New Arrival

Hey everyone! Emma here! I was recently able to trade an obnoxious amount of the pony pouches I make for the newest Premiere Club model, Forever Saige! She was sculpted by KLF and the color was chosen by I got her today and I thought I'd share some photos.

Sorry for the amount of reviews and new arrival posts this week, but hope you like them! ;)

Well, this is Forever Saige or as I've named her, "RRS Crash My Party" or Callie. She's a mustang mare and while there isn't an exact run number, it is suspected there is about 750 made. Overall I really like her. She's much better in person; photos do her no justice!

Her face is very expressive and she looks very sassy. She has tri-eyes as well.

She has proper mare parts and her blanket wraps all the way around.

'Callie' is beautiful from her withers...

To her hooves.

She has a very detailed blanket.

So much sass!

Even though she isn't the most performance friendly horse, I had the urge to tack her up. Because of her big forelock she can'r wear a traditional browband unless it's been cut. So really, she can wear most western bridles. This mold isn't the best for traditional showing, but both my english and western saddles fit her. My girths were much too big for her, though! She's wearing a bosal I made in these photos.

I like her as a green pony in training. She obviously doesn't want to go over this little jump!

She succeeds in removing the rider. :P

Hopefully you all enjoyed this post! What other topics would you like to see? I have some ideas, but the readers are the most important!

-Emma

Icicle Review!

Today I am going to be reviewing Breyer's Icicle! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to trade for 2 glossies I have actually been wanting for a while so I can cross them off the list now. 

-Icicle-

This little guy was the 2013 Limited Edition Flagship Horse (3,500 were made.) He is a lovely glossy dappled grey.

 Mine is a very subtle dapple variation so he doesn't have the crazy Breyer dapples.

He has the limited edition stamp on his barrel, the stamp is under the gloss.

His head is super cute and expressive and I especially love the mane shading. 

I also like how he is on the bit and standing quietly even though he still looks a bit spunky.

Overall I really like this guy and he is a keeper for sure! One of my main pet peeves is that his mane is not quite saddle and bridle friendly. He is also a lot smaller than most other light horses or even most ponies so he will need his own tack set. (not a problem)  Since I plan on using him as a dressage pony it will not be a huge problem with the saddle. 

-Becky

The Seven Deadly Sins Of A Model Horse Collector

Hey everyone! :) Emma here! This is a fun little tag I saw someone doing on YouTube. At first I thought it would be silly, but in all honesty it was really fun. So let's go!

1. GREED: What is your least expensive model? What is your most expensive model?

My least expensive model would be the Chinese Dragon horse. I bought ten dollars of raffle tickets and won FIVE NIB horses including this guy, so really I only paid $2.00 each! 

I really don't pay that much for models (I mostly trade) so I'm going to go off of value. My PTC glossy appaloosa wins by far. One sold for over $800, and I could probably sell mine with all his NAN cards for about $600. He's one of my favorites though, so that probably won't happen! :)

2. WRATH: What model do you have a love/hate relationship with?

The model I have a love/hate relationship with would be this guy. He was another raffle win. His shading, hooves, and shoes are amazing but his eyes and mane urk me. He has too much tail and too little forelock!

3. GLUTTONY: What’s your favorite model?

I *hate* this question, but it would probably have to be my Bats In The Belfry. When I started collecting seriously he was one I absolutely needed, as bats are my favorite animal. He's won Halloween classes and he's the model I use to display my tack when I sell at shows!

4. SLOTH: What do you hate about your model horses?

This is a tough question. Like a lot of people I sometimes go through phases where I'm not as into it and just read forums and such, but most of the time I'm just like 'make all the tack and paint all the horses!'

(random photo of my cm micro mini because I can)

5. PRIDE: What model are you the most proud of?

Hmmm... The horse I'm most proud of. That would probably be this guy!, RRS Rein Or Shine! I got him in the newer mystery foal set and the judges love him! He's got a NAN card from every show I've been to with him, two division champs, and most recently an overall reserve champ!

6. LUST: What do you look for in a new model horse?

There are a couple things I look for. The first thing I obviously look for is if I like the color and mold. Next I look at if I can afford it. If it's performance friendly, it's just icing on the cake!

(another random photo)

7. ENVY: What is your grail?

My holy grail is the glossy appaloosa Stoneleigh Surprise. If you haven't guessed, my favorite horse color is leopard appaloosa! I've only seen one of these guys up for sale and when it was, it was over $600. A girl can dream!

Well, that's all the questions! As this is a tag, I should probably tag some people... 

I'm going to tag Desktop Stables and Braymere Custom Saddlery, my two favorite blogs! Hope you can do it!

-Emma

The 6 Unwritten Rules of Commissions

Ya'll have no idea how hard it is to write a blog post. If you read this and have a blog you write, I have respect for you!

1. Give a finish date! If you are not sure tell the client that you aren't sure! You don't need to give an exact date, but a ballpark idea is usually appreciated.

2. When you describe your tack or painting skills it is okay to say you make LSQ tack or customs, if they have placed in an open live show performance class. That said, you do not make LSP tack or customs. LSP (or live show proven) means that the horse or tack has already been shown and has placed at an open show level.

3. Progress photos, lots of them! As a client they are entitled to see how their commission is progressing. 

4. Don't worry, they wouldn't have asked you for a commission if they didn't like your work. As long as you work as hard as you did on your other pieces, this one will be just as good.

5. Be respectful of the client. Use emoticons sparingly if you must and write in complete sentences, it makes a world of a difference! I assume you to be mature and professional when you double check your spelling and caps!

6. Once you accept a commission you are obligated to complete it, because by opening your books you are telling everyone, "I have time to work on x number of horses." Yes, as your client I know you have other things to do... but I am paying you to do something you told me you had time for.

Most importantly, have fun doing the commission! Don't forget that you enjoy it, if you are stressed over something take a break from accepting commissions. This hobby is for fun! ;)

-Becky

English Performance Photos

Well hey! Maddy here, unfortunately the last few months of the year are always super busy for me and it seems like I always have so much work to do only half of it gets done! Well anyways after lots of prodding by Emma I've finally made time for a quick post, photos from the past live show I attended, more coming soon, enjoy! :)

What the start of every performance class looks like,
Left-Emma, ball cap-me, cowboy hat-Becky, black shirt- Rachel Fail.

Owned by Jackie Moore

Owned by Emma VR, saddle by Five Paws Studios, bridle and pad by Lazy H Custom Tack

Emma's Fault, owned by me, tack by Galxey Sparrow Studios

Owned by Becky McCorkendale, tack be Flying B Saddlery

Owned by Becky, tack by Becky a.k.a Flying B Saddlery

Owned by Rachel Fail, horse by Claire Williams, tack by Rachel+Braymere Saddlery



Poet, painted by Emma VR, tack by Flying B Saddlery, owned by Becky

Official Hiatus + A Tutorial

Hello everyone! Wow, we haven't posted in... Well, a LONG time. We've all been busy with real horses and preparing and going to model horse shows. :) 

One of the models at Haunted Horses in October. Loved him!

Anyway, to get back in the groove of things, I thought I'd do a tutorial! This can apply to both photo showers and live showers, and it's something many of them have trouble with. What I'm talking about is finding the show side!

Knowing and being able to find the show side of a model is very important. There are several ways to find it.

You should look at two things when trying to find the show side. Let's take a look.

First is the head. Which way is it turning? Are they looking straight ahead or at one side? If the horse is looking to one side, you've done it. That's your show side.

As you can see, these horses head's are turning to 'look' at the camera. This is the side you would want facing the camera or the judge. PC: Breyer

So your horse is looking straight ahead, not looking any direction. The next thing you want to look at is the mane. What side is it on? The shading of the mane is can be a big deal and show off the horse.

While not the best example of conformation, this is the show side of this horse. Even though he's looking straight ahead, his mane is on one side and adds to the horse's look. PC: Breyer

Another example. The mane shading enhances the look makes the rest of his shading 'pop.' PC: Breyer

Now let's look at the ideal photo show photo.

RRS Soylent Green owned by EVR, painted by Emily Paige Squires

As you can see the horse is completely parallel to the camera so you can see his whole body. He's bending towards the camera, so we know we have the right side. The background and sand is in scale and not too distracting. The lighting also shows off his mold and his shading.

Hopefully this all makes sense, add any questions in the comments below! :) We are sorry for not being around and hopefully posts will be more frequent now. 

-Emma