I Haz A Barn

Kristian Beverly6 Comments

Last week I picked up my new barn during the model horse day. I never knew I needed a barn. When I was small my goal was to have a truck and trailer.
But Jennifer Buxton’s posts , PawPrints Saddery , and countless pictures on Instagram made me want a barn.  It looked like so much fun to turn them into works of art!So I searched, compared, and price checked. I’m looking at this as my miniature dollhouse, but with horses instead.

The level of play that my cats decided to use on the barn has caused it to live in the guest bedroom until I make room in the library or the craft room.

I’ve been looking at real barns for the past week for ideas. know I will be staining the wood, but I’m the exact color combo is still up in the air. But I have time to figure it out.

It’s going to look cool when finished. :)
(And here’s Misty, because I have an idea for the next level up for my collector’s class!)
And here’s a picture of my cat staring out of the window after the storm last week.
Also, there’s 5 days left until the end of the giveaway if you haven’t entered already!

Plastic Pony Weekend

Kristian Beverly2 Comments

It started on Instagram, as things sometimes do. Lizzie and I had been thinking about a model horse day and then Niki had a newly organized model horse space……and everything went from there.
On Saturday, Lizzie, Niki, Pat, and I met up at Niki’s house and had a model horse day!
One of the first things that happened was my Valegro being put into Niki’s newest western tack set she completed. Oh, and he’s also doing Keyhole. Because why not.

Lizzie has an adorable zebra that is also an excellent show model and the halter I made for her fit. Yay!
We hit up some craft stores and grabbed Chinese. All of the movies we watched were new to me: Groundhog Day and Frozen. Another new to me was Not Just Plastic Horses. It was made in the early 20s and depicts the hobby through interviews and Breyer commercials. It was interesting and something I didn’t even know existed. 
The group of us are performance lovers, so Lizzie’s Bobby Jo became the tack holder. There’s a ton of tack from numerous artists on this model!
Niki took a better picture of the other side. 
Picture taken by Niki Hertzog
This was fun and something we’ll have to do again! 

Children's Author and Illustrator Week

Kristian Beverly12 Comments

The first week in February is Children’s Author and Illustrator Week.
There are many equine authors and illustrators, but I thought I’d highlight Walter Farley and The Black Stallion because 2016 is the Black Stallion‘s 75th anniversary. In honor of the anniversary, the publisher is releasing new covers for the books (and they’re pretty)! In some of my editions of The Black Stallion series,  the Black is described as being “The most famous fictional horse of the century” and for good reason. Random House published the first novel in 1941 when Farley was 26. It’s been in print since, which is a spectacular feat. The series has captivated generations since its release.

1991 edition

This was the first copy I got. Keith Ward illustrated it. His art spanned across numerous subjects, and he was born in 1906 and passed in 2000. The dust jacket has been through hell, but the actual book is still in excellent condition. I found most of the older hardbacks of the series at a yard sale. All of them but this one had pretty much intact dust jackets.

All of the hardbacks of the books have illustrations, but none of the paperbacks I’ve come across contain any. 
Farley  was born in New York on June 26, 1915. He wanted a pony when he was small, but lived through his horse filled stories instead until his uncle moved close. From there he entered the world of real horses.  He began writing the Black Stallion in High school and finished it before graduating from Columbia University. It was quickly picked up by Random House. The series took off, catching the interest of both boys and girls. Celebration was cut short by WWII because Farley signed up. While active in the army, he also received an award for The Black Stallion.
He and his wife had four children and they lived on a farm in Pennsylvania. He participated and owned horses.

1977 Cover

Breyer has made different versions of The Black. Chris Hess sculpted The Black in the early 80s. Since then, he’s been redesigned on the Sham mold, classics, and even a plushie. The one below is the 80s Chris Hess one.

The Black Stallion movie first came out in 1979 and 2014 marked the 35th anniversary of  it. In honor of that milestone Horse Illustrated had a couple of articles written about The Black Stallion. One was from Walter Farley’s son who got to be on set during the shooting of the movie, screenwriter Jeanne Rosenberg and the other was Kelly Reno (Alec).

A spin off TV series, Adventures of The Black Stallion, appeared in the early 90s (from 1990-1993), with Mickey Rooney retaining his role as Henry and Richard Ian Cox as Alec. It’s loosely based on the books, but not such a change that you lose the story. I enjoyed it!

Picture from Amazon

Farley wrote a shorter verison of The Black Stallion called Big Black Horse.  It was illustrated by James Schucker. James Schucker was a versatile artist who was born in 1903 and passed in 1988. Big Black Horse was originally published in 1953.



It was written with younger readers in mind. 
I enjoyed the illustation style.
Falrey died in 1989. In total he wrote 28 books. The last book he wrote was The Young Black Stallion and he co-wrote it with his son, Steve Farley. Steve Farley has continued The Black’s story with The Black Stallion and the Lost City. I haven’t read it, so I have no idea about how it compares to his father’s series.

While Walter Farley is no longer with us, his books have left a large print on the hearts of horse loving kids.