Tales from the Body Box - Stablemates and Mini Whinnies

Another catch-up post to squeeze these into the correct year, even though they were completed back in autumn customs done over the last couple of months, I've been better at painting than getting them posted on the blog!

I haven't ended up with many of this Peruvian Paso mould to repaint in the years since it was released, at least not til the 'Handful of Horses' blind bag series came along, and now suddenly I had two at once! So I consulted my horse books and Google, and found that chestnut is one of the commonest colours by far, so that's what I painted. I decided to go for a very dark shade for a change, cos I seem to have done a lot of light chestnuts when making my racehorse portraits, so with this one not having to look like any one real horse, I was free to choose a completely different end of the spectrum chestnuts can be!

I've named him Cascabel, picked from a real Paso's pedigree to make sure it's the sort of name a horse really would be given in Peru!

This one was a bit more experimental, I originally set out to make him a custom of one of the Balearic breeds, either Mallorcan or Minorcan, which are typically black, leaner-limbed than the mainland Iberian breeds, with a narrow roman nose, and much shorter mane and tail. his mould seemed the best match for the physique, and the mane was easy to trim' down by carving the end into the curve of the neck. Because I'd already painted an almost-black Andalusian on the same mould, I decided the best way to make him look more different was to add the ribbon decorations which are added to the horses' manes for showing, parades, and special occasions.
It was only afterwards that I realised the Balearic breeds seem to have slightly different turnout traditions, and their decorative ribbons are attached as separate rosettes, not one long running line of loops. So I've accidentally done a custom of one breed, but dressed it as another!

I'm undecided on the best course of action here, just accept that he's an Andalusian after all, or peel off the wrong ribbon and dress him with a different set of ribbons arranged the correct way so he can stay Mallorcan/Minorcan. Either way, his name would be in Spanish, so I called him Fiesta and will figure out what to do about his breed later on!

This one's a much easier breed allocation - I set out to paint a palomino Welsh Cob cos I realised I didn't have one, and now I have a palomino Welsh Cob, so that's just what I wanted to happen! I've named him Gold Star.

I think the G3 Friesian makes quite a good cob, even though in real life Friesians are much leggier-looking and longer in the back than a Welsh Cob, the model here is a little chunky in the leg (this sculptor has a tendency to give all her Stablemates thicker solid limbs, even on light breeds), so it's perfect for having a change of nationality! And the flying Friesian trot also works well as the notoriously fast and floaty Welsh trot (hard to keep up with on foot, but a delight to ride!)

Another model which had me reaching for my breed books, I've already painted two of this mould as grey Orlov Trotters, but wondered if any of the other trotter breeds from around the world would make a nice alternative so I didn't just keep doing the exact same thing with them, only varying the amount of dappling! I settled on the French Trotter as both a good match, and also an interesting breed to add to my collection. Chestnut is a common colour for them, and the breed example in one of my books was this gorgeous bright shade with a metallic sheen, so I decided to copy him.

I picked the name Gericault, purely cos I heard someone say it on an art documentary I had on in the background while painting, and it seemed as good a name as any!

Down a scale now, for a Mini Whinnies model, the smallest size I paint at the moment. I got a mixed lot of bodies (someone selling their duplicates from blind bags, there were multiples of many of them!), and this one I thought would make a nice Akhal-Teke, a little bit too much mane but the rest of him is fine!

I used a lot more of the gold paint than usual, brushed on in light layers over the top of a matte basecoat til he looked about as shiny as I thought I could take him without starting to look decorator-ish! I named him Guneshli, which I need to check the meaning of cos I can't remember what it means now!

My first custom on this mould, I've been wanting to get one for years but somehow they never came my way in body batches til now. And I'd already had the idea for what I'd paint when I did get one - a Sorraia.

Trying to get the light to show his colour better, my first custom of this breed (on the CollectA Lusitano mould) was a very dark greyish grulla so I wanted to go the opposite way this time and paint a lighter one with a much browner tone to it. I've named him Altamira, and I'm pleased with how he turned out.

And the final one for now, I found one of these little Highlands I didn't know I had left, and rather than paint her as yet another of her own breed (I have a LOT of Highlands from that time I set out to paint every possible shade and genetic combination of dun in the breed, hahah!), I did a bit of researching what other small chunky ponies there were with a bit of heel feather and a lot of mane. And the main candidate seemed to be the Kerry Bog Pony, so that's what she became!

They can be a lot of colours but because I was avoiding any of the ones I'd painted on this mould already, she ended up being the most common colour of all, bay! But I don't mind, cos I do love painting bays, and they can vary so much from gingery with a black trim, to deep mahogany brown with darker shading, so they never get boring. Again, no name yet, apart from the unflattering nickname of Bog which might end up sticking if I don't hurry up and choose her something nicer!

Another of the Mini Whinnies body batch I got cheap, they're such tiny little models but I don't find them too small to paint, just have to find a small enough brush! These more recent moulds are a lot more precise and realistic than the early ones, most of the newer horses are shrunken-down versions of larger models, so their proportions and poses tend to be a lot better, even if some of the detail is lost in the miniaturisation process. And I even managed to give this one tiny thread braids, just like I do for my Stablemate scale Saddlebreds.

My first repaint on this relatively recent Cantering Morgan mould, and I chose a colour I've had saved in my photo reference folder for a very long time, this beautiful shade of sooty palomino! I find this colour very hard to mix paints to match, and to blend the shading, but he turned out very similar to how I wanted, so I count that as a success!

It's always fun to work with a new sculpt, especially one which I'm not all that familiar with as it's mostly been used for club exclusives and rare special runs - aside from this custom, I only own the black regular run.

Another tiny little custom, but of a much bigger breed! I'm not sure if this Mini Whinnies mould has ever been issued with an official breed designation, but I'd already painted a skewbald cob so I decided to go for a solid coloured Clydesdale for more contrast than just painting a piebald one, hah.

And finally, the Standing Stock Horse mould, repainted as a very loud red bay appaloosa. Although, I find this mould doesn't make a very good true-type Appaloosa, so I've been allocating mine the Colorado Ranger breed instead.

Even though the finish on my spotted paintjobs isn't ever quite as neat as I'd like, at least not at this small scale, it's still fun to paint one now and then! I've named her Red Stars.

A Breyer parcel from Germany - Zorah Belle, and some 2023 Stablemates

UK Breyer collectors recently received the bad news that this year's models wouldn't be coming in June as expected - the company which used to import and distribute them emailed all the sellers to say their orders were cancelled and no stock was coming.

It's possible another import company will take on the brand in future, but right now all British Breyer fans are left with the choice of patiently waiting in hope they eventually end up on the market here again, or ordering in from overseas.

I decided that I just couldn't wait and risk missing out on the must-have model from this year's releases, the Fjord I absolutely HAD to add to my collection after many years of being a fan of the breed, and much excitement back when they announced we were getting a regular run on this gorgeous new mould!
And if I was ordering that horse, it was the ideal time to get some WIA models I'd had on my wishlist too - I gave them a post to themselves, here. And then I may as well put the 2023 Stablemates on the order as well, cos they might never reach this country directly either (or be as elusive and fleetingly in stock as the last batch were!), so in the end I had a nice big parcel on the way from Germany.

By the way, if anyone else in the UK is considering buying from overseas during this time of Breyer drought and uncertainty, I can happily recommend Modellpferdeversand as an option. They're amazingly quick and efficient, I've been buying my WIA models from there for a while now and in my experience parcels arrive almost as quickly as ones bought from companies over here (maybe one day longer, for the extra sorting and travel which happens between the ports)

There's no customs and import fees like we get hit with if buying from the USA, and postage is €11, dropping to just €5 if you spend over a certain amount, so it's not excessive.
The site works in English, and Paypal automatically converts currency for you when you go through the checkout, so no need to worry about how to pay in Euros.
And be aware that the prices you see on the website will CHANGE after you log in - something to do with VAT tax rates, we pay less per model than other countries. For example, my Traditional scale buy is marked up at €49.65 on the site, but drops to €41.72 if I log in with my UK-addressed account.

Ok, so international buying option thoroughly covered, here's what was in my parcel!

The NORWEGIAN FJORD! Hurrah! As I said, I wanted this one so badly from the moment I saw it, out of all this year's new models this was the one which jumped out, and I'm so glad to have managed to get hold of her.

She's a portrait model of a real mare, Sweetwater's Zorah Belle, who's been successful at sport driving in the USA. The photo on the box shows her with a clipped off coat, but the model hasn't been given the paler body and 'edge' lines where the clip ends, so this must be her natural unclipped summer-coated look. I've called mine Harecroft Astrilde, after a Norse goddess (using an alternate variation of the name, because Breyer used the more common 'Astrid' for another Fjord release!)

Her colour's nicely chosen, not too bright and orangey, but not too pale and wishy-washy either, and the dark points are done well, with the black down the middle of the mane and a straight neat dorsal stripe, the shading on her legs is especially subtle, and the black nostrils faded gently into a pale nose are just right!

Breyer packaged her facing this way in the box, but I prefer how she looks from the other side - a combination of the leg position looking more balanced, and the ear being visible rather than swamped in her forelock!

She's a nice sculpt, a good representation of the modern breed, which is slightly lighter and more like a native riding pony type, than the small-draft-horse ancestry they come from.

I wonder what other colour Fjords we might see in future, I doubt we'll ever have a regular run grey dun (grulla) because they used that for a Breyerfest special, and that only leaves a couple of other shades even found in the breed. Perhaps they'll just use the alternate untrimmed mane version of the mould to bring out other breeds on this sculpt.

Now, on to the Stablemates!

This is the Darley mould, sculpted as an Arabian but so much the American show-ring type, with the long-limbed action both high-stepping AND stretched, that it doesn't resemble the old-world Arabian as I know it. So I show all mine as the National Show Horse breed, created as a cross between the Arabian and the Saddlebred for exhibitors who wanted something part way between the two, flamboyant movement combined with Arabian posture and prettiness. I think this mould does a great job of that!

This is my third Darley, and the first one to have serious balance problems. He just did not stand up, straight out of the packaging, and even after the hot water treatment he's leaning very much to one side - I had to tilt the fake grass base at quite an angle to keep him upright for a photo, and now he's standing with a thick coin under his front foot to level him up on the shelf.

The black paintjob is plain but the perfect point between matte and glossy, so it looks like the sheen on a clean and healthy horse coat, rather than too plasticky. I wish the sock had masking rather than that fade-out (leaving it off entirely would've been more realistic than such a blurry edge!) but the face marking is nice enough.

Next out of the box was this Quarter Horse on the mini Smart Chic Olena mould. And guess what - he didn't stand up either. The standing front leg is shorter than the others, meaning he dramatically lurches to one side every time you try to let go of him, and ends up flat on the ground. Great, that's two out of the packaging, and two out of two don't stand up?! Where is Breyer's quality control these days?
I couldn't do much with the hot water, pushing the foreleg slightly outwards while trying to adjust the horse's stance and balance by bending the opposite hindleg up bit to lift that foot and let him lean back in the right direction, but even after all that I still had to use a tilted base board, a small bit of grit from the path under his front foot, AND take my photo really quickly before a breath of breeze had him falling on his face for the hundredth time, hah. Like the black horse before him, he's currently got a coin under his foot, and is going to have to keep it when he moves to his final display position on the shelf later on.

Aside from his inability to stand up, the model is actually really nice - a light and bright colour with plenty of variation in shade given by the thickness of paint application, and chestnut is perfect for the breed. The mould is named after real stallion Smart Chic Olena, and many of his offspring and later descendants are the same colour, I've met some of them at a stud over here, and every one was chestnut in one shade or another!

Now, one which stands just fine on her own four feet! It's quite funny cos this mould has been released in solid chestnut, chestnut roan, and now a chestnut based appaloosa with roaning, so it's like they add a little bit more detail each time they want a regular run colour!

The spots are done by hand, with deliberate placement rather than random paint-spatter, and while this means they look less like, well, spattered paint, they do look amusing from above, where you can clearly see the painter had got a method going - four symmetrical and evenly spaced big spots, then a series of equally symmetrical and evenly spaced small ones to fit around them. From the side, it doesn't look so mathematical!

One of the older moulds in this batch, the Stock Horse Mare dates back to when Stablemates were still released in generations, she's a G3 sculpt, which were all done by the same artist (who also did the very best era of Safari horses!), and have distinctive chiselled faces as well as chunky legs with big joints and feet. A little too chunky for the Appaloosa breed, so I show my spotted ones on this mould as Colorado Ranger Horse instead.

Annnd another one whose sculpt doesn't match his official breed, but at least he does stand up, hah! This one's sold as a Clydesdale, but they're a tall, rangy and rather narrow heavy horse, quite athletic and leggy for a draft, not bulky little balls of muscle like this chap! I remember discussing the exact same model with another collector, and I think my eventual best guesses for a more accurate breed were the Breton (which is more famously chestnut, but does come in bay), and the Rhenish German Coldblood, which is suddenly a popular breed allocation in the hobby thanks to Breyer bringing one out for Breyerfest the other year! I haven't decided which yet, so I don't know if I need to name him in German or French!

This one stands up! And looks like the breed it's meant to be! Hurrah!
The colour's nicely done, a deep and rich shade of palomino with the true white mane and tail done with neat masking. I especially like the fine zig zag at the end of the mane where the edge has to interpret where the sculpted detail blends into the coat, but does it without looking blocky or misaligned. The shading on the face is also nicely done, sometimes palominos don't get given the dark noses they need to reflect the fact they have dark skin which shows wherever the coat is very fine.

he final single horse in this year's batch, the mustang, in grey pinto. The little flash of white is quite small, I'd maybe have preferred to see a bit more across the body or neck of the horse just for the sake of being more striking to look at, but he's not at all bad, a perfectly good colour for the breed, and the sculpt is dramatic and energetic - and yes, it stands up!

I've tweaked his breed from just 'Mustang' to Spanish Mustang, because this mould was originally released as an Andalusian, so even in a mustang colour, it carries all the conformation of the Spanish ancestors and can join my website's page of that breed instead.

As well as the individual horses packed on cards, this year saw the release of another 4-piece set. This time, rather than being grouped by breed type or colour/pattern, the theme is 'Poetry in Motion', which is a bit vague - I suppose the link is that all the moulds are moving rather than standing?

One of my favourites, despite not normally being overly keen on the mould (all that mane and tail is a bit too much for my taste!), the colour just works here. Morgans can be roan, and I like the application of the white spray, so fine it captures the speckly look you see if you inspect a roan coat up close, but from a distance it blends into smooth pale colour. They also remembered to leave the darker head, and if you look at the very end of his nose, he's got a hint of more gingery shading there, like a lot of bays have in real life.

Here's a sculpt which wasn't released as any official breed - she's known as the Running Mare! In this set, she's described as a Mustang, which...is ok, I suppose? It's a very middling sort of mould, no strong conformational traits in any direction, quite shallow through the body with barely any withers, and a small angular rump. I've got one other, which I allocated as a Brumby, another feral breed without selective breeding to improve type or maintain good conformation, so I'll put this one as a Brumby as well, just so I'm keeping two of a mould together rather than cos I think she can't stay what she was sold as.

Another one I was keen to get, this was my deciding factor on whether or not I really needed that set on my order! As I said on the previous page, I've been collecting this G2 Warmblood mould specifically for a really long time now, so any regular runs jump out as something I really ought to tick off the wishlist, even though I know I can't get EVERY release on a mould these days, with too many inaccessible exclusives out there.

This stallion is the colour known as dunskin, what happens when a buckskin horse also gets the dun gene. A lovely creamy pale shade, with frosting along the mane and at the top of the tail, and barring on the legs - an impressive level of detail to bother with for a regular run! Sold as an American Warmblood, where there's a lot more variety in the colours than the majority of older European warmbloods, so I'm happy with keeping that as his breed allocation.

The final one from the Poetry In Motion set, and it's the Stablemates portrait of Valegro in grey. We've already had the mould in fleabitten grey with dark points, fairly recently, so I'm surprised they've gone for another so soon, but then they've also done him in dark bay more than once, so I don't think they worry too much about repeating colours! These are supposed to be dapples, but I always think they look more like heavy Tetrarch/Chubari spotting.

He's got a handsome head, and (apart from the tiny feet!) it's a nice well observed little mould, capturing the dressage movement where the horse trots as close to on-the-spot as possible - you can see the concentration on his face.

By this point I was pretty close to reaching the half price postage point, so I thought ok, I'll add another little horse, and had a look back through the Stablemates section, thinking I'd probably put in a duplicate of one of the 2023 singles, whichever I've painted least of already. But in amongst them was a 2021 model I didn't have, one of the blind bag releases which I'm pretty sure was only sold in the USA? I can't find that info on Identify Your Breyer, but as a US-based site they probably wouldn't realise that not all countries got all those Stablemates, and didn't know it was a thing which needed noting!

Here he is, one more of those missing G2 Warmbloods to tick off! I don't know if he was ever sold as a certain breed, or even whether his colour's intended as a very light bay or a golden buckskin, but either way he's a handsome addition, and I'm pleased I spotted him when I was compiling my order!

But I looked across at the total, and oh, it was still a tiny bit below the cut-off point for half price postage - for the sake of spending about 30p more, I'd save myself €5, so I HAD to go back and choose one : it was practically a free horse! I decided to stick on one of the 'Handful of Horses' blind bags, I still haven't managed to get the Icelandic from that set, so there was a one in six chance I'd end up with the one I wanted, and if not then I'd be happy enough with a duplicate to repaint.

So I left that til last, when unpacking my parcel, a random surprise which would either be the Icelandic, or one for the body box...right?

Wrong - as soon as I split the packet I knew I'd got something totally different after all, the silver foil inside was reflecting BRIGHT blue, and out came the one-in-96 'chase' piece!

I don't actively collect decorators, but I do find it amusing when the cool colours come to me by chance - especially as this was such a last minute 'oh I'll have a blind bag' moment just to push the order up by a few pence, I very nearly didn't ever own this horse, and now I do, so I'm quite happy for him to have a shelf space, and can appreciate him for the perfectly mad and visually striking little thing that he is! The metallic blue is very vibrant and more my taste than neon pink or multicolour or see-through-and-glittery, I think in general the 'filigree' pattern is one of the most tasteful designs used for decorator releases. And the other one I got from a previous set of blind bags was similar (the copper filigree Django) so at least he'll have someone to stand with on display!

Tales from the Body Box - South American Special!

Ever since reading Tschiffely's Ride I've been a fan of the Argentine criollo horse, but shockingly my collection has been lacking any custom finish models of them! I've got a Julip Mancha and Gato, as well as the Breyerfest classic-scale set of that same pair, but it was about time I got round to creating a Stablemate criollo for my mini herd.

The mould which seemed the most likely candidate in my body box was the relatively recent standing warmblood. The main change was removing the unicorn horn mine came with, but I also filed the original loose mane away - criollos are frequently hogged, whether working or in the showring; not quite the same low tight clipper-cut as you'd see on a hogged show cob or polo pony, but often left with an inch or so of spiky mane upright along the crest.

Of course, the colour I most wanted to do was the fascinating manchado pinto pattern, despite the fact it also seemed one of the most difficult to recreate realistically with paint, but I decided to be brave and go for it...

...and phew, it worked out ok!

I based the rough idea of the colour and pattern on the stallion in these stunning photos on Shutterstock, but decided against copying the markings patch by patch because that would've made painting needlessly complicated when it's not a portrait custom, just inspired by a good colour!

Looking very alert, and quite at home in this bit of scenery (which is secretly Ireland not Argentina, because it came out of a Breyer Connemara box!)

I think this mould makes a pretty good basis for the criollo breed, despite being intended as a warmblood. Oddly, it's listed on Identify Your Breyer as the 'warmblood stallion', but all mine are mares so far (I have an OF from last year's horse & foal sets, and these clear bodies from the Paint Your Own Suncatcher Unicorn set), so unless there's two versions, I think that's just a mistake on the site.

Although she seems finished already, I had further plans for this custom, and did my first ever piece of Stablemate scale tack making! 

I don't think I'd have much success trying to work real or fake leather at such a tiny scale, buckles and keepers and all, but criollo halters and bridles are made with plaited rawhide, leather, or cord, and so I was able to do a tiny version with plaited embroidery thread, damped down with glue to prevent any fluffy edges.

I think this last shot will be her future show photo, whenever I've managed to give her a name.

Next up, and keeping in the same continent, this time it's my first ever Peruvian Paso custom! Yes, really - I've done quite a few of the G2 Paso Fino, but this is the first ever G3 Peruvian Paso to have found his way to my body box. It was a lovely little mould to work with, and I wish I'd got round to painting some years ago!

I went with the colour I've always had in mind for him, a rich golden-brown sooty/smutty palomino, based on some lovely reference pictures I saw ages ago but regrettably didn't save a copy or a link for. The closest I could find on the second time of hunting was this beautiful boy, so I based my paint mixing on him but used different markings, as again this is an 'inspired by' rather than a direct portrait paintjob.

I'm so pleased with how he turned out! I'll readily admit that these are the kinds of colours I find hardest to paint, something about the blending and shading of tans into richer browns or dark points is incredibly difficult to get looking smooth and natural, and it's taken me years to have any turn out in a convincing and tidy way.

At this point I thought I'd done enough South American breeds for a while, and ought to vary it a bit, but no, for some reason the creative whisper in the back of my mind kept on suggesting that the criollo needed a friend more than I needed more breeds ticked off my painted list, and so that's what happened - meet manchado criollo number two!

This one's a bit darker, based on the common dun colour of the breed, but mottled and mixed into the distinctive white markings, splodgy spotting, and roaning. 

  

Again, the mould had a little alteration, this time I had to add a little resculpted milliput mane along the crest, and for the tuft traditionally left long at the shoulders. I wonder if it's used for the rider to grip, a bit like jockeys and XC riders will rub out a few plaits so there's loose mane to grab in an emergency, or how I used to jump a particularly spring-loaded barrel of a pony when I was a teen, wrapping one hand into her big fluffy thelwell mane as an anchor for when she inevitably put in a cat-leap twice the height of the poles and would've launched me independently over them if I hadn't been holding on!

This poor SM body had also seen better days when it arrived with me, missing one ear & one leg entirely, and with another leg sellotaped to it's side. The repairs aren't perfect, and the reason the forelock and tail ended up a bit bulked up - to cover and strengthen the joins!

 

This one also has a little braided halter, and I think I'll use the final photo with it as her display and show picture.

Lots of very fiddly plaiting went into these, but I think they were worth the extra time they took, making the little models look finished, and helping to emphasise their breed, seeing as these two were sculpted as warmblood and stock horse originally.