Let's go bird watching

Happy Friday everyone!

Today we are going to find our inner tweeters and have a look at some of the avian members of my herd. Like many I do not just have model horses on my shelves but also have an amazing collection of non-equine models. Today it's all about the birds though, so without a further ado, let's go bird watching!

First up we have CRS The Peak of Life (why I didn't decide to use a pun here is beyond me, I'm letting myself down). This is an adorable Julip dove.

Next we have CRS Impermanence who is a very cute little CollectA Kiwi

This is an unnamed Julip duck, he is very cute though!

Next we have CRS That Darn Cat! another Julip, this time a cute little chicken

Another Julip chicken, this one is CRS The Ugly Dachshund

Now we are onto the geese...there are quite a few of these! Let's start with CRS A Year of Birds

Then CRS Acastos

Next CRS A Novel

This is a swan not a goose but he likes to hang out with them, this is CRS Anger Management (aka Mr. Goose)

Then CRS Aphrorisms

Then CRS A Fairly Honourable Defeat

And finally CRS A Severed Head

And finally we have an unnamed pain of Julip pheasants. As you can probably tell they can be a bit of a pain though! Always getting into the feed room!

Do you have any birds in your collection? I would love to see them :D

Putting Together a Live Show List

I thought it would be really fun to share with you guys how I put together a show list for a model horse show.

The show I'm preparing for here is Mrs. P's CTF Show 2025. This is a specialist CTF show and has a slightly different class layout than your general show. You can see there a specialist classes for models such as WIA/CollectA or Schleich/Safari.

I haven't filmed the whole process as putting together a full show list takes a good few hours to do! But you get a good insight into how I decide which models I am going to take to a live show. It's also fun to see all the ridiculous names that I've given my models over the years!

Make sure to check in for a full show report from the show in a couple of weeks :)

New Customs

Look I fixed my camera! Go me :D I have a few new customs to share with you today, all finished over the last few weeks. They include some sales pieces as well as another finished resin to add to my collection.

First up we have CRS Werewolf Feud

Feud is a Maggie Bennett Brightside resin

She has been painted to a lovely bloody shoulder grey. I am really in love with this model, her colour is just to die for!

Her less bloody side :D

Next up we have a little Breyer Mini Whinnie Gypsy Vanner. This little cutey has been painted to a cremello. Isn't he the squishiest?

And finally we have a CollectA Belgium Mare. I have been working on this one for over seven months! We don't need to talk about how much white went on her. I used Stuart Semple's White (the experiment strains) to create the white markings. They are nice and liquidy which makes them great for painting whites and after like 7 million coats you do end up with seriously bright white markings!

If you like the last two they are both for sale here: https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/c3/custom-finish#/ 

Feud isn't for sale though, she is staying with me forever. And ever. And ever. And ever. And ever. And ever. And you get the picture :D

New Ponies :D

 Because of the house move I've been really behind on sharing some of my new arrivals with you.

So instead you are going to get one massive post with lots of horses in! Including some that have only just been unboxed.

Enjoy :)

CRS Submission (Tiller)

Spirit Collector's Model

CRS The End (Zahra)

Breyer Vintage Club Zahra

CRS Bonus Ball (Bone)

CollectA Dog

CRS Match Fit (Match)

Schleich Cob Mare

CRS Desperate Measures (Mea)

Schleich Advent Calendar Model

CRS The Moosetrap (Moosetrap)

Schleich Advent Calendar Donkey

CRS High Winds Actor (Actor)

Schleich Advent Calendar Model

CRS Buried Alive (Ali)

Mojo Percheron

CRS Afternoon Tea (Medley)
My Little Pony Medley

CRS Peregrine Qazam (Buddy)

RubberNedz Foal to 'Elf' Decorator

CRS Vanity Project (Vanity)

Mr. Z Donkey Foal

Bonus points to those of you that can work out where the show names come from!

Fan Pics!

Today I thought we would do a fun fan special where I would share with you five of my favourite fan photos from the last few years.

First up we have a cool activity to try with your kids at home. This fan printed out one of our Collector's Bingo cards and got her kids to find animals for each of the squares! This would be great fun to do at a live show.



This lovely shot is of a couple of CollectA Friesians happily hanging out, don't they look beautiful together?



And another shot by the same fan of one of my favourite CollectA moulds, the adorable little AQH foal



Here is a shot from one of our fans of a custom we painted doing very well at a live show! Well done on your win :D



What is cuter than big horses? Well small tiny zebras that come in boxes of course!



Want to share some pics with us? Then you know how! Check us out on Facebook or Instagram or drop me an email and I'll be more than happy to share them here.

New Models

I haven't really been buying much this year, many of these are small purchases or ones I've won in raffles! Or they are left over stock that I've found and decided to buy for myself.

But I thought I would introduce you to a few of the new arrivals, a bit of an eclectic collection of models I must say, but some really nice ones amongst them.

First up is CRS Carrion Crawler (aka Confetti)



Confetti is one of the new vintage My Little Pony releases. I found a load of the sparkle cutey mark ones in a toy shop in Worcester and picked her. I love her multi-coloured mane and tail.

Second is CRS Yakshini (Yakshi)



I've been looking at Yakshi on Donna's table at live shows for a LONG time. I eventually decided to give in and purchase him at the last show. He is absolutely stunning and I'm so glad I've added him to my herd. I also now finally have an entry for ARC/AA British Native classes!

You will have met Nirvana before, he was my Namopaimo model, but I have only just gotten around to cataloguing him so he is being added to this post!



Next up is CRS Displacer Beast (Bea)



I won Bea at Year of the Pig Live, she's one of the new Stablemate Mystery Horse Surprise bag horses. She's my second on this mould and I do rather like her, even if she isn't massively realistic.

This is CRS Aeroflot



I bought Aeroflot at Year of the Pig Live because I wanted one of the new Stablemate Alborozos (and wanted to wait until he didn't cost me an arm and a leg). I'm proud of him he's already BMECS qualified on his first outing!

And because Aeroflot might get lonely here is CRS Boeing 747 (Boeing)



I couldn't even wait until we got the stock in and picked this one up at Year of the Pig to add to my G2 Appaloosa conga. And yes I was watching Air Crash Investigations when I named them both...

Now onto some of the 'left overs' that I found and decided could either be painted or kept. I decided to keep them.

First is CRS Barren Island (Barren)



Barren is a CollectA Walking Haflinger Foal

Second is CRS Tungahurua (Tunga)



Tunga is a CollectA Shire Mare in grey.

And third is CRS Volcan de Fuego (Volcan)



Volcan is my third CollectA Shire Foal (I didn't have the black, only a bay and a custom) and I'm happy to have a complete set. It's a lovely mould, so leggy!

Now we have CRS Cotopaxi (Coto)



Coto came as a part of a job lot of bodies that I got off Facebook marketplace. He was actually in pretty nice condition and rather cute so I decided to keep him and add him to my herd.

And finally we have CRS Careless Whisper



Whisper was painted by me in 2017. She was put up for sale along with her BMECS qualification and never sold. When I became ill last summer she was simply put in a box along with all the other sale customs.

Going through I got her out and reminded myself how much I actually liked her. I decided that I would keep rather than sell her but it has taken me this long to catalogue her and get to the point where she can go to a show again! I'm hoping she'll become a staple of my show string, she is a gorgeous foal and I'm really rather fond of her. I'm so glad I gave her a nice name as well!


I told you it was a bit of an eclectic bunch of models but I hope you enjoyed saying hello! I still don't have the proper light tent set up (I don't have space) and all these need their brightness altering but you get a good idea of the models anyway. They are all coming with me to North Wales Live on Saturday so you can say hi in person there :D

More 2019 CollectA Models

CollectA have announced some more of their 2019 range :D

Why are their bulls so lush? I just adore the Hereford he is stunning!

Hereford Bull

Wolf

Russian Don

Unicorn Foal

Unicorn

Howling Wolf

This blog post was written by Catriona Harris owner of Chestnut Ridge and model horse fanatic.