Bonnie and the Foal & the Foal and Bonnie

A few days ago, on my birthday, I had one of the single most joyful, satisfying photo shoots since I joined the model horse hobby over twenty years ago. 

What made me so happy? 

I took Bonnie and the Foal to meet the Foal and Bonnie!

Carefully wrapped up in a soft towel each, their Julip versions travelled to meet their real counterparts. I've been wanting to do this for ages; originally I was just waiting for summer so Foal wouldn't be covered up under her rug, but with one thing and another it's taken til now to get round to it. 

After all the usual jobs for the day were done, it was time to show the ponies to the ponies.

Foal first, because she spotted me with my little towelling-parcels and followed me down the field at my elbow, all 'what've you got there, showmeshowmeshowme', then hovered eager and excited with pricked up ears while I hid the mini Bonnie out of the way, and got the camera ready.

For safety's sake, I did the first introduction 'in hand' - Julips do have quite delicate paintwork even though their legs are bendy enough not to break if they get nudged around or knocked over by a curious nose, so I held the little Foal out for the big Foal to sniff and have a good look at.

I just couldn't stop smiling, she was so keen and curious and seemed to love looking at her little self. I think perhaps she picked up from me that it was something special and interesting! But I shouldn't have been so surprised, she's always been an into-everything kind of pony anyway - anything from a new pair of wellies to a brush to scrub the water tank has to be thoroughly checked out as soon as she spots it (the best things are what we deem a 'two-nose sniff' - so interesting that she just has to sniff with one nostril then the other!)

Having got a few pictures of her meeting her Julip up close, I thought I'd try to get a shot of them standing together. This was harder than it sounds, cos every single time I put the model version on the ground and stepped back to get them both in shot, the real one thought 'Ooooh!' and hurried over to touch and sniff again!

After several rescues, Foal getting momentarily distracted from chasing her tiny self cos she saw a bird gave me the opportunity to set up the pose I'd been trying for, and I did manage to get them in the same shot at last. But you can see she's already starting to turn to come closer!

Now, I wasn't sure if Bonnie would be quite so interested in participating, usually she's very laid-back and not all that bothered about whatever silly stuff the humans are doing - Bon is the typical seen-it-all-before pony, shrugging off most happenings as not really worth leaving her hay for. So I wasn't surprised when I had to give her a push with both hands on her bum, just to get her across the field to where I'd stood the mini Bonnie! 

But once she actually spotted it, she had a very similar reaction to Foal - 'Ooooh, what's that?' and she hurried the last few steps - I had to run to keep up with her and catch the moment on camera!

Bon was also fascinated by her mini self; whether it was the fluffy mohair which smelt interesting, or just the novelty of something so new and different appearing in the field, she thought this little thing was just great, and kept on sniffing, staring intently with those tiny ears pricked up.

Even though she seemed perfectly safe to leave loose around her Julip self, I picked it up for a heads-together photo to match the Foal's half of the photoshoot.

I don't think she's ever been so very interested in anything which wasn't edible, for the entire time the model was within reach she was right there with all her attention on it, without any encouragement from me. I was expecting to have to put in a lot of effort to get them interested enough to look bothered in the pictures (or even a bit of trickery by hiding bites of apple near the Julips to make the ponies look as if they were looking!), but it was just wonderful how much they both enjoyed their tiny selves!

And another side-by-side portrait - this one was a lot easier to get cos Bon will respond to 'stand' and wait patiently while I take pictures, I think she's got a good memory from when I trained her to harness, and that word meant she wasn't allowed to move.

If I'd waited a few more weeks their colours would've been a closer match, but August is the very darkest stage of Bonnie's coat cycle, by September she goes back to the lighter, more golden colour, which is how her model's painted. 

But at least I have their pictures together, even if the timing wasn't perfect for either of them - Foal is already darker than her Julip cos I missed her palest point in the year. This is why portrait and custom models of these two colour-changing ponies are always so tricky - I have to decide on which month to match them to!

Bonnie and Bonnie. 

Somehow the Julips have become even more precious and special now they've met in person, and all the more so because both ponies were adorably interactive and fascinated by their mini selves. I think if they hadn't cared, it would've just felt like me taking pictures for the sake of it, but this way it really did feel like they were meetings, and the horses were enjoying seeing the Julips just as much as I was enjoying showing them!

While I was there, I thought I'd use the chance to take some pictures of the Julips in the real field, too.

I always use fake scenery for my model photography, not just because Foal would 'help' too much, but because the field isn't conveniently behind my house like a lot of hobbyists who also have their own horses, and use their yard/barn/field/ranch as a backdrop. Mine's rented and a few miles away in the next village, so taking models there for photoshoots is too much of a trip when I can just do them in my garden with artificial grass bases and photo backdrops. 

But these two models are different, and there couldn't be anything more fitting than getting pictures of them in the very field where the real ones have lived all this time. I've owned Bonnie for over ten years now, and the Foal joined her as a yearling nine years ago, and though I didn't buy her til 18 months after that, it's still the field she grew up in. 

And I know every tree and bramble, every puddle and dustbath and path between nettle patches, just like they do. It's where we spend time together, hours upon hours of contented hanging out, of weeding and 'helping' me poo-pick, sharing apples and watching the world go by, or just sitting in the sun or the shade with a pony napping beside me.

So I picked a spot with the sun in the right direction and a nice view lined up behind, and got down to ground level with them.

Finding short grass which works to scale was not a problem, it's just a pity it also looks so parched and brown, but we've had the hottest summer heatwave temperatures ever, and an ongoing drought - I've been having to throw hay in for weeks to make up for the lack of green growth to nibble! But it should recover ok once the rain does come, grass is very resilient stuff. 

With a guest appearance by the Foal, helping by crashing the attempt at a photo of just the Julip in the field alone, and licking it.

"Let me have another look, go on, let me, I really really really want to see it - oooooh!"

And one last shot together, before I folded the Julip back up in her towel for safekeeping (she'd already supervised the tiny Shetland being wrapped up). 

This is Foal's 'I love this!' face; just like Bonnie I'm sure she doesn't have the slightest idea that it's her, or even that it represents a horse, but they were both just thrilled that I'd brought something precious to show them, and couldn't stop looking at them!

As I said at the start - a totally joyous, adorable, and unforgettable photoshoot.

Tales from the Body Box - The Gotland Russ

I accidentally didn't paint any horses since April!

I'm not entirely sure how that happened, but the other week I picked up a couple of bargain bundles of used CollectA models on Ebay (three horses for the price of one, and then four more for just £5) and was plotting colours/breeds I could paint on them before they'd even arrived - this anticipation made me keen to get back in the painting habit, so I started while the inspiration was still fresh!

A while ago, a model-horsey friend asked me if I'd ever painted a Gotland pony, which made me realise I hadn't, and I wanted to!

Here's a page with a brief history and description of the Gotland Russ, for anyone who isn't familiar with them. Although I've never met one, I feel an affinity for these proper old native pony breeds from various countries, because they're so much like the natives I know well here the UK : true ancient ancestry, being tough and adaptable, some still living as feral herds or in common turnout in their natural habitat, others taken into domestic life, and many spread to other parts of the country.

The more I read about them, the more I liked them - there's just something very admirable about a hardy, outdoorsy pony breed which can manage just fine without people and often does, but can also be welcomed into the human world to find all sorts of useful jobs to do, the versatile sort which can show, work, excel in sports, or just provide a child with a pony to love!

CollectA have far more pony breed sculpts than Breyer Stablemates, so it was perhaps natural that I'd turn to this brand to supply the bodies for my Gotland project.

My breeds book says "a typical pony head with small alert ears, lively eyes and a straight profile. The neck is nearly always short and quite muscular and is set to reasonable withers for a pony breed[...]The legs are strong and tough with good joints[...]The feet are very tough and are a good shape"

From all the CollectA ponies, the one which stands out as having all these traits is the Dartmoor stallion, especially the tiny pricked ears, the good strong neck, and due to being one of the older moulds he pre-dates the brand's chunky-leg problem and has the crisply sculpted detail of hard limbs with good joints, and small pointed hooves.

I've already painted two in this mould, different shades of bay (one dappled as a Dartmoor, one dark as an Exmoor), so although bay is a very common coat colour for the Gotland breed, I really wanted to choose a different one just so I didn't have three bay CollectA Dartmoors in my herd - four if you count my original finish one as well!

In the Gotland Wikipedia page's example photo, there's a really bright and handsome buckskin, and a bit of Googling turned up several others this colour, so I decided to go for it - something a bit different to set the custom clearly aside from his original finish Dartmoor model and my other customs of it, and a colour I haven't painted very much, too.

Here he is! 

I always find paler colours hard to give much depth to, creams especially can turn out very flat, so I've given him quite pale highlights and some golden warmth with peach and brown tones mixed in to the yellow paints, just so he doesn't look too monotone-with-a-black-trim!

This background wasn't really working with him, I could see on the camera's preview image that the pictures didn't have the same bright glow as he had in real life, posing there in the sun, so I went and grabbed a different backdrop with some brighter colour to see if that helped..

And I think it works! These are much more flattering and bring out the warmth of his colour - because he's so bright and golden, I've named him Solsken, which means 'sunshine'.

I think he looks a decent example of the breed, and I'm really happy with how he turned out. Although not a perfect match for the feral Gotland photos at all, if you look up pictures of the stallions in the show ring they often look a lot like this - much like Dartmoors, the ones living natural outdoor lives without much human contact look very different to those in show condition, all polished up and posed for the camera!

Having painted one, I couldn't help looking back in my box of bargain ponies, and noticing another which would make a nice matching partner for Solsken. The Dartmoor Hill Pony mare, if you ignore her pinto colour, is fairly similar to the stallion in conformation, with a thick muscular neck, ponyish face, and good fine hard-looking legs.

A moment to explain the breed/mould names here...

Dartmoor is the pure breed, ancient and with known pedigrees going a long way back.

Very few true purebred Dartmoors live in feral herds now, although they're still hardy and do fine living outdoors field-kept all year round, they've become a domesticated breed, kept on farms and yards, used for showing and as children's ponies. There are still some 'real' ones to be found on the moors, but you're far, far more likely to find them being selectively bred at normal studs, handled and trained just like any other show/riding pony.

Dartmoor Hill Pony isn't a breed, but a catch-all term for mixed or unregistered ponies born in the Dartmoor area.

They're much more likely to have been bred on the moors, by stallions running free with a feral herd. And they are varied, from good to bad to everything in between. 

Sometimes they're Dartmoors but without the right paperwork, for example an unregistered mare and a registered stallion - the offspring is a Dartmoor Pony by blood, but isn't allowed to be on the breed society books cos it doesn't have fully documented parentage.

The majority have unknown or partbred ponies in their ancestry; some left to breed without any selection or control, others have deliberate crossing - Shetland was a popular addition to get more colour, and make the ponies smaller and cuter, so they stood a better chance of selling to decent homes.

As the Hill Ponies aren't an official breed, I'm surprised CollectA decided to make one, but then we know they do pick some more obscure horses to add to the range now they've ticked off most of the famous ones!

Having avoided bay for my Gotland stallion because it clashed with what I'd painted on the mould before, there was no such problem for the mare as this is my first custom on this mould. So I went back through the google image search, and picked out a good reference for the commonest variety of bay they seem to be - this shade, with the very pale pangare shading. Ignore the wibbly lines all over the pony, those aren't markings or part of the coat colour, I'm assuming it's had a bath and dried a bit crinkly!

And here she is! I think mine turned out a little bit darker than the one I was copying from, but that doesn't matter as it's not a portrait.

I looked through some real Gotland Russ pedigrees to see what kinds of names were given to them - often there's a rule, tradition, or type of name favoured by certain breeds and I like to stick to those, especially if the names are in languages I don't understand, there's a lot of running things through google translate or scrolling pedigree lists trying to pick up on patterns or trends.

I noticed in this case, a lot of mares are given human names, often two-part to give more variety down the generations. One line had a mare Lilli and many of her female foals were Lilli-something, I chose to borrow Lillimarlen from the list because it's fine to pronounce for me as an English-speaker too, some names are difficult but that's an easy one, with no complex meaning beyond being a girls' name (it would be Lili Marleen in German, Lily Marlene in English, and so on)

Again I swapped background after the first try, and I think she looks better against the green meadow, too. I don't know what Swedish countryside looks like, but a field with a bit of sky is pretty generic, so I don't think it stands out as definitely-not-Sweden either!

This mould has such a good face, the grumpy expression is very pony, and I think the turned back ears are a change when so many models are posed looking alert and cheerful. We also don't see too many in a walking pose, sculptors tend to favour trots for the stretch and symmetry, or canters/ gallops for the balanced action poses, walking is the boring pace! But this reminds me so much of a pony just mooching round in it's own time, looking for something to nibble or wandering over for a shade nap.

Here they are together - it's good having two, otherwise the Gotland Russ page of my breeds website would look a little sad having just one example!

Breyer Adamek

Today's my birthday, so I bought myself a model horse! Well strictly speaking, I pre-ordered him from one of my favourite sellers, then when the stock arrived in the UK about a week ago he was sent to me, but knowing my birthday was so soon, I put the box away so I'd have something to open on the right day.

This is one of 2022's regular runs, the one I was most excited to see and own - Adamek the Akhal-Teke stallion.

He is absolutely stunning! 

I loved this sculpt right from when it was first revealed, it really nails the conformation and character of the breed, and although I was sad the two best Akhal-Teke colours got used up on unattainably rare and expensive exclusives (a sooty buckskin to the Premier Club, then metallic cremello for a limited Breyerfest SR), I do think this colour looks good on him.

There's just enough metallic sheen to the paintjob to capture the famous golden coat, without it looking at all overdone or decorator-ish, and there's so much shading it doesn't look flat or boring despite being yet another solid bay for my collection. There's no way this horse will ever blend in and be boring, look at him!

His markings are great too; I know they're based on a real horse rather than an aesthetic choice by the Breyer designers, but the four white socks really lift the colouring, and the big star and snip on his face are lovely - an off-centre pink nose always gives a horse an appealingly quirky face.

And if you look closely, you'll see something remarkable : the face markings are mapped, that halo of dark skin showing clear through the fine peach-fuzz on a horse's muzzle, and even on the forehead on this ancient desert breeds with such a sleek short coat. Breyer have dappled in mapping before, so we know they can do it, but it's always been saved as an added level of detail for exclusive releases, the limited editions and club models, small runs and one-of-a-kinds - never on anything 'basic' for the regular run range. I love it!

His expression is so sharp and alert, and of course this dynamic pose gives him a huge amount of movement and life. One of my favourite horsey books is 'Golden Horse' by photographer Artur Baboev (chances are if you've ever looked up photos of the Akhal-Teke online, you've seen some of his work), and this sculpt really reminds me of those pictures : a horse free and playing, enjoying his own speed and strength.

I like to give my models a name from the right language and naming traditions, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to borrow them from real horse pedigrees. So I looked up Adamek, and scrolled back through the generations, til I found a name which appealed - hmm, Melekush, that's nice? But it's always worth a quick run through Google, just to make sure a name doesn't translate to something which wouldn't be fitting (like a meaning of 'dark' for a palomino, or 'white legs' for one with not a speck of white on it, hah), and in this case it was fine - apparently it means 'angel', which isn't colour-dependent at all.

And as well as an authentic name, I do enjoy making little pieces of tack which suit a breed, especially if there's a long-standing tradition of them wearing something very distinctive or decorative. Akhal-Tekes are frequently photographed wearing collars, from simple braided cord or studded leather, all the way through to elaborate jewelled and beaded pieces with fantastical levels of detail and creativity.

There's a huge amount of variety, in materials and styles, so it's a chance to be creative and play with what I can create from things I've already got in my modelmaking craft boxes, left over from other projects. I spent the last couple of days constructing a couple of collars, using a random other horse to stand in because he wasn't out of his box yet.

The narrow collar is braided thread, beaded gold along one edge, with a hanging blue 'evil eye' charm or nazar. I don't know how commonly these are hung from the horses' necks like this, but I saw a few photos (like this one here) and loved the idea so much I had to make one. It's done with glue and paint, layered on a little circle of clear plastic cut from the front of another Breyer's box.

The wider collar is two layers of coloured paper, drawn on with pens, with tiny glass beads I glued on afterwards. Only they kept falling off, so I had to then paint the entire thing over with another layer of glue to hold them firmly in place, and that has the unexpected bonus of making the paper look slightly shiny, like leather.

Neither collar goes all the way around the neck! Because his mane is in the way, they'd emphasise how obviously artificial that solid plastic hair is, by holding them in an unnatural shape away from the neck. So instead I snipped through both the braid one and the paper one, to give the impression they continue under the overlapping locks of hair, and attached them to the model with tiny little pieces of rolled up micropore medical tape! The glue on that is very weak and easy-peel, far safer for the paint finish than stronger tape, and while I wouldn't try leaving it in place long-term, it wasn't risking damage to use it for one short photoshoot.

I think he looks better 'dressed up' in his collars, they're a spectacular addition to the real horses so it's satisfying to recreate something similar for my mini one. But some photo showing judges insist on no tack at all, so I needed pictures both with and without if I want him to be able to enter all possible show classes in future.

A gorgeous birthday present, even if I did buy him for myself!