Custom Mini Model Horses

Pippi, a seal brown Spanish-bred mare. CM Alborozo Mold. Pippi is a playful mare in dapple seal brown inspired by  Vesuvio Bien Vee photographed by Soltera. Both are a color I hadn’t tried to paint before, and I am happy with the soft feel. Her braid is caught up in the game. Finally had some sun to work with in this photo of Pippi, a custom Stablemate scale Alborozo. Vesuvio Bien Vee - Paso Fino Bellas Formas National Champion 3 Year Old Gelding in 2001. This gelding exhibits a good breed standard of conformation, type and overall form. My own work. Photo taken in May of 2006 at Hoot Owl Farm. Author is Soltera. Pippi by Sarah Tregay Brown mare CM Alborozo by Sarah Tregay

Grulla Brindle Mustang Custom Mini by Sarah Tregay The weather hasn’t been very cooperative for both spraying models and photographing them! I finished a simple repaint this week. He’s a grulla brindle mustang stallion with a little sock and a star, stripe and snip. His base holds him into a leaping pose. He was inspired by Drink One For Me, an AQHA stallion. ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community/2015-AQHA-IBHA-Drink-One-For-Me-Grulla-Brindle-Stallion-1882271148752678/ ) Brindle Grulla Stablemate Custom by Sarah Tregay

Registration for National Model Painting Month is open! Please visit namopaimo.com to sign up. Registration will remain open through midnight January 31. Once you register, you can't change your model... so start planning now so you have plenty of prepping--and decision-making--time. The Facebook group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/234123470349077/ Me and my little draft project. #NaMoPaiMo I'm going to paint a model I've been working on this winter. He's an American Cream Draft stallion made from a Breyer Stablemate Vaulting horse and a heand and neck combo resin sculpted by Maggie Bennett. Right now he needs another round of prep work--you know how that first coat of primer shows the little things that you missed? Now that he's one color I can see where I need to focus to blend the two parts together. For those of you on Pinterest, I'm working from photos of a sweet-looking stallion named Joker's Golden Boy. https://www.pinterest...

I’m working on an American Cream Draft Horse. He is part resin and part Breyer... so I’m not sure how I’ll show him. The head and neck were a gift from Maggie Bennet —she noticed that I was wearing a name tag at Breyerfest 2018 and gave me a Stablemate casting of a drafter head and neck.  I chose the G4 Vaulting Horse for the Body. I like this mold, but prefer the feet be more underneath the body. So a few leg changes, hoof fixes, and new hindquarters and he’s coming along. This breed often sports a long tail, so that was sculpted separately and is in the process of being finished, Where the mane changes color is where the resin and Breyer meet. Not one to waste a cute face, the Drafter head is on a Gypsy Vanner body... lots of work needed. And the Vanner head is on an Alborozo... the Alborozo head is on a Dungaree... I’ve been making a little progress in prepping this guy: Here’s the model with his Breyer half... the Vaulting Horse A...

I've decided to challenge myself to learn more about horse coat colors by painting mini Alborozos in different colors. This guy, Ignacio, is chestnut, one of the more common colors in the real-horse world... although maybe not in the model horse world where buckskin pinto shows up quite frequently. Because who doesn't love a splash of white on a dilute? I made his mane and tail a little darker than his body color for a little variety in contrast. December, January and February have been cloudy, snowy, windy and rainy. In other words, not good for my favorite photo spot... King of the Wind Farms in Macomb, Michigan where my horse, Mr. Pots lives. So I was happy to be out taking new photos yesterday! Chestnut Stablemate Alborozo by Sarah Tregay

This little sport horse is an Equus Kinsky. His name is Czechmate. I chose the breed because who doesn't love a dapple palomino with metallic tones? Around 40% of these horses have coats in various shades of gold, due to the cream dilution gene while others are bay, chestnut, or black (although black is rare). The coat is extremely glossy and almost metallic.   I got distracted from pastelling and finishing models by the International Customizing Equine Event where I began (and finished customizing) a pair of Akhal Teke buddies. So I'm pleased with this cutie.   The weather has been gray and cold. Maybe the sun will shine on me for a photo shoot!  He looks handsome in the sun!

My horse, Mr. Pots who is half Appaloosa and half Mustang. Appaloosas can be tricky to capture in miniature. They seem to have endless intricate markings from a speckled nose to a striped (or not) hoof, from an oblong heart-shapped spot to a perfectly round one. One of my favorite molds (back when we long-time hobbyists only had G1 Stablemates) was Seabiscuit. This is one of my Seabiscut customs from years ago. So for this Appaloosa project I chose a Seabiscuit. He needed a little help in the feet department due to some mold flaws, but other than that he's pretty similar. Confetti is a leopard Appaloosa mare I used burnt sienna Pan Pastel for Confetti's spots. They seemed like they needed more layers than the black Pan Pastel spots on Party Invite. Party Invite, a mini Alborozo in leopard Appaloosa

There’s an old saying that goes “no hoof, no horse.” And I’m always reminding myself to check in on my model horses’ hooves. Especially those models whose hooves are supposed to be flat on the table.  I feel that a show-quality model should stand well. All feet that should be in contact with the table should be on the table—not hovering above it, not touching on one side and not the other. My boy’s feet on a flat surface. Right without shoe, left with a shoe. Enter two things: one, a piece of sandpaper. Two, a table-height view. If the model has a problem hoof (or four), I hold the sandpaper flat to my desk and move the model’s hooves across it. Back and forth, side to side or in circles—it can depend on the horse. The trick is to go slowly and check your progress often. This Rivet custom had a hovering right hind hoof. But I didn’t want to sand off the toe of the right fore. So... I sanded only the hind feet, letting the forefoot scrape ...