Scottsdale Stampede

Breyer have announced their 2018 Collector's Club Event

You can find out more information about the event here: http://www.breyerhorses.com/scottsdale-stampede

I really need to go to one of these one year!

And here is the event model special run, Phantom Face



Isn't he just lush?

Six New Customs

I've been a busy little potato over the last couple of days and have managed to finish six horses!

Some of these were started last Summer so it feels rather nice to have them finally finished.

First up is 'Catch My Breath'



This is a Breyer Stablemate Tushar who has been painted to a champagne



Now we have something quite rare when it comes to my painting....a Traditional custom! This is 'Catch Me If You Can'



He is a Breyer Hackney that has been painted to a lovely decorator unicorn



And now the first of the Django twins, 'The Catalyst'



This boy has been painted to a dramatic bay blanket spot



Next up is An Cat Dubh



This is a Breyer G3 Thoroughbred that has been painted to a light red bay



And the second of the Django twins (who already has a new home), Castles in the Sky



This boy has been painted to a really detailed shaded black



And finally we have the skittles horse, Castles on a Hill



A Breyer G2 Thoroughbred painted with a rainbow star patern



So there we go! A busy two days :D

All of these guys are sales pieces and can be found at www.chestnutridge.co.uk but be quick! One has already found a home!

Pony Room Tour - 21/03/2018

Check out the latest tour of my Pony Room :D

Model of the Day - Magnolia

Our model of the day today is the rather lovely Breyer Great Dane, Magnolia



Name: Magnolia
Show Name: CRS Magnolia Crawford
Breed: Great Dane
Colour: Tan
Gender: Female
Type: Dog
Scale: Traditional
Brand: Breyer
Model Number: 1541
Model Name: Great Dane
Year Produced: 2003-2006
Face Markings: None
Leg Markings: None
Finish: Matte
Sire: None
Dam: None
Unique ID Code: 652

Don't I Need Really Expensive Models to Win?

How many times have you heard this question or seen this point argued?

Too many to count for me.

Well to prove that you don't need expensive models and that some of the best horses only cost a few pounds here is my photo gallery of cheap champions

This is quite a small selection as I have to go to work and don't have time to go through hundreds of albums :p Hence why most at the beginning are from shows that begin with 'A' and then some random ones after when I realised this was going to take a long time :p

Enjoy :D

First up is a custom Peruvian Paso. I painted this guy so I know he was sold for £10.00!

A Schleich Donkey - approximate cost £4

Safari Icelandic - again probably between £4-10

A Breyer Mini Whinnie, approximate cost about £2-3

A Safari Shire - approximate cost £4-10

This one and the one after are the same model, above is at BMECS and below at Cantering Carousel. This guy was sold by Chestnut Ridge for £4.99.

He is the CollectA Curly Foal

Another one from Cantering Carousel - a great example because the OF section was one of the most competitive I've seen. This is a regular run Breyer GG Valentine. Approximate cost £30-40

One of my boys now, a Regular Run Breyer for a few years ago. Cost me around £30

And because I've run out of time this will have to be the last one. Another CollectA sold by Chestnut Ridge (the reserve to reserve to this guy was also a CollectA). Cost £7.50

Sierra Rose

*tips all pennies out of penny jar and desperately attempts to find enough money*

Isn't this girl just GORGEOUS?!?!?

The latest BreyerFest special run for this year:

Model of the Day - Cheyenne

Our model of the day today is the rather lovely Breyer Mini Whinnie Cheyenne



Name: Cheyenne
Show Name: CRS Checkin' In
Breed: American Quarter Horse
Colour: Buckskin Roan
Gender: Mare
Brand: Breyer
Model Number: 300180
Model Name: Cheyenne
Mould: Jog Trot Quarter Horse Mare
Scale: Miniature
Year Produced: 2013-2015
Face Markings: Half Stripe
Leg Markings: 1x Sock
Sire: None
Dam: None
Unique ID Code: 326
Best Live Show Placing: 4th Place

HRN Podcast

Today I did an Instagram post asking people what they listen to when they are painting. For me normally it is my audio books (as shown by this delightful insight into my reading tastes):



However, for about an hour each day I also have a little indulgence and that is the Horse Radio Network Podcast in particular Horses in the Morning.

I started listening to these last year and I've been hooked ever since, they are HILARIOUS! They are literally the best way to start my day :D

And the best part? Because there are soooo many back episodes I can just keep listening and listening and listening.

Horses in the Morning is my religious daily listening but I quite like Horse Tip Daily as well and have been listening to some of the others when I have time too. In fact the only issue I really have is I don't have time to listen to EVERTHING

If you want to have a listen then visit: http://www.horseradionetwork.com/

Let me know what you think :D And I hope you enjoy x

Model of the Day - Grizzly

Our model of the day today is no horse...nope he's an Arctic Wolf instead! Say hello to Grizzly



Name: Grizzly
Show Name: CRS King of the Grizzlies
Breed: Arctic Wolf
Colour: White
Gender: Male
Type: Wolf
Scale: Paddock Pal
Make: Schleich
Model Number: 14742
Model Name: Arctic Wolf
Year Produced: 2015-Present
Face Markings: None
Leg Markings: None
Finish: Matte
Sire: None
Dam: None
Unique ID Code: 1180

Which Size Buckles Should I Buy?

We get asked this question a lot so hopefully this will help!

We currently stock buckles in four different sizes, in size order these are:

1/16"

3/32"

1/8"

3/16"

So what do these sizes mean? These sizes are the width of leather lace the buckle will fit. So if you want a buckle to fit 1/8" leather lace you need to purchase 1/8" buckles!

Because the buckles we stock are from an American supplier their sizes are given in inches.

So let's start off by giving you an approximate size in mm:

1/16" = 16mm

3/32" = 24mm

1/8" = 32mm

3/16" = 48mm

So how do you decide what size you need for each project?

Well the best way to do this is to hold up the leather lace or ribbon you are going to use against a model and have a look at the width and whether this is in scale. 

So let's take a Traditional scale headcollar as an example

The ribbon here looks reasonably in scale. This ribbon is about 3mm. So what size buckle do we need?

Well we can see above that 1/8" buckles are about 32mm in width. So they would be perfect. And that is exactly what we have used.

Now what about a Traditional scale bridle? Well bridle straps are much thinner than headcollar ones so we are definitely going to need a smaller buckle.

Here we have split 1/8" leather lace in half to make the straps. So what size buckle to do we need? Well half of 1/8" is 1/16" so we can see that we will need 1/16" size buckles (if you find fractions a bit confusing use the mm sizes, half of 32mm is 16mm).

Now what about a Classic headcollar? 

Well we know that the leather lace will need to be smaller than for Traditional scale but we will want it to be larger than for bridle straps. So what size should we go for?

Well here we are using slightly trimmed 1/8" leather lace. BUT you can also purchase 3/32" leather lace. So what size buckle do we want? Well 3/32" would work well and lo it does!

Are you getting the hang of things now? 

To help you out further below I've written a brief list of the kinds of things these buckles are good for.

1/16"

These buckles are good for smaller straps on Traditional & Classic scale models:

Bridle Straps

Breastplate Straps

Boot Straps

They may also suit larger straps on Paddock Pal/Littlebit Scale models:

Headcollar Straps

Stirrup Leather Straps

And very large straps on Stablemate models:

Girth Buckles

3/32"

These buckles are good for larger straps on Classic scale models:

Headcollar Straps

Or very large straps on Paddock Pal/Littlebit scale models:

Girth Buckles

They are also good for medium straps on Traditional scale models:

Stirrup leathers

Girth Straps

1/8"

These are good for larger straps on Traditional scale models:

Headcollar Straps

Large straps on things like harnesses or rollers

3/16"

These are good for much larger straps on Traditional scale models:

Girth/roller straps

They are also good for pieces on larger scale models such as 1/6 scale pieces.

We hope that helps! Remember the size of the buckle is it's width and you can use this to help guide you in deciding which size buckle will suit your project.

Also remember there is no 'size per scale'. What size buckles fit Traditional scale? is an impossible question to answer because it very much depends on what you are doing with them and what you are using to do it!

Have fun creating :D

Weird Model Horse Photo Finds

So I finally managed to retrieve all my pictures off my One Drive account yesterday. Which meant I was able to look through some old pictures and well...sometimes I have concerns about me.

Here are some of my more bizarre finds, caption these as you will!

When you've had one too many drinks. I'm sad this is minus the fake vomit I made!

Our Most Popular Posts

I thought it would be fun to have a run down of our most popular Blog posts of all time.

So here they are!

1st Place - 3772 Views - 2017 Christmas Horse



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/2017-christmas-horse.html

2nd Place - 3315 Views - Corral Pals



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/corral-pals.html

3rd Place - 3075 Views - Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/gold-frankincense-myrrh.html

4th Place - 2844 Views - Brand New Breyer Models



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/brand-new-breyer-models.html

5th Place - 2631 Views - Cypress



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/cypress.html

6th Place - 2514 Views - Schleich 2017 Range



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/schleich-2017-range.html

7th Place - 2368 Views - 2017 Breyer



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/2017-breyer.html

8th Place - 2132 Views - True North



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/true-north.html

9th Place - 1921 Views - Breyer Giveaway



http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/breyer-giveaway.html

10th Place - 1863 Views - Bay Drafter

http://chestnutridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/bay-drafter.html

Are there any posts there that surprise you? I do sometimes wonder where some of these have been linked (such as the last one) that means they got so many views!!!