The Akhal-Teke is one of my favourite breeds, I've been fascinated by them for as long as I can remember. Breyer have sold one as a limited edition before, but using a Thoroughbred mould, which was the closest they had at the time, but not quite right, as it didn't match the unique physique and motion of the true Akhal-Teke. So I was delighted when they brought out a brand new sculpt which really did capture the breed in all it's long, athletic, and slightly weird beauty!
The only down side was that they used sooty buckskin, my favourite colour the horses come in, on the very first release - a Premier Club model which would forever be way beyond my budget (there's currently a few on US Ebay for between $300 and $450!)
And then, they used my second favourite colour, the iconic metallic cremello so particular to this breed, for a Breyerfest special run which would be equally out of my reach.
Finally, they did issue a regular run, but in bay which isn't all that exciting or iconic to the breed - even though I happily bought one (you can see him here) and do love him, I was mildly disappointed that the two 'best' Akhal-Teke colours were gone and would never be repeated in the regular run range.
Not long ago, one of the metallic cremello 'Uffington' came up on UK Ebay for £150. Which is much cheaper than I have seen them going for (around £250, plus the costs incurred with US shipping and then UK import fees which would push it well over £300 to get one sent to me), but still more than I could justify for one model horse, even if it was one of my favourite breeds in a great colour. So I let it go by.
Then the same horse was listed for £130. And I still let it go by.
And then, it came back up for £105. And I had to have a serious think about this.
Yes, that's still a LOT of money to spend on a model, more than I've ever paid for a single horse in all the years I've been collecting.
But to rationalise it a different way, that's the cost of two regular run models. Would I rather have this horse than two from the normal range? If somebody at a trade stand or show held up the boxes and told me I could have two of this year's standard stock releases OR this extra special, much-coveted single horse I might not get another chance at, what would I do? Of course I'd go for the special one I really really wanted!
So thinking of it in terms of number-of-models rather than money, it made sense to go for it and just buy the Akhal-Teke!
And here he is! I'm so glad I went for it in the end, I know I won't regret this decision - I've put him on my mantelpiece beside the clock and keep glancing up for another look cos I'm so pleased to have him there - he's so handsome!
He's such a stunning model, the glowing warm shading shows through the pearly finish so well, and while I'm usually the first to complain about overly shiny metallic paintwork looking unrealistic, it works so perfectly on a breed like this, which has that famous sheen in real life - here's a photo of one.
I showed the model to my non-horsey mum, predicting she might think it looked peculiar or not like anything a real horse could be, but she's read (or rather, looked at the pictures in) one of my Akhal-Teke books before, so she did know the colour exists!
I think cos it's a big dramatic action sculpt it looks even more striking than the same colour on something small or simple, and the level of detail the artist's used to emphasise the leanness and muscle of the horse is really picked out by all those shiny highlights!
I was struggling with the light so some of the angles are a bit dark and odd, it's really difficult to avoid the shadow falling on the backdrop in an unrealistic way when the light is low this time of year, so there was a lot of adjusting the chair almost into the hedge and tilting the base board with a broom, then standing in among the plants getting my trouser legs soaked, just to get the horse in the light and standing upright without a wobble, let alone all the angles I wanted shots from!
The other side of him, just as handsome but not so photogenic from this angle cos he's turning away from us. I'd like to have another photoshoot with him on a day with better light, and given time to make a more suitable background to his breed - it always bothers me slightly when my breeds from very different countries have to pose in front of this piece of typically British countryside, just cos it's the only background I have which is big enough!
I've named him Aý Şöhlesi, which means 'moonlight' in the Turkmen language - although it suits his colour perfectly, and I do like giving my various horse breeds a name to suit their nationality too, I am cursing myself a bit for this one cos it includes a letter I'm always going to have to go copy-paste, my UK keyboard doesn't have an Ş option!
And finally here he is wearing the traditional style collar I'd already made for my bay one - I'd ideally like to do him something of his own to wear, and had a beaded-leather design in mind so I'm not making the same thing twice, but it's awkward fitting them around the mane and I couldn't figure out a way to do that with the different materials I'm hoping to use this time. So he has to make do with a shared hand-me-down for now!
