If you would like to take part please visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493893527541574/
Also a massive well done to Kay Buckle who was the champion of December's show:
Thursday, 4 January 2018
January 2018's Photoshow
The theme for Popular Votes Photoshows this month is Artist Resins. This includes Animal Artistry resins so plenty of opportunities to show off your horses.
If you would like to take part please visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493893527541574/
Also a massive well done to Kay Buckle who was the champion of December's show:
If you would like to take part please visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493893527541574/
Also a massive well done to Kay Buckle who was the champion of December's show:
Wednesday, 3 January 2018
BreyerFest 2018 Horses
Two more were announced today as BreyerFest tickets went on sale!
First of all better pictures of Brass Hat
Next up we have the Early Bird Raffle model, Riddle
HE SO SHINY
And finally the one everyone is excited about one of the store specials, Icabad Crane
First of all better pictures of Brass Hat
Next up we have the Early Bird Raffle model, Riddle
HE SO SHINY
And finally the one everyone is excited about one of the store specials, Icabad Crane
Tuesday, 2 January 2018
Letter to My Younger Collecting Self
14 years ago I started collecting model horses. Here is a letter to that younger me:
Dear Me,
First off let me tell you, what you are about to embark on will change your life dramatically. The next few years are going to be hellish, you are going to suffer trauma that will damage you for life and that really sucks. But one thing will stay consistent and that is the plastic ponies.
Don't be afraid that you aren't doing things right. There are no right or wrong things or ways to do it. No models are better or worse than others and having big fancy horses really isn't that bigger deal. Enjoy the bits of the hobby you love, make those stables, create those set ups and save up for those Julips, they will bring you so much joy and happiness for years to come. You know Minstrel your first Julip original? Well she will still be sitting in her stable when you are married and in your own home.
Although on a more serious note. Don't paint those childhood Britains and other models. Seriously why did you do that? I know you are into customising and don't have enough things to paint but you really shouldn't do that. Please don't do that (I know you will but still). Also don't paint the names of the horses on the stables, print out your own name plates and stick them on the doors. It looks a lot better and you'll struggle to get that paint off!
Join all the model horse clubs, read all the magazines and get involved. I know that your parents iMac doesn't load the UH forum properly and the internet is useless, but you can still get involved on paper. Also watch out for that camera, it won't properly save those photos onto that film and those hours you spent setting them up at your grandfathers house would have been pointless.
And when you get that first photoshow placing keep going through the envelope there are more :) Although you really should have given that Schleich Lipizzaner a better name than Ordinary Cats! But still, a momentous occasion in your model horse collecting. Don't let a certain someone name one of your horses, you won't be able to look at it ever again. And treasure that first set Brendon buys you, you will still be treasuring it 11 years later.
That first live show won't be as scary as you think. Yes your father will randomly abandon you in a hall in Birmingham but you'll have an amazing day and make some lifelong friends. You won't have any friends at school, but these people will understand you!
Save up your money and buy the things, you will still have them 10+ years down the line. Enjoy them, buy the ones you love! And don't sell them, there's no need. You will one day have a husband who understands the need for a VERY LARGE PONY ROOM and so won't need to worry too much about space. O and don't slam that door and break Arapaho, that was stupid, take your anger out on something less fragile!
And most of all enjoy it. This hobby will be your lifeline through some of the darkest years of your life. It will keep you going and introduce you to people who will change your life forever. You have no idea how amazing your future can be if you just stick with it. It's not childish, it's not immature and the best thing you ever did was stick with the model horses and not 'grow out of it'.
Catriona x (aged 27 and a few weeks :p )
Not entirely sure when this was taken apart from the fact I know it was prior to 2009. I was clearly enjoying a bit of a photoshoot with my Breyers!
Dear Me,
First off let me tell you, what you are about to embark on will change your life dramatically. The next few years are going to be hellish, you are going to suffer trauma that will damage you for life and that really sucks. But one thing will stay consistent and that is the plastic ponies.
Don't be afraid that you aren't doing things right. There are no right or wrong things or ways to do it. No models are better or worse than others and having big fancy horses really isn't that bigger deal. Enjoy the bits of the hobby you love, make those stables, create those set ups and save up for those Julips, they will bring you so much joy and happiness for years to come. You know Minstrel your first Julip original? Well she will still be sitting in her stable when you are married and in your own home.
Although on a more serious note. Don't paint those childhood Britains and other models. Seriously why did you do that? I know you are into customising and don't have enough things to paint but you really shouldn't do that. Please don't do that (I know you will but still). Also don't paint the names of the horses on the stables, print out your own name plates and stick them on the doors. It looks a lot better and you'll struggle to get that paint off!
Join all the model horse clubs, read all the magazines and get involved. I know that your parents iMac doesn't load the UH forum properly and the internet is useless, but you can still get involved on paper. Also watch out for that camera, it won't properly save those photos onto that film and those hours you spent setting them up at your grandfathers house would have been pointless.
And when you get that first photoshow placing keep going through the envelope there are more :) Although you really should have given that Schleich Lipizzaner a better name than Ordinary Cats! But still, a momentous occasion in your model horse collecting. Don't let a certain someone name one of your horses, you won't be able to look at it ever again. And treasure that first set Brendon buys you, you will still be treasuring it 11 years later.
That first live show won't be as scary as you think. Yes your father will randomly abandon you in a hall in Birmingham but you'll have an amazing day and make some lifelong friends. You won't have any friends at school, but these people will understand you!
Save up your money and buy the things, you will still have them 10+ years down the line. Enjoy them, buy the ones you love! And don't sell them, there's no need. You will one day have a husband who understands the need for a VERY LARGE PONY ROOM and so won't need to worry too much about space. O and don't slam that door and break Arapaho, that was stupid, take your anger out on something less fragile!
And most of all enjoy it. This hobby will be your lifeline through some of the darkest years of your life. It will keep you going and introduce you to people who will change your life forever. You have no idea how amazing your future can be if you just stick with it. It's not childish, it's not immature and the best thing you ever did was stick with the model horses and not 'grow out of it'.
Catriona x (aged 27 and a few weeks :p )
Monday, 1 January 2018
Body Transformation Challenge
This month's competition is a little different. We are giving you the chance to get creative and show off your skills.
So How Does it Work?
Ten people will be given a chance to take the challenge (chosen at random from all those who enter).
You will each receive a randomly allocated body quality model horse (see the image below).
You will then have until February 28th 2018 to transform your model.
Once complete send one image of your model to competitions@chestnutridge.co.uk
Fans of Chestnut Ridge on Facebook will then have one week to vote for their favourite.
There will be rosettes from 1st-10th place and a customising goody bag for the champion packed full of awesome customising goodies (including paints, brushes and loads of awesome other things).
You can then do what you like with your model but we recommend you sell it to raise money for charity, donate it to a raffle or give it to someone special.
How to Take Part
To take part please send your:
If you do not live in the UK you will be responsible for postage costs for your body.
We will choose 10 people at random next Monday and allocate their bodies. All bodies will be shipped Monday/Tuesday (if you live internationally you must pay for postage promptly).
Completing Your Piece
If you are lucky enough to be chosen it is up to you what you do with the model.
But remember....the deadline is February 28th 2018!!! You MUST have an image submitted by that date or you will forfeit your chance to take part :(
Once complete please send one photo to competitions@chestnutridge.co.uk
The Voting
On the 1st of March for one week fans of the Chestnut Ridge Facebook page will have one week to vote for their favourite.
You cannot vote for your own horse or offer incentives to vote for you.
The winner will be the person with the most votes. In the case of a tie the winner will be chosen by Catriona Harris of Chestnut Ridge.
The Bodies
There are ten bodies available which will be randomly allocated
(1) Running Mare
(2) Shetland
(3) G2 Standardbred
(4) Donkey
(5) Fakey Breyer
(6) Loping Mini Whinnie
(7) G3 Mustang
(8) Schleich Lipizzaner Foal
(9) Morgan Ornament
(10) Stablemate Silky Sullivan
The bodies are all in tact but in varying condition with different brands, materials and finishes. The aim is to transform YOUR body into something amazing. So don't be disheartened if you don't get the one you want! See it as a new challenge.
Terms and Conditions
(1) One entry per person
(2) The 10 competitors will be chosen at random
(3) All bodies will be allocated at random
(4) Initial entry deadline: 8th January 2018
(5) Submission deadline: 28th February 2018
(6) International competitors are responsible for postage on their body (via UK mail) and prize (via Royal Mail)
(7) For full terms and conditions please email competitions@chestnutridge.co.uk
GOOD LUCK! And remember to have fun :D
So How Does it Work?
Ten people will be given a chance to take the challenge (chosen at random from all those who enter).
You will each receive a randomly allocated body quality model horse (see the image below).
You will then have until February 28th 2018 to transform your model.
Once complete send one image of your model to competitions@chestnutridge.co.uk
Fans of Chestnut Ridge on Facebook will then have one week to vote for their favourite.
There will be rosettes from 1st-10th place and a customising goody bag for the champion packed full of awesome customising goodies (including paints, brushes and loads of awesome other things).
You can then do what you like with your model but we recommend you sell it to raise money for charity, donate it to a raffle or give it to someone special.
How to Take Part
To take part please send your:
- Name
- Email Address
- Postal Address
If you do not live in the UK you will be responsible for postage costs for your body.
We will choose 10 people at random next Monday and allocate their bodies. All bodies will be shipped Monday/Tuesday (if you live internationally you must pay for postage promptly).
Completing Your Piece
If you are lucky enough to be chosen it is up to you what you do with the model.
But remember....the deadline is February 28th 2018!!! You MUST have an image submitted by that date or you will forfeit your chance to take part :(
Once complete please send one photo to competitions@chestnutridge.co.uk
The Voting
On the 1st of March for one week fans of the Chestnut Ridge Facebook page will have one week to vote for their favourite.
You cannot vote for your own horse or offer incentives to vote for you.
The winner will be the person with the most votes. In the case of a tie the winner will be chosen by Catriona Harris of Chestnut Ridge.
The Bodies
There are ten bodies available which will be randomly allocated
(1) Running Mare
(2) Shetland
(3) G2 Standardbred
(4) Donkey
(5) Fakey Breyer
(6) Loping Mini Whinnie
(7) G3 Mustang
(8) Schleich Lipizzaner Foal
(9) Morgan Ornament
(10) Stablemate Silky Sullivan
The bodies are all in tact but in varying condition with different brands, materials and finishes. The aim is to transform YOUR body into something amazing. So don't be disheartened if you don't get the one you want! See it as a new challenge.
Terms and Conditions
(1) One entry per person
(2) The 10 competitors will be chosen at random
(3) All bodies will be allocated at random
(4) Initial entry deadline: 8th January 2018
(5) Submission deadline: 28th February 2018
(6) International competitors are responsible for postage on their body (via UK mail) and prize (via Royal Mail)
(7) For full terms and conditions please email competitions@chestnutridge.co.uk
GOOD LUCK! And remember to have fun :D
Updating the Website
Happy New Year!
We hope you had a lovely new years and those of you who did get a day off work today had a lovely day :)
We are hard at work bringing you lots of new and exciting changes for 2018. But the first and most important thing is updating and redoing the website, which lets face it is rather overdue a facelift!
First up is the top bar. I have been brutal and managed to get it down to just seven. Most of the things that were there are still there they have just been tidied up and organised a bit. That should make it a bit easier to find things and makes the website look a LOT neater!
Next up is the home page. Whilst I admit the general images need updating and will do that one of the priorities was to clean it up (and sort out why the bottom bar is on the right AGAIN) Brendon worked hard on this over the last few days and it now looks a LOT cleaner.
Bottom bar hasn't been sorted but Brendon is onto the tech people about this!
Next up is the Paddock Pal category. This is in desperate need of reorganising. When we did the website we didn't stock Schleich and only just introduced CollectA. Obviously now we do huge ranges of these so it needed to look a bit neater.
I'm still contemplating whether I can organise the Schleich in a different way (maybe by type i.e. Horse Club, Farm World etc.) but then there is the issue that not all horses are part of the Horse Club range and that could be confusing and mean people don't see every product they want to. So yea we'll just ignore that problem for a while...
Next up is the Competitions & Shows page. All of these are now combined into one page. It still needs a lot of work but on a basic level it is done.
So that is it for now. Still loads of changes I want to make. If you have any suggestions make a comment below or email me at catriona@chestnutridge.co.uk
Not everything is possible but we are always working to make the site as easy as possible to use.
We hope you had a lovely new years and those of you who did get a day off work today had a lovely day :)
We are hard at work bringing you lots of new and exciting changes for 2018. But the first and most important thing is updating and redoing the website, which lets face it is rather overdue a facelift!
First up is the top bar. I have been brutal and managed to get it down to just seven. Most of the things that were there are still there they have just been tidied up and organised a bit. That should make it a bit easier to find things and makes the website look a LOT neater!
Next up is the home page. Whilst I admit the general images need updating and will do that one of the priorities was to clean it up (and sort out why the bottom bar is on the right AGAIN) Brendon worked hard on this over the last few days and it now looks a LOT cleaner.
Bottom bar hasn't been sorted but Brendon is onto the tech people about this!
Next up is the Paddock Pal category. This is in desperate need of reorganising. When we did the website we didn't stock Schleich and only just introduced CollectA. Obviously now we do huge ranges of these so it needed to look a bit neater.
I'm still contemplating whether I can organise the Schleich in a different way (maybe by type i.e. Horse Club, Farm World etc.) but then there is the issue that not all horses are part of the Horse Club range and that could be confusing and mean people don't see every product they want to. So yea we'll just ignore that problem for a while...
Next up is the Competitions & Shows page. All of these are now combined into one page. It still needs a lot of work but on a basic level it is done.
So that is it for now. Still loads of changes I want to make. If you have any suggestions make a comment below or email me at catriona@chestnutridge.co.uk
Not everything is possible but we are always working to make the site as easy as possible to use.
Sunday, 31 December 2017
2018 Model Horse Goals
What are your model horse goals for the New Year?
Here are my 10 2018 model horse goals, I would love to hear your goals as well and hopefully you will complete them this year!
1. Finish my new scene entry
Last year I started a new scene entry...it is still pretty much just a box! So my goal for this year is to get this done!
2. Finish cataloguing all my models
I really need to finish this. It is such an important thing to do and would make my life so much easier.
3. Finish my horse breeds spreadsheet
I have this awesome spreadsheet I've been working on that details all horse breeds including information about them, again life would be so much easier if I finished this.
4. Create 10 new performance entries
I haven't done a new performance entry in so long. So the aim for this year is to create loads of new entries.
5. Finish 52 resculpt customs
That's one a week. I still have horses that haven't been finished from last Summer. So this year's challenge isn't just to actually get painting again but to start sculpting properly.
6. Learn how to needlefelt
I so want to be able to do this and this year I'm going to do it! Seriously those kits I've brought are going to come out and I'm going to finish them! On the subject of kits...
7. Finally use those thousands of books/kits I own!
I'm going to get them out and finish some projects and learn some new skills.
8. Create some new photoshow set ups
Soooo bored of my white light tent. Need to get off my backside and make some pretty set ups.
9. Organise and catalogue tack
So much of this is about organising but let's face it that's the most important thing and definitely the thing we put off most...
10. And finally.....get a bigger pony room!
The goal for this year is to move house. And bigger pony room is number 1 on my list of house based priorities!
Here are my 10 2018 model horse goals, I would love to hear your goals as well and hopefully you will complete them this year!
1. Finish my new scene entry
Last year I started a new scene entry...it is still pretty much just a box! So my goal for this year is to get this done!
2. Finish cataloguing all my models
I really need to finish this. It is such an important thing to do and would make my life so much easier.
3. Finish my horse breeds spreadsheet
I have this awesome spreadsheet I've been working on that details all horse breeds including information about them, again life would be so much easier if I finished this.
4. Create 10 new performance entries
I haven't done a new performance entry in so long. So the aim for this year is to create loads of new entries.
5. Finish 52 resculpt customs
That's one a week. I still have horses that haven't been finished from last Summer. So this year's challenge isn't just to actually get painting again but to start sculpting properly.
6. Learn how to needlefelt
I so want to be able to do this and this year I'm going to do it! Seriously those kits I've brought are going to come out and I'm going to finish them! On the subject of kits...
7. Finally use those thousands of books/kits I own!
I'm going to get them out and finish some projects and learn some new skills.
8. Create some new photoshow set ups
Soooo bored of my white light tent. Need to get off my backside and make some pretty set ups.
9. Organise and catalogue tack
So much of this is about organising but let's face it that's the most important thing and definitely the thing we put off most...
10. And finally.....get a bigger pony room!
The goal for this year is to move house. And bigger pony room is number 1 on my list of house based priorities!
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