Introducing...Ash!

Say hello to the next Special Run model, Ash!

Ash is named after another sacred tree in Celtic mythology, and has been done in an ethereally-shaded light dapple grey with a chalky basecoat.  His coat color reminded us of the grey-toned bark common among ash trees.  Created on the Othello mold, sculpted by Kathleen Moody, Ash will feature a high-gloss finish and we think he is absolutely stunning!

Considered sacred and referenced often in Celtic mythology, figuring particularly prominently in the Celtic and North Germanic creation myths, ash trees are also part of a magical trilogy of trees associated with fairy lore.  Ash trees were so revered in Ireland that even in times of strife, people refused to cut them down for firewood - except to be used in the sacred fired (fires, maybe?) during Beltane celebrations in the spring.  Both Oak and Ash trees are closely related to kingship and considered sources of ancient wisdom

I'm surprised they skipped over the 2nd sneak peak and revealed the 3rd instead.  I only have one Othello in my collection: SBH Phoenix, and that's because he was a gift from my brother.  I don't dislike him, he's just not one that makes my heart twitter, which is good since so many other molds do and I can't collect all of them.

It's interesting that Ash trees play such a large part in Celtic folklore since they're a dime a dozen in Arizona.  Of course, they're not the special grey ones, but they're plentiful.  As are Oaks.  oh well.  Oh.  I guess it's the trunk that is "grey" and not the leaves themselves.  hahaha.  Then yeah, there's little difference.  They're still quite plentiful.

Since Ash is glossy he'll be quite popular amongst the collectors who must "gloss all the things".  hahaha.

Thank you to Mares in Black for posting on Facebook that Ash had been revealed.  I probably would've looked at the Breyerfest blog eventually and saw it for myself, but I saw it much quicker since I usually check Facebook first off.

Well, that's it for now.  I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday.  Until next time.

Lancelot is back! And I've been living under a hobby rock apparently...

Did you miss out on the first round of Lancelot on the Breyer website?  Well, now you have a chance to get one...

This morning I went to the website to see if there were any new BreyerFest reveals before I got started on this post...spoiler alert: there wasn't but I'm sure there will be within an hour or two after I publish this...I saw that Lancelot was back.  I didn't buy him the first round and don't plan to buy from the re-stock, but I know there's some people out there who want one because, for whatever reason, they weren't able to get one.

So, I work an office job and we're allowed to listen to music or whatever, but we can't watch videos, so most days I am looking for movies that I can listen to just with my phone turned face down.  Yes, every now and then I'll take a quick peak if something sounds interesting, but I'm pretty good at not looking.  So, a couple of days ago I was looking for something different to listen to...maybe it was yesterday...and decided to check out Mares In Black...

I've seen / heard other people talk about it and how great it is, but it never really interested me.  I couldn't tell you why, it just wasn't something I wanted to investigate.  And now I'm wondering what rock was I living under?  hahaha.  Mares in Black is a podcast by Heather Malone and Jackie Rossi about the model horse world.  Probably the biggest thing that amazes me is that Heather lives in Colorado and Jackie lives in New Jersey but you'd never know it because they do it so seamlessly.  I wonder if they've done a podcast where they talk about how they're able to make that work.  I'm only on episode 5 so I don't know what topics they've covered beyond what I've listened to so far.  The ladies have great energy and really feed off of each other.  They cover all aspect of the hobby: showing, collecting, movie making / YouTube, customizing etc.  They also talk about more than just OF Breyers.  They also talk about Chinas and resins.  They give show reports, interview other hobbyists and just have a great time.  The only thing I "don't" like is that sometimes they talk over each other.  hahaha.  And one of them likes to use the word "prolific" and another (or it could be the same person, I can't quite tell them apart) often says "that's my jam".  I just cringe when I hear that.  I don't know why, I just do.  But that's me and not on them.  Something they both say that's annoying is "Good times".  They say that multiple times during a podcast.  But I've been laughing at the podcasts because Heather and Jackie have a great sense of humor and they bring up memories that make me smile.

For example, on one of the episodes I was listening to yesterday, they were talking about playing with their horses and making up little personalities and family groups and that was something my younger cousin used to do.  They were career military so they didn't come visit very often, but when they did Sadie would ask if she could play with some of my horses.  I had to take them down and put them back up for her but that was her choice.  She would point to who she wanted and I would take it down for her.  She came up with family groups with breeds that didn't match, change genders.  It was always amusing to watch her creativity.  Something I never did.  When I played with my models, I made sure their genders stayed the same and the families were the same breed or at least the same color.  hahaha.

It's interesting how they keep talking about the gap between older showers and younger ones and how to draw young people into the hobby and keep them there.  When I was still active in showing, there were some kids there and nobody excluded them.  They actually excluded themselves.  They stayed with their friends or whatever parent brought them and made no effort to interact.  I did see some adults try to include the younger ones.  Maybe that has changed.  I don't know.

Something the podcast taught me that I hadn't known before was a couple of years ago there was a young person who'd had a bunch of models stolen from his (?) parent's car.  I remember reading about it on Blab.  Apparently a bunch of people had gotten together and were able to get the horses replaced, which was no small feat since some of them were signed models and glossy prize models.  I was super impressed that people did that.

One of the upcoming podcasts is about Scottsdale Stampede so it'll be interesting to hear another point of view.  MIB tells it like it is so it might be something that isn't all sunshine and roses and maybe points out some shortfalls.  Who knows?

Okay.  I'm not making sense anymore so I'm going to end this now.  Until next time.

Finally...a reveal...Benelli

Benelli is the first reveal of a store special.  He's a blue roan Clydesdale gelding, a versatile asset for the Hawkes Ranch hitch as he can be driven in any position, but he truly shines out front as the leader of this hitch that pulls an unmistakable purple cart.  Hm.  I didn't know hitch horses had "preferred positions" within the hitch.  Interesting.

Anyway, this Scottish draft breed is typically bay or brown, but Benelli and his team, owned by Cheryl and Tony Hawkes, are all blue or black roan registered Clydesdales - truly a beautiful sight (verbiage from breyerhorses.com, not me).

A confident horse who loves attention, Benelli is the first horse to the gate to greet visitors and thrives off of the crowd's excitement when performing in the show ring.  We can't wait for you to meet him and members of his hitch team this summer at BreyerFest!

If Benelli is at the top of your shopping list, be sure to arrive at BreyerFest early - Store Specials typically sell out each day! 

So, here's what the model looks like...

And then the real horse...

Benelli is an attractive horse/model, for sure, but already I'm hearing the moans of "not another paint/pinto!"  I'm not even going to bother reading those.  I'm starting to agree, but do you need to complain every.  single.  time?  No!  hahahaha.  But I'm looking at the model and at the actual horse and I'm not seeing that much of a similarity between the two.  Yes, the mane and tail are black and the basic body color is silver/grey, but the markings are quite different.  The real Benelli looks more...uh...frosty?  while the model has very crisp paint markings.  Regardless, I don't plan to buy one.  I don't collect the Clydesdale mold.

Well, the other two sneak peaks are supposed to be revealed this week.  Well, one of them anyway.  The Breyerfest blog says "Keep your eyes on the BreyerFest blog for another reveal this week! so we'll get one but not necessarily both.  Some people on Blab have said Breyer has so much going on right now that revealing BF models isn't at the top of their priorities list and I get that to a point, but they really shouldn't keep revealing sneak peaks if they're not going to be timely in the reveal.  If they have the time to post the Sneak Peaks they have time to post the reveals, in my opinion.

Okay, I guess that's it for now.  Until next time, which should be tomorrow...

Well, that's just odd...another Sneak Peak...

On Wednesday, Breyer released the 3rd sneak peak for Breyerfest.  The next logical step would be revealing the entire model, right?  That's what usually happens.  But not this time.  Today they released ANOTHER sneak peak without revealing the first one...

They also didn't give much of a written clue.  It looks like vintage white, but it could also be pale palomino.  Aaaaack.  To me, it looks like a rump, but no clue on what model it belongs to.  Breyer has just been too good at keeping the models a secret until the full reveal.  I don't think anyone yet has correctly guessed what a model has been, although Hamish had correct guesses based on what they would like for it to be.  Like, a couple of people mentioned it might be the Black Angus and someone said it could be an Irish Moiled bull and both people ended up being correct.

Well, hopefully they'll do a full reveal of Wednesday's sneak peak soon.  If it's today then I'll update this post, but if it's another day it will likely get its own post.  I just find it odd that they'd release a new sneak peak without revealing the current one.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!  This is probably my shortest post yet.

Wanting some, but not all...and another sneak peak...

Black Hole Collectors.  Completionists.  Hoarders.  Gotta-have-them-alls.  No matter what you call them, there's a type of collector who wants everything, and there's nothing wrong with that.  I, however, am not one of those types.  I never have been and I have collections other than model horses.  I just don't like every single thing that is put out there.  With my non-model collections (current and past), it's easy to just not buy the items I don't like because they're sold as singletons.  So what do you do when it's a set and you want only part of the set and not all?

With these two, even though I've started "collecting" rider dolls, I don't collect the Classic ones.  They look even more cartoonish with their big heads than the Traditional scale ones, but I like the models.

 In the family set, I want the adult horses and not the foal.  I don't collect foals, even though I have a couple.  It wasn't on purpose, however.  They came with a model I got in a club and it wasn't an option to not get it.

Sometimes I like a set for the non-horse item...

I like the dog, although less-so the more I look at it because of the color.  It's kind of boring and washed-out.  I also like the tent and sleeping bag.

So, what do I do?  Do I try to find just the models on the secondary market?  But who is going to buy the set, just to sell the doll separately from the model?  The family set, I can see, but not the horse and rider sets.  I suppose it's a good thing not too many traditional sized models come in sets like these.  The last set I bought it was because I wanted the horse AND the dogs, but that doesn't happen very often.

I also have the same problem with Stablemate sets.  Sometimes I'll get lucky and there'll be a couple in the set of 4 that I like...

But more often than not, there's only one...

So what do I do in that case?  Sometimes I suck it up and end up with 3 models I don't care for as much, but fortunately it's easier to find single SM models on the secondary market.  It just depends. 

I don't know if I would rather Breyer put out more single models or sets.  Both have their pros and cons, that's for sure.

This week has been pretty quiet on the Breyer front.  No new Breyerfest news or sneak previews.  The Collector Club showed a snippet of a model, possible the mouth area, but nothing to say if it's going to be something to buy, something to win or just some random model they are going to show a picture of...

Annnnd...just as I say there's no Breyerfest sneak peak, I see someone on Blab has posted the 4th.  It's another paint so I can hardly wait for the complaining to begin.  hahaha.  I shouldn't say that, but sometimes it's hard to hold your tongue.

Nobody has been able to figure out, yet, what it is.  But give it time.  Someone will guess.  Right now, nobody is even trying. hahaha. 

Okay, I need to wrap this up now.  Until next time...

Breyerfest...can I "Make It Work"...and BF Sneak Peak Reveal...

There's a reality show I used to watch all the time called Project Runway.  It's about a group of wanna-be designers competing for a chance to have their own clothing line.  Each week they are given a challenge to complete using different materials such as candy wrappers and aluminum foil.  It's quite interesting to see what they come up with.  Heidi Klum is the hostess and one of the judges, but then there's this guy, Tim Gunn, who serves as kind of like the mentor for the designers?  I don't know if that his actual job on the show, but basically he walks around the workshop and looks at the designs-in-progress and offers suggestions and whatnot.  One of the things he frequently says is "Make it work" if he is skeptical of the design or if they are running out of time.  Well, I'm in the midst of my own "Make it work" moment.

A couple of months ago I found some mail addressed to me that was upwards of 3 years old.  None of it was super important, but one of the items was my tickets to Breyerfest 2017 Gateway to India

Since I don't have my 2020 tickets yet, I brought the packet to work so I could use it in today's post.  The National Velvet model is for "just because".   I honestly don't know why I even still have this packet.  Maybe because it's the closest I've ever gotten to actually going and subconsciously I just can't bring myself to get rid of it?  Or maybe it's because I'm a hoarder and *can't* get rid of it.  I know I'll never use it, especially since it's from 3 years ago.  So why keep it?  I don't know.

2020 is Breyer's 70th anniversary, as we all know.  I wanted to go to Breyerfest 2019 because it was their 30th anniversary and they had some neat models and variations, but I just couldn't "make it work"...but now I am seriously considering it.  I think they might have variations on their special runs for the 70th anniversary as well.  I'm looking at a couple of different possibilities.  I can fly to Louisville for $444 some odd dollars and just have a 1 hour drive to Lexington, but I would have to leave fairly early on Sunday.  Like around 10am to get back to Louisville in time for my flight.  Or... I could fly to Nashville for about $50 less and have a return flight later in the day on Sunday.  The drawback to that is the cost of the car rental would take away the $50 I'd be saving on the flight and it's a 3 hour drive from Nashville to Lexington, so an extra 2 hour drive time.  The plus side would be that I've never been to Nashville before (or Tennessee) so that would be kind of fun.  Even if I don't get to do any sight-seeing.  But would it really be worth it?  And I don't know that "real life" will even allow me to be away from home for 4 days so I guess I need to discuss that with the other parties involved before I get too into anything.  I'm getting the feeling I'm not going to be able to "make it work" but I have to at least try, right?  Right.

So, I got this new lunch box last week called Crew Cooler II.  I have been wanting it for about 6 months now because I kept seeing it on YouTube and I like that it has all kinds of pockets.  I had been using an Igloo brand cooler, but it just wasn't doing anything for me.  Sure, it held a lot, which is important since I take both my breakfast (usually cereal) and lunch to work, but I just didn't like the layout.  Well, initially I was worried the CC II would be too big so I bought the Crew Cooler Jr.  As soon as I got it I had the feeling it was going to be too small but I tried to "make it work" (there's that phrase again) for my needs.  I had to pack it real carefully, though, and there was really no room for extra stuff and I couldn't just toss things in.  So I got the Crew Cooler II.  I was able to get it $15 cheaper because there was a coupon on Amazon for it.  When I picked it up from the new Amazon locker near my house, I was immediately concerned about the size because it shipped in a pretty big box, but I quickly discovered it was "over-boxed".  It was almost twice the size of the cooler!  I just love how Amazon packages things sometimes.  The Crew Cooler Jr came in a bubble mailer.  I am really liking this cooler bag!  It's a little longer than your average lunch cooler, but not hideously so.  I can either pack it carefully or I can just toss things in willy-nilly.  It's great!  It's not the perfect lunch bag, but it's pretty close to it, in my opinion. 

By now, I'm sure you're saying "But, Brenda, this is a HOBBY blog.  About model horses.  So why are you babbling nonsense about lunch bags?"  Well, did you see the model horse in the above photo?  Are you ready for this?

He traveled from my car to my desk in the top, dry portion of the lunch cooler.  Obviously he didn't fit perfectly, but pretty darn close.  Pretty neat, huh?  I thought so.  I wouldn't be able to put a traditional sized horse in there, but no problem with most classics.  I brought this model to work so he could live on my desk...

Instead of the shipping box in the back of my car where he's been living the past few weeks.  So now he share desk space with a bunch of Stablemates and a little horse that came from India when a co-worker went there a couple of years ago, plus some other things.  I'm running out of room on my desk.  National Velvet / The Pie, has such a sweet face and I have him situated between my two computer monitors so I can see him easily.  He's kind of looking at me.  hahaha.  I'm being stared at.  Stop it!  Stop looking at me!  aaaaack!  Yes, I'm just a bit strange.

Well, I guess that's it for now.  Breyer should be revealing the rest of the 3rd sneak peak model in the next day or two and when they do, I'll post it here so be sure to tune in.  The current consensus seems to be that it's the non-equine model and a few people are guessing the Black Angus mold...

Personally, I think it's too lumpy, as are the other cows/bulls.  I don't know if Photoshop is capable of smoothing out bumpy things.  But we shall soon see.

Till next time!

***It's "next time"***
hahahaha.  Wow.  Someone at Breyer is really stepping it up with their sneak peaks.  As stated above, I didn't think #3 would be a non-equine because it seemed so smooth and the non-equines are bumpy.  But #3 IS, in fact, the non-equine special run.

Meet Hamish...

"Meet Hamish, this year's BreyerFest animal model!  Created on the Angus Bull mold (#365, which has not been used by Breyer since 2004!), sculpted by Chris Hess, this beautiful Irish Moiled Bull represents one of the rarest cattle breeds to originate in Ireland.  Used for both beef and milk and originally bred in the northern Irish counties, this majestic animal - considered on of the oldest cattle breeds in Ireland - can now be found all over the world.  (In fact, Finland boasts an incredibly high population of Irish Moiled Cows, suggesting that the Vikings were quite fond of this breed, too!)

These gentle giants are known by farmers for their longevity, but they also have incredibly distinct markings - some are almost completely white!

We hope you love Hamish as much as we do!"

I don't usually collect the animal molds, but I really like the looks of this guy.  He's got a very sweet face and I like the markings.  Dangitall!  That's 3 for 3 now that I want.  What to do, what to do?

3rd Breyerfest Sneak Peak...

I was on Facebook and saw Breyer had posted they'd put up a sneak peak on their website.  I checked Blab to see if anyone had posted about it yet and was surprised to see nobody had.  So I went to the website so I could make a snip-it and posted it on Blab...

If someone is able to guess the mold from this photo, I am going to be completely shocked.  The color and paint reminds me of Great Spirit Horse on the San Domingo mold...sort of...

It wouldn't be, of course, but that's what it reminds me of.  The tiny square revealed by Breyer could be the barrell of the horse because there's not much on a model that would be that smooth.  Maybe the flank between the base of the tail and the stifle area...

I don't know.  I am excited to find out what it is, although not so much to hear people complain that it's another paint/appaloosa.  Oh well. 

As of this posting, only one person has commented and it was about the "splatter spots" and whether it might be old school appaloosa or pintaloosa.  I subscribed to the thread so I can see what other ideas are without having to keep checking back on Blab.  But I tell you what, short of the model being on a mold I absolutely do NOT like in any way, shape or form (<ahem> ashquar> ... I'm in trouble because that would mean 3 models that I want.

Model Horse Showing...and Jujube, a Breyer web special...

Back when I still showed model horses and would tell people what I was going to be doing "this weekend", I often got strange looks, an occasional eye roll and even some laughs.  People not in the hobby or familiar with it didn't understand how you could show a piece of plastic that essentially just stood there.  Even my brother laughed the first time he heard about it and asked "What do you do, run a model around a course?"  It was awhile before he understood, but he still made fun a little.  Most guys don't understand.

There are two main forms of showing horses that I know of.  One is Photo and one is Live.  I used to do both, plus I have hosted both.  They each have their pros and cons.

Photo showing can be beneficial to people who don't live near some place that has a live show or people with limited mobility.  In the "old days", you would get a class list then take photos of your models then mail those photos to the show holder with information on the back of the photo listing which classes you were entering in... (none of the photos are mine)

Fancy backgrounds weren't required, but they certainly made the photos more attractive to the judge.  So long as the model was accurate for the class, was clear of debris/dust and the background wasn't cluttered, that's all that mattered.  I loved getting stacks of photos and wish there were still photo shows done by snail mail.  Anyway, you would send your photos to the show holder who would judge the classes then mail everything back along with any awards you may have won.  I didn't enter too many photo shows because I didn't have access to a decent place to take pictures nor money to buy background photos...

Not that they're super expensive, but you still need to add things like footing to match the background and a place to set it up.

Another type of showing is Live Shows where you actually take your models to a location and show them in person.  That's what I mostly did.  I attended an annual show here in Arizona for a number of years plus I went to San Diego twice and Las Vegas once.  The one in Las Vegas was...an adventure... Sunday morning I dreamt the bed was shaking and woke up to discover there was an earthquake going on.  It ended up being a 4.3, which was a pretty good one.  I just sat in the middle of the bed and waited for it to stop.  Part of me wanted to look outside the window because it was my first earthquake, but in the back of my fuzzy head I knew I should stay away from the window.  When the shaking stopped, I got dressed and went down to the lobby for awhile.  I just felt more comfortable there.  I listened to the front desk clerk answering phone calls from guests and telling them that earthquakes were not uncommon in Las Vegas and that no injuries had been reported.  I was not staying at the host hotel, which probably was good because the host hotel was 14 stories (mine was 3) and I heard some scary things about the building swaying.  Later on after the show had started, we had a couple of after-shocks and the showers in attendance from California told us they could last all day.  I was only aware of 2, maybe 3 more.

ANYWAY, sorry...Live showing can be fun because you get to be amongst other horse enthusiasts and the chance to buy models to add to your collection.  You can choose to show performance and/or halter.  Halter classes are pretty easy, although no less competitive than performance.  Some of the performance scenes can get pretty involved.  At the Las Vegas show, someone had done a camping scene and had bought live fish to put in the stream she had made.  Everyone was talking about that one and wanted to see it.  I took pictures, but none of them came out very well since the hall didn't have very good lighting and I didn't have an external flash.  SLR cameras back then didn't have built in flashes like they do now.  I can't imagine, though, taking some of those performance set-ups to a show because they can be pretty involved...

I tried showing performance a couple of times, but never really caught on.  I sometimes a hard enough time getting my halter models in their classes without having to worry about bits falling out of mouths after setting them on the table or making sure the saddle is appropriate for the class.  I did pretty good.  Won a few First and Seconds, but mostly Third through sixth.  I only ever won an Overall Grand and would you believe I still have that trophy?

I was so shocked and tickled when I saw it by my horse.  I've won fancy-ish rosettes, but this is the only "trophy".  I think I still have the horse, too.  Her name is Alstatia.  I don't remember what I showed her as, though.

I also held mini shows at my house and at one of them, Kathleen Moody attended.  Back then, she was just another shower.  She hadn't become Breyer Famous yet.

It's been YEARS since I've gone to a live show.  I had to stop attending because I didn't have a car to go.  And then it was money.  I wasn't able to afford show fees or horses because I lived alone so all of my money went to rent and groceries.  When I was financially able to attend shows again, Arizona Live was no longer being held.  It is now being held again, but I haven't gone.  I have toyed with the idea of showing again on a much smaller scale, but I haven't done it yet.  I guess you could say I am nervous.  There was a show last month in a city about 90 minutes south of me that I'd thought of attending, but didn't get around to it.  The lady who runs Arizona Live is starting up "home shows" again, but I don't know if I'll go to one.  The first one she's holding is for AR/CM models and I have neither so that's an easy pass.  Maybe when she does an OF show.  Do any of YOU show?

Well, I guess that's it for now...there's no new Breyer news.  No sneak peaks this week.

**Update** And wouldn't you know it...as soon as I post this blog, I get an email from Breyer about a web exclusive...Jujube...

First introduced in 2016, the Berries series introduced horse lovers to a sweet crop of berry-inspired ponies.  For 2020, we are expanding our berry patch with a farm-fresh herd of new ponies you'll be excited to pick!  Sweet and similar in taste to apple, Jujubes are also called Chinese Dates.  While Jujubes sound exotic and are unknown to many, the thorny trees actually grow well almost anywhere there is a patch of sun.  Jujube the pony is a small Gypsy Vanner type, and a calm and mellow friend.  From hot sunny summer days to chilly autumn mornings, she is a steady partner and thrives in any climate.  Artist Sommer Prosser designed her charming silver dapple tovero coat.

She has a sweet face, for sure, and I like her coat pattern, although I'm sure some people will complain "Not ANOTHER paint!".  I'm not too keen on her price, but I will enter for her anyway.  Good luck to everyone who does as well!