Four New Completed Customs

The aim at the moment is to be completing on average a custom every day. We are definitely not hitting that target but I am painting far more than I have been previously and we are getting a fair few completed, so that is something!

I've been trying to work through lots of the unpainted resins and pewters as well as doing a few other customs. Whilst I usually keep most of my little resin and pewters for the micro army I am also trying to be discerning and rehome a few of them as the situation is getting slightly out of hand (you know things are bad when you literally cannot fit in any more micros).

Last week I got four models completed, apologies the photographs aren't very good I had a killer migraine yesterday and was trying to take the photos with said migraine, which was maybe not the brightest idea I'd ever had!

Anyway let's go through them:

CRS Economy Plus (Turbo)

Turbo is a Maggie Bennett Turbulence micro pewter. He is one of the micro club subscriber models (I think he's actually from this year). I really love this little rodeo horse but he was definitely living up to his name whilst painting.

Firstly he is a bit of a wobbler, but kept luring me into a false sense of security by looking like he was stable, allowing me to spray sealant and then flipping over once I'd left the room. Helpful. So he ended up having to have several repairs done on his coat.

That said I was so happy when I finished him and went to do his final seal. And then the nightmare happened (for once it was not me accidentally spraying him with primer). The sealant did the white dust. I did my best to recover the situation, gave him a bath and sprayed another coat but he did have to have extra pastel added and some repainting. He very much lost the richness of his colour on his show side (of course it was his show side I sprayed first). I don't think it ruined him as he's a snowcap spotted so you would expect some dustiness in the coat, but it really annoyed me. I'd been so happy with him.

Anyway he has been painted to a chestnut snowcap spotted. I went for a red halter and then put his initials on the noseband in white (similar to a horse I'd looked at for reference). He will be shown as a Grade Draft as that seems to suit the general draft mix rodeo horse that he is sculpted to be (and frankly I can't be bothered to come up with an exact mix). 

Named Economy Plus after the Kaj song which has been stuck in my head since it came out and his name made me think of aeroplanes which made me think of the song and got it stuck in my head again (which it now is again because I've written this). Also it worked well as a name that could be abbreviated down to be put on the front of the halter.

Maybe It's OK

Maybe It's OK is the 17th Teeny Tiny Night Heather resin that I've painted. As this was the last one that I have I wanted to go with a traditional Fell Pony colour. I had thought about keeping her but I do have my super small one who is painted to a Fell Pony and two black Fells on essentially the same mould seemed a little bit much (space people, space). So I've decided to rehome her, just like the other 16 of them (yep I've never actually kept one I painted). I made sure to make her a decent purebred Fell Pony by ensuring she had no white markings. I did give her lots of depth and shading in her coat though.

She's available here: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/maybe-its-ok

Numb Encore

Numb Encore is another Maggie Bennett micro. This is Ducat who was released in December 2020 along with his brother Dosh. Dosh has been painted up already and joined my collection as a lovely light bay Clydesdale with heavy white markings. For Ducat I went with another bay but this time used a reference of a much darker foal with some lovely contrast shading. I wanted to go with a Clydesdale again so added typical heavy white markings on the legs and face. He turned out really nicely.

Again sense has prevailed (I have so many ARC foals) and he is going to be rehomed. I do feel a bit bad separating him from Dosh but maybe you have a Dosh in your collection who needs a Ducat to be friends with?

He's available here: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/numb-encore

Bisexual Pride Necklace

To finish I have a really cute little unicorn necklace. I absolutely loved painting the rainbow unicorn with gold mapping and wanted to spend some time doing some more models with a similar technique in different colours. I decided that doing a range of pride flags would be a really cool way to do this and obviously started with the one with the best colours, the bisexual pride flag.

I used the same technique as the rainbow unicorn, using Maskol to map the markings and then airbrushing the colours. I maybe should have thought more about the pattern used in that the purple is quite hidden but I'm really happy with how the colours turned out.

The model had already been prepped to be a necklace so I kept that and added a purple cord with gold hardware to match the model. Every collector needs a Mini Whinnie necklace and why not also have one that has your pride colours on?

He is available here: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/bisexual-pride-mw-necklace

Colour Me Custom - Stock Horse

During BreyerFest I offered ten 'Colour Me Customs' for sale through Chestnut Ridge. The idea was the buyer would pick from ten different bodies and then select the base colour, pattern and white markings for their model.

The first to sell (and very quickly) was the G3 Stock Horse. The buyer chose for the base coat to be bay, the pattern to be a blanket spotted and the white markings to be 'surprise me'. After some prepping I got to work trying to find a good reference picture for the model.

I came across a lovely bay blanket spotted with really unusual markings on his legs. I thought he would look lovely and fulfil the surprise me option for the markings really well. I also liked the blanket and spots, I always like a bit of less is more for blanket spotted models and thought this would work perfectly.

I started by using masking fluid to mark off the bulk of the blanket and some of the markings. This would save me time in having to do eight million white paint layers over a large patch of the model and also allowed me to add depth to the colour of the spots.

She was painted to a lovely bay using airbrushed acrylics, pigments and pastels. Once I was happy with her base colour I gave her a good seal and got her ready for THE PEEL.

Once all the masking fluid was carefully peeled off I then started to add detail to the markings. Going over each one adding mapping and hairing so they had a more realistic finish.

I then started work on her dark spots, finishing off the spots on the blanket and adding lots more over her body. The reference horse had those shadow style spots that are dark spots not on the blanket so I made sure to add those.

I finished off the details, sealed her, added some gloss to the hooves, eyes and nostrils, signed her under one hoof and then sent her off to her new home.

I was so happy to see that her new owner absolutely adored her, I don't offer many commissions because I worry so much that the buyer won't be happy but this was honestly so much fun to do. I'm thinking about offering this service again before Christmas with some different models (maybe 20 this time?). So if you'd like to have a go at ordering one of these keep an eye out! Hopefully they will be coming back in the autumn.

Rainbow Unicorn

Towards the end of my pregnancy I had horrible pregnancy insomnia, often sleeping for only a couple of hours each night and spending the rest of the time desperately trying to get comfortable and living with my own thoughts.

It was whilst I was in this state of sleep deprived insanity that I decided I really wanted to paint a rainbow pinto model with gold mapping around the markings. So of course, like any sensible person, I decided to give effect to my sleep deprived desired and create said model. I had a prepped Magnolia unicorn and thought that would be the perfect victim for this particular project.

I started by finding a reference of a real pinto horse whose markings I liked. This actually took longer than you'd think it would as I was very particular about having the right balance of white and colour. I wanted an approximate 50/50 split so you got a really nice hit of colour but it was balanced against the white.

Once I found the reference I then started by blocking out the white with Maskol. Once the Maskol had dried I then measured the horse and used a pencil to mark out approximate divisions so that each block of colour would be around the same width. 

I then started on the airbrushing, working from red on the head down to purple on the tail. There was a bit of a delay whilst I had the baby, spent a week in hospital and then managed having a newborn at home but we eventually got there, finishing off the last few airbrushed colours last week. I decided that the mane and tail would be purple but added some pink fading into the purple on the tail to give it a bit more depth.

Once the airbrush rainbow colours were done and a layer of sealant had been applied to protect the paintwork from being scratched I started THE PEEL. I carefully removed all the Maskol to reveal the pinto pattern. This was the moment of truth, would it look as good as I hoped? I was absolutely delighted with how it turned out, it worked so well! The colours had faded into each other perfectly and because they'd been applied over the Maskol rather than each marking being hand painted they all lined up and the model really flowed.

Once all the Maskol was removed I then used a gold acrylic to go around each of the markings, creating mapping. I used the same gold for the horn and hooves as I didn't want to add too many colours to an already colourful horse! I also hand painted the purple mane as for some reason I'd put Maskol on the mane but then decided I actually wanted it purple. I suppose technically it should have only had colour where the markings touched but I mean we are painting a rainbow unicorn we don't have to follow colour pattern rules exactly!

I finished by giving her a gold and purple eye and then adding some glitter to the mane and tail. This was mainly because the purple on the mane had come out incredibly matte which didn't match the rest of the horse so I felt it needed something to create some continuity. 

She was signed and gloss added to the hooves, eyes and horn and is now ready to find a new home.

Unfortunately she's not perfect, the primer cracked at some point around the head and I didn't have the mental energy to strip her completely. Thankfully it's on her non-show side so she should be great for photoshowing. I was also not happy with the shade of red, it was a lot more of a deeper blood red than it looked. I'm definitely going to do another one at some point with different markings and will pick a different red. Because of these issues she has a reduced price of just £25 which honestly is a bargain because she's so pretty!

Sale link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/youll-be-in-my-heart

I definitely want to use this technique again to create another rainbow unicorn but I also think it would be fun to create other colour combinations and different markings. Now to prep a few more of the unicorn bodies I have so that I can create a whole army of pinto unicorns in different colours! I think a blue, pink and purple one would look gorgeous <3

BF Fun Week 2026

It's that time of year again! It's nearly BreyerFest which can only mean one thing, it's time for BreyerFest Fun Week 2026 and we have an amazing selection of things going on next week. So sit back, relax and get ready to take part in an amazing week of activities at Chestnut Ridge.

Facebook Competitions

This year we again have £35.00 worth of Chestnut Ridge vouchers to give away on Facebook every day next week. We have an amazing selection of competitions so make sure to check back every day to take part.

Each competition will open at 9am so make sure to checkout Chestnut Ridge on Facebook at 9am BST each day for a new chance to win.

Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels

Day 1 - Guess the surprise model

Guess which mould you think this year's surprise model will be on for your chance to win

Day 2 - Guess my special runs

Do you think you can predict which of my special run choices I will receive? Guess correctly for your chance to win

Day 3 - Treasure Hunt

Waffle Crackers is on the loose and you need to find him, follow the clues to win the prize!

Day 4 - Guess the auction sale amount

Do you think you can accurately predict how much the silver dapple Croi will sell for? Well get guessing!

Day 5 - Photo Contest

A quick snap into the Facebook comments and you are away. 

Day 6 - Vote for your favourite limited edition

All you have to do is react to the Facebook post to vote - winner will be chosen at random from all reactions

Day 7 - Wordsearch

Just comment the name of the first model you see to be entered for your chance to win

Win a BF 2026 Limited Edition

Want to win a BreyerFest 2026 Limited Edition model? All you have to do is place an order at Chestnut Ridge between 00:01 BST Monday 6th July 2026 and 23:59 BST Sunday 12th July 2026 for your chance to win.

The exact model will be announced on Friday once I know I have secured them - we all know how unpredictable getting models at BF online can be!

Instagram Photoshow

This year we are running a free and fun photo contest on Instagram. All you have to do is take a picture matching the theme 'Midsummer' and then upload it to Instagram with the hashtag BFFunWeek2026PhotoShow

There will be certificates for 1st - 6th place and a £5.00 voucher for the winner. Open for entries all next week, closing July 12th.

OMHPS Photo Show

We are running a free photo show on OMHPS all next week. This show is for European breeds only and is open to all makes and models.

Link: https://www.omhps.com/Show/Details/0370c4f6-0bdc-4285-afb3-7339a59f5e75

You have no idea how long it took me to set this show up - there are so many breeds on the lists on OMHPS that I was like "is that European? Is that country technically in Europe? Why is this taking so long!"

Colour Me Customs

This is something new this year. I have selected 10 blank Stablemates to offer you guys the chance to get a cute little custom on each one (there is one duplicate mould because the G4 Paradressage I had originally selected had some SERIOUS leg warpage). 

All you do is head on over to the product listing for the model you want and then you can select from a variety of different colours and markings. You have some control over what you get but I will make the final decision on shades and levels of markings. Sit back and wait and you will get a gorgeous new custom model horse in around a months time.

Priced at just £25 each!

Available now until July 12th 2026

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/collections/customs-resins-stablemate

So that's it for this year - well it isn't it, we haven't even gotten started yet! I will see you all next week and make sure to keep checking in to take part in all the games and competitions. See you soon :)

Celebration of Breyer Live 2025

Over the last few weeks I've been sharing lots of updates as I prepared for Celebration of Breyer Live 2025. Well it's finally over and I thought I would share you with you a little report of how the day went.

The day started in a slightly stressful manner as, when packing the car, we realised that one of the bottles of Kombucha in the goody bags had smashed! I had to do an emergency print of discount vouchers and a clean up and then we were finally ready to go!

We then arrived at the hall and realised that the microwave wasn't usable! I had bought special popcorn containers and was going to give everyone a little thing of popcorn, I was rather annoyed that we couldn't do that! So disaster two over we got ready to set up.

I always like to make sure the hall is properly set up before people arrive. I am eternally grateful for the help of Brendon and Laura in setting up shows. We got all the tables out and I arranged the prizes and rosettes. 

The rosettes were made by Crowsettes and they looked absolutely amazing! There was so much yellow which is exactly what I asked for. I think everyone had the opportunity to leave with one of these amazing rosettes which I was so happy about.

You can also see the surprise bags, Breyers, customs, trophies and fun class prizes that we provided. The Frutella were for voting in the fun classes.

Once everyone had arrived and unpacked (and sampled the insane amount of food we brought) we got started with the first three sections of the day. We started with OF Traditional Breyer, OF Stablemate Breyer and OF Other Scale Breyer. It's probably not unsurprising that the OF Traditional section was the largest! Lots of people had brought their new BreyerFest horses which was amazing to see. I got to see several variations of the Surprise Model and lots of other models that I hadn't had the chance to see in the flesh. I also got to see Cosimo in the flesh for the first time, I had gone off him a bit looking at pictures on eBay but actually judging at him and looking at him in more detail he is actually rather lovely. I had thought the head was too large but it very much isn't. I didn't get many photos on the day as I was so busy but as you can see I made a point to photograph the Cosimos!

I actually think I prefer the matte which is very strange for me! It was soon time for the first section championship of the day which was the OF Other Scale championship. At this show I had divisions of five classes and only the division champions went forward to the section championship. This made judging of the section championships much easier and it wasn't long before we had some winners!

Other scale champion went to the gorgeous Haflinger Foal. This is one of my favourite moulds and no shock that he won the section. He took home the black sabino MFT stablemate. Section reserve went to my own Game Day Surprise (CRS Idomeneus) and section Reserve to Reserve went to my own Best of British Shire (CRS The Italian Girl). That's Italy's second section reserve to reserve this year! He is feeling a bit smug now though.

We then moved on to the OF Breyer Stablemate championship. Again judging is made so much easier by the divisions, although with such a strong field of Stablemates I can't imagine it was easy to do! We soon had a set of gorgeous winners though.

It was definitely a day for glossies in this championship! Champion went to the lovely bay Kit who took home the silver dapple G3 Paint Horse. Reserve went to the grey Django and reserve to reserve went to my own Prosecco (CRS Mionetto). I was really shocked by this as I'm not sure out of all my Stablemates he's the one I would have picked but he is really growing on me as a mould. This colour definitely suits him so much. I did adore the 'Wheeler' though who won first place, an absolutely stunning model.

Now it was time for the big guns, the OF Traditional Breyer championship. This had been the most competitive section with some seriously tough classes to judge. Again because of the divisional champions it wasn't a huge field to choose from but they were all stunning models so I cannot imagine that it was very easy!

Section champion went to the Atlanta. There's a bit of a story behind this girl, she came from Chestnut Ridge and her owner asked if I could send her photos of all the ones we had so she could pick her favourite. Well it was definitely worth it as she has done exceptionally well at shows! She took home the bay splash ASB. Reserve was the Clydesdale Gelding (another glossy) and reserve to reserve was the brilliant Mangoky. This is my first time seeing this model in person and it is incredible! It actually looks like a lemur! A brilliant model, I definitely want to add one to my herd.

It was now time for lunch and a bit of forced fun. We started with the feel the bag contest. This was won in an incredible 4 seconds! She was like a ninja! It was hilarious to watch and so much fun to observe. The winner got to pick one of the unbagged models to take home.

My filming was awful but I did film the contest and you can see it on Facebook page (probably tomorrow by the time it uploads)! The winning horse was guessed in just 4 seconds!!!

We then had three fun classes. These were My First Breyer, Best Yellow Horse and Breyer Plush. These were voted on using the patented sweet method. There were some amazing models, I was delighted to win Best Yellow Horse with my Breyer Classics Zodiac Gemini (she's very yellow). The first Breyer model winner was a Brighty and even came with a picture of the owner opening it at Christmas as a child! I'm not sure the winner of the Breyer Plush was an official Breyer release, but he was definitely very plush!

The winners all got rosettes and a prize and everyone got to take home all the sweets they got in votes. We were then able to have a nice long lunch break before the raffle. I am delighted to say that the raffle raised £114 for Aching Arms, a charity so close to my heart. There were also several afternoon buy-ins. I need to add these up but I know at least £20 has been added to that total, which is absolutely amazing.

After lunch we started on the last three sections of the day which were Collectability, Custom and CTF Breyer. I was really excited to see what everyone brought out for collectability and I was not disappointed. There were some amazing models on show. Here are a few of my favourites:

The collectability section wasn't huge but was really well supported which was amazing to see. It was soon time for the collectability championship and I must say I was happy not to have to judge it! The classes I did judge were hard enough!

Champion went to the incredible blue ribbon Man O' War. He took home the black and pink unicorn. Reserve went to the amazing near-complete Latigo conga, there were some gorgeous pieces in this including a glossy Spinaway which I adore! Reserve to Reserve went to my own decorator Shindig (CRS Technicolour Turncoat) who not only brought me home some ribbons but I also ended up with the chase model from the surprise bag!

It was now time for the CTF Breyer Championship. CTF Breyer was basically a new section I made up for this show. Basically I created a Mini Whinnie and other stuff section. I was quite happy with my creation, although a bit stressed when I decided to show hundreds of Mini Whinnies and was running back and forth to the furthest ring from my own table for the whole afternoon with handfuls of Mini Whinnies! I did bring one non-Mini Whinnie as well, you know, just to keep up appearances!

I was absolutely delighted to have done so well in this section (although in all fairness most people seem to have decided to leave their minis at home), but still, my little guys make me very proud! Section champion went to my own Cyclone (CRS Fiery Rose), who took his second CTF champion home. He won me the gorgeous G2 Standardbred as well as a beautiful glass trophy, I was so happy with him. Section reserve then went to the infamous Dog Food! This guy used to be a bit of a fan favourite in the show ring so I'm sure everyone will be happy he's out winning again. He also won me another chase piece! This time a Stablemate one (I swear I did just pick the bags randomly & put them down randomly)! Reserve to Reserve went to this gorgeous unicorn. The colours on this model are just stunning. His owner had received him in their goody bag for the show! What an amazing win!

The final section of the day to finish was custom. This custom section was only for custom Breyers but as always there were some amazing pieces on show. I just have to highlight this incredible decorator custom for you.

Isn't he insane? What a creative idea and a stunning piece of workmanship. I especially love the drool! It was soon time for the custom championship. Again a smaller selection of horses to pick from but with so many high quality pieces I can't imagine it was an easy choice.

Section champion went to the gorgeous custom Weathergirl. A beautiful resculpt and a lovely paint job on this model. She took home the final custom of the day, the bay blanket spotted G4 Paradressage. Reserve champion went to this super adorable Stablemate Shetland with a super fluffy mane and tail! Reserve to Reserve went to my own custom Bobby Jo, CRS Lobelia.

Which meant it was now time for the Supreme. All section champions and reserves stayed out for the supreme which meant there was a really tough line up. Who would you have chosen? Thankfully I had horses in the supreme so could sit back and watch other people suffer as they attempted to pick just three models from such an incredible bunch.

Supreme Champion went to the gorgeous Man O' War. He took home a stunning acrylic trophy, massive rosette and a Breyer Traditional Apres Ski model. This was the collectability champion.

Supreme Reserve Champion went to the custom champion. This is a gorgeous bay pinto Weathergirl. She also took home an acrylic trophy, huge rosette and a Breyer Party at the Barn Classic set.

Supreme Reserve to Reserve Champion went to the gorgeous bay glossy Kit. This stunning model was Stablemate champion and took home an acrylic trophy, massive rosette and a Stablemate Unicorn Truck and Trailer set.

Wow! What a day, it took a while for me to get packed up (especially as I ran out of bubblewrap/pouches)! But we were eventually away just past 6pm (after a fight with the door) and back home. A nice chinese for dinner and a fairly early night were on the table. I definitely felt it the next day! I did over 14,000 steps around that hall and burned over 3,000 calories according to my FitBit. Maybe I should open a model horse fitness camp? Come, run a live show, burn some calories! 

Now onto the post-show admin. Thankfully moving to Google Sheets back in 2023 has meant that I no longer have to write up results (an absolute blessing). But I do need to unpack my own horses and write up their results! I also have several new models to catalogue as well as some new sales pieces to photograph and add to the website. Phew, it's going to be a busy week.