Horse and Colt

10/29/2014

Some of the girls were taking a walk through the woods to see the autumn foliage....

..when they came across Peach and Efreet with their two new friends....

..a Morgan horse and her foal, which they had brought home from their recent trip.

They are Battat horses from the 'Our Generation' dolls. I'd seen Battat horses online many times before, and even though they were quite reasonably priced, the shipping costs were astronomical - double the price of the horse itself! So one of the things on my wish list during our recent trip, was to check out a Target store in the US and hopefully find a horse for my dolls, and get one without having to pay those shipping costs. Well, the day we spent in Albuquerque we found a Target, and sure enough they had some horses. And all kinds of great doll accessory packages. So I chose the Morgan horse, a foal, and two accessory packages - the picnic and camping accessories sets.

The woman at cash smiled and asked if we were doing some early Christmas shopping. Yup!

12 Comments

Lorraine

10/29/2014 02:26:25 am

Those are much more realistic horses than the American Girl variety. The larger one looks big enough for a JID to ride.

Martha

10/29/2014 02:51:08 am

I agree. I'd seen Battat horses on DOA before, and made a note to myself to look for some. They are the perfect size for JIDs, which means they are proportionate for KIDs and BIDs as well. I took photos of Leona on the horse on our trip, but they haven't been posted yet.

My intention is to paint them up a bit, and make real leather tack for them, as the plastic stuff they came with is rather stiff. Then the horse needs appropriate period blankets for whatever costumed figure I want to put on him. I can imagine a knight, or a lovely medieval lady, or any number of fantasy figures.

Sue

10/29/2014 11:31:25 am

Sigh I wish I could work out this reply system..

Forgot to say I love the expression on your mare, she looks very kind. The foal is sweet too. Can't wait to see what you do with them.

Sue link

10/29/2014 02:59:14 am

Oh those are the best horses for BJD IMO :) I too have wanted one for ages but the shipping price to the UK was totally astronomical. Luckily I have a wonderful friend who got me one for a present.

I customised mine tho - makes them much more realistic.

http://okarnillart.deviantart.com/art/Lady-Kefri-rides-out-64268498

Martha

10/29/2014 03:07:25 am

That's the plan whenever I can find the time. It will probably take until I want to take some fantasy or historical type photos with my JIDs.

Your horse looks amazing. So much nicer and more realistic than that 'plastic' look they start out with.

Sue

10/29/2014 03:10:33 am

Thank you - I was really pleased with how she came out.

If it's any use I used acrylic spray cans (two at one in some cases) to give her the airbrushed look. Dappling was done by hand. Likewise markings. The hair is just basic human cheap wig hair. I found that I needed several more coats of paint on her than I would on a breyer simply because she needed to be more durable and take the sort of bashing only a resin sweetie can dish out lol.

Martha

10/29/2014 05:39:23 am

Did you spray the horse with a sealer like MSC before and/or after painting?

Donna

10/29/2014 06:52:01 am

Those horses are wonderful. They are so realistic and a perfect size for your kids. Love the photos. The red leaves make a brilliant backdrop. We have almost no red leaves left here, just yellow... and bare branches.

Martha

10/29/2014 07:14:21 am

Thanks! I'm always on the lookout for good backgrounds for my doll photos, and took those this past weekend. But I'll bet those red bushes are bare now. There's still a few red leaves on the maples out front on the boulevard, but there's less and less each day. I wish the coloured leaves would last longer. It'll be such a long time - mid May - until the trees will get leaves again.

Jane

10/29/2014 07:20:17 am

What a brilliant idea to get some horses while you were away on holiday! It was well worth the search for the Target Store.

The horses are just perfect with your dolls......have fun customising them now.

Sue link

10/29/2014 11:30:14 am

It won't let me reply direct to you - so adding it at the end here.

So far as I remember I sanded the horse, undercoated her in white acrylic to show any imperfections before the colour coats went on. That's standard for all my model horse customsv (which is where I've spent twenty six years so kinda set in my ways lol) there were lots of layers of paint to build her colour up, then a final good spraying of MSC to try and protect the huge areas of colour a bit better than just the acrylic. That's something I never did on the breyer or other types of model horse customising because I could never get a decent sealant that didn't go yellow over time. So far so good with Gala tho. Her feet and eyes are glossed.

Martha

10/29/2014 08:49:07 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. My Morgan horse has jointed legs, so I'm not sure if I can get away with that many layers of paint. The joints don't actually do much, but they do create a break in the line of the legs. For now the horses will stay as they are, because I just don't have the time right now. I expect they won't get repainted until I have someone in costume I really want to photograph with a horse. But it's good to know how to do it, because I find most of the work involved in any project, is all the planning in my head beforehand. Once I know what I'm doing, then the hardest part is behind me.

Horse and Colt

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