General Additions thread - Catching up on all I missed, pt1

Happy birthday George! you bought yourself a very lovely present :)
Akhal tekes are my favourite horse!
I really like the collars you made for him, I think they look perfect on him!

And that is such a beautiful book! I hope to get it one day:)

Thanks!

It's great to have a Traditional model actually sculpted as an Akhal-Teke at last. I have got a couple of other OF releases posing as them, but they're both Thoroughbred moulds so they're close in build and the coat colours are fine, but not quite accurate in proportion or their faces.
You can see them here on my Akhal-Teke page, the first one is Breyer's official release of the breed way back in 2007 (I won him in a raffle at a model horse show!), the other a bit further down the page is a TB mould in a very non-TB colour, which I changed the breed on by renaming him in Turkmen and giving him some collars to wear - he fits in ok with the 'real' ones on the same page, I think!

The book was something I'd coveted for a long while, I knew it would be beautiful but it was really expensive. Then I got one of those Ebay vouchers for 20% off certain sellers, so I used it on a bookstore's listings to buy this one and a book on cormorants I'd wanted for ages too.
I just had a look and sadly there don't seem to be any copies on Ebay at the moment, so it might have got harder to find since I bought mine

Today's additions are a mixed selection, let's start with the most unusual...

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This is Crusher, a medieval warhorse - he doesn't tally with any modern breed really, so he's just going to have to live on the 'Historical' page of my site. Made totally from scratch by one of my hobby friends, he's stuffed felt, with wired legs for support (the bent legs are cut that way in the pattern, so although he's slightly bendy and the pose can be adjusted a little, he's not poseable in the sense you could make him stand all four feet down, or reposition into a canter)

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Crusher was made quite a few years ago now, he spent some time living with a collector in the USA then came home to his maker, but ended up going into storage and she thought he'd be much better off being appreciated and displayed rather than living in a box, so she gave him to me. I have quite a few of her other pieces, as well as special orders made like the horses I knew and loved back when she was creating these 'felties', so he's in a herd with lots of friends (on my bedroom carpet - being totally unbreakable squishy soft things, these are the only model horses I can keep on the floor! )

Next, some older CollectA horses.

When I first started buying this brand, many of the releases were the same sculpt sold in two different colours. To cut down on expense and the space they'd take up, and to avoid feeling like I ought to buy any colours I didn't like or think were well done for the sake of completeness, I made the decision that I'd buy just one, choosing whichever colour I liked best.
For a long while I stuck to this self-imposed rule, then CollectA sprung a change on us - rather than revealing two colours simultaneously, they'd release one, I'd buy it, and then a couple of years later they'd present a new version. Now, what if I liked the second colour more than the first, which I'd already got? It made no sense to deny myself models I liked the look of, so I abandoned the one-per-breed idea, and ordered the new colours as well.
And this meant there were now many older colours, which I liked perfectly well enough to own, but had passed on at the time by picking the other option. No logic in excluding them forever just cos I'd changed my collecting habits in the meantime, right? So I ordered some of those too

Just recently, I bought some second hand CollectA bundles on Ebay, with repainting in mind - many of them were slightly scuffed or play-worn doubles of models I already had in perfect condition, so they were destined for new coats of paint. But in amongst them were a few of the 'missing' colours, in nice enough condition to keep as they are : more to tick off my wishlist!

So here's the few who got picked out for promotion to my proper collection...

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The older chestnut Arabian mare, sold as 'Golden Chestnut' but not overly metallic in person, definitely on the subtle side of shiny gold paintwork!
I've named her Mirana, which means 'adorable' according to a list of Arabic names (I know these online resources cannot always be trusted 100%, cos the writers guess or improvise or get origins muddled, but at least it doesn't translate to Potato or Slug or something )

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With the new Arabian mare - as well as the obvious difference in the shade of chestnut, you can see the massive improvement in the way the white socks are done now. The 2010 release has a nice crisp face marking, but her legs have a blurred fuzzy edge rather than a realistic sharp line between colour and white.

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And the Lusitano in grey - I chose the buckskin first time round, but kind of wished I'd gone for the grey when I had one arrive in a previous lot of damaged 'body' models as it was so pretty and flatters the sculpt more. Sadly that one was too rough to make his way into my collection and is still awaiting transformation with a new paintjob, but this second one was far nicer, with just a little bit of scuffed paint on his mane and tail, which was easy to touch up.
I've named him Visqueiro, a name picked by googling real grey Lusitano stallions to make sure I got something in the right language which suited both his sex and colour - it means 'mistletoe', which is nice cos I do like nature-themed names for my models.

Along with the CollectA bundles were a couple of foals, from brands I don't actively collect, but they're cute enough to join my Miscellaneous shelf!

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A rolling foal by Papo, this is a fun sculpt which balances perfectly on his back thanks to the tips of his ears, which steady him so he's in no danger of rolling right off the shelf

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And a foal by Bullyland, marked 'Friese' underneath which I'm assuming is the German for what I'd know as a Friesian. I've only got Bullyland's Norwegian Fjords and an Icelandic, so he's going to have to be adopted by another nationality

Finally, one which was quite literally in the body box, but has been given a last-minute reprieve, the black Dartmoor Pony.

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I'd only got the bay in my collection, and while I was excited by the potential for painting this one a new colour cos it's such a beautiful little mould to work with, I decided it would be just as nice in the long run to tick off another original colour from the list of CollectA releases. As he's in near-perfect condition and looks handsome enough as he is, there's no harm in adding one more pony to my page of Dartmoors. Now he has a photo, and will be named once I've thought of something, he definitely won't end up being painted after all!

I still have one of this mould left to repaint, a duplicate bay with one greenish sun faded side, so I won't take pity and keep him too - he genuinely will look a lot better repainted!

The stuffed horse is very well done. Often stuffed animals don't have a great shape, the this one really looks like a medieval horse. What size is it? I like the Papo foal, I think companies should more often make lying and rolling horses.

I think I haven't congratulated you yet for your birthday. My technological limitations during those days are the best excuse I can give.
Since you enjoyed your day with your animals and plants, I am sure it was a perfect day. Your self-gift surely gave you some extra energy, it is a very dynamic model.
You're also good finding excuses to buy color variations of CollectA models. This new Arabian color is certainly a good one.
Visqueiro is defintely a Portuguese word, it is not a commonly used word and probably most people will think about isqueiro instead which is a ligter. Please never use isqueiro as a name for a horse.
By the way, I don't know who is the other Roger, if you're refering to me, I'm not Roger actually, I am Rogério, Roger is just a lazy username.

That's the right way of thinking about it, Roger is the lazy version of Rogério

rogerpgvg wrote:

The stuffed horse is very well done. Often stuffed animals don't have a great shape, the this one really looks like a medieval horse. What size is it? I like the Papo foal, I think companies should more often make lying and rolling horses.

I borrowed a tape measure - honestly, that is why it took me so long to reply to this, cos I didn't want to respond with a vague 'um, I don't know how big it is' or end up saying 'about two hand widths tall?' like how you measure real horses He's 8 inches (or 20cm if you're metric) to the highest point of the curve of his neck, or 6 inches (15cm) if measured to the shoulder which might be more helpful for working out a scale?

Yes, there should definitely be more lying! Not just horses, either - rolling is perhaps a very horsey activity, but laying down and resting could extend to wildlife : lions spend a lot of time lounging in lying poses, and deer and antelope look sweet sitting down with their legs all folded in.

Roger wrote:

I think I haven't congratulated you yet for your birthday. My technological limitations during those days are the best excuse I can give.
Since you enjoyed your day with your animals and plants, I am sure it was a perfect day. Your self-gift surely gave you some extra energy, it is a very dynamic model.
You're also good finding excuses to buy color variations of CollectA models. This new Arabian color is certainly a good one.

No worries about birthday greetings, I'm used to only seeing my horses on the relevant day so I'm not expecting lots of people to know or fuss about it

I think I'm good at finding excuses to buy models in general, not just CollectAs There's always something I can think up to justify why I need more horses, hahah

George wrote:

rogerpgvg wrote:

The stuffed horse is very well done. Often stuffed animals don't have a great shape, the this one really looks like a medieval horse. What size is it? I like the Papo foal, I think companies should more often make lying and rolling horses.

I borrowed a tape measure - honestly, that is why it took me so long to reply to this, cos I didn't want to respond with a vague 'um, I don't know how big it is' or end up saying 'about two hand widths tall?' like how you measure real horses He's 8 inches (or 20cm if you're metric) to the highest point of the curve of his neck, or 6 inches (15cm) if measured to the shoulder which might be more helpful for working out a scale?

Yes, there should definitely be more lying! Not just horses, either - rolling is perhaps a very horsey activity, but laying down and resting could extend to wildlife : lions spend a lot of time lounging in lying poses, and deer and antelope look sweet sitting down with their legs all folded in.

Thanks, it's quite a large stuffed horse then, I thought it was smaller.

Perhaps lying lions aren't so common anymore, I don't know, but I have quite a few vintage lying lionesses. More lying lionesses than lions even though the lions are usually the lazy ones. Even more surprising is that there are so few feeding horses. When I see horses, most of the time, they have their head down grazing. I suppose sculptors think feeding horses don't look so elegant, I can't explain it in any other way.

rogerpgvg wrote:

George wrote:

rogerpgvg wrote:

The stuffed horse is very well done. Often stuffed animals don't have a great shape, the this one really looks like a medieval horse. What size is it? I like the Papo foal, I think companies should more often make lying and rolling horses.

I borrowed a tape measure - honestly, that is why it took me so long to reply to this, cos I didn't want to respond with a vague 'um, I don't know how big it is' or end up saying 'about two hand widths tall?' like how you measure real horses He's 8 inches (or 20cm if you're metric) to the highest point of the curve of his neck, or 6 inches (15cm) if measured to the shoulder which might be more helpful for working out a scale?

Yes, there should definitely be more lying! Not just horses, either - rolling is perhaps a very horsey activity, but laying down and resting could extend to wildlife : lions spend a lot of time lounging in lying poses, and deer and antelope look sweet sitting down with their legs all folded in.

Thanks, it's quite a large stuffed horse then, I thought it was smaller.

Perhaps lying lions aren't so common anymore, I don't know, but I have quite a few vintage lying lionesses. More lying lionesses than lions even though the lions are usually the lazy ones. Even more surprising is that there are so few feeding horses. When I see horses, most of the time, they have their head down grazing. I suppose sculptors think feeding horses don't look so elegant, I can't explain it in any other way.

I always wanted Britains to do a grazing horse (they did in the lead series). I also wanted them to do a lion lying and a lioness standing.

Today I had a little parcel from the Modellpferdeversand shop - because they have to come so far and go through extra handling, shipping is £10 per box, which is quite pricey compared to more local postage, so I tend to wait til there's something I really, really want, and then add enough other things to the order to make it worthwhile!

This month's 'must-have' model was WIA's new Criollo horse Erren - I've put plenty of pictures and reviewy content on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], so I'll just drop one photo in here to tempt you to go read about him if you don't usually frequent the WIA board of the forum

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Now, what else came along in the parcel? Some mini versions of real dressage horses!

Rider Isabell Werth has an ongoing collaboration with the model horse world, allowing MPV to work with German sculptor Brigitte Eberl and two German manufacturing companies, to create and sell limited edition figures of her competition stars.
I don't really follow dressage (the only horse sport I watch in person is Eventing, so those are the horses and riders whose careers I know), but it's always nice to see real horses being immortalised in miniature, and it doesn't matter that I haven't seen them in action. I'll have to look up some videos of their biggest winning performances on Youtube later!

First, another WIA model, the Westphalian mare Bella Rose. My first of this breed, I've made her a page all to herself on my website.

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Sold as 'B goods' which I assume to mean a sort of 'seconds' quality model, but I struggle to see what's wrong with this one, she looks neatly painted and without any damage.

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Bella Rose has a more stationary pose than Erren, but it's a very balanced and composed halt, rather than just casually standing there - like the beginning and end of a dressage test, with the horse collected and square. Her markings are nice, with differing hoof colour to match the socks, and the paint is smooth and solid so they have a good crisp effect.

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A limited edition of 2500, but released back in 2016 so I bet a lot of them have already sold - that's probably why there's only 'B' ones left in stock now. But I'm perfectly happy with the one I've got!

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With her certificate

The other two are made by Bullyland, a softer plastic and quite light. I don't have very many Bully horses, they aren't sold in the UK and I haven't liked many enough to add them to my MPV orders - a lot of them have moulded on tack so they're better for children's play than adult collectors. But these special editions are much better - possibly cos they've brought in one of the best sculptors in the world to create something which fits in with the rest of the range, but is inevitably that little bit better, too

First, Don Johnson, known at home as Jonny

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A much more active pose, but again this is a recognisable dressage movement, he's doing a pirouette, where horses take their weight on the back legs and turn a circle as small as possible - keeping on the spot is the ideal.

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Jonny is a Hanoverian, a much more commonly made breed, but a handsome one so I don't mind at all having one more for my herd!

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He's got a really nice face, I don't know whether the sculptor went to meet the real horses and do some sketching from life, or whether she worked from photos only, but this one seems to have a lot of personality worked in, he looks such a sweet and lively horse.

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With his certificate - they don't have years on, but he was released in 2011, also a run of 2500.

And finally El Santo, known as Ernie

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Ernie is a Rhinelander horse, another breed I'm much less familiar with - you can see the model is much more heavy-set, with chunky legs and a large solid head. But he's the same brand and sculptor as the previous model, so this is more likely a deliberate choice to match a heavier type of horse, than the plastic having to be thicker for solidity, or the artist's style.

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He looks very gentle and honest, his markings aren't so bright and detailed as the WIA model but you can still see how they're copied from a real horse rather than made-up generic ones, with the off-centre star and snip, and some black ermine spots inside his socks.

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And with his certificate - another run of 2500, he was released in 2012. I'm really glad they still have some of these older horses left, it's taken me all this time to get round to buying them but I'm pleased that I finally did!

Wonderful additions George !

I'm glad you decided to go for these Bullyland special editions. They were relatively popular among us when they were released but newer collectors do not seem too impressed and they got forgotten in that shop. I also have them.

Beautyful herds of horses

So different, it is like a whole collection, - I can't stop looking at the felted horse

Very beautiful models and pictures!

thebritfarmer wrote:

Wonderful additions George !

Thanks! It was a fun parcel to unpack

Roger wrote:

I'm glad you decided to go for these Bullyland special editions. They were relatively popular among us when they were released but newer collectors do not seem too impressed and they got forgotten in that shop. I also have them.

It's a shame new collectors don't track down older releases, especially ones which are still easy to buy new at the 'normal' price rather than retired and rare now. I've been meaning to get them for a while, but normally I've bought quite a few WIA at the same time and adding more models would be too expensive, this time i only needed Erren so there was room in the budget to tuck in some cheaper extras

SUSANNE wrote:

Beautyful herds of horses  

So different, it is like a whole collection, - I can't stop looking at the felted horse  

I do love a variety of models, a lot of people stick to just one type (only Breyer, or only Schleich/Bully/Papo/Collecta, or only artist resin) but for me there's a lot of enjoyment in collecting so many different scales and materials and styles.

Caracal wrote:

Very beautiful models and pictures!

Thanks! I have fun setting up the pictures (but impatient waiting for a sunny day for it! )

Not quite as exciting as the previous parcel, but I've finally managed to find the rest of the 2022 single carded Stablemates. These were a batch of 2021 mid-year models for the USA, but only got a full global release with this year's regular runs - and it's been really hard to catch them in stock in the UK ever since!

I already had the Appaloosa Sporthorse, so here's the rest of them...

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A slightly pearly finish, but one I couldn't resist because the colour is one of my favourites on a mould I love, a beautiful mulberry grey 'Alborozo' Andalusian. A few years ago I painted one this colour, so it's nice to have a matching factory finish model!

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I've named him Ferrando, a Medieval variation of the name Fernando. I bought two of these, so I'd have a spare to repaint, and I'm very glad I did give myself that chance to choose the best to keep, because the other one has a horrible overspray in the paint application - his ginger hair overlaps almost all the way up his neck to his ears, and he's got a ginger bum-cheek too      

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This palomino pinto was probably my least favourite from the promotional photos, but is actually much nicer in hand. They're trying to say he's a Paint Horse, which is a stock breed (think pinto Quarter Horse), but the mould looks much more like a partbred-TB riding horse type, so I've allocated mine as an Irish Sport Horse, and given him the name Firebrand.

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This is the relatively new Morgan mould, and the first attainable release after club and exclusive runs only. A pity it's a plain un-shaded colour, but Morgans do come in black so there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not especially keen on the mould, it looks very pulled-in to an unaturally short outline, which might look less odd if you had it tacked up and ridden in a scene photo/class, but does look strange for a horse running loose!

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Stormcloud, named not just for his colour, but the fact I grabbed these photos in a brief snippet of sunshine between two very low dark looming clouds! Again Breyer allocated a breed which doesn't suit the mould, calling this one a Mustang despite it's draft horse legs I've switched mine to being a US draft cross, these chunky lightly-feathered crossbreds are a fairly common type for leisure riders, much like the traditional cobs in the UK.

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And finally, a lovely shade of dun on the gorgeous little 'Django' mould. Django was sculpted as a Friesian, but they keep releasing him in non-Friesian colours, and never got round to black yet

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I think the colour does look nice on him though, and they do call the model 'Friesian Cross' on the packaging so at least they're being nicely accurate there. I've just added mine to my website as a Friesian x Saddlebred, a cross which can be known as a Georgian Grande, along with the bay in the same mould which I got a while ago. My older one is called Duststorm, so I've called today's dun Firestorm so they match.

Good to see that you managed to find all of them. Very useful to read your thoughts on the breeds, especially on the "Mustang". Stormcloud is a great name! It's a shame that there are so few Breyer sellers in the UK. I got my 2022 carded Stablemates from modellpferdeversand. The postage wasn't too bad and so far I haven't had to pay customs tax on parcels from the EU.

This last cross Friesian is especially beautiful.
About the name Ferrando, it is still used these days because the Aragonese dialect (Spain) preserved this spelling.

Many wonderful new figures! I especially like the dun Django and the WIA Erren. The WIA horses are always very impressive. The CollectA arabian is also beautiful!

rogerpgvg wrote:

Good to see that you managed to find all of them. Very useful to read your thoughts on the breeds, especially on the "Mustang". Stormcloud is a great name! It's a shame that there are so few Breyer sellers in the UK. I got my 2022 carded Stablemates from modellpferdeversand. The postage wasn't too bad and so far I haven't had to pay customs tax on parcels from the EU.

I've found quite a few UK stockists, but not all of them have all the models (often leaving out Stablemates singles and blind bags in favour of the more kiddie-aimed sets with accessories or brushable hair), and all the ones which did get these only seemed to get one batch early on, which mostly sold out quickly. I use MPV for WIA horses and do rate them for service and shipping, but by the time I placed my WIA'n'Bullyland order they didn't have the Alborozo or Django left either, so I didn't want to buy just the other few but not get those I liked most from the set!

Roger wrote:

This last cross Friesian is especially beautiful.
About the name Ferrando, it is still used these days because the Aragonese dialect (Spain) preserved this spelling.

Good to know, it's interesting seeing which names have historical heritage but keep going, and which fade out of modern use. A lot of Andalusian horses bred in other countries aren't given Spanish-origin names at all, but I like to stay traditional with my models when I can.

Jill wrote:

Many wonderful new figures! I especially like the dun Django and the WIA Erren. The WIA horses are always very impressive. The CollectA arabian is also beautiful!

Thanks! I've had a lot of parcel days lately, I really ought to spread them out a bit more, but a combination of living on an island with limited stock arriving, and the supply/shipping issues the whole world's going through in recent years, I tend to worry that if I miss things when they're new and in stock, I might miss out entirely, so I order them while I can get them!

I do love the WIA horses - it's like getting artist resin quality sculpts by the top artists in the hobby, for a tiny fraction of the price!

Last weekend was the annual Julip 'spares' night. Spares are a weird concept to collectors of other brands, so I'll try to explain a bit!

All Julip horses are one of a kinds, made to order - usually people send in photos of horses they've owned or known, or famous horses they admire, or online examples of the right colour, or even just invent what they want using screencaps from games or home-made drawings. Basically, you decide what you'd like, and the company makes it and posts it to you. There's no catalogue, no regular runs, none sold through other shops - every single piece is a commission for a collector.
But there was one exception : when Julip were going to attend a show, they'd make up some horses to take and sell - just random colour and mould combinations, test colours they were trying out, that kind of thing, and these became known as Spares.
In the old days, when the trade stand went to Olympia and the Horse Of The Year show, there'd sometimes be leftover Spares which you could buy unseen, by phoning them the day after they got home from a show and asking if there was anything left. But since the new owner took over, she sells them differently, so more people have a chance and we can actually see them first - each one goes up online with a photo, and whoever's first to reply with 'Buy!' comment, gets to buy it.

Since covid put a halt to the annual Julip show when we could buy our Spares in person, the company now runs a big Spares Night with lots of horses prepared specially to sell online, on the weekend the show would've been, toward the end of September each year. There's a strict one-per-person rule to make sure it isn't just the one with quickest internet and deepest pockets who gets to buy most, to try to make as many happy customers as possible, but there's always more people than there are horses to go round, so there's a huge amount of competition for every model, as we each to try to be first on the one we like best, and try for another when we miss that, and so on.

This year, I thought I'd been unlucky on two in a row, with someone else's reply getting in before mine both times, but while I was waiting for more chances as the evening progressed, a couple of friends pointed out that they thought I had got one - I checked and it turned out that the person who beat me retracted her bid, leaving me as the 'winner' after all, and I did get to buy the exact horse I'd tried for first!

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Here he is straight from the wrapping, with his mane and tail all fluffy. With just a little mousse to tame it he would've looked fine, and I was really tempted to do exactly that and leave it, but that keeps on happening : I have ideas for plaiting a new Julip I'm waiting for, then can't go through with it cos the loose mane is so nice. So I decided to at least try this time! After all, I could always undo it if it didn't look like I hoped, and cos the style I had in mind didn't need any cutting, or gluing, the long hair would all still be in there - there's nothing stopping me unpicking the braid in years to come if I ever do decide to go back to loose again.

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And here he is! I think it looks fine, just like I'd hoped and the braids are really firm and tight so they lie nicely on the neck, and shouldn't ever start coming undone. The bows are silk ribbon I had left over from another project, it's very fine and thin, and looks less plasticky against the natural hair than synthetic satin ribbon.
The tail went curly on it's own, all I did was comb it through, add some mouse to stop the flyaway fluffiness, and left it it dry.

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This is my first time seeing this mould in person, it was sculpted as a Lipizzaner and that meant I never really thought about the possibility of wanting it in any colour other than grey I think it makes a lovely historical/Iberian horse, and would even work as a dressage warmblood. The face shape is lovely too, very kind and gentle-looking.

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I knew he wasn't going to stay as a Lipizzaner cos of his dun colouring, but it took me a while to decide whether he'd be the Spanish PRE (Andalusian), or the Portuguese Lusitano. In the end I decided to go for Lusitano, as he isn't quite so chunky in the neck as a typical PRE stallion. I haven't entirely settled in a name yet but I'm considering Próspero or Valério, I think the latter suits him better and I already have a Prospero without the accent, but he might end up soemthing else entirely!

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Here's the other side, you can see how his forelock's tucked to one side, I tied it to the mane braid to keep it from hanging down in front of him, in real life they're usually tucked into the bridle or halter. I was planning to make a bridle, but I got halfway then had all sorts of issues - my glue wouldn't stick unless I held each join together for ages, the paperclip I'd found to make the bit cheeks with was too hard to bend properly, the beaded tassel idea I'd got for the browband wouldn't work when I tried it, and I couldn't even touch the horse to try for size cos his mousse wasn't dry yet - so that hasn't happened!

As well as horses, ponies, and donkeys, the Spares concept also applies to the other, smaller animals which Julip make to go with their equine models, and we get the chance to buy all kinds of dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs, foxes, and even some domestic and wild birds.

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New this for this year was the dachshund mould, just like the horses they're hand made in latex and each one is slightly different. Competition for the Dachshunds was fierce, so I was very pleased to manage to catch one of the very first batch made!
I've named him Henry, after one this colour I only met once - he started chasing me up the lane while I was biking home, and it took quite some effort and multiple attempts to return him cos he was so determined this cyclist had to be thoroughly chased off (in the end his owner's neighbour picked him up and held him til I was out of sight, so he wouldn't wriggle out under the fence again, and they were going to Henry-proof the gap once the owner got home! )

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A second photo cos I made him a little collar. Even though all the dachshunds in the group were slightly different anyway (he has more brown than some, less than others, and little anxious eyebrows!) I like to give my dogs collars for a bit of extra individuality.

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And finally, my second cockerel. I had plenty of hens, and two henhouses, so I decided it was time to add another cockerel, cos in real life once they think they have 'enough' girls each, they'll live happily without fighting. And this was the exact colour I had in mind, the bright multi-coloured sort, to contrast with my original grey one. So when he came up in the Spares I decided to ignore all the other chickens this time, and focus on trying for this one, so I was delighted to get him!

Thanks for letting us know about this niche of this collecting hobby. It is all new for me.
Nice also to see how carefully you hairdressed this horse to turn it into a Lusitano. Good choice.
Próspero is an adjective as prosperous but actually many adjectives are used as names for horses. Valério rimes with Rogério, so it is a good choice too.
Interesting smaller companions too.