Breyer Review: Halloween Horse Poltergeist

Hi all!

I have another Breyer review for you, this time it is the 2016 Breyer Halloween horse; Poltergeist!


So as this is a decorator I won't have my breed history or standards sections but just jump straight into the model!

The Model

So this model is on the male version of the Ruffian mould. He is flat black with 'unique pinto markings' that look like flames going up his legs and a demon-skeleton that is riding on the model's back, he also has a bald face. He is one of 3,000 and glows in the dark (how cool!!)

Firstly I will go over in more detail his markings (as they are his main feature and very impressive!)

So here is some photos of my Poltergeist so you can see in detail the markings I will be talking about. So starting from the legs and working our way up, his back legs have a semi-flame like design in the white markings that are (at least on my model) very crisp, I had my doubts if Breyer would pull this design off well as it is so intricate but it seems to have been executed very well! I haven't heard any complaints about this guy so I believe in general his markings have been successfully done.

Then of course there is the demon on his back, my first thoughts from the original photos released by Breyer that the demon only had one head but it turns out it has a head on either side of the horse. This is a very cool and creepy design but also helps out those who are into showing as you can still choose either side to present to judges at a show without losing any of his design.

Unfortunately my camera could not pick up his glow in the dark feature, but like Ichabod he really does glow! It's very eye catching and isn't just a faint glow he really shines!! I love this added feature as it makes his already cool design stand out even more.

He also has in orange letters Halloween 2016 printed on his stomach, this gives him a nice collect-ability aspect (as if you're like me) now you can start collecting all the Halloween horses!

So in conclusion I would say if you are a fan of Halloween or cool decorators definitely pick this guy up. He has a unique design that is pulled off very well and would make a great addition to anyone's collection.

Breyer Review: Best of British Connemara Pony

I wanted to start doing semi-formal reviews of horses in my personal collections (as I can give in depth analysis of them not just my opinions of them from a photo/video). So I decided to start with my newest model the best of British Connemara pony! (who I got in TKmaxx for a steal!)


So firstly a little background on the breed (I promise I won't go on a boring lecture about the breeds origin... or at least I'll edit it before I publish it.)

Breed Background

This breed orginated in Ireland in (as the name suggests) Connemara, Co Galway. They were bred from a now extinct breed called the Hobby Horse. However today they have a bit of everything in them! It is believed Andalusians (shipwrecked from the Spanish Armada), Thoroughbreds, Hackney ponies and Arabian blood all contributed to the modern Connemara pony. However the amount of crossbreeding began to dilute the bloodlines so in 1923 the Connemara Pony Breeder's Society was set up to preserve the breed, they subsequently opened the studbook in 1926.

Connemara's were originally know for their stamina and strength (before we all found out they were jumping stars). They were used from farm labour and carrying turf from bogs. Any horse not hardy enough for this kind of work was not kept for long and thus the breed became even more renowned for its strength and durability.


Breed Standards

Colour: Grey, black, Bay, Brown, Dun with occasional Roan & Chestnut, Palamino, & Dark Eyed Cream.

Height: 12.2 to 14.2 Hands.

Movement: free, easy and true, without undue knee action, but active and covering ground.

General Conformation: compact, well-balanced riding type with good depth and substance and good heart room, standing on short legs, covering a lot of ground.

The Model

Breyer chose to do this model on the Newsworthy mold, a popular mold released in 2008.

(original Newsworthy, not my image property of identifyyourbreyer.com)

He is a dappled bay gelding, who comes in two variants; loose mane and tail and braided mane and tail. (I only own the braided version so that is what I will be reviewing). He is also a regular run released as part of the Best of British series in 2015.

Okay and now to the actual review part! I shall be showing you photos owned by me of my lovely model Hopper, whilst giving my opinion on the model, enjoy!!

Okay to start here are a few photos of the model from several different angles so you can get a feel for him if you don't own him.

I bought mine as he has nice shading however he does have a few paint flaws (but this maybe because he was being sold as a toy and might have gotten banged around a bit.) 

His dapples are well blended and not very fish scaly as Breyer is sometimes known to do... However he does have dapples on only one side of his neck and not the other which is a little odd. 

I would also have liked him to maybe be a little darker (this is just personal preference) but I thought he was a sooty dun until I saw he had no dorsal stripe! I just think if he was going to be a bay he could have been richer in colour.

Conformation wise I don't think he makes a bad Connie but his face might be a little small compared to some (just might have a bit more Arabian in him!) They are quite muscly ponies as they were used as work horses so he is definitely a more modern jumping Connemara. (Duuhh look at his pose!!)

A nice feature I tried to capture is his eyes, they aren't the standard Breyer black, which in my opinion almost makes the horse! It makes his eyes seem big and kind (just like a Connemara's eyes).

His braids are well set, no lifting and they are sculpted well for a mass produced model. Mine has a slight bit of over spray but it is very minor.

Over all I think he's a great little model to add to your collection and would make a great performance horse if you are into showing. They can be found in TKmaxx at the moment for very cheap so I wouldn't hesitate in picking one up!

References 

https://cpbs.ie/breed-standards/

http://www.theconnemarapony.ie/?page_id=28

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/identify/Newsworthy.htm

Breyer Review: Best of British Connemara Pony

I wanted to start doing semi-formal reviews of horses in my personal collections (as I can give in depth analysis of them not just my opinions of them from a photo/video). So I decided to start with my newest model the best of British Connemara pony! (who I got in TKmaxx for a steal!)


So firstly a little background on the breed (I promise I won't go on a boring lecture about the breeds origin... or at least I'll edit it before I publish it.)

Breed Background

This breed orginated in Ireland in (as the name suggests) Connemara, Co Galway. They were bred from a now extinct breed called the Hobby Horse. However today they have a bit of everything in them! It is believed Andalusians (shipwrecked from the Spanish Armada), Thoroughbreds, Hackney ponies and Arabian blood all contributed to the modern Connemara pony. However the amount of crossbreeding began to dilute the bloodlines so in 1923 the Connemara Pony Breeder's Society was set up to preserve the breed, they subsequently opened the studbook in 1926.

Connemara's were originally know for their stamina and strength (before we all found out they were jumping stars). They were used from farm labour and carrying turf from bogs. Any horse not hardy enough for this kind of work was not kept for long and thus the breed became even more renowned for its strength and durability.


Breed Standards

Colour: Grey, black, Bay, Brown, Dun with occasional Roan & Chestnut, Palamino, & Dark Eyed Cream.

Height: 12.2 to 14.2 Hands.

Movement: free, easy and true, without undue knee action, but active and covering ground.

General Conformation: compact, well-balanced riding type with good depth and substance and good heart room, standing on short legs, covering a lot of ground.

The Model

Breyer chose to do this model on the Newsworthy mold, a popular mold released in 2008.

(original Newsworthy, not my image property of identifyyourbreyer.com)

He is a dappled bay gelding, who comes in two variants; loose mane and tail and braided mane and tail. (I only own the braided version so that is what I will be reviewing). He is also a regular run released as part of the Best of British series in 2015.

Okay and now to the actual review part! I shall be showing you photos owned by me of my lovely model Hopper, whilst giving my opinion on the model, enjoy!!

Okay to start here are a few photos of the model from several different angles so you can get a feel for him if you don't own him.

I bought mine as he has nice shading however he does have a few paint flaws (but this maybe because he was being sold as a toy and might have gotten banged around a bit.) 

His dapples are well blended and not very fish scaly as Breyer is sometimes known to do... However he does have dapples on only one side of his neck and not the other which is a little odd. 

I would also have liked him to maybe be a little darker (this is just personal preference) but I thought he was a sooty dun until I saw he had no dorsal stripe! I just think if he was going to be a bay he could have been richer in colour.

Conformation wise I don't think he makes a bad Connie but his face might be a little small compared to some (just might have a bit more Arabian in him!) They are quite muscly ponies as they were used as work horses so he is definitely a more modern jumping Connemara. (Duuhh look at his pose!!)

A nice feature I tried to capture is his eyes, they aren't the standard Breyer black, which in my opinion almost makes the horse! It makes his eyes seem big and kind (just like a Connemara's eyes).

His braids are well set, no lifting and they are sculpted well for a mass produced model. Mine has a slight bit of over spray but it is very minor.

Over all I think he's a great little model to add to your collection and would make a great performance horse if you are into showing. They can be found in TKmaxx at the moment for very cheap so I wouldn't hesitate in picking one up!

References 

https://cpbs.ie/breed-standards/

http://www.theconnemarapony.ie/?page_id=28

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/identify/Newsworthy.htm

A new facebook page!

Hi all,

I decided to make my own facebook page for Bambles Studios, this is mainly for displaying my customs and sales pieces, so most of my reviews, hobby news and other fun things will stay here.
But if you are interested in seeing what I have for sale from time to time or would like the chance to win competitions I'd love it if you'd like the page!


More content coming soon...
I promise it will be more lengthy than these quick updates!

Well We Moved...

Hey folks, sorry for not updating the blog in a while, I have been very busy moving country!

This meant the models had to be put away for a few weeks as we moved from the UK to Ireland (not very far I know but the effort it took, it felt like I was moving to Australia.) The herd and I have settled in well, for some it was returning home others it was a new adventure! 

If I haven't previously mentioned I am Irish and have been living in the UK for the past 3 years. This year circumstances (not Brexit) have caused me to move back to Ireland for at least a year.

It has been all very exciting being back at home; looking for a new job, redecorating my bedroom, crying over postage rates from the UK to Ireland... Unfortunately there has not been much news on the model horse front as I am penniless and have some bigger things to focus on... Why does being an adult have to be so hard! 

Anyways I thought I'd give you some eye candy to make up for my absence. I have't gotten any "new" models however I had around 15 horses tucked away in the attic back here in Ireland so there are a few guys you won't have seen before!

Another plus of moving back is I now have some proper shelving! Woo no more floor ponies that accidentally get kicked about.

I had a set of shelves that were here before I left but a previous tennant left me a gift of a big old shelf they didn't want. It will be painted cream at some point when I have time (realistically it will never get painted but we can hope...) to fit in with my room a bit better but hey I can't complain it was free!

Anyway without further ado, here is my collection as of 01/09/2016

  I apologise for the deteriorating lighting in these photos I had the best intentions of taking them all     in broad daylight... that didn't happen...

Firstly my stablemates, MLPs and some misc including the Joker (we all know how much he loves ponies) and my china fawn Fernando

Okay so I tried to organise the shelves by breed type, unfortunately this didn't work out so great so towards the end the shelves are kinda just a mish-mash. But anyway here we have most of my warmbloods.

Next is kind of an American breeds shelf even though we have a brumby thrown in there... I really like this shelf the Noahs ark two by two kinda aesthetic I have going on here is very nice.

Here we have the ponies shelf, featuring my first ever custom (the grey classic) haha he is terrible, but I keep him around for nostalgia's sake.

This is the big boy's shelf... they are pretty, enough said.

Here is the first lot of the attic pony, they unfortunately were played with so aren't in the best nick but the appaloosa's are still in quite good condition.

and here are the last shelf! This is the very mish-mashy shelf but hey who said I can't put my Iberian breeds beside my quarter horses and Marwaris??

And we can't forget the horse who started it all... my first Breyer Pagan!

Also I'm a dunce and forgot I did get a new pony! I got a beautiful Marwari lovingly dubbed "Cheesecake" by my boyfriend. I think he's a new favourite mold! Would love to have a complete conga at some point in the future, here is a picture;

Well thanks again for reading, I should now be more regular with my posts as I have some free time and am hoping to get lots more content out, so do subscribe to my blog if you like what you see!

My First Live Show Experience

So today after two very hectic weeks at work and home I woke up at 6:30am to get ready to leave for Kitty Kitty Live III. I have spent the last few weeks not getting enough sleep, staying up way to late getting customs finished and horses bathed and warped legs fixed. But all the craziness was definitely worth it! I had a fantastic day organised by Catriona Harris, it was a lovely introduction to model horse showing and I definitely caught the bug.

My horses and I did very well coming away with 13 placings: 2 firsts, 4 seconds, 2 thirds, 2 fourths and 3 sixths! I also got a 2nd, 4th and 5th in the fun classes!
Below is some photos of my entries and I also picked up a lovely Ichabod from Chestnut Ridge. I will post a review later of him.

Super proud of my Santiago Polo Pony (Luke) and my treasure hunt rainbow weather girl both got firsts and I'm looking forward to BMECS in September

                                                 Ichabod whom I bought at the show

                                          All my placings! Now to organise them all...

                                                          My custom SMG Conker

                                                             So proud of Rainbow

Parma took a 2nd

My table at KKL III

New Ponies!

Hi all,

so I got myself some new horses over the past few weeks... I did promise myself no new horses this month as I'm saving up for a holiday. But hey I got at least four days into the month before I caved! So  here are the beauts, (P.s I'm still waiting on Babyflo and will make a separate post about her.

So this was the first boy to arrive! Breyer's Totilas, funnily enough I got him when I came back from Badminton last Wednesday where I had bought a book about dressage superstars with him on the cover. (they both now sits with my little shrine to dressage in my room.) He is a lovely boy, I was on the fence about this model as he is just a flat black and if I'm honest he was a bit of an impulse buy but I adore his mould! Such a sweet face with lots of detail. He will be coming with me to my first live show in June! If he does well I shall keep him OF but if not I may customise him as it seems a shame to have a flat black on such a pretty mould. ( For instance Enchante from Breyerfest 2015 looks amazing.)

So another spur of the moment purchase SBH Phoenix, I was meant to be getting Picasso instead of him but he sold out everywhere the day before I placed my order! So instead of being patient i chucked this guy in my basket. However I don't regret it he is lovely, as usual I adore the Orthello mould and his colour is super rich. Unfortunately he has a flippy ear which I'll have to sort out before I can show him but he is a very pretty boy besides that.

Next up we have Banks Vanilla, mine came with rather a lot of little black marks but this didn't matter as I only bought her to customise as she's a little boring to me. {Not Breyer's fault really a pure white horse just doesn't make an interesting model.) So she will soon be a pretty little tobiano palamino. I love the mould lovely detail however not a fan of the asymmetrical face as I thought she was bloating at first... the lip just doesn't translate well to plastic I don't think.

Here she is mid way through body paint!

That's all for now I will have a post on Babyflo when she arrives and an update on my current customs when they are finish and let you know how my first live show goes in June!

Silver Custom Updates

Hi everyone so now that I'm back from holiday I got cracking on with my customising. I have three horses just waiting to be customised! I started with one of last month's purchases the treasure hunt body off eBay on the silver mould. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with him but I settled on a liver chestnut as I think this colour is really gorgeous.

Here he is with his first coat of paint...

I have to say I really like using the airbrush you just get a much more even coating than pastels and the colours are more vivid.

So I left him over night like this and yesterday finished off his body work. Now I looks like this...

Really happy with how this boy is turning out, hopefully will finish the detailing over the weekend and will post an update once he's finished. I want to bring him to a life show in June but then he may be up for sale. I will let people know on here when he goes up and how he did in the show. If he is sold it will be through eBay only!

Shopaholic

So I believe I need to be surgically removed from ebay, if not for my social life then for my savings account. Last night I bought some custom prepping supplies; primers, milliput and sandpapers but I also ended up on hottotrotmodelhorses.co.uk preordering some pretty ponies! These included Babyflo, Picasso, Banks Vanilla and the loose mane version on the connemara pony.

Wasn't that release a bit of a shock? I was on ebay one day and loose mane connemaras were going for hundreds! I feel bad for those who payed through the nose for there's as it looks like they're a regular run!

Anyway I'm now broke and have no idea how I'm going to afford anything else this month but at least I have some pretty ponies coming my way! 

New Arrivals!

Last week I ended up with 4 packages arriving at my doorstep and after feeling a bit anxious because of my bank balance dwindling I can safetly say they were all worth it and I'm even on the hunt for some other new additions! Someone really needs to manage my savings other than me...

But with out further ado I will introduce you to my new models and expect a review of a few of them soon.

Well this was the first boy to arrive (yes all of my new additions were stallions!) and he was a big impulse buy. I saw him come up on eBay before Easter and it only took me twenty minutes to snap him up. If you are unfamiliar with this model he is Tumbridge Wells, a 2012 Breyerfest special run of 1200 pieces. When I first saw him in 2012 at the height of my breyer obsession I wanted him so much, he easily made it into the top five of my grail list as he was on one of my favourite moulds and he was a roan! 

I got him for £55 which I thought reasonable and he is in lovely condition, he will definitely be coming to my next live show! I have named him Sterling and am very happy with him.

Next from Hot-to-Trot (a very good online model horse distributor in the UK) I got a horse I've been indecisive on buying since he was released. I saw this horse, Breyer's 2013 Gypsy Vanner, pre-release on Facebook at a time when I was very much out of the hobby and not actively adding to my collection but he caught my eye being on the same mould as Party Girl one of my grail horses. I thought him cute enough but never was willing enough to buy him. Well I am glad I have, he is a very pretty boy with nice shading and a brilliant expression. I love the mould by Kathleen Moody, however I have two issues with it, one some of the wrinkles on the neck are incorrect looking as they don't go with the direction of movement in the neck. I've heard several people complain about this but my other problem I've not heard so it may just be my model. He has very odd ears, instead of the inside of his ear just being hollowed out so that it looks like a horse ear it has three grooves, like someone hasn't finished hollowing them out. I wonder if anyone else has this problem? I will be going to a brick and mortar Breyer shop soon so will have a look and see if it is a flaw in the mould.

Besides these issues he has no flaws other than some blurs along his white markings that is to be expected as Breyer masks off whote markings which doesn't always give the cleanest finishes.

So far haven't been able to think of a name for this one.

This beauty I have been waiting for for far to long, Valegro is my all time favourite horse and I was so excited to hear Breyer was doing a model of him. I love the mould and will definitely be getting copies to customise. My only propblem with it is the mane is a little sloppy mine just becomes part of the neck at some points and has very little hair detailing.

But besides this he has no flaws and his base is a good fit and unfortunately my camera doesn't do his colouring justice. He is a very rich bay and has lovely bright eyes.

I have named him Mulder. Together these two cost £68 without shipping.

Lastly this buy on Ebay in retrospect was a bit pricey for what he is, but I wanted a silver body and I got one! This is the silver dun sabino treasure hunt model from 2007. He looks quite nice in this photo but don't be fooled he has had a hard life! He has scratches in places that seem impossible to scratch. However I will be customising him and he may be for sale when I've finished him. I payed £21 for him not including shipping but I hope to give him a second chance to be a pretty collectors piece.