Priceless

One good thing about the massive amounts of snow in the yard? All that reflected light means it’s been a good time to unyellow horses! The Little Man (Palomino Stock Horse Stallion) that I was considering selling is looking almost nice enough to keep now.

As I’ve mentioned before, older Palomino paint jobs are notoriously fugitive: they change with exposure to heat and/or light. Breyer Palominos tend to turn honey-brownish - often attractively so - while many Hartland Palominos turn lime or chartreuse green. Which, depending on your taste, could also be attractive.

The Yellow Palominos of the 1980s? Apparently not that fugitive. Three months might not be enough to effect a change, true, but so far my Little Man is just as painful to look at now as he was back in December. (Whether this is a good thing or bad thing? You decide!)

A Bay Fighting Stallion I picked up in a box lot a while ago, however, is still an unpleasant shade of Cigarette Orange. My lack of photographic skills, for once, are doing him a great kindness:

He was cheap, is relatively common, and is not in the bestest shape anyway; once a few other projects are out of the way, he may become another restoration test subject.

I do have a little bit of guilt about that: he does have footpads, no USA mark, fully modeled and shaded boy parts, and has some pretty nice shading overall. I’d be perfectly amenable to selling him as is to someone who’d look past his relatively minor imperfections. (Postage plus a nominal amount to cover fees and stuff?)

Speaking of, I noticed on the Breyer Calendar of Events that they actually listed - in addition to the usual Fun Days and Live Shows - a Swap Meet! Alas, it was in Missouri, so it’s not something I would have been able to attend, being in Michigan and having to work.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/calendar?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=1937

I do like that Reeves is tacitly supporting something like this. Not everyone wants - or is able - to show, and many don’t have the financial means (or fortitude!) for bigger events like BreyerFest. Sometimes all we want to do is hang out with our fellow oddballs and talk horses.

Heck, that’s a huge chunk of the appeal of BreyerFest. The shopping is great, but confabbing with a bunch of people who sort of "get me"? Priceless.

Sure hope it’s something that catches on. I don’t see why it couldn’t, since it’d involve far less prep than a live show: just some space, some tables, and some refreshments. I wish I could do another one in these parts, but I’m not sure it’d be feasible with my schedule.

I’d be more than willing to pitch in, though! Especially on the refreshments part.