Kristian Beverly

hello, it’s me 2.0

January 6, 2020March 26, 2020Kristian Beverly1 Comment

My name is Kristian Beverly, and welcome to my new blog!

Since this is the first post, here’s a bit about me.

I’ve been collecting model horses, particularly Breyer horses, since I was in the single digits. I’ve gone on to travel to Breyerfest, judge, and show. Performance and tack making are my favorite aspects of the hobby but over the years I’ve partaken in pedigree assignment, photo shows, and customizing. The hobby is vast so there’s something for everyone.

Eight years ago I created Five Paws Studio. It’d been born from lots of poking from my friend Madison.

First blog post from 2012. — The best ideas occur in the middle of the night.

In the years of having the blog, I graduated from high school, graduated from college, made lots of tack, participated in many shows, and lost four of the five pets that’d made up the whole Five Paws part.

This year it really hit me that I’d outgrown the Blogger platform. Initially, Blogger had a more controllable platform for creators. It also had a phone app. Things have slowly simplified and now I want more control (and a phone app). Hello WordPress!

This blog will be similar to Five Paws Studio. Plastic pony talk and tack. But there’ll be more book talk! I read a bit of everything. Nonfiction, fiction, teen, middle grade. If it’s good, I’ll give it a try.

So hello 2020s. May the odds be ever in our favor.

Gettysburg Trail Riding

December 23, 2019December 28, 2024Kristian BeverlyLeave a comment

The Gettysburg battlefields are about an hour away from me. Because of this fact, I haven’t walked them in over ten years. I think the last time I visited them was an 8th grade field trip. When you live close to an iconic location the whole I’ll go to it in the spring or I’ll go visit when tourist season is over becomes a phrase uttered for years.

This changed in November.

The Gettysburg Trail Ride took place over the second weekend in November. It’s been occurring since the early 2000s.

This was my first year attending it. My schedule just didn’t mesh with the ride in previous years. The festivities began on Friday, but I opted to drive up on Saturday to hang out for the day.

After breakfast, it was time to start grooming and tacking up. Nova was first before I tacked up Lady.

Riders came from NY, Maryland, and other parts of PA.

It was a great mix of riders.

And then we were off!

We rode trails for about 2-3 hours.

We rode through the battlefields, and it couldn’t have been a prettier day. Nova did a lot of firsts. She crossed a steam with water, crossed over a bridge and dealt with crossing the road with cars.

We took a few breaks.

Which meant photo ops.

I’d love to do this in the spring and be able to go at my own pace to really look at the different monuments.

Group photo.

I throughly enjoyed this ride!

Summer Pony

December 22, 2019December 28, 2024Kristian BeverlyLeave a comment

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, this horse has been popping up in posts since the summer. She often has the same expression on her face–the chestnut mare side eye.

A lot of times I don’t mention the horses I’m riding because circumstances can change as quickly as publishing a blog post.

Anyways, the owners decided she will be a permanent member of their barn, which means she gets a full post!

Her name is Nova and she’s a registered 8 year old Paint horse. She’s at least 14.3 hands, but it’s more fun to call her a pony.

She has an elaborate registered name that calls back to her pedigree, however I can not remember what it is.

Being a green horse, the world is full of monsters and mayhem. A saddle stand? More like wooden Kraken monster. A water hose that sprays?! Brain melting.

For the summer we’ve gone on trail rides around the property. She’s gotten more comfortable going alone and in a group. A turkey even decided to take flight under her nose and her spook was minimal!

Nova has been a lot of fun to ride, and I can’t wait to have fun in all of the seasons with her.

New York Public Library and The Strand

December 21, 2019December 28, 2024Kristian Beverly2 Comments

While in New York, Michelle and I had time to wander the city. We decided to walk to the New York Public Library and The Strand.
Along the way we saw the iconic Flatiron Building.

And other cool things

to take pictures of.

Hamilton!

Our first stop was the New York Pubic Library.

First we were greeted by the iconic lions.

The architecture was beautiful.

And the artwork!!!!

So pretty.

It was cool to see the mix of new and old.

There was a display for Herman Melville, best known for Moby-Dick.

I tried to read Moby Dick, but lost interest in it. Still, it was cool to see these pieces of history.

The coolest thing I saw was a Gutenberg Bible. This was the first one to come to the United States in 1847.

It’s estimated that 180 copies of the Gutenberg Bible were originally created, and there are about 59 full copies still in existence.

It was spectacular to see one in person.

The original Reader’s Digest.

There were also original pieces by Langston Hughes.

After we finished with the library, our next stop was the Strand. If you like books and ever find yourself in NYC, The Strand is a place to visit.

The Strand first opened in 1927 and was a part of the Book Row. Another nickname for the Book Row was “Second-Hand Row” because most of the bookstores sold used books. The Book Row was a NYC district and at its peak had 48 bookstores. The Book Row was around from the 1890s to the 1960s. The Strand is the only surviving store. A mix of rent increases, ownership deaths and retirement transformed the area into apartments. The Strand moved in the late 1950s because of the rent increases.