Model Horse Profile: The Odd Couple

When I was a kid, pretty much the only time I could add a new Traditional Breyer horse to my herd was on my birthday or Christmas.

One year, I don't remember the occasion, I was allowed to pick out TWO horses to add to the herd.

I chose the Friesian (#485) and "Tesoro" (palomino El Pastor #867).

When it came time to name them, I decided to call the Friesian "Etienne Nevare", after one of the main characters in the movie Ladyhawke.  That movie was the first time I ever saw a Friesian horse and it was love at first sight.

For my new golden Paso Fino, I asked my Granddad.  He was taking a Spanish class at the time ("never stop learning" was one of the biggest lessons he ever taught me), and he suggested the name: "El Caballo Real" (The Royal Horse).  And so my Paso Fino was named.

Since these two were bought together, they've always been together.  Whenever they are on a shelf, they stand together.  When they've been packed for a move, they are packed and ride together.

So of course when I was packing horses for a photo shoot at the beach last fall, they went together.

Wild Honey

One of my old custom mini horses is named Wild Honey.  She's a G2 Paso Stablemate that I painted to be a Rocky Mountain Horse.  She was initially created...  I think about 12 years ago, or more.

A couple of years ago, she got a makeover of sorts when I decided to finally fix her badly painted mane and tail.

Since then, she's gone to a few live shows and I think she had gotten NAN qualified again.

She was featured here in my blog on another occasion, with a batch of old custom horses I've done.

Upon moving to Japan, I thought my days of live showing were done - at least for a while.  So I decided to get back into photo showing.

Wild Honey's new show picture

Her photo show debut was at the April 2016 MEPSA Mini Specialty Show where she placed 2nd (of 5) in Other Gaited Breed, 4th (of 8) in Other Natural Color, and 6th (of 10) in Headstudy,  It wasn't a fantastic result, but her 2nd place finish meant that she was one of the 5 that I could have sent to the Championship show, if I had been brave enough to try for it.

A few weeks ago, I mailed out pictures for the August 2016 Mini Specialty, and yesterday - right after our return from our big Tokyo trip - I saw the results!

Wild Honey:

Light Type Mare - 10th (of 75)
Other Pure/Mixed Gaited - 1st (of 15)
RESERVE CHAMPION SPANISH/GAITED BREED
Other Natural Color - 1st (of 12)
Workmanship-Repaint Only(Including Etched) - 4th (of 125!)
Headstudy - 4th (of 16)

I am SO happy with how this little girl did in her latest show!  And yes, this time she WILL be going to the Championship show, next year.  :)

Model Horse Profile: A Couple of Bodies

I haven't done a Model Horse Profile post in a while and yesterday's post about the "stunt doubles" got me thinking about how I had found this other little Black Stallion.


Back in South Dakota, a couple of years or so ago, I had popped in to the thrift store on the base.  I hadn't gone in there yet and just happened to decide to stop by one day.  While wandering around, I ended up in the toy section, looking for horse-shaped-objects.  That's where I spotted them: a classic Black Stallion and Johar...  rubber banded together.  :|  I knew I had to save them and was thrilled to see that they were priced at $5 for the pair.

He is actually in decent shape, only a scratch on one side of his neck,

and a missing chip of paint on the opposite shoulder.

She however, it seemed had a harder life, or at least showed it more.  She was covered in black and colored marks.

 I tried to get some of them off, but then ended up leaving her as is.

Still, I kind of loved her pretty face and soft coloring.  I'd never actually had a Johar before.  I've had several Black Stallion and Sagr molds, both OF and as bodies, but she is my first Johar.

I did at one point put a little classic scale blue felt blanket I'd made on her and she's been wearing that ever since.

You can see the two of them together here, on the top right of my (messy) desk in my old studio room.

I've kept them standing next to each other since I got them, it just seemed right. Even here when setting up some of my bodies on the shelves in the studio, I stood these two next to each other.

I find I'm already sort of attached to this pair, even though: 1) I already have a (champion) Black Stallion, and 2) they are both in less than perfect shape.  Goodness knows I have plenty of other bodies to work on before I'd ever need to decide what I'm actually going to do with these two.  Even though I don't consider myself much of an OF collector anymore - and I'd much rather customize than collect - I'm thinking these two will probably stay as they are.  At least for a while longer.

Model Horse Profile - Cassiopeia

For my second installment of Model Horse Profile, I decided to show and tell a little about one of my older models. 

Proud Arabian Foal mold, number 220, made from 1973-1978. 
(information from the Identify Your Breyer website)

She was one of the original Breyers that my mom gave me from her collection when I was about 9 years old. 

My Granddad helped to give me a love for looking at the stars and he taught me several of the constellations in the night sky.  One of the earliest he showed me was Cassiopeia, the "lazy W".  I thought that this little filly's dapples looked like stars in the sky and I decided that Cassiopeia would be a pretty name for her.

She's not in the best of shape - none of my old horses are, most of them were played with from my mom and me.  I still think she is a pretty little girl though and her name has special meaning to me.  I still think of Granddad whenever I notice the "lazy W" in the night sky.

Model Horse Profile - Native Son

I thought it might be fun to share some of my model horse collection on here.  Lately I've seen a few people talk about photographing their collection, something I've never really done.  Back in the day I used to photo show - and I plan to do more of that in the future - but I've never taken pictures of my collection as far as documenting who I have.  I figured it might be fun to take it a step further and do a bit of a write up about some of my favorites, starting with this one.

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San Domingo mold, number 829, sold as the "Comanche Pony" from 1990-1992  (information from the Identify Your Breyer website)

I love the San Domingo mold and always have, I'm not sure why.  I just think he is a neat-looking horse.  I only have one of them.  I don't remember getting this guy, though I'm guessing he was either a birthday or Christmas present, as that's how I acquired most of my childhood Breyers from around that timeframe.

He is not a mint condition example, he hails from the era when I played with my horses, though he survived better than some.  Even when they were sort of toys for me, I still tried to take care of them - especially my favorites.  I'd say he's possibly a photo show quality horse and even if not, he's still got a special place in my heart.

I named him Native Son, after one of my all time favorite Bryan Adams songs.  I've been a big fan of Bryan Adams for quite some time and I think the fact that I bestowed such a name on this horse meant he was a favorite of mine right from the beginning. 

I decided to write up this first profile on him, since he has made a couple of appearances recently, modeling a saddle pad and then my first halter.  When I needed a Traditional model to put the freshly finished saddle pad on, I grabbed him off the shelf right away. 

  

 

When when I set out to make my first Traditional scale halter, I figured I'd keep on using him as a model. 

I think he's pretty striking and I certainly don't mind taking more pictures of him.

Modeling my first "nylon" halter...

... and my first leather halter.

I hope you enjoyed this first little profile of one of my favorite models.  I'll work on writing more of them to share in the future.