BreyerFest offerings: Mala 2 bridle

 

The Timaru Star II Model Tack Shop is excited to announce we will be taking offers for the Malagueña 2 Braided Rawhide Curb Bridle.  This bridle was used to draw my next book, and I've put more soul into it than just about any other piece of tack!  There are 3 ways to contact me:  email me at sbytsii (at) verizon (dot) com, text me at 814-321-2980, or see me in person at BreyerFest (room 612).  A fourth way would be to private-message through FaceBook, either the Timaru Star II Model Tack business page or the personal Susan Bensema Young page.  Our deadline is two weeks from now, at 8:00 pm EDT, on Friday the 14th.  The winner need not be present.  Minor details like reserve and shipping  😁  will be found at the end of this post, as well as zoomed-in close-ups and a black-&-white shot.   Most sorry, technically this is not an auction.

The winner is C. Bonds, Friday night at the Clarion!  Thank you so much!!

Meanwhile, enjoy seeing this pioneering classic of braidwork on 9 different horses!  I'm trying to show very closely who it fits best.  During the photo session, some really amazing shots came out.  This always happens when I try to shoot tack:  You get pictures that show the tack best; and then you get the ones that show the horse best.  Let's begin with what for me is some really nice packaging:

Now for the best horse nick.  Ever since I got my Perlino LG, I've known that this color combination tack, rawhide with silver, black, white & turquoise, looks very good on Breyer's satin (and glossy) Perlinos.  Here is Uffington the Altynai.  

This bridle might not quite fit him perfectly -- the ears are a little large and the riendas (hand part of the reins) a little short -- but man, the nobility of that face!

This next shot is hands down the pick of the litter.  I did not know it was in him.  It reminds me of certain illustrations of El Blanco, the white stallion of the plains.  The Look of Eagles...

For some reason I am always struggling with lighting, and thus with the true color of this bridle.  Here's another look with the Matriarch wearing it, showing the entire bridle, and a more-true-to-life color.

Although the Mala 2 bridle was not made off a Matriarch, I find that it fits her almost perfectly.  If you're worried about it, the noseband is removable.

Here it is on a popular mold these days, the Emerson:

I did get his palomino to come out right!!  That's another horse color which goes very well with this tack combination.  A nice close up:

Again the bridle's ears might be a smidge too large, but the rest works.

Ahoy, brother:  The dark chestnut with flame mane brilliantly sets off the color.  This is a compelling example of how the red in his mane pops with the turquoise, and the greenish of the rawhide is entirely overshadowed.

Lest we forget, here's another Palomino and a very appropriate mold, Stone's Ideal Stock Horse.  There's just something about her sweet face...

I think the ISH is pretty close to a good fit.

However, the Dundee is, in my opinion, the perfect mold to fit this particular bridle.

Doll by Field of Dolls

Of course we cannot overlook the original.  This is Malagueña the horse, for whom the first Malagueña bridle was built back in 1995 -- the one Mala 2 is a copy of.  To put Mala 2 on Mala is messing up my photo file names, I can tell you.

Mala 2 on Malagueña

Again, a portrait shot shows how well this piece fits the Lady Phase.

Buckles from TWMHC

For a complete twist of the beams, here's the auction bridle on a resin I have for sale, Buckler's Raven painted by Laurie Jo Jensen.  This is the horse the Peruvian Jaquima was made for.  He will have his own post soon!

Now I'm getting down to smaller molds and models.  It is perfectly natural to think of this bridle going on the Firefly / Elbe mold by Morgen Kilbourn, since she's a lovely Western horse.  The Mala 2 does fit her, but it's a little over, and not really the best.  The ears are too large and the bit seems out of scale.  Both the romal and the throatlatch are too long.

Still it's an attractive bridle for her.  There's potential here.

Finally I am ready to let this piece go. Every step of making it was captured in exhaustive detail 3 ways to Sunday:  drawings, photos, words.  In the process it got named to differentiate it from my original 1995 bridle, Malagueña 1.   It will always be special to me.  It's impossible to know how many hours went into it because it's so entwined with creating the book itself, Advanced Braidwork for the Model Horse.  At this point I'd guess the book has about an 80% chance of being done by the end of the year... I seem to have bitten off a lot.

The reserve for this piece is $200.00.  If not present at BreyerFest, the highest offer will need to pay postage of $15 for UPS shipping to the lower-48.  International winners will be quoted postage on an individual basis.

Good luck, 

Thanks for reading!