High Key / Mid Key / Low Key

Best of Irish

When I first saw the Best of British Irish Draught, I knew it was a must-have! But I had to wait until I'd achieved something before I got it. That is my new rule: I must achieve something before I can spend money on a horse. The achievement that allowed me to purchase this horse was completing fifteen days of pet sitting.

So this is Liam, the Irish Draught:

He is a beautiful, rich shade of chestnut with some fantastic shading.

His eyes are his best feature - just look at them! Breyer should paint all of the horses' eyes like that.

When I brought him inside his eyes came to life.

Beautiful boy!

Black & Blue

I am loving Breyer's Best of British series. When I saw the set with the Shire horse and Corgi dog, there was no question that I would end up with one. I was disappointed with the paintjob on the Corgi - his tongue wasn't even painted pink! The model horse, however, is beautiful, stands surprisingly sturdily considering the position he's in, and did I mention he's beautiful?

He is flawless - I love him! I've called him Thor, because he needed a brave, strong name. Thor reminds me of a Shire from a set of British Breeds Stablemates that was released in 2010, I think it was. He's black too, with dapples, and little silver shoes. Here he is, standing up to a Dalek:

In my head they are best friends. They stand together on a shelf in my room, together with the cheeky Dalek. At first Thor and little Prince were scared of the Dalek. Thor was always steering Prince away from danger.

I love this mould so much. I would conga it in a heartbeat.

Prince is my favourite Stablemate - he is the only one I have on display. I like his eye whites, and his dapples, and his cuteness.

It took a while, but now Thor, Prince and the Dalek are besties. Follow the leader, Abbey Road style...

Between a rock and a hard place (or a hoof and a Dalek):

Now the gang is ready to save the universe (my room) from evil!

(And you may be asking, "Why?" Well, I wanted to take photos of my lovely new Breyer horse, and I thought my photos were getting a bit samey - time to be unpredictable! I looked around my room for inspiration. I was already going to take photos of Thor and Prince together, but then I realised that my little Dalek had something in common with both of them. For one thing, his colours, and for another, you can't get more British than good old Doctor Who. I went out just as the sun was going down, and that's why the lighting changes as this post goes on. Pretty, isn't it? I've got another Best of British model to photograph yet. Photos soon!)

British (Heavy) Horsepower

I recently made the decision to restrict my model horse buying to either ponies or heavy horses since those are the two groups of breeds I find the most interesting, so the Breyer Stablemates British Draught and Pony set was right up my street. Plus it had a Suffolk Punch in it. So how could I not?

I unearthed a pair of my model tractors to act as props. The period after the Second World War, through to the Sixties, is the time of farming history I find most fascinating. Horses still played a major part in the day to day work on the farm, but were being squeezed out by tractors. Soon the horses were gone altogether. It makes me sad that there isn't a draught horse on every farm anymore.

The Clydesdale from the set, which I have decided will be a Shire.

The Suffolk Punch, my favourite horse breed.

The Shetland Pony is adorable.

And last but not least. the Highland Pony.

I had some fun with the tractors too. For those who may not know (and how could you not?), the Ferguson TE20:

And this one I call simply; Shades of Brown: Chesnut, David Brown, Bay and Skewbald.

I've had these tractors for approximately ten years, maybe more, maybe less. I was surprised how well they looked considering how much I played with them. You could say they are vintage in their own right!