Checking Off The Boxes

I’m not sure how I feel about the long-awaited Premier Club Draft Mare and Foal Rhiannon and Rhemi: I don’t dislike them, but they weren’t quite what I was expecting, either. I suspect some of it is that I find the names a bit too twee and pretentious for my tastes. 

And they are Vanners. I get that they’re popular, but like most hobbyists, I dig the slightly more obscure and/or rarer breeds, especially ones on the chunkier side like Jutlands, Suffolk Punches and Dutch Drafts. Georg deserves a family! 

I’m not in that club anyway, so until they come out in a more widely available release, the whole argument is academic. I think I may like them more once I see them in a solid color. (Next year, probably.)

I will also not be buying the Collectors Club Special Jota. This is odd, because everything about him says he should be totally my thing: he’s a Gloss Black (check) Splash Pinto (check) Smart Chic Olena (and check). 

But he’s not doing it for me for some reason. I know a lot of collectors are turned off by the weirdness of his pattern, but it’s definitely not that: I was just researching Splash Pintos for my Standing Stock Horse Foal custom the other day, and I now have a disturbingly large reference file full of peculiar looking foals. They don’t look possible, yet they are. 

I once heard the word “cute” described as “ugly, but interesting”. That about sums it up: I find them cute.

But I think it’s the Gloss that’s the turn-off here. 

I’m definitely not one of those Finish Fanatics: I think some models look better in Gloss, some in Matte, and some look good regardless of their finish. Jota would have been more tempting to me in Matte, especially that soft, satiny Matte Black finish the Stretched Morgan came in in the 1960s. 

I know it’s possible: the Black Sabino version of Araba is pretty darn close!

Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to the Vintage Club Black Troubadour Tuxedo; I’m trying not to be mad that I couldn’t wait that extra day to order my Virkie. 

I am currently debating whether or this means I need to order a little something extra from the website, just because. I know I shouldn’t, but…

Winning

Let’s start off on a happy note: some the nasturtiums I planted a few weeks ago have sprouted! I was fearful that the chipmunks had dug up and eaten all the seeds, but it appears that some were spared. 

The seeds were an accidental gift (a mistake in my order) so I didn’t have anything invested in them emotionally or financially, but it’s still a happy and welcome surprise. The last time I attempted to plant nasturtiums (several years ago) those blasted chipmunks didn’t save me a single seed! 

I had another emotionally rough day here yesterday (and I am considering therapy for it, not gonna lie) but I did, at least, finish unpacking the car. (That shoebox of Stablemates is staying right where it is, though.) Here’s a group shot of my winners:

To recap: the Misty (Marigold) won Sectional and Division, the Thornycroft (Presto) Sectional Reserve (as a Spanish Mustang), and the Gloss Liver Chestnut Ginger Horse Smart Chic Olena (Forty Winks) won a very competitive Quarter Horse Stallion class. My fourth NAN card of the day came from my Stablemates G1 Bay Arabian Stallion (Trajan) who is still packed in the shoebox.

The Misty has NANed in both Collectibility and Breed before, incidentally. I think the Arabian has NANed in Breed, too, but I am not 100 percent certain and I would have to look up the particulars to be sure. (Not that it matters to me, since I don’t do NAN for lots of reasons. I am all about the ribbons!)

Winning a ribbon in any class is a thrill, but to do it in a very competitive class like Quarter Horse Stallions almost feels like more of an accomplishment than winning Sectionals in smaller, slightly less crowded Sections. (Though I’ll still take whatever I can get!)

Originally I was going to bring my Matte version, because I like him better personally, but Glosses tend to show better and my example really does have excellent dappling. 

Glad I did, since most of my other Stock breeds didn’t do a darn thing. Even the ones who had done alright in the past two shows. The mysteries of live showing, alas…

No more live shows or model horse-related road trips until after BreyerFest. It looks like I’ll have to skip that big estate sale on the other side of the state next week because of other commitments, unfortunately. I was not going to buy, just observe, but even that is a stretch with my schedule now.

Art Movements

All my entries are in for the VIP ticket thing. Since I’ll be out for most of the evening Wednesday, I won’t even bother checking my e-mail until Thursday and just assume that I lost anyway, unless evidence proves elsewise. 

BTW, I am totally here for these beautiful babies: Dada, Nouveau, Rococo, and Avant Garde. 

I was kind of hoping that the One-Day Stablemates would be all Decorators, and beyond my hopes and dreams, they’re even named after art movements! (Technically “Avant Garde” is more of a generic descriptor/qualifier than a specific historic movement, but it’s a Purple Wedgewood Fjord, so I will give it a pass.)

The only one that seems to be a bit of a stretch is the Fighting Stallion: aside from the fact that we already had an Art Nouveau-themed BreyerFest Decorator back in 2014, nothing about it screams “Art Nouveau” or “Alphonse Mucha” to me. He’s still pretty, but in more of a generic “Tri-Color Decorator Pinto” way. 

Or maybe Memphis? That I liked back when it was originally a thing in the 1980s, but it’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea.

The Eberl Andalusian (aka Chrome) would have been a better fit for an Art Nouveau theme, too, but I think they just wanted to shoehorn in the Stablemates Fighting Stallion somehow.

If it was me, I would have gone with an Art Deco themed Decorator. Think about it, people: an Art Deco Deco. (Probably a little obviously too on-the-nose, but not my call.)

My favorite of the quartet is Dada, because aside from the fact that the Darley Arabian mold is the perfect mold to embody it, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there is now going to be a Dada-themed Breyer Special Run. Whoa.

(Or maybe someone in New Jersey is a Grant Morrison fan?)

That’s all for today. Got a lot of stuff to get done this week and I’ve already spent way too much time researching airfares to Wyoming for a trip that probably can’t happen until next year. 

Crushed

Well, I thought I was holding it together pretty well this week, but then my Vintage Club Starlight arrived yesterday and well, I’ll let the picture speak for itself:

(The first thing that came to mind was: Dog Food, Linebacker, or Refrigerator?)

It’s being dealt with, but yeah, along with a few other unmentionable matters, things are not going well at La Maison des Gurdons. All I want to do this weekend is eat fried chicken and watch bad movies in the solitude of my basement.

The other “half” of my order came in a separate and surprisingly large box, completely and utterly intact and perfect:

The Starry Skies Pink Warmblood “Cassiopeia”. My first choice – like almost everyone else – was the Alborozo, but Cassiopeia was my second because I think this mold works surprisingly well as a Unicorn. And while I am also not a “pink” person, the color has a bit of iridescence to it and is actually very pretty in person.

I’ll get the others in this series eventually. Just not now because, you know, the world’s on fire.

There are also apparently some new Stablemates at Walmart – including a mini Liver Chestnut Brishen, a Pinto on the G4 Driving Horse, and the Fiero mold in Palomino. I did my shopping for the week yesterday, so I’ll have to wait until next week to see if they’re even in.

When Reeves first posted the Mini Rugged Lark on April Fool’s Day earlier this week, I assumed that it was a joke on the same level as the Decorator Khemosabi set from 2014: although probably fake, there had to be a nugget of truth in there somewhere.

That nugget being that there were likely more Mini Traditionals coming soon, and it was so. Actually, an SCO (Smart Chic Olena):

https://www.breyerhorses.com/blogs/news/sneak-peek-at-a-new-model

As an SCO collector, I approve of this choice.

I have no idea who is next on the shrink list, though.

Some of the early Hess molds – like the Clydesdale Mare and Foal, the Running Mare and Foal, and the Stretched Morgan – are likely, since their thicker legs and slightly less refined proportions would translate well into a smaller scale.

As for newer molds? Any of the Moody molds will do. Othello and Silver are obvious, and if they don't shrinkify the Ethereal mold, it'll be a dang crime!

Since Big Ben’s silhouette is featured prominently in their 70th Anniversary branding, I am assuming they are going to shrink him as well, perhaps as a bonus to be included in a Big Ben release later in the year.

(And if they don’t, they should have.)

Pardon me, but these chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs aren’t going to eat themselves.

Another Bowl of Ice Cream

Great, more Butter Pecan…

Because I really do want to add an affordable and attractive Emerson to my collection, I’ll just use the fact that they didn’t directly reference any character in their blog post and pretend the name is referring to someone different and/or better, like Milestone’s Rocket, the somewhat obscure Justice League International character Rocket Red, or even Dave Stevens’s Rocketeer.

All that’s left is the Decorator release, and… I got nothing on that. I kind of like the idea of a Translucent Camouflage model, but inexplicably they seem to be hinting that the military-themed model – Hero’s Welcome – will be the Surprise.

This makes no sense to me, since if any Special Run is inherently suited to a super-heroic theme, it’s one that involves a model whose true identity is a secret until it is almost literally unmasked. (But what does the comic book nerd with a complete original run of Booster Gold in her closet know, right?)

Regardless, if there is a Translucent Camouflage Special Run anywhere in the lineup – as a Surprise Horse rarity, or not – it’ll be on my list.

So at this point, my selections are going to be the Emerson, probably the Saint Bernard, possibly a Surprise Horse, and either the Appaloosa SCO or the Diana, depending on which one I like better in person. (And if I’m not in love with the Surprise, then definitely both.)

I’m not sure I’m interested in any of the Store Specials yet, though I do want to get a good look at the Dundee Hal first. I think that one is going to surprise a lot of people.

As for everything else, it’ll all depend on my mood, my budget, how much space I have in the car, what the Stablemates are, the slim possibility of winning something (ha!), and whatever I find in the NPOD or the CHIN.

In other words, the usual.

Butter Pecan, Again

So much news in the past few days, don’t know where to start with it all…

First, I screwed up the special offer code on the Espresso. It is DOUBLESHOT19. That is what I get for not triple-checking the proofreading.

Second, the first Web Special for the year is a continuation of the “America the Beautiful” series, with the Clock Saddlebred in Gloss Dappled Red Chestnut, named Muir Woods:

Others have pointed out that last year’s BreyerFest Special Run Straight Bet was a similar color and wowed everyone in person, gloss flaws aside.

The paint jobs on the “America the Beautiful” Series have been pretty stellar overall, and assuming they can get the gloss problems that plagued Straight Bet under control (it’s a significantly smaller run, so probably), I suspect that Muir Woods is going to look pretty stunning in person, as well.

All that being said, I’ll only be putting in a single entry for him: the Clock Saddlebred is not a must-have mold for me, and I really need to save up for a dedicated tabletop quilting machine.

(All the ones on my short list are not cheap. Of course.)

But if I get picked for Muir Woods, I would not be unhappy. Inconvenienced, maybe.

About the next release I want to talk about, another polysyllabic word comes to mind: ambivalence.

I love the Smart Chic Olena, and that color and pattern are awesome on him – seriously, they always come up with the neatest and most interesting colors for that mold.

But they are – as I feared – continuing to march down the yellow brick road to Disney/Marvel-land. Naming it after the one franchise, character and actor that aggravate me more than any others.

(Yes really, all three: my family can vouch for this.)

It’s like getting ice cream in the wrong flavor: you’re excited that it’s ice cream, but instead of Mint Chocolate Chip, Black Cherry, Fudge Ripple, French Vanilla, White Chocolate Raspberry, Rocky Road, Pistachio or any of the dozens of other flavors you like or love, it’s Butter Pecan.

This wouldn’t be so bad – Butter Pecan is a perfectly cromulent ice cream flavor, just not in my top twenty – except when it is always Butter Pecan. The first time is great, the second time is okay, that’s fine, but by the third-fourth-fifth time you find yourself thinking the unthinkable: saying no to ice cream.

Anyway. Here’s a bit of comic-book-related news that cheered me up a few days ago: of all the super-hero franchises in the world, I am baffled and delighted that the Legion of Super-Pets is getting a movie.

(I had heard the rumor, but did not think it true!)

Latigo Dun It and Collecting Philosophies

Since I had a twenty minute window of free time Saturday, I went to the toy store to look at the Alejandros. 

The dappling was not optimal on the examples I had to choose from, so he was easier to walk away from than I expected. 

I’m not a stickler for perfect dapples – you know me, I’ll even buy models with really bad dappling just because it amuses me so – but on this particular release I think being fussy is probably the right choice for me. 

But you know who had almost perfect dappling, gorgeous shading and color? A Latigo Dun It, one who looked very much like his “press” photo:

I’m certainly not immune to the Smart Chic Olena mold’s charms, and Reeves is in the habit of finding the most fabulous paint jobs to put on him. Yet he wasn’t on my must-buy list before, until I saw this one in this store…

Isn’t it funny when you walk into a store expecting to buy one thing, and find yourself smitten with something else? 

I’ve always considered myself something of an “organic” collector – my collection grows in response to whatever I find in my shopping environment, and not necessarily out of a specific list of wants or needs – but it is always a shock when a model sort of throws itself at me like that. 

Which is sort of the point of adopting that type of collecting philosophy in the first place. I’d much rather see every model as a possibility – even ones I hadn’t seriously considered before. 

Whenever I’ve just going to look for a very narrow range of molds or colors, or only pieces I would deem “perfect”, I feel like I’m setting myself up for more disappointments than not. And life is full of enough disappointments, you know? 

It was more a matter of time than money or desire that made me leave the Latigo Dun It behind: it was a quick look at the clock and the sudden realization that my 20-minute window of free time was so over. The store was busy (other people were pretty happy with their Alejandros!) and I really had no time to stand in line.   

It’s still a possibility he’ll come home with me, eventually. If someone else hasn’t already snapped him up by the time I can swing by next.

(Looks at schedule, wonders when that is. Sigh.)

Tractor Supply Season

No Leandro, no surprise.

I just took a look at my records, and I haven’t “won” a Web Special since Astru, and that was back in May of 2015. There have been a couple I haven’t entered for, and a couple I only put in a single token entry, but it’s been a year and a half since I’ve gotten a “You’re a Winner!” e-mail.

I’ve gotten a lot of great things in the interim, but being told I’m a winner – even in an e-mail, for a silly plastic horse I probably didn’t need anyway – would have been (a) a nice change of pace, and (b) a good pick-me-up. (I have plenty of flowers, so bouquets are of little use to me in that regard.)

That’s okay, since my money has to be allocated to other things; I will also not miss the messy internal dialogue I would have had about the logic of selling it to fund even more desirable things.

Speaking of Special Runs I likely won’t be getting either, it appears that we have now entered Tractor Supply Special Run Season: this year’s Specials are a Bay Pinto Silver named Santana, and a Bay Roan Smart Chic Olena named Garrett.

I consider both to be interesting and surprising choices, because we’ve already had two other Silver SRs this year (the BreyerFest Pegasus, and Leandro) and the Smart Chic Olena is soon to be released as the Fall Collector’s Club Special Run Gideon.

Like everyone else, I was thinking it’d be something more like Forever Saige or Latigo.

Someone at Tractor Supply must have a soft spot for the SCO mold: he was also previously released as an SR for them in 2006 as John Wayne’s Dollor, and Topsails Rein Maker was a part of their Regular Run product mix in 2014.

The past few years of Tractor Supply Specials have brought out some interesting behaviors in my fellow hobbyists. I know for many of us this might be the only opportunity to find a Special Run in the wild, but the intensity of the searches always knocks me for a loop. Especially since these runs aren’t particularly small or limited, and no longer even numbered.

Though I can perhaps understand it a little bit more this year, considering the molds in question.

I’ll probably get the Smart Chic Olena some time down the road, once I finish up the collection cleanout (I can always make room for another SCO!) but I’ll take a pass on the Silver. Aside from being not all that into the mold, he looks like a dressier variation of the Treasure Hunt Bay Pinto Silver from 2007: not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the Bay Pinto from that release was my least favorite from that set.

Maybe if I see him in person I might change my mind, especially if some of them turn out to be Chalky, like last year’s Jesses.

In the meantime most of my spare horse money will continue to be invested in box lots and flea market finds. I just got another doozy of a lot in yesterday that’s was well worth the price, as you’ll see later this week.

A Smart Chic Here, A Smart Chic There...

The Smart Chic Olena mold is rapidly becoming my modern equivalent of the Stretched Morgan mold: beautiful ones keep finding their way to me. Last year I got one of those “mystery” (Sample? Prepro? Test Batch?) Smart and Shineys from the NPOD; this year this fellow was part of my BreyerFest booty:

One of the predictions was correct: the Volunteer model was not a solid! The Appaloosa part was a bit of a surprise, since the last (and only other) Appaloosa Volunteer Special was the funky airbrushed leopard Zippo Pine Bar Zeppelin, from 1999.

The details on Parfait are amazing: striped hooves, handpainted light brown eyes, body shading, a lacy masked blanket. And roan, of course: three of my four Volunteer models are roans - black, bay and (now) chestnut.

I love roans, so that’s not a problem. It’s just a funny coincidence. (Well, I hope it is. I’ve actually been told most of these coincidences are. But some days I’m not sure.)

Then a few weeks ago, I ran across another lovely (and cheap!) SCO at the flea market – a new in box Topsails Rien Maker! He was promptly set free to join his brethren:

I had been eyeing that release for a while now, but I’ve been trying to watch the pennies lately, so a straight-up retail purchase was out of the question. Then this one showed up, along with the Missouri Fox Trotter Maverick, one of last year’s Tractor Supply Specials.

I’m undecided on the Maverick still; he’s very nice, but I’ve been trying to not get emotionally attached to him. Most likely he’ll be a part of my “pay off the credit card” year-end sales.

Speaking of Tractor Supply Specials, this year’s models will be rolling out in the next few weeks, depending on your local store’s timetable for setting up their holiday merchandise. One we already know: it’s a Matte Palomino(-ish) Wyatt, named Jesse. I’d love to get my hands on one, but again, that darn budget is getting in the way.

The second we only know by its name: Chance. If they follow the formula from last year, Chance will be a slightly older mold, and also spotted. I’m not in the mood or the mind to speculate any further on mold or color, other than I think it might be an Appaloosa of some sort, too.

I’m just hoping it’s not something I’ll have to arm wrestle my local hobbyists for.

More Shiney Variations

The BreyerFest leftovers now, too? Gah!

Okay Reeves, you can knock it off now. You’ve finally earned my last precious bit of walking around money.

Circumstances did not line up in my favor to even make into the Silver Anniversary Shop until Sunday, and everything of interest to me was long gone by then. So I was happy to see they had some of the Silver Filigree Misties in the leftovers sale somehow. I threw in the Sherman Morgan and the Bears onto my order, too. I wanted them anyway, so if either one turns out to be Silver, that’s just a bonus.

That means, of course, that I’ll have to redouble my efforts to get something up for sale in the next few weeks. One tough decision I’ll have to make is which one of my Production Run Smart and Shineys to keep. You see, I just happened to notice a few weeks back that the two I had left had more than a mere difference in shading:

The markings on the muzzles aren’t the same! Aside from the kissy spot, the masking on the lower lip is different, and the markings in the left nostril are neither the same size nor shape.

There’s always some variation with masked markings; it’s just about impossible to have masking be perfectly consistent in an item that runs in the thousands. But the difference here is enough to make me think that there were either two separate runs (like the Gooitzens) or two different production lines running simultaneously.

Significant variations within Celebration Model runs are not that unusual. The first one that springs to mind is 1996’s Tseminole Wind; some of them were made from leftover bodies from the Sham’s 1995 QVC rerelease, and have the "95" mold mark to show for it.

The second is the 2001 Atlantis Bey V: some have masked stockings, and some don’t. I received one of each, and I had such a hard time deciding between the two I ended up keeping both.

I don’t have that luxury with the Shineys, alas. Someone’s gotta go. Right now I’m leaning towards keeping the spotless one.

American Shineys

Due to the surprising demand for the Anniversary blankets, I’m going to have to limit them to one per person. Since I haven’t finished emptying my storage boxes yet, there’s a possibility that more may turn up.

I had no idea that they were such a hot item - or that I had cornered the market on them! I had some urgent paperwork to follow up on today, so I should get back to everyone on Tuesday.

Here’s another mystery of the Pit. They looked like this:

And turned out to be this:

At first glance, it’s just another 2013 Smart and Shiney - until you start looking at the details. There’s no VIN, of course, and the paint job is deeper, darker, more metallic, with more pronounced dappling. The belly stamp is different - just a generic "BreyerFest 2013" imprint in a script font, not the more complex stamp in black with the Breyer logo that the boxed Shineys have.

And the face - it’s hard to capture in my less-than-stellar photography, but his face is completely different, with a spot on his muzzle, a crisper and more complex blaze, and more dramatic shading overall. In other words, this is not your average Shiney.

Since they were all bagged and bubblewrapped, and there were several boxed Smart and Shineys for sale at the hotel in the $35-45 range, most shoppers gave them a quick once over and moved on. I was moderately curious, but my arms were already full, and I figured that if they turned out to be something special, I’d get one later on.

One of my roommates - as big a Smart Chic Olena fan as you’ll find - ran past me a few hours later yelling "They’re Samples! They’re gorgeous! They still have a ton of them in the Pit!"

So I went and got one.

The word "Sample" gets bantered about a lot in hobby circles: we use it to refer to any recent model that doesn’t have a VIN backstamp. The truth is a little more complex than that: any model manufactured in the U.S. - whether it’s a Test Color, some flavor of Sample, or a lower-piece run Special Run (less than 100 made, usually) is not required to have a VIN backstamp.

The current working theory is that these Shineys were a batch painted up in the U.S. for a still-unknown reason. There was at least an entire box of these guys - around two dozen, maybe? - while Sample quantities typically register in the single digits.

None of us had the insight, as far as I know, to ask any of the Breyer people about them. (And me, I had some issues.) I have about another week of unpacking, sorting and inventorying to go, so if anyone else wants to take the lead on this, that’d be great.

There were still some of these "American Shineys" in the Pit on Sunday, so there’s a chance we’ll be either seeing them again - next year, or on the web site. If they do, and if you’re a SCO fan, don’t hesitate.

Wabi-sabi and the Model Horse

I wasn’t expecting Halo to be the second Vintage Club release this year, as long time readers know by now. I interpreted Reeves words cleverly rather than obviously, which I should know not to do by now, considering my recent success rate on predictions.

So I won’t even hazard a guess on the mold for the BreyerFest Gambler’s Choice/Surprise model this year, except to note - as others have - that the descriptive term they’re using for it (CC Shuffle) is a reference to a style of line dancing. (So, something gaited?)

What I want is something with a saddle - Western Horse, Western Pony, Western Prancing Horse, Fury/Prancer - but realistically, I don’t see that happening. (Wouldn’t a Leopard Appaloosa Western Horse be awesome?)

Speaking of, I did finally get to see the Retro Release Roany Chestnut Appaloosa Western Pony last week and liked him a whole lot more than I thought I would. I didn’t buy one - trying to keep a tight rein on my budget, still - but if they should offer it up at a discounted price later in the year like they did with the Pinto Prancer, I just might.

The other new release that really caught my eye - and by surprise - was the latest on the Smart Chic Olena mold, a portrait of Topsails Rien Maker. I’m not the kind of person who gets super excited over Another Chestnut Quarter Horse release, especially on a mold that’s already seen a more than a few, but it was darn hard walking out of the store without him.

I loved the fact that - aside from the bang up job on the color, overall - they also incorporated the real Rien Maker’s Bend Or spots into the paint job. I’m not ashamed to admit that it’s those little details that make my heart grow fonder.

I think the first time Breyer actually incorporated a natural-occurring color "imperfection" into a portrait model was with the 1989 Limited Edition Abdullah, on the Trakehner mold. I was just as taken with it then - it being the Trakehner mold and a rather detailed paint job overall didn’t hurt, either.

(Sorry for the subpar picture - he really is much prettier in real life.)

The incorporation of these natural "flaws" has received rather mixed reviews, however, from hobbyists. While some appreciated the extra effort made to capture the unique characteristics of individual horses, others were dismayed by what looked like (to them) obvious manufacturing errors. There was quite a bit of consternation, for instance, when the 1999 Special Run Five-Gaiter Will Shriver came with only one eyewhite, and the 2003 USET Special Run Brentina came with white flecks, both reflecting actual characteristics of the portrait horses themselves.

Hobbyists are so accustomed to striving for perfection that any deviations from it - even if it’s something actually seen on the horse they’re trying to duplicate - tends to stand out. And not favorably so, in some eyes. 

That desire for a perfection that cannot be (realistically) achieved in real life is one of the reasons why I tend to think that the hobby can never truly be a "re-creation of the real horse world, in miniature". As I’ve said before, I think the hobby is more it’s own thing than just a shadow of something else. 

Striving to create the "perfect horse, in miniature" is totally fine, if that’s your goal. The wabi-sabi aesthetic is not for everyone. But surely there’s room enough in the hobby for both approaches - and the entire spectrum in between, right?

Peeling Turnips

I’ve been trying to lie low, finish old business and all that, but with limited success. I can only sit still and work for so long to work on a project before I have to get up and do something else for a while, even if it is only washing the dishes or taking out the trash.

Or hopping on the Internet for a few minutes. This I really, really need to stop; not because it’s a time-suck (because it is) but because the hobby has gotten really dark over the past week or so.

It’s been going way beyond the usual carping and moaning; I got a couple pages into the griping on Blab about the 2013 BreyerFest Celebration Horse - Lyle Lovett’s Smart And Shiney - before I decided that peeling and chopping turnips was infinitely more preferable than watching hobbyists do the same with Breyer's latest and greatest.

(I’ve been experimenting with things I’ve been finding on the discount produce rack at the local grocery store. With mixed success.)

I don’t know if it’s Seasonal Affective Disorder, or the events in Connecticut contributing to this, but dang, folks. Log off and go self-medicate with hot chocolate or something. (Probably not turnips, unless you're into that sort of thing.)

As for the hue and cry over a lack of imagination (Another Palomino Smart Chic Olena? The horror!) Y’all do realize that when it comes to living, breathing horses, they’re not quite as variegated as our imagination? And that the owner, in most cases, is the one who gets to make the final decision on what mold gets used?

If you got a problem with it, talk to Mr. Lovett about it.

If anything, this makes me somewhat more hopeful about next year’s BreyerFest. I’ve made no secret of my general dislike of country music, but Lyle Lovett is one of the few modern country artists I don't mind so much. And I love the Smart Chic Olena mold, so no complaints from me, there.

Speaking of palomino paint jobs, it appears that the Marwari mold is getting released in just that color in 2013. Looks nice, but I’ll wait until I see one in person before I buy/order, mostly because it'll give me some time to resolve my space issues.

Also included among the 2013 releases will be a Bay Tobiano Brishen; as for the third 2012 Premier mold, I saw or heard no mention of a new release on the Desatado/Criollo mold, yet, but I imagine that will be coming shortly - sometime around the release of the Traditional Totilas mold, I presume? If not, he'll be a safe bet for a BreyerFest release, I think.

Salt and Pepper, Cream and Sugar

Today’s prayer: that some of those beautiful American Cream Draft centerpieces from the American Horse Publications awards dinner (as seen on Breyer’s Facebook page today) end up in the NPOD, and if I should miss them in the melee, that someone should hand one to me.

Oh, I’m not asking for it as a gift: I’m perfectly willing to pay for it. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, should someone else other than me happens to lay hands on mine, you know.

(Another long story, one that will be told only if and when one of those beautiful boys should join my herd. Yes, I am fully aware of - and own - the #906 Goliath, the 1995 Commemorative Edition. In fact, it’s part of that danged story.)

The Salt and Peppers are starting to show up, but mine’s not due here until tomorrow, I think; very nice of Reeves to send us UPS shipping notifications without prompting. (See, they’re learning!) The pattern on the mare is pretty much just like Western Prancing Horse’s, not the Shetland Pony; the composition of the original photograph did obscure it, though.

I’ve been trying to skim through the various online discussions about them because, well, I don’t need the additional grief, and I’m really not in the mood for more whining and whinging today.  Besides, y’all are amateurs in comparison to the Vita Monster: we cut back a bit on her snacks recently, and she’s not having it.

(Her tantrums are way cuter, too. Though the knocking of stuff off the tables, not so much. Terriers, man.)

I think I’m liking this year’s BreyerFest auction pieces better than most hobbyists; all these odd patterns and mold "mash-ups" give me the feeling that a greater percentage of them are actual test pieces, and not just whimsies done to please the hobby hoi polloi.

Like the red dun brindle Smart Chic Olena: there have been a couple other attempts at brindling in previous years’ auctions, and this SCO may be representative of where they are from a production standpoint. Still not there, but getting warmer.

I certainly wouldn’t turn it down if it were offered to me as a gift. (Not asking, just saying.)

Though, like everyone else, my favorite is the "Blackpool" Brighty in an adorbs mahogany bay pinto - with tack! We really do need a few more production run Brighties; the last two Specials were the BreyerFest 2005 Ticket Special Oliver, and the 2010 Contest prize Cameo, both of whom are just about impossible to acquire.

Another Brighty might make a nice Special Run for the Collector’s Club, don’t you think? Wouldn’t need to be spotted; I’d be happy with a Dark Bay or Black.