Hello, goodbye

I went to Kenlyn twice yesterday.

The morning visit was all about my new lease horse, Mystyc.  Her owner and I met to hammer out the details of our arrangement and see if my saddle fit her (it does).

The afternoon visit was about Rev.

I spent some quiet time with him before his prospective new owners arrived with a trailer and took him away.  

As much as I will miss seeing him, I hope the sale goes through.  If it does, Rev will belong to a fourteen year girl.  What could be better than that?

Rev and Mystyc in August

It's kind of overwhelming saying hello and goodbye all in the same day.  I don't know whether I should be happy or sad.

My North Lights

When discussing my hobby history, I usually tell people that I transitioned from original finish Breyers to artist resins and customs in the early 2000's. This is true, but it's also incomplete. In between the Breyers and the artist models, there was a short period of time when my primary collecting focus was original finish resins, most notably the Black Horse Ranch Collection and North Light models. Today's post showcases my North Light collection.

Tristan, the head down Friesian, was my very first North Light. I'd fallen in love with this mold years before when he was pictured on the cover of the Hobby Horse News. I was extremely excited when he came to me by way of an early tack trade.

After Tristan, I couldn't wait to add more North Lights to my herd. Happily, I was able to arrange several tack-for-horse trades, bringing Bjorgi,

Dragon Tales,

Wishbone, 

Peanut Gallery, 

and Cobblestone to my herd.  

I think Othello...    

and Rabscuttle may have been trades as well, but I'm no longer certain. I didn't keep very good records, and my memory isn't as good as it used to be!  

Even though my model horse budget was limited, I was able to purchase a few North Lights outright.  Calliope,

Punchline, 

Clandestine, 

and HomeBrew were all purchased very cheaply from various eBay wholesalers. If memory serves correctly, I paid less than thirty dollars a piece for each of these four! 

Greta and Hans also came from eBay. I grabbed them right before the cheap North Light pipeline dried up.

Bitsy Brayer was purchased from the guys at H & H Winners Circle at Lone Star Live in 2006. Unfortunately, she did not survive the drive home in one piece. If you look closely, you'll see she has broken ears and a broken hind leg.

That was the main reason I stopped collecting North Lights--they were just a little too fragile. Also, they didn't show particularly well. At that stage in my hobby life, I was actively working to build a competitive showstring. As much as I liked my North Lights, I was smart enough to realize they weren't going to take me where I wanted to go. I switched over to resins and customs and never looked back.

Or perhaps I should say, I haven't looked back yet.

I still find these guys extremely appealing.  

As I find myself going to fewer and fewer live shows, it's entirely possible that my collecting tastes will change again, and a new herd of North Lights will find their way to my shelves.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Braymere Custom Saddlery!

Model Fjords

Of all the pictures I took yesterday, this one just might be my favorite.  That's my friend, Fabian with his first real horse, Cisco, and his first Breyer horse, who is also named Cisco.  How cool is that?

 

And because I simply couldn't resist, here's a picture of one Cisco standing atop the other!

Like Fabian, I also have a Breyer Fjord. 

His name is Vargo... 

and he was...

 quite the performance horse... 

back in the late 1990's. 

Funny, I don't remember this photo at all, but it seems quite appropriate given today's date!

I also have a North Light Fjord.  His name is Bjorgi. 

Additionally, there are two Fjords on my project shelf.  This one is a Fjord mule.  She's a newer acquisition, having come to me from Alicia Strayer-Mangan and the Model Horse Blab Pay it Forward ("PIF") program.  I received her shortly after my surgery, and the note accompanying her warned that she was made from a particularly brittle resin.  "Hope you have lots of super glue and baking soda!" Alicia wrote, "You're going to need it!"  Sure enough, two days later Darcy and I conspired to rebreak one of her legs.  I tacked it together for this picture, but I still need to fix it properly.

My other project Fjord started life as a BHR classic draft.  I bought his half-finished self from Melanie Miller several years ago.  He's nearly ready for paint now, but like so many of my customizing projects, it's been a long, slow march to completion.  Who knows?  Maybe 2014 will be the year he's finally finished!

Thanks again, Fabian, for sharing both your Cisco's with me.  Fjords are such a neat breed, and I'm glad I have a few gracing my shelves!

Fjabian's fjabulous Fjord

A fjew days ago, my fjriend, Fjabian, bought a Norwegian Fjord named Cisco.

I love Fjords, so I immediately invited myself over fjor a visit.  Fjortunately, Fjabian didn't take offjense.  In fjact, his exact words were, "Bring your saddle."

Although I'd seen several pictures of Cisco on Fjacebook, I was unprepared for his extreme fjluffy cuteness.  Look at that fjace!  Look at that fjorelock!

Although he's a drafjty little guy, standing just fjourteen one or fjourteen two hands high, Cisco's a surprisingly fjluid mover.  We worked him a little,  

saddled him up, 

and worked him a little more.

Then--fjinally!--it was time fjor me to climb aboard. 

Cisco has more experience as a driving horse than a riding horse, so he fjeels a little green under saddle.  We worked on stopping and starting and changing directions.  He's a good minded horse and caught on quickly.

I haven't ridden in ages, and it fjelt so good to be sitting on his broad little back! 

I would have happily stayed there fjorever, but I also wanted to see Fjabian ride him.

Can you believe this is the fjirst time Fjabian's ever ridden English? 

He and Cisco look fjantastic together! 

Afjter they were fjinished, we swapped the saddle for a bareback pad and I climbed on again. 

Bareback trotting on a Fjord:  it's almost the most fjun thing I've ever done!

Thank you so much fjor sharing Cisco with me today, Fjabian!  I had a great time and I look fjorward to seeing a lot more of you and your fjabulous pony in the fjuture! 

P.S.  Erin Corbett told me that if today's blog post included ten "FJ" words, she would make me something special.  As you can see, I more than doubled that.  That means I get a saddle fjit fjor a Fjord, right?