Que Sera Sera

This is a Saturday Raffle Model for this years BF.

GORGEOUS!

It's News Time

Well hello all. I promised exciting news today and here it is.

This is something that I'm really excited about and hopefully you guys will be too. In fact it's been made a little bit more exciting as we have extra news *yay*.

Soooo the news before I blab on about life the Universe and everything for a bit...

Chestnut Ridge is now an official Breyer stockist!

This is something we have wanted to do for a while and now seems like the right time to do it. We've had a good talk with Breyer's UK distributor, placed our first order and talked about getting some of the models that aren't currently in their catalogue into the UK (this is predominantly Picasso, Jubilation (the Mule), the SM Mystery Foal sets & the Autism awareness horse, but if there is anything else you want please just ask).

So we have placed a relatively small order for now but as I said we are going to ask for the horses above and once we have sold some we can invest in more. Every order we place we'll add more variety. We are working on a high variety low stock basis, so if there is anything you want please just get in touch.

So what have I chosen?

Well this is what I ordered today, they should hopefully be with us in time for Raising Zambia on Saturday!

SM Best of British Set
Best of British Connemara
Best of British Welsh
Best of British Shetland
Polo Pony
Poly Pony Tack & Rider
Glitterati
SM Singles
Mini Whinnie Surprise Models
SM Horse Lovers Shadow Box
Classic Horse of the Year - Liam
Classic A Champion is Born
Snowman
Deer Family

It's only a small selection but includes some really nice models, I've seen them all in the flesh and I've chosen sets that I really like and I hope hobbyists will like as well.

What's great is we can deliver to any show that I attend and as a hobbyist I know what you guys want, so really hoping you will be happy with what we offer. By 2016 we hope to stock the entire range.

Today I also got the chance to see the Copperfox models in the flesh (gorgeous) as well as see the Breyer Christmas Horse in the flesh! So all in all a great day, I also got to look at glitter quarter marks for real horses.....definitely think I should stock those!

So what's the other exciting news?

Well we also now stock Beswick models! This wasn't planned but I saw, I liked what I saw and I placed an order. They have some beautiful new models and having seen them in the flesh I can tell you they will definitely be worth having. A bit more pricey than the Breyer's but still gorgeous!

Anyway I'll leave you with some pictures of the new Breyer Best of British range, taken today (on my phone...)

Sparklies

I like sparkly things. I have decided that sparkly rugs are a good thing.

I tried out a heart and star, on pink and blue felt. I really should have ironed the pink felt first!

Still really happy with them, they look really cool!

More BF Models

First up is La Taureu a Special Run bull, he is stunning!




Second I can't remember if I shared C'est Bon or not? He is the Early Bird Raffle model:

Get Voting!

February's show is now open to vote!

So go ahead, go to the group and get voting for those horses!

Remember you can only vote for one horse per class. You vote by 'liking' your favourite picture.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493893527541574/

How much does a show string cost? - Why money doesn't equal success

I see this a lot 'my models are cheap how can they compete' and it upsets me. Maybe the UK is different to the US but definitely in the UK money doesn't always buy success. OK so there are always going to be very expensive beautiful top LSQ resins (for example) that do very well (the same is probably true of those very pricey Equorums) but there are those of us who don't have many pennies and who are doing perfectly well without such things in their life!

So I thought to myself, how much did my show string cost? Good question....

Now many of these are just estimates, I don't know exactly how much because I forget these things! But it will give you an idea.

I have 25 horses in my show string, here are their stable names and cost (not value per se), they are in order of successfullness!

1. Smexy - £90.00
2. Spartacus - £95.00
3. Acorn - £20.00
4. Icicle - £20.00
5. A Winning Ticket - £20.00
6. Harmonie - £30.00
7. Caprice - £112
8. Heredites - £65
9. Catriona - £112
10. Irish Cream - £25
11. Inti - £5
12. Acapello - £35
13. Flea - £2
14. Kuchi - £30
15. Sparkle - £4
16. Dulce de Leche - £20
17. Calico - £10
18. Squish - £7.50 (although bought unpainted and painted by me)
19. Daisy - £3.50
20. Adam - £100
21. Sun (P) - £20 (horse), £40 (handler), arena wall (£20) (tack made by me)
22. Chubusco - £30
23. Olivia - £5
24. Sun (H) - £20
25. Julie - £45

So what's the total? well one thing to note is one horse is in their twice so I've included him only once obviously :p Also note that one horse I painted (obviously if you bought this you'd have to pay for a paint job, which from me including paint job would have cost £35) and also I made the headcollar for a performance set up (again off me that would cost £20).

So total.....

*drum roll please*

£966!!!

OK so that is quite a lot, but that is on average £38.50 per horse (or there abouts). But there are some important things to note, there are few models that are on the upper end of pricey, some nice china AA's and a couple of quite expensive customs.

But the majority were cheap...

So what is there?

Let's look at actually what my show string comprises of! We have:

Equorums - 1
Customs - 7
Performance Set Ups - 2
China AAs - 2
Breyers - 6
CollectAs - 1
Schleichs - 3
Artist Resins - 1
Julips - 1

The majority are customs. These include 5 Deb Browns, 1 Yvonne Davey and 1 Kim Burd. The AR was painted by myself.

It is also important to note that I have models in my collection, that I do show, that cost a lot more, for example a £350 custom or a £300 OF. My premier models work out at around £200 each including shipping and customs! I have plenty of £100+ customs that I show that have not done well enough to reach my show string.

I think that is important to remember, just because a model is expensive doesn't mean it is amazing.

My third best horse was bought as a body, my fourth and fifth best were also bought very cheap.

My 11th best horse is just a CollectA and my 13th best is a SM Mule I bought for £2 in the UH shop!

I've been live showing since 2006, that is around 9 years worth of shows, I've been collecting since 2003. So this collection has been built up slowly over the years. I didn't start with this! (although Acorn my third best was with me at my 2nd live show where he got CM champion)!

Lots of these models were also gifts, in fact at least 5 were presents, I have a suspicion that Acapello was also a present. In fact the presents come to £294 in total! So that is nearly £300 off what I personally have spent.

So as I say, money doesn't buy success, and a show string takes time to build up. You may be surprised, that £2 stablemate may do better than you think!

Work in Progress Updates

I'm hoping at least one will be done in time for Raising Zambia! But I'm not making much progress on them. The mixed pattern is most likely to be completed in time.

Here are all three, plus some others I'm working on:


The mixed pattern is the most progressed (actually has spots now)


The mealy chestnut is looking really nice but needs a ton of work still


And the mouse dun is also looking nice but doesn't even have a dorsal stripe, so not holding out much hope for his levels of completion!

Work in Progress

Quick shot of the three horses that actually have some paint on them....we are getting there slowly.

From top to bottom, Mouse Dun, Mixed Pattern and Mealy Chestnut

Black Caviar and Foal Set

Can't believe I didn't blog this for you :p

Anyway a nice classic set with one of my favourite classic foals

San Francisco Sundance

I love what Breyer have done to Smarty Jones with the new Polo Pony variation but I am not a fan of the colour on him.

However, add a stunning Deb Brown paint job into the mix and you have a ball of gorgeous sunny goodness.

So meet Zane or San Francisco Sundance. The latest collection to my ever growing selection of Deb Brown Smarty's!



That face!


Other side...equally as gorgeous

Gary

We still have a selection of ready to ship Friendship Felties who are just desperate to find a new and loving home.


Gary loves maths, he even has the symbol for Pi on his quarters! He would really like to help you do your maths homework, or the Times Killer Sudoku. He's also happy just sitting around watching Animal Planet all day if you are more into that...basically he just wants a friend.


So why not give him all the love you have to share and take him (or one of his friends) home today:


http://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/product/Bug_193108112014

New Breyer UK 2015 Stablemates

Picture is from Pony Mag courtesy of Becky Benfield!

Look a G1 Drafter *runs around like a crazy person*

Breyer UK Models

It will be really interesting to see them at BETA and see what they are actually planning on releasing.

Here is another person's blog post about this:

http://www.toynews-online.biz/news/read/breyer-to-launch-best-of-british-at-this-year-s-british-equestrian-trade-show/043900

Pictures of the Welsh cob show it to be Llanarth (how on Earth do you spell that model's name...) in black.

One can only presume the Shetland will be the current Shetland.

My Next Custom Batch

So I have started a few of these but it will be months before they are all done. But still it's nice to work on a few horses at once, helps with the "I really don't want to do this anymoreness"

So here are the batch:


Now the colours! All these pictures are evilly stolen by me and I should be shot at dawn for even thinking of putting them in a blog post.

Schleich Welsh - Mealy Chestnut



Mesteno Foal - Mixed Pattern


Peter Stone - Mouse Dun



HA Foal - Mushroom



Safari Tacked Whinnie - Overo



Breyer Paddock Pal - Paint



Breyer Classic Foal - Perlino



Safari Mini Arab - Piebald



Safari Mini Percheron - Black



Schleich Shire Foal - Pinto



Hope you like my typically avent garde colour choices! Will check in in a few months when they actually have paint on them :p

99p Start Customs

I've listed the remaining old customs on eBay for a 99p start.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/diamondsareforever6789/m.html?item=361210282666&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Only a few didn't sell but they are all very nice.

Enchante

Well done to those who guessed Totillas.

This is another Breyerfest Special Run.

Mystery Horse

So for Christmas I was promised a mystery horse...he finally arrived!

OK so it wasn't much a mystery that out of the entire Breyer range Brendon would choose the Canadian themed model horse.

I'm really not a Big Ben fan but the colour on this guy is gorgeous and he is very special. I need to bring Milton over from my mum's house as he's a bit lonely.

So meet Musica aka CRS Due South (named by Brendon, apparently its a Canadian TV show about mounties).



Without his tag thing



He has a cute little maple leaf quarter mark



My attempts to hide the Big Ben flaws!



He looks a little worried...

BF Model Guessing Game

This is the first of the images they have put up:



So who do we think it is? Clearly bay (I'm a genius) and with heavy white markings, maybe tobiano? But what mold that be the question? Weirdly kinda looks like a Stone Trotting Drafter but clearly not that :p

If you look at the head it is recognisable....I just can't pin point what it is! I'm sure I have something useful I could be doing....

Bonus Set!

I recently ordered a set of Stablemates off eBay for customizing as they were rather cheap. The set I expected was one I already owned.

The set I got was one I didn't. So instead of some bodies we have four new editions to the herd :D

1. CRS The Black Stallion aka Smoochie


2. CRS The Horse Whisperer (Markus)


3. CRS The Impossible True Story (Sophia)


4. CRS National Velvet (Ava)


You may detect a little bit of a theme in the show names....