🎵Oh I want a Kaimanawa for Christmas, only a Kaimanawa will do. . .🎵

Oh wait. That's a hippo, isn't it? Lol, not for me! A friend of mine, Equiden, of Equiden's Plastic Ponies, surprised me on Saturday with a Christmas package in the mail. I was told to expect a card, but the box was a complete surprise. I unwrapped it to find a beautiful card and a roll of bubble wrap. Nestled safely down inside the roll was this little fellow.

Isn't he gorgeous? He is Schumacher, from this year's BoBF set. He is a gorgeous specimen, with the loveliest masking, soft shading, and scrumptious leg barring. And his face! Oh, he is just the cutest. :)

Anyway, as I'm sure you got from the title, I chose the Kaimanawa horse as his breed. The Kaimanawa is a wild horse native to New Zealand. I'm partial to NZ horses, as I am half Oceanic (my father was born on the island and moved to AUS when he was older). The Kaimanawa is an interesting breed, similar to our mustang. They come in any color, and although their standard conformation includes a short neck/back, there are many exceptions.

Note the horse on the right. Medium/long back and neck!

I chose his name based on his nationality. His name is "SDS Ahi Hukarere". It means "Snow Fire" in Maori, NZ's native language. Ahi's coat reminds me of fire, while his little appy blanket looks like a snow dusting.

His masking and details are exceptionally well done.

That look of determination!

Thank you SO much for my little fella, Equiden!

In other news, the hay bag giveaway entries closed last night. The entries stand as:

6 for Equiden

3 for Teagan

5 for fastapp

I will be doing the spin tonight and posting the winner tomorrow! Good luck to all, and thank you so much for entering!

One more thing, Tahoe has been released! Tahoe is our winter CC web special silver filigree on HAMILTON. I won't be getting him, but good luck to those trying! He will be popular for sure.

BreyerFest 2023: Dive Into The World of Driving ~ Series Analysis

I really liked Breyer's series on driving. I thought it was a smart addition to the blog, and it really helped shape the idea of the theme. My favorite part was the way it dropped little "hints" on the types of models available.

For the first post, Combined Driving, was an obvious reference to Bravour 54, the celebration model. I do expect to see something else in this discipline (it is so popular), but Bravour seemed to be the model hiding in the illusions of this post.

The second post, Harness Racing, completely thrilled me. Harness racing is not my thing, but Constantia is! I would love to have one on her mold, but her original PC color was not what I was hoping for (this was a good thing for my wallet!). I know it would be a pretty short time period between her PC release and next BF, but it is possible, and certainly seems to be the only reasonable mold to use in this circumstance (I swear I'm gonna cry if it ends up being the old Hess Pacer for the vintage SR).

Therapeutic Driving was the unexpected third post. I knew about it, but I certainly wasn't expecting Breyer to choose it. I'm really glad they did! It definitely needs more recognition. This discipline leaves the door wide open for nearly any mold, so I don't have a (public) guess.

In fourth position was Show Driving. This one was fairly expected. My first thought was Hamilton, but other collectors suggested Rejoice. I think Rejoice is probably more likely (as our vintage SR) because I am of the opinion that Hamilton will be our silver filigree model for Christmas.

Pleasure Carriage Driving was an assumed candidate. I can imagine Astrid in this category (oh please!).

The final post was Draft Hitch. For this one I am really hoping to see a solid colored long mane Shannondell. Particularly in palomino, but I won't get my hopes up too high.

I did expect to see mini pony driving post, but none appeared. I still assume we will see something of that ilk pop-up somewhere along the way. I was hoping for an Amish horse post (with a Giselle model), but I suppose Breyer wouldn't do that since they couldn't get a demo at the KHP to go with (too many cameras around).

Don't forget to leave a comment to get yourself entered in the hay bag giveaway!