Crickets

Wow. I kind of forgot to post here for a while.

It doesn't feel like it, but I have bought some horses lately.

First, the local Target is apparently not carrying Schleich anymore. So I ended up bringing home some of the Elf sets and other random animals when they were marked down to half price. I also got the Classic rodeo set for $6 (75% 0ff) and the SR Rearing Stallion in pinto for $11 or so.

I finally had time to stop at the Kmart in Jefferson City, and found the Classic probably-SR foals set and the Stablemate probably-SR set. Yay. Now if only I could find the Meijer's Frolic Stallion somewhere. No Meijer's in the area, and my sister isn't near one either, now.

I finally had some lucky timing when I ordered the JCPenney Christmas horses. They'd dropped the price to the usual level (instead of the inflated "retail"), but I was waiting for another free shipping code. Instead, they had their Friends & Family weekend sale, 20% off and it applied to toys! That was a better deal than free shipping, and they had discounted shipping for the sale, too. So I got the gaited horse set (I love the MFT) and the Stablemates set for $94 shipped. Score!

I bought Nutcracker Prince in person this month, too. We stopped at the Farm & Home in Bonner Springs on our way to the Renaissance Festival, and they had two in stock at a decent price. Their stock wasn't as good as usual, but still had a decent selection. However, their single RR Stablemates were priced at $5.99, which I think is just a little high.

On the down side, I bought a Breyerfest SR (the dunalino Surprise QH Gelding) from someone semi-local, and it's apparently been lost in the mail, due to drug issues on that mail run. It's been two months now. Sigh.

Rats! again

Just missed out on a BF Galahad because I got busy offline yesterday. :( The delay I had downloading the pics didn't help any - the perils of dial-up internet and Really Big picture files. Took me about 8 hours to realize that my email wasn't downloading, and then remember the pics that were coming, that were clogging up the download. Sigh.

Ah well, he'll come around again.

New SM pony - with eye detail!

Found this little guy at Target last month. I've got another one, but not sure where at the moment. The new one has bi-colored (tri-color, if you count white) eyes. Pretty neat, although he looks a little startled because of the extra eye white.

Pictures from AHL 2009

Pictures from American Heartland Live 2009 (most of the horses aren't mine):


A lovely UVM Yesteryear (I've got an unpainted Yesteryear)

The OF Cleveland Bay class - lots of Joes!





Lake Platte!

A resin - Knightly Cadence, I think.

Performance entry

Diana Parker's Standing Ovation, the Overall Grand Champ in the AR division.




My CM Foxtrotter, the only horse I've NAN'd twice (both times in small classes)

Diana Parker's Sir Winsalot, a Thompson's Cleveland Bay, painted by Chris Nandell.

Some of the Pony Division winners. The Stone Pony is mine, he (she? can't remember) was Pony Division champ.

Crunch time

I've got just over a week to get ready for a live show that I'm attending. Got the entry sent and a hotel room booked. Just have to get the horses found - the down side of having most everything in boxes. :(

Black Beauty!

I just got this guy in the mail today:


It's the QVC SR Black Beauty from a few years ago. I've been wanting one of these since they came out, and have been outbid on quite a few at Ebay. I got this one last week at a great price, I thought - Roughly $85 with postage and insurance. Didn't come with the video, but I've got the movie on DVD already anyway. And, he's in great shape as far as I can tell.

Ebay luck!

I just bought/won an auction on Ebay - the QVC Black Beauty (Silver mold) from a few years ago. Supposedly in pretty good shape, but black would be fairly easy to touch up if needed.

Now to pay for him and see what he looks like in real life.

One Thousand

According to my inventory spreadsheet, my collection has hit the 4-digit mark. Of course, there are some empty lines on the spreadsheet that I need to deal with, and a few horses that aren't in there. (Ooops. Just realized today that my pair of Wedgewood Lady Phases from the first Treasure Hunt aren't included. So, no way to know if I have two long-tailed LPs or a long and a short.)

I have somewhere over 1,000 horse-shaped objects - mostly Breyers, some Stones, a couple Hartlands, one or two resins, and a good number of oddball chinas, Schleich and Safari horses, and random vaguely-horse-shaped things.

New horse on the way

I took advantage of a deal yesterday and bought a Trad-sized Delilah from Breyer's Saddle Club horses on Ebay. I was watching one from a dealer I've bought from before, who was offering free shipping, plus the promo set of Saddle Club Mini Whinnies. Ebay sent me a 10% off coupon code, and Ebates is offering a 3% rebate on Ebay purchases now. So, Delilah will cost me about $34 in the end.

(Ebates is a neat site. You get a percentage back at various online stores when you shop through their site - Sears, Barnes & Noble, dozens of others. When you've got at least $5 in rebates, they send you your money, either as a check or deposited to your Paypal account. If anyone reading wants to sign up with them, if you list me as referring you, we'll both get an extra $5 bonus. )

Color Crazy stallion

I finally got my Color Crazy herd stallion this month. Mine is a very very dark bay, with socks and a blaze. Oh, and a pair of rubs on his front leg and hip.

Pictures to come.

Lousy timing

I've managed to miss auctions for two QVC Black Beautys on Ebay this weekend. And of course, both of them went for a price that I would have bid up, if I'd been online.

The first one, I missed because I didn't get online at all Sunday, and forgot about the auction. The one today, I was watching, and then my little boy woke up at just the wrong time. He's sick today, and I got busy giving him some medicine, so I forgot all about the auction ending.

I think it's time to look into a bidding service.

New horses

Unboxing a few new horses from the holidays, and I've gotta wonder - Why did Breyer put a grey/white tailtip on the new dark bay Classic Hanoverian? So out of place. What, is he a minimal-expression paint of some sort? Going grey in an odd way? Little accident with the bleach?

I also opened my Classic Morgan mare & foal set to find that they were a little too close together in the box. Nice little rub on the mare's hip and the foal's neck. Sigh.

Rats!

I just realized that I missed the deadline to mail in my form for Breyer's free gift offer. The irritating part is that I had it 90% ready to go, just had to fill out the form and stick it all in an envelope.

GAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!

At least I mailed my Color Crazy form in time.

Rarities

I'm reading a discussion on one of the chat forums about what rare horses we own, and I started wondering about my collection. My first thought was "I don't have anything rare" - my brain kind of defaults to the "well, if I own one, it can't be too rare" point of view. But that's a knee-jerk reaction, and it's not quite true. I do own a few horses that are either very limited runs or that are almost never seen for sale.

In general order of scarceness:

1. I managed to buy a 1-of-10 Palouse, Fiesta. Fiesta was the SR for the El Paso Equine Art Show. This one is the matte-finish variation with a star. Actually, she's one of 5, because half of the 10-horse run were etched and otherwise customized.
   
2. A possible one-of-a-kind SM - a glossy alabaster Swaps from one of the JCPenney sets. He came in a group of alabaster Breyers from Ebay. He might be factory gloss, or someone may have glossed him later. This year, I plan to soak him in Lestoil and see if he's factory or not. He's also got a broken leg, which I need to fix. I just need better light, because I want to make sure and not glue the leg on backwards. :)
   
3. Another Fiesta, the more common variation in satin finish with a blaze, 1-of-77. (There were 100 total - 10 matte/star, 12 glossy judges, 1 with black front hooves, and 77 "normal" ones.)
   
4. A Magnifico, the Peruvian Paso SR from Breyerfest that was supposed to be a regular-run horse the next year. Hasn't happened yet, so I'm glad I found him when I did. If I'd waited, I think he would have been more expensive - I bought mine when we thought he'd still be a RR in a few months.
5. Another Palouse, Echo, also a show SR. I think there were 45 in the run, and I've got two. The first one met with a slight accident when my son was learning to walk.
6. Quite a few Breyerfest SRs, including the porcelain circus ponies and Romantico.
7. Three Connoisseur horses. I lusted after a Masquerade until I finally found one secondhand at a price that didn't make me hyperventilate (too much, anyway). Then I was lucky enough to be drawn for both Rubicon and Blue Velvet.
   
8. Actually, I could probably just list all my Palouses, and most of my Stones, since they've stopped doing anything like a "regular run" horse. For Palouses, I've also got Canadian Sunrise (matte), Gingerbread Cookie, and Iskitpe. Then there's a Lapis ISH and Malachite ISH. Still mad at myself for waffling too long at State Line's website - Earl sold out while I had lunch.
   
9. For chance finds, I've got a Breyer Western Horse in black pinto, with the snap-on saddle. Found him at a thrift store for $12 years ago. He's lost an eartip in a fall, but otherwise he's in great shape for his age.
   
10. Extreme luck - I was drawn for both the Gold Charm and Honey Bay Lady Phases. I never found the charcoal Silver, though.
11. The palomino Classic QH mare and chestnut Mustang foal set that was a SR for American Girl.

And there are probably more, I just can't recall them right now.