I have a Running Stallion copy

Because I can't continue to the doll texts, but I still need to publish something here, I think it's a good idea to show readers my weird Breyer copy.

He's a Running Stallion copy, looks really cheap and is badly injured. The tail is broken, and I'm not surprised; the plastic he is made from is really hard and easily broken.

Breyer's Running Stallion is not the most interesting mold to me, so yet less nice is to have a cheap fake one. I have no idea of his history, but I think he had been tailless already when I got him ages ago.

Look at it, no word about anatomy. I can't understand how anyone had molded (?) this. Also the limb positions look stupid to me, it's one of the most difficult things in horses to draw and sculpt to look good. It also puts me to ponder, why anyone wanted to copy just that less realistic Breyer mold?

No details... Not even in color. He is also unsteady, needs careful handling when photograhing. My dolls still have already ridden him few times.

Big man, small horse. The doll, Hupi, is naked because I lost my nerves when his stupid vest didn't work. 

Once I maybe thought that this, as a cheap and ugly, broken model, is a good base for practice customizing, and I then started to resculpt his face. But guess, for me the base model should be good enough to sculpt; I don't know how and why it is that, but I can't sculpt well on a ugly model. Especially these with hard plastic surface, nothing for the clay to stick to, are not inspiring for me. They have no possibility in my hands.

But alone as models they are OK, although I never stop seeing their ugliness.

When this year started, I mauled the clays off from his nose. That was all I needed to do - luckily, because I don't understand why everyone there somewhere do whine how 'cheap airdry clays do not stick well' - bllll, I needed all my armpowers and pliers to remove that from a clear plastic horse's nose!

His head is ugly, ugly, ugly, as the whole horse at all. It's also wonky, what's yet less awesome if  planning to custom it.

The left ear doesn't allow crownpieces to be realistically, but luckily any strap doesn't hide his eyes still.

Then I understood... As nothing is absolutely symmetric... Then there are some diseases and deformities who can cause weird faces and body parts who don't match. OK. This horse can have that.

Anyway, I stop judging the horse here. Now, when I have thought him a bit, I noticed that it's in fact almost nice model; not in sculpt quality, but as individual. He has his own story, and as he's that ugly and deformed, I am ready to ponder some backstory for him then. Real horses can have wonky faces, so, yes, this one can have too.

I called the horse "Otto", as it's generic, normal Finnish male name. Not too great for a model horse that's not so good to see. The name really contains orange (those 'O's), but they also seemingly match his spots.
I have already at least three stallions in trad scale, and only one mare, so it was time to have a gelding among them. This does not look like a stallion to me, when checking the needed details, so we can think him as a gelding.

At the end I found Otto an owner, it's another deformed ugly thingy; Kippura, the blazed black dumbo rat girl. She has different sized eyes and she's really far away from "cute". But she also has interesting personality, and she has a habit to help and adopt rescue animals. So it's natural that she also adopts an ugly horse who no one else wants to give a home for.

First photo where Kippura owned Otto.

Orange rope worked better...

One nice thing I always enjoy with model horses is to make or find their 'personal' tack. Mostly I mean halters and ropes. Otto got this needless cream-green -colored yarn halter with black crownpiece to be his own. It's not too great, but it's OK for a ugly model horse to wear. Another thing is that the halter really works, no matter is it on a great looking Breyer or some cheap toy horse - it works and has good measurements.

Sooo... Finally one horse found it's place to my small traditional scale herd (I really can't understand how so many of you there somewhere can own so much Breyers!). I also have one huge traditional CM model under resculpting now. It's also really ugly, originally, but it was surprisingly easy to sculpt away and now he almost looks like a horse. More about him later!

Portrait attempts

I once (after too long time) got my system camera (Nikon D3100) and photographed "seriously" Cortes and Rämä... I can't say that it worked, I am not that comfortable with photographing larger things than Schleichs, clearly. Or then I just don't know what to do to keep my pics lighter when using that camera and flash (softened). I mean, these are all too black, and yet after digital retouches they seem to look wrong - and too edited.

Many of these are clearly too much retouched, but I better show them than those depressingly dark originals. 

I tried to get artistic portraits, also because of the halter. I like how it works as it's very loose, and only enough strong not to break by the rope...

This is my bad habit in photography: capturing same moment more than once...

Because I don't have that much knowledge in photography, meaning technical part, I struggle with these portraits where is more than one face to show in same time. Or then it is how closed they are to the lens, but I can't focus on both. My problem seems to be just that lack of technical sense; I often say I photograph only visually.

But I still think that sometimes this camera is better for this kind of pics, instead of using that smaller one (with a killer flash, when talking about how well it works with mini sized things). But the reason why I mostly photograph with the small camera is just that fact that it has stronger flash; even when zoomed, the photos are viewable.

This was not a photo story, to know. Just a stack of so-called semi-portraits and document pics. I even noticed how Cortes 'looks' to the left in all of them... Blergh.  

Halter fitting

This is from same stack as the other story, but because this contained a different thing, I... Just decided that they are not same situation.

In fact I don't know how these stories do happen. I just photograph them, and I see a story in my head. Or hear it, in fact, not sure how I should explain it. But I like to tell that they create themselves, I only capture it all.

Like once... When I choosed that Rämä could again handle Remu, while he wears his oldest bridles (who work and fit really well, interestingly), and Hupi plays with my newest halter. It was pure accident that whole situation started to look like if Hupi wanted to show something for Rämä - that he needs no metal in the mouth to control a horse, yet less when it's a curb bit - and the small rat holds the horse with a chained rope.

The bigger rat suggested that they could try to fit the halter on Remu. 

Hupi: "Just try this for him? If it doesn't fit, I can find another horse to wear it."

Honestly, it looks a bit poor and messy to see Remu with all that metal in the mouth. He is an old horse, who never harms anything, although he is known from being pig-headed and strong. 

Rämä: "Well... It looks weaker than..."

Hupi: "Noooo it just looks weak, it's really strong enough."

Rämä ponders a minute... Until he accepts Hupi's idea.

Rämä: "Okay Remu, we test that new halter."

Closeup.

"Don't force him, he should think this as a good thingy."

"Positive experiences make horses better to work with!"

Hupi decided to put Rämä to change the tack, while he held the rope. And little Rämä had a small trouble to see what he was just handling, that halter seemingly was different from those he had splatted on horses lately. It looks and feels really fragile, but that big masked man still claims it's strong enough.

No photos taken while removing the bridles... But here's the result. Looks like the halter fits.

Almost portrait-like pic without Rämä.

Hupi: "Naw, Remu looks nice with it!"

Rämä decided to agree, but is sure not to tell Omar about that. Remy's very own halter is made quite same way as this halter, but has sliding buckles and is really strong, and is colored in black.

Rämä often does things as Omar had said him to do, as Remu is Omar's horse. And Rämä often doesn't care or just notice that he can do things wrongly, because "adults know better" and because he really can't make too much own decisions when he spents time with a horse what's not his own.


Artistic info:
Most of those doll closeups are taken simpy to save some nice view and to have more face phohot of them.

And despite of what I wrote Hupi to say for Rämä about the halter's strength, in real it's not strong at all. It's super fragile. Partly it comes form creating mistakes who made it yet less good. We are lucky that all this is just miniature and not meant to be in real use.

Bad decision?

Yet another photo story... How long time I have wanted to do these, but I've only taken photos and stored them in different folders to keep the stories separate.

To these photos I captured a stupid story, where guys were testing how that weird tack piece could work, and how Remu, the horse, could react to it. His official owner Omar wasn't gratified to see what there happened.

Rämä is known from his skill with horses, although he's yet a teen. Guys thought he has no problem if Remu freaks out... And the newer stable member, Hupi, that big dumbo man with yellow vest, tests the bridles by riding. For him, Rämä is just making sure that the animal doesn't get crazy if it doesn't listen to him.

Really Remu is used to that kind of weird tack, Omar has a bad habit to buy them and test on him. Less often they are bought for real need. For him that seems to be okay - but when anyone else is doing same instead of him, or without permission, he (of course, as Remu is his horse) is heavily against it.

I think that it was Hupi who convinced Omar that this is okay. Still the blonde can't let them be in peace, but stays there and watches every move Remu does, like it's a sign of uncomfortable feeling.

(Raaaargh my dolls need trousers...!)

It looks like if Omar really EXPECTS that something horrific could happen. To make sure he could scream at others that "I told you it is a bad idea, idiots!". You guess that especially Rämä didn't listen to. He thought he knows what he does. But what about Hupi...? I personally think that is is questionable behavior from a veterinarian to allow that kind of risks to exist.

"Idiots, idiots, idiots..."

Well, the horse is his usual self and just wonders what the two-legged jerks do, and stays quite close to his feeder. He could think something like "again new bridles, again new guys, nothing never stays".

Rämä also wanted to take some posing photos... Because of that 'cool' tack, all the chains, force bits and just photogenic situation. He also photographed Remu's bridles alone, as some kind of portrait, I guess.

Hupi seems to know what he does. He's a big man, so he can have difficulties to ride well, but Remu is just rightly heighted for him.

Technical info: 
After writing the basics of this story, I realised that I must sculpt a mini camera for those. What else could help than black silk clay and some plastic pieces? I could also start to take those "photos by doll" differently... Really I just did same as I wrote Rämä to do; captured portrait-like pics with that torture tack.