Give Me a J! (Sort Of)

Earlier this year, Karen Crossley (aka Pawprint) wrote a blog post about the models that Kathleen Moody had sculpted for Breyer and other companies. In it, she mentioned that she loved Kathleen's Trail of Painted Ponies Norwegian Ford. Wait a minute! Kathleen had done a Norwegian Fjord?

Curious, I clicked the link in her blog and my jaw dropped - I was expecting the standard Trail of Painted Ponies model that had been decorated around some particular theme. That certainly wasn't what I saw.

It was a realistically painted Norwegian Fjord! I fell in love with it, did a little research, and had soon ordered one for myself. Then I emailed Karen through the link in her blog.

Hi, Pawprint! I read about Kathleen Moody's TPP Norwegian Fjord on your blog, looked it up and fell in love, and now have one myself. I'm writing a blog post about the piece and I want to include a link to your blog post that prompted me to get my own. If you don't mind, may I use your real name? I won't if you'd rather I didn't. Thanks much!  Lynn

Karen responded right away.

No problem.  I just use the pseudonym to protect myself from spammers.  And I'd love it if you linked to the blog -- the more readers I can get the better! My real name is Karen Crossley -- I use pawprint because it's been my email address since I first got connected online many years ago. I'm so glad you like your fjord! Cheers!   Karen Crossley

I knew what I wanted to name this piece right away - Affjordable. (See? There's the J!)

Affjordable lives on top of the china cabinet that houses my Metlox, Freeman Leidy, Cheval, and other non-Hagen Renaker horses. He's out where I can see him frequently, and has been a reminder of Karen ever since.

That reminder is even more poignant for me now.

An Afjordable Fjord!

A while back, Karen Crossley (aka Pawprint) wrote about Kathleen Moody sculpts on her blog Dust Ponies: Musings about the Model Horse Hobby. (One of my favorite blogs.) In the blog entry, she wrote about a Moody Norwegian Fjord that was produced and marketed by Enesco/Trail of the Painted Ponies.

I followed a link that she'd provided, and soon I was doing an online search of my own so that I could add one to my collection.

Meet Afjordable! Isn't he nice? His scale is somewhere in-between traditional and classic.

 He came in a beautiful styrofoam lined box to prevent breakage,

 along with a collector's card

 with information about the piece as well as the breed.

 There was also a 2016 catalog in there with ornaments as well as other pieces.

Even though I prefer realistic models for the most part (Candy Cane Zebras aside, haha) I do have two Trail of the Painted Ponies in my collection.

Since I grew up on an apple orchard and my favorite breed is the Appaloosa, I have one of the earliest models done by the company, Apple-loosa. (Photo retrieved from Google Images.)

And then a former student who is horsey herself (she's all grown up now and an eventer!) gave me the Christmas ornament, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. (Photo also from Google Images.)

When Karen posted that link to the Fjord, I began wondering what else I might have missed that would be a nice addition to my collection. I plan to keep my eye out for new releases from Trail of the Painted Ponies.

In the meantime, I am enjoying having Afjordable (and his nice sparkly base) on my desk where I can see him.

Thanks for the tip, Karen!