Breyer, Barns, & Books

Lots of bits and pieces to share today!

Breyer

First, Breyer made an announcement yesterday acknowledging the issues their shipping department is having. Here's that announcement from Breyer's Facebook page.

It's a good beginning and I think it was wise that Breyer do so, but my experience has been that the problem is bigger and has more facets than what they are addressing in this email. (Remember my Christmas Blanket Debacle post?) Yes, shipping is a problem, but so have been other things, too,  in CCG.

Another concern I have is the Customer Service department. No doubt they are buried in emails and phone calls; I get that. But it isn't much of a confidence builder when the automated response to your email comes back tagged as SPAM!

You start wondering if your email really was received and read. (I mentioned in the post about the blanket debacle that I emailed Breyer about having received a blanket that I had not ordered or paid for and asking how to return it. Crickets. That blanket is still here.)

Regardless, kudos to Breyer for updating collectors on the situation - they've taken some heat and gotten some snark for their efforts, but I think it is a step in the right direction and hope that that continues. It never, ever hurts to communicate and keep people in the loop. Thanks, Breyer.

Two more guest horses were announced via the BreyerFest blog, both of them  returning guests. 

HD Darkness (he's 27 years old!) will be in attendance and Breyer will have a limited number of models of him for sale on site. (I really like this mold.)

Buckeye will be back, too, although no models will be available of him.

Barns

I love barns in all their variety. (I'm talking the old wooden ones, not the metal pole barns.) This little info sheet about various barn types crossed my social media feed yesterday so I took a screen shot of it. I do not have the original source; it was just shared by a woman in a group.

Farmyard Palace Barn? Hmmm, quite the description! Around here our barns are related most closely to the Western Prairie Barn, the Dutch Gambrel Roof Barn, and the Pioneer Barn with a few Round Barns added to the mix.

Tim has the beautiful new barn with its indoor arena, stalls, lounge, office, and tack room, but I have always chosen the old barn as the place I most like to be when I am out there. 

Abby, Sultanna, and Diablo thundering out of the old barn to come get some peppermints.

There is just something about the wood creaking as the wind gusts against it, the hay mow overhead with its fragrance drifting down, and the gentle snorts, stomps, and chuffs as the horses take shelter from the heat and the cold.

Books

Pony Pal Mila and her mama invited me to read a book with them. "There's a horse in it named 'Butter', Grammy!" (Guess why. Just try. LOL)

The photo I sent Mila and Vanessa to let them know that I'd gotten the book and could begin reading.

The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is a really good book and one that I would've included in my classroom library were I still teaching. 

In an interesting coincidence, Emily texted Teacher Daughter Lisa and me a day later and asked if we had any book recommendations for Pony Pals Julie, Kate, and Susan. Easy peasy - at the end of their two years with me (I taught a multiage class of 4th and 5th graders) the outgoing students always created a list for the incoming 4th graders of their recommendations of Children's Classics to read.

I opened my teaching files and pulled out one of them and emailed it to her. (This list does have a book I removed from the suggestions due to the author's use of the F-word.)

There is nothing like hearing a child giggle aloud at their desk as they read and you know that they have just seen through Tom Sawyer's ruse to get his friends to paint that fence for him! (Oh, the fond memories of reading books with kids!)

So, if you are interested in a variety of good literature that both adults and children will enjoy, there you go!

Bye! (Hah! Couldn't resist adding in that fourth letter B!)

The Horsie Mama's Horsey Super Bowl II Begins!

Welcome to the second Horsie Mama's Horsey Super Bowl! This year our theme is fictional books about horses.

The Rules & How to Play

~ No looking up answers online or in other sources or asking another person. 

~ Take the quiz and record your answers. (An online document, print the quiz and fill it out, a piece of paper, etc.) 

~ Monday I will post the answers by 7:00 AM Eastern so you can self-score your responses. I will score the short answer questions.

~ Take a screenshot or a photo of your scored answers and send them to me at horsiemama8@gmail.com. You can also send a digital file.

~ Anyone who plays and sends me their scored sheet is eligible for some sort of prize regardless of how they score on the quiz. I will do a spin-to-win for all who play.

~ There will be books for prizes to the top scorers and possibly other things as well. That will depend on the number of entrants. 

~ Scoresheets must be received no later than Tuesday at 12:00 noon Eastern time. I don't have flexibility on that due to other things going on that week.

Ready to play? Here's this year's quiz! Good luck and have fun!

1) Flip can be an annoying little colt, and so, when his mother gets fed up with him, she jumps across the brook where he cannot follow her. How does he end up getting to her?

A)  Flip wades through the water at a shallow point.

B)  Flip discovers the farmer’s bridge and crosses there.

C)  Flip jumps over the brook.

D)  His plaintive cries cause his mother to jump back.

2) Anna Sewell’s masterpiece, Black Beauty, was written in 1877, almost 150 years ago. What major change did her book bring about?

1. Changes to animal welfare.
2. Abolishment of  driving with three horses abreast.
3. The moving of the heaviest draft work from horses to oxen.
4. Enactment of lantern laws for night driving.

3) In the book Lost Pony, twins Jan and Jay find a pony that they call “Somebody’s Pony.” What does it turn out that the pony’s real name is?

1. Cornwall’s Best
2. Driven
3. On the Run
4. Top Honor

4) BLOG QUESTION: Can you think of a way that I can REALLY relate to the story of Lost Pony? (Hint: there was a blog post about this.)

5) Windy Foot is a pony belonging to a young boy in the book, Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot.  What is the boy’s name?

1. Willy
2. Toby
3. Johnny
4. Davy

6) BLOG QUESTION: I give credit to the book in question #5 for something that I am fond of in my own life. What is it?

7) In what book does a girl end her nightly prayers with, “Oh, God, give me horses, give me horses!”

A) Not a book; that was Lynn in real life.

B) The Eighty Dollar Champion

C) A Pony for the Winter

D) National Velvet

8) Marguerite Henry won the prestigious John Newbery Medal for King of the Wind in 1949. Two other of her books were runners up for that award, Justin Morgan Had a Horse and…

1. Misty of Chincoteague
2. Brighty of the Grand Canyon
3. Born to Trot
4. Stormy, Misty’s Foal

9) BLOG QUESTION: A hurricane threatens the island in Stormy, Misty’s Foal, and Misty is brought into the kitchen for safety. What did I do that was most likely prompted by this story? (And got me in big trouble with my mother.)

10) Elizabeth Letts wrote The Eighty Dollar Champion about a horse that was found at an auction for last-chance horses. This horse was bought and became a champion jumper. What was the horse’s name?

1. Snowball
2. Snow Angel
3. Snowman
4. Snowflake

11) Marguerite Henry wrote Born to Trot about a Standardbred that was born here in Indiana close to my home and became one of the most famous pacers ever to live. His name was Dan Patch. Who was his Indiana owner and breeder?

1. Daniel Williams
2. Daniel Messner
3. Daniel Patchen
4. Daniel McGovern

12) BLOG QUESTION: A friend of mine now owns the store that Dan Patch’s breeder owned and operated and is restoring it back to its historical origins. What is my friend going to give me from the building?

1. A bowling ball from the alley that once inhabited the place.
2. An old glass ash tray found in an office.
3. A horse shoe that is highly unlikely to have been Dan Patch’s, but still…
4. A piece of wood.

13) A Pony for the Winter features Deborah, a young girl who gets a pony, Mollie, in an unexpected way. How does that come about?

A) A carnival with pony rides closes down and homes Mollie with Deborah’s family.

B) A neighbor moves to the city for work and asks her to keep the pony until they can find a place to board her.

C) Her friend goes abroad for the school year and leaves Mollie in Deborah’s care.

D) Deborah’s grandparents give Mollie to Deborah for her birthday.

14) Breyer just used the Chris Hess mold of the star of this book for the first Vintage Club piece of 2025. What book does the model come from?

A) Black Beauty

B) Brighty of the Grand Canyon

C) The Black Stallion

D) Born to Trot

15) BLOG QUESTION: I have two framed pieces of Sam Savitt’s artwork hanging in my office. What do I have?

A) Two circus horse prints.

B) A pencil sketch and an Irish linen.

C) A hunting scene and a polo print.

D) Two sketches of draft horses at work in the field.

The answers will be posted by 7:00 AM Eastern time Monday morning.

Stay 'tooned!

Preparing for HMHSB II

Second Post of the Day

The Horsie Mama Horsey Super Bowl II  is only a week away! This afternoon I plan to sit down and write the quiz questions and then this coming week drop some hints or do some other fun things in preparation.

The prizes have begun to arrive and they are books! In fact, they are some of my favorite books from those old Scholastic Book orders I did in elementary school.

And of course I am reading them (actually, that's RE-reading them, LOL!) as they arrive. 

Their charm is still there for me - I am taken back to my childhood and dreaming of when I would have my very own horse. A lifelong dream that, lucky me, came true several times over.

Here is a reminder of the books that I am referencing as I wrote the HMHSB II quiz. I have updated it and removed some titles as well as added one. (The last on the list.)

HINT: Search the blog as you prepare, too. Some of these books have appeared in past entries and I will be checking those blog entries as I prepare questions.

 

Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot - Frances Frost

Misty of Chincoteague - Marguerite Henry

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

Sam Savitt question

The Black Stallion - Walter Farley

National Velvet - Enid Bagnold

Brighty - Marguerite Henry

Stormy, Misty’s Foal - Marguerite Henry

The Eighty Dollar Champion - Elizabeth Letts

A Pony for the Winter - Helen Kay

Flip the Story of a Horse - Wesley Dennis

Born to Trot - Marguerite Henry

What will the questions be like? I'm thinking a mix - multiple choice, fill in the blank, and maybe a short answer or two. Like last year, I'll provide the answer key the following day and you will self grade and then send your answers to me.

(You will be on your honor to not look for answers by googling online, referring to the book itself, or going back through the blog.) 

Anyone who enters, regardless of score, will be entered into a spin to win for a prize. Prizes will also be awarded to the top scorer and most likely another person or two.

I think it is going to be fun!

(Clydesdale photo from Google Images.)