Model Horse Melodrama

Generally I’m not a big fan of Victorian Melodramas: it’s not so much the style that bothers me (though it sometimes does: it can be so emotionally exhausting!), but the fact that all too often it feels like I’m living in one.

 

(I picked up a small stack of these at the local flea market years ago, because seriously, why wouldn’t you?) 

I had a couple of really rough days last week and was feeling pretty low, so you guys don’t know how much it means to me that y’all are (mostly!) sticking up for me on this incredibly bizarre BreyerFest Test Color Adventure. I don’t know where this is going, but I am definitely not taking my hands of the wheel until the car comes to a complete stop.

As a minor reward to all of you, I’d like to point out that there’s a seller on eBay who has a couple of Unpainted Sherman Morgan bodies up for sale – the older lumpy ones with the turd-shaped tail! (They are listed as Mustangs, so might not come up in you saved searches.)

I know there’s lots of Shermie fans out there who might go for that sort of thing, history buffs who’d want a cull of an obsolete version of the mold because history, and Unpainted collectors looking for something rare and cool.

Anyway, moving on…. 

I’m going to be extremely busy for the next month or so, because absolutely nothing is finished for BreyerFest and beyond. This week I’m hoping to get the Sampler and its associated paperwork done, or mostly done, and then I can spend the rest of my time working on the live show stuff.

I am trying not to get too worked up about the show, either, but I want to at least not embarrass myself. And I am setting my sights pretty low for success: one NAN card, and 5 to 10 placings total seems reasonable, considering the size of the show. (Unlike a lot of shows nowadays, they place to tenth. Tenth counts!)

Any prize model would be a delight forever, but I am not betting on it. Two factors that do seem to have some effect on the quality and quantity of one’s placing are (a) spending big [I don’t] and (b) being lucky [for the most part, no]. Fortunately, the Overall and Reserve aren’t on molds that are must-haves for me, either. 

The color on the Roxy Tilbury is gorgeous – one I was considering for the custom of the Classic Quarter Horse Mare I’ve been playing with – but I prefer the loose mane to the braided on her. Most of Breyer’s newer braided manes just don’t do it for me. (Except for the ones on the Gabriel version of the Nikolas mold. Those are pretty adorable.)

 

The problem with the Big Ben mold is that he has a lot of unattainables in his back catalog, and they’re all the ones I want the most (Silver Twilight, Sonnet, Serengeti, the FEI Dark Bay). It is hard to get my hopes up when all I see when I look at Stanhope is the newest member of that exclusive club.