That Hamilton Horse

I took a chance at the Walmart in the road construction zone today… and success!

While I’m tempted to go for broke and complete my collection of the Warmblood mold – especially now that the Fairytale Friends releases, including Sage, are open to anyone, club member or not – I  am still annoyed about the BreyerFest Arya release and I do not give up little grievances easily. 

In other Stablemate news Chalice, the Bonus Stablemate for next year’s Deluxe Collector’s Club membership, is a replica of the model that broke the bank at the 2019 BreyerFest Benefit Auction, and he’s pretty spiffy. I originally thought that he’d be a chase piece for the 70th Anniversary Stablemates set, but this will also do. (And be much easier to acquire!)

But the model that’s got me all twitchy and bothered is this hot ham and cheese sandwich of a horse:

Glossy. Dappled. Black. Hamilton. 

Pardon my French, but damn. Reeves, you ain’t playing!

Well actually, that I already knew, but the rest of you will see why in a few weeks. 

That Hamilton Horse better be either a pre-order, or a run of 3000+ pieces, because if my recent interactions have been any indication, their beleaguered Customer Service Reps have been through enough in the past year and really deserve a break. 

In fact, probably all deserve gift baskets. (Saturday is Sweetest Day in these parts…)

Rock On, Lobster

Just a little something today; a long-delayed project decided it needed to be done yesterday, and it threw my weekend plans completely off course.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the care and thought that’s been put selection of the colors, molds and motifs in the Zodiac series. This series has been a long time in development, and it shows. So much so that unlike the Blossoms, I have been giving some serious thought into buying the entire series.

Okay, I’m not thrilled that "my" horse (Taurus) is pink, again, but at least they jazzed him up a bit with some pleasing bronzy highlights, and a slightly naughty-looking bull:

The one model in this series that did give me a bit of a giggle fit was Cancer, on the popular Black Beauty mold:

What’s up with the lobster? Sure, they’re both crustaceans, but a lobster is not a crab.

This faux pas is not enough to dissuade me from potentially buying the series; my arch-nemeses time, space and money will be the more likely culprits there. But it is kinda funny: even in a series where every detail was obviously labored over, mistakes still happened.

You’ve probably heard the saying Perfect is the enemy of the good. There’s a tendency in this hobby towards perfectionism: the notion that model horses are somehow perfectible in a way real horses are not, and that nothing short of absolutely perfect is acceptable, either on the shelf or in the show ring.

It’s not a healthy idea, nor an achievable one. Aside from the philosophical problem - what constitutes perfect, exactly? - perfection is boring. If everything were perfect, there’d be nothing to talk about.

We should strive for better, instead: better is always doable. 

Some mistakes are groaners, but sometimes mistakes are just…funny. Cancer’s butt lobster is funny. And in its own way, endearing.

(I can’t believe I just wrote the phrase "Cancer's butt lobster".)

Pearl of Great Price

Well, that could have gone better.

Vita had been feeling unwell for most of the week - feeling restless, throwing up after almost every meal, eating grass, etc. By Thursday night, she was refusing even her most favorite treats, and had us so worried that we ended up in the emergency room of the vet hospital.

(Vita refusing a marshmallow? Unthinkable!)

X-rays ruled out a blockage or tumor; the initial bloodwork suggested pancreatitis, so she’s been at the hospital since then, for fluids, monitoring, more tests.

We visited her earlier tonight and she seems to be doing a lot better. In fact, she wanted to play with the other dogs there more than us. And the vet techs think she is just the sweetest dog ever.

Brat. It’s good to know if we ever need to board her that she’s totally okay with that, which I suspected would be the case. (We don’t call her "Miss Congeniality" for nothing!)

Anyway, it was kind of hard to focus on the garage sale and a medical emergency. I had to rely on another family member to do signage, and that didn’t work out so well. But Saturday is the "big" day at the Peach Festival, so new signs plus and improving Vita equals a better day, right?

Something simple, of course. Another nice Ninja Pit find - not as rare or exclusive as some, but still pretty good:

The Pearly Gray Classic Warmblood, part of the #712070 "Welcome to the World of Breyer Kit" with blanket, backpack, and booklet. A perk of Deluxe Kid’s Club membership that was also distributed at tour and PR events, they only made about 600 of these sets, making it scarcer than both the Tennessee Titan and the Lady C Store Specials.

Alas, for some strange reason a lot hobbyists aren’t all that into the more modern Classics. There’s a perception that they’re more toy-like, and specifically geared towards the younger set: thicker legs, more simplified features, brighter colors.

There are a few more modern molds I’m not all that crazy about: the Morgan Foal is just a little too smooth and angular, and the Morgan Stallion has an almost tubular head and boxy muzzle that bother me.

The Warmblood Stallion, however, is one that I happen to like, a lot. I think he strikes a nice balance: not too artsy-fartsy, but not too toy-ish, either.

The paint job, too: I know some of the newer releases are pearly or metallic to the point of being quasi-Decorators, but this fellow is just pearly enough to pass for freshly washed and groomed - just the effect that I believe Reeves was going for.