loud overo (as in Katie from Young Riders, or Hidalgo).
While visiting with a good friend this past spring, and talking model horses, I had mentioned how he was on my wish list. A short time later a mystery box from that friend showed up and... !! (I cried happy tears)
He is absolutely MAGICAL and he immediately became a top favorite in my herd.
This one was actually hard. Most all of my models, I had a reason for buying them. It seems rare that I buy "on a whim". Then I realized this guy fits.
In 2021 BreyerFest was virtual and I bought several models. Rhev here WAS an impulse buy. I hadn't planned to get him, but decided to "add to cart" anyway. I didn't have one on this mold and did think I might want to make tack on him at some point, though even then I knew I'd rather have a purebred Arabian color for that.
Anyhow, I did indeed buy him "on a whim". Now I do have one on this mold in grey/white now, but this guy is still hanging around. Remember, yesterday I said I've always loved a loud overo.
Day 4: A model I would never let go.
It would have to be Reckless.
He's one of the first horses I ever painted, when I was 14-15 or so. He's a Hartland that I'd bought at a flea market and painted to a wild pinto pattern. I named him after a Bryan Adams album. He was a champion photo show horse back in the day and has even won some live show awards (in vintage classes).
He lives in his custom leather nameplate halter, which was a gift from my friend, Jennifer.
When this guy first arrived, I was happy to have another Akhal-Teke, to join Uffington (this same mold, in cremello). I immediately parked him on the chaotic tack desk, to start "earning his keep" as a tack model.
Very shortly after that, he tipped over and wiped out all sorts of horses and projects. As I recall, I took a picture of him and send it to a hobby friend, calling him an, um, unflattering name.
It's not his fault, he's just a longboi.
Day 6: A model lying down and taking a break.
I think this might be the only lying down model I have. This is Enya, the Premier Club Stablemate from 2024, sculpted by Mindy Berg. I decided to take her picture lying down in one of my favorite footings for the mini horses - I love this grass mat!
Day 7: Pearl
The model that immediately came to mind was this guy. He is TB Trueno, a Winterfest model from 2023.
I named him Starlight.
Day 8: Longears
I don't have a whole lot of longears in my herd, but this one is the most recent. He's a mule from Schleich. I bought him this past summer and in September he won a class at a live show and is now NAN qualified. I named him Jake.
Day 9: Evergreen
For today, I immediately thought of this guy. He is Greenman, a Store Special from BreyerFest 2020. He's one of a few horses I've kept NIB, because his box is cool and I thought he looked neat in it. For a bit he was the only one I had on this mold and I had considered extracting him for tack making, but then I did end up getting the TSC SR (grey with a blanket, also in 2020). So this guy has stayed snug in his forest scene box.
And that's it for the first batch of pictures!
I plan to be back here with Week Two... or the last part of Week Two anyhow, since I went a couple of days into it here already!
Yay!! Thanks for sharing so much! I've been having all kinds of fun with this challenge myself. This is what photo showing alternatives look like.
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