Merry Christmas!

Brighty "Claus" wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Memory Foam Saddle Pad Take One

A few weeks ago, I was reading Braymere Custom Saddlery blog post revisiting a list of real horse things that some hobbyists would like to see in the model horse world. I followed the link featured in the post to an earlier post of the original list one particular hobbyist had listed. I don't remember reading this post before, but I'm glad I found it now. There were quite a few different horsey things that were listed. The one thing I found that I could make was the Memory Foam Saddle Pad made for English Saddle.

I was originally wanting to go to Joann's to get some thinner foam, but that didn't happen and I figured I'll test it with what I have. The fabric is a two way stretch fabric that I had originally gotten for an American Girl Doll Ice Skating Dress that I was going to make with my little sister for her birthday. It was a total flop, since I wasn't experienced enough sewing stretchy fabrics. As far as the saddle goes - that's a Breyer saddle. I had gotten it during a time when my mom told me that I needed to get some riders and tack before I got another horse (my favorite form of play was mustang herds traveling single file all over the house - who needs riders!). The saddle isn't great, the flaps don't lie correctly on the horse, and the girth isn't a real girth. But it'll just have to do.

As usual, all things must start with a pattern.

Cutting down the foam was interesting. Scissors didn't work whatsoever. I did reflect back to when I got the foam and the person at the cutting table used a kitchen knife to cut it. I ended up using the serrated blade on my pocket knife. I then used the scissors to even out the cut side.

Cut it to shape.

A little lumpy, but I don't think it would show once fabric is put on it.

Cut and pin two pieces of fabric. This would make a casing for the foam to fit into.

I had to look up what kind of stitch to use for stretchy fabric. The three lines of stitch marks is the symbol for the Stretch Stitch. Also, when using stretchy fabric, it is a good idea to buy a specially made Stretch Needle for your sewing machine.

I ended up needing to make the casing smaller (and it could be even smaller and rounder still).

Foam in...

And ready to sew up.

This is a cool stitch. I can't explain it successfully without pictures to show, so I'll have to write a post on that later. It is really helpful when sewing up stuffed animals whose seams burst open revealing a hole in their backs or bellies.

All done! It needs to be less square and shorter for the seat.

And the foam needs to be thinner. I might do a seam on the bottom next time, so that it sits on the horse properly.

However, the shape worked for the Western Saddle (another Breyer saddle - only with a customized cinch and rear girth). 

Apparently, there are memory foam Western saddle pads available, but they are constructed differently than the English saddle ones.

And because I don't like the saddle, I wanted to do an oops series. Hwin is frisky enough to be a bit of a handful for these two girls: Jenny (on Hwin) and Serena (trying to stop Hwin).

Oops! Jenny's fine, she's a rough and tumble kind of girl.

Note how the flaps stay elevated instead of laying flat on the horse.

Let's try the Western Saddle....will she cooperate?

Nope!

I don't know if I should try to modify this pattern with my existing saddle first or try to make a saddle and then the saddle pad. We'll see.

MEPSA

After I realized that Breyer probably is not going to do another year of photo contests, I decided to jump in and try out MEPSA (Model Equine Photo Show Association). I was already aware that competing in MEPSA would be challenging due to its popularity; but I figured that it wouldn't be a problem since the Breyer photo contests were tough enough as it is. My main goal in my first year is to learn what the judges are looking for and how to improve my photography skills (especially while using a manual camera and not a little Casio that's only auto - though, I do get some pretty awesome pictures with that camera!).

The first show I entered was the Vintage Special at the end of October. The ones who did place, are rather low. But remember! It's all about the experience!

 Rosie Sunshine is a Hartland model horse from the 1960's. I have her as an Arabian x Quarter Horse since she is a Palomino and pure Arabians don't come in Palomino. got 8th in the Gender Division: Draft/Pony/Carriage/Other Foal and 9th in Collectibility Division: Other Plastic.

 Sea Star is a Chincoteague Pony colt with very poor conformation. I find it rather interesting that the Misty and Stormy molds have really good breed conformation, while Sea Star and Phantom Wings (who came later as apart of the Misty of Chincoteague collection) are the complete opposite. Anyhow, I needed to have more light coming at him than from behind. He placed 9th in the Gender Division: Draft/Pony/Carriage/Other Foal.

 John is one of my very first Stablemates and is very yellowed now, so this picture is from several years ago. He placed 10th in the Gender Division: Draft/Pony/Carriage/Other Foal (he's a Paint x Morgan x American Spotted Draft Horse mix).

 Sasha is one of those Paddock Pals scale Breyer Horses that was geared toward little girls in 1999-2000. The judge said that the mold is too cartoony like to compete with more realistic horses. She was also one of my very first Breyer Horses.

Maybelline is one of my newer vintage models that I got at Sugarfoot Live. She didn't place because she needed more lighting on her.

Another thing that was against me - was the non-realistic background. Though, I was trying to imitate the famous equine photographer, Yann Arthus-Bertrand's method (you should really look up his equine related photos - they are amazing!).

But....it wasn't what the judges were looking for. And, maybe I need to make a new "canvas" that's less tie-dye looking.

The next show was an Original Finish (OF) Regular Qualifier; which are basically model horses shown in their original pose/coloring with nothing added or changed to the mold.

 Lou placed 4th in the Head study class. He's a cute boy. Another of my first Breyer's.

 I could have gotten a little more on Paint Me A Pepto's level here. That was a fun photo shoot. My family and I stayed at Bear Lake (yes, that's a lake!) 'till sundown; so, in true form, I brought a handful of horses to take beach pictures. Anyways, she placed 4th in the Collectibility Division: Breyer Traditional Current RR, LE, CE (as of 2019).

This was from the same photo shoot as Paint Me A Pepto's. Lionheart wasn't quite square and I didn't notice until after I got the photos back from this show. He placed 9th in the Collectibility Division: Breyer Traditional SR Other.

These are some of my other horses I had entered in that show.

 I think that both Partly Cloudy (pinto) and Elska (Icelandic) might do better in the Scenes class for Performance.

Does anyone else collect Wind Dancers? Of course, little girls want their winged horses to be able to flap their wings. But that means placing the "flapping" mechanisms in the back of the horse and not the shoulder. In the end, making them not anatomically correct. Also, the trend is Unicorns Galore; so Pegasus', not to mention Wind Dancers, have slim chances against the multitude of Unicorn Stablemates.

OK, one more. The most recent show I had received the results for was the Light/Sport/Spanish/Gaited Special.

 I had originally labeled Starshine as an Orlov Trotter, but I cannot find the source of the possibilities of the Cream Gene being present in the breed (in which it does not). So, if anyone knows of a harness racing breed where the Cream Gene is present, please comment! She placed 9th in the Breed Division: Trotters/Pacers.

 Note the floating wood plank above the grass/leaves on the next few photos. I had to give enough room for Shutterfly to crop off to make a 4x6 photograph. Bear got two placings - 6th place in both the Gender Division: Light/Spanish/Gaited Gelding and the Color Division: Black.

 Man 'O' War placed 10th in the Collectibility Division: Breyer Classic RR/LE/CE/SR/OOAK.

 Izzyachampion is hard to place in a class. He's a 3 year old colt and there is no proper age category to place him. He's too big for the foals category, so he ends up with the adults with a "3 yr. old" label. He's 3/4 American Paint and 1/4 Tennessee Walking Horse. His photo is a little too dark - need to re-do that. He placed 10th place in the Breed Division: Other Pure/Part Gaited/Spanish.

Miss Ranger's picture was too dark as well as Izzyachampion's. She ended up placing 8th in the Color Division: Roan.

I am using a Canon with a kit lens now. I also have a great tendency to place the camera too close to the object - since I am majorly nearsighted and look at everything up close anyways. So, please comment  if you have any tips.

Sugarfoot Live Model Horse Show

It's about time I'd write a post about the very, first live model horse show I had attended back in....um.....September! The nice thing about this particular show was that it was in Farmington, UT - which is much closer to little o'l Cache Valley than previous ones in Southern Utah. Either way, it was very exciting planning who I was bringing....

and spending the entire month sewing Pony Pouches (to be honest, I really have no idea how many I made!)

 Poor Xavier looks like he has a turban. It's really an extra strip of polar fleece from the pony pouches wrapped around his horn for protection. I brought two other unicorns (a classic foal and a stablemate), but they weren't able to see like Xavier here.

 I wish I had gotten more pictures of everyone else's collections to show the rest of my family that "I'm not the only one who has a huge herd of model horses." In fact, even though I had brought just over 40 horses - there were people there with possibly over 100! And that was usually a good mix between the big guys and the little ones.

It was slow for most of the morning. I was starting to get a little discouraged when none of my horses were placing. I did find out that I should have put Snow Princess in the Decorators division due to the metallic, blue highlights in her mane and tail - making her not realistic!

Once the Fun Classes started, hope of placing in something came back in the form of prizes. Moana (left) won a unicorn coin purse and Xavier (right) won a unicorn rubber ducky??? Don't ask.

 This was the Mini Fantasy Fun Class. Apparently, I was the only one with a Wind Dancer....going up against the current trend of unicorns. That's OK, it was worth a try. One of the main reasons I had insisted on attending, was meeting other collectors and finding out if any of them lived near me. In turn, I found out that the girl on the right lives in Cache Valley, too.

Now, when I saw the Mare & Foal/Family class listed, I knew I just had to enter my entire Spirit* Family that I had collected over the years starting with the two Plush Spirit and Rain; originally bought at Blockbuster years ago after the movie came out. The lineup starts with Spirit's parents: Strider and Esperanza. Next is Spirit and Rain with their two kids: Swirl (Bay Frame Overo) and Wild (Buckskin). Then it crosses over to Wild's family, her mate: Silver (Black) and foal: Mary Jane (Palomino). Now it's Rain's side of the family, starting with her twin sister, Raindrop and her mate: Wild Spirit (standing Dunskin) and their foal: Lightning Bolt (standing Buckskin Pinto). Then there's Rose's family (Rose is Rain's aunt), Rainbow and her daughters: Daisy Mae (running Buckskin Pinto foal) and Montana (running Dunskin). Ending with Montana and her mate: Chestnut (Tobiano) with their foal: Lightning (Black Tobiano). Yes, that's the ENTIRE family!

Then SURPRISE!!! Another judge had gifted the newest edition to the family (I ended up calling him: Free Spirit; and he's Spirit's* cousin who no one knows where he got all the "big" genes).

I literally didn't expect that kind of a surprise! One of the other collectors had told me that it was because of "shear volume." Though, what I found even more funny, was that they had a Spirit model on hand as a prize!

 I originally was going to include Strider's adopted family with the lineup, but I had already used up a ton of table space with the direct family. So, the Grand Champion twins, Brown Tyke and Cupid, ended up in the Most Loved class. They didn't win anything, but by the way, they were my very first toy horses that I could remember!

I think this was apart of the Resin Division. Yes, that's a tiny horse standing next to that humongous rosette!

Here's another crazy mini! Highly detailed, but not mine.

This was the Pony class in the Customs Division. One of the things I made sure I did with each of my customs, was ask the judge for explanation on placings and advice for the future. Blending on both the sculpting level and the painting level were the major biggies. But, the one thing she did say, was that she had never seen this kind of custom before. She was also totally convinced that Alistair (Mushroom: right) was Breyer Classic Merrylegs underneath all that "hair." He's not. In fact, he's mirror image to Merrylegs (I'll write about the comparison in another post). But he's sculpted from Breyer's Traditional Shetland Pony.

This is NiConi. She was one of the judges and totally fell in love with Merida, my Zebra Dun Shetland Pony custom. Merida is not for sale and I would be making more fuzzy ponies in the future.

 I did bring some of my "to be for sale" pieces. So far, Aster was the only one who placed in his class.

 This little guy was customized and owned by Shannon Robinson. She really has a knack for sculpting Pegasus wings.

 Here's Snowfire with his placing. He was quite a trooper when I got him. His right hindleg was majorly bowed outward (a factory fault) and he couldn't stand properly. The nice thing about being a customizer is that you have all the tools for fixing these kind of faults.

 Banks Vanilla got 4th place in her class, too!

Some of the perks of going to a live show were raffle prizes, door prizes, silent auctions, and other horsey goodies that collectors were selling at their tables. I wasn't successful with the raffle prizes, but I did get my very first Medallion with the silent auction (I still don't know what color I'm going to paint him). Those who had full entries got a goody bag of fun horsey things (I did!). The rest were a good mix between OF models and bodies for customs......plus my very first Peter Stone model horse!

 Spirit, you really earned that ribbon, by the way!

That was too much fun! I can't wait until the next one!