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WHS NEWS

SPRING

2026

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A NEW SALES HERD IS BLOOMING!
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I have TWO new resin editions casting as I write this, and several beautiful painted pieces *in progress*.

The ones I'm sharing at this time are mostly completed, so PM me on Instagram if you are interested in purchasing a poneh.

I will reach out to you with a price when it's completed. I expect to complete this batch of ponies this month (April). 

PAINTED ​PIECES

I have a YUMMY batch of confections baking for you all! As you can see here, they range from half-baked to almost fully cooked sweet treats, but I strive to create goodies that would make the Easter Bunny jealous...and that takes time (so worth the wait though!). These were all painted in high-quality oils, with hair-by-hair work on several of them, meticulous prepping, and all the things you would expect in a high-end, "Live Show Quality" horse. If you find a pony that speaks to you, feel free to contact me (Instagram is best!) and yes, I will take time payments of up to four months for those with good references on MHTB (please review my sales policies). I will show them until sold, so they *may* have NAN qualifications soon.
Tracy Bow
​(Kylee Parks)

$1,400 OR $1,300 Paid in Full
​Customized with a shaved-in "bow" and painted to dun in oils. In-progress, this girl is *almost* completed.
She's a sweet little pony, and needed a "bow" to match her moniker. I think it suits her! 
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Valiente (SM 1:32 Scale)
$200 OR $185 Paid in Full
​to dark dapple grey in oils-in progress
That's a LOT of suave in an itty bitty package! 
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Blossom
​(Kitty Cantrell)
$700 OR $650 Paid in Full 

 I painted this sweetheart donkey to a soft, sweet, spotty grulla in oils - in progress, with hooves and a few fiddly adjustments remaining.
​(I call her Lolita - isn't she a cutey??!!)
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Agni
$900 OR $850 Paid in Full
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(Daniella Baglai)
​This Agni is like no other. He is the only Marwari unicorn (that I know of) and a Dark Unicorn at that. He has a custom wired-in horn and color-shift details throughout in oils. Djin is not the unicorn that grants happy rainbow wishes. He is a mysterious, sinuous beast of stars and the darkness that lies between them. This Agni is like no other. His twisted horn spirals purple, then gold, from his forehead. He has purples, blues, and gold in his mane and tail, with darkly glowing dapples on his sleek black coat. The night-blooming jasmine creeps, glowing green, lighting up his cloven hooves and climbing tendrils up his legs. His eyes are metallic light blue, and they glow as the cold stars do....while he looks down on you, deciding what to do with you...*In Progress* - I am finishing up those lovely vines on his legs and a bit of blending here & there, and he will be complete. 
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Bardigiano Pony
(Stacey Tumlinson)
​$500 or $450 Paid in Full

To mealy dappled bay, acrylics and oils - older WHS work restoration in-progress.
This sweet boy won his fair share of first place ribbons at live shows in his time. He has some of my best eye detailing and is an absolutely lovely sculpt and great example of the Bardigiano pony (from Italy). His dappling will be blended, his butt will not look patchy but will be blended and dappled to flow with the rest of his body color. Otherwise this boy is nearly finished. I will sell him prior to completion if you are ok with waiting a few months for me to finish bringing him back to his former glory.
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THE MEDALLION HERD...
​(Melanie Miller)
Cubey Medallions: $60 (Paid-in-Full sales only on these guys)
Blue Appy Pony: $70
Bitten by the Bug (Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig): $275 OR $250 Paid in Full

Melanie Miller Goodness in perfectly bite-sized packages! These guys are getting final touch-up's in high quality oils to clean up fussy little things like the edges, but are very close to completion. You may see some "patchy-ness" in the finish; these are not yet sealed; so that will be resolved once the sealant coat is applied. 
Look at those beautiful Baroque boys, and those sweet fuzzy-fuzzy baby faces! Awwww.
 
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BELOW: Another adorable Melanie medallion! He will be getting subtle mottling on his eyes and muzzle, and a bit more eye work before he is fully ready to join the sales herd, but I couldn't help but show you guys this super cutey-booty-boopy-snooty pony! 
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Bitten by the Bug (Sarah Minkiewicz)
Boop this snoot. I DARE you...

Still available, is this rather spicy mare. I think she's just bitter because that last 4-H kid said Arabians are prettier than ranch horses. Or maybe she was just born to eat people. It's a mystery. Either way she's looking radiant in her new red dun oil paint job! On the back side I painted a sunset canyon view. Scroll down to see more photos of this angry girl in the "Looking Back" section on WHS News. 
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ORIGINAL SCULPTURES

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FINNEAS

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Finneas is a sea-pony, and a proud expecting dad (sea-horse dads carry the babies to term, so he is a pregnant papa!). He is packed with details which you can paint any color your imagination can possibly dream of, so he's going to be a fun one to paint! For those of you who were at Breyerfest in 2025, you may remember my posters of Finn slathered accross the walls of the Clarion like so much pretty horse (fish-horse? horse-fish?) graffiti...as an in-progress piece. Has it been almost a year already?! After a challenging period of figuring out his complex base, I am waiting on his mold to cure as I write this. Molding is complex, engineery, and tricky. Fingers crossed and I'll have Finns and bases ready to go soon! 

I've added some fun details to the base since this image was taken, but I'll leave that as a surprise. Finn will slip into his base and be supported by two separate pieces at two separate points. This means his base will require multiple molds (three, actually) to create and will require some minor assembly when you receive it. The kelp piece that supports his body will be wired for support. Finn himself will be pin/post-free!​ 
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I know, these are not the nicest photos of Finn, or his base...I apologize. As I'm working on the sales herd and sculptures full-steam-ahead, my time to take professional photos is limited. I will post photos of Finn with his completed base soon, so stay tuned! 
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The Showman

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A Warmblood serenely looking off into the distance, just after a long day of showing...ever the gentleman. 
This guy could be painted a multitude of colors! The sky is the limit as he is not a specific type of Warmblood.
The Showman's mold is curing as I write this, along with Finn, so I will be releasing his edition soon! 

SAD NEWS; MY LEAPING BAROQUE FELLOW
As of now, I am choosing *not* to continue working on this guy. I worked on him for almost two years, and love him dearly, so it's hard to let him go. He taught me a lot...but his armature was overworked, and correcting his anatomy was very difficult at that point. I don't know if I'll start him over some day; I very well may. For now, I have other sculptures and medallions I am focusing on. 
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DUTCH BABY EDITION *CLOSED*
***I DO have a few remaining copies set aside! They are seconds, and need more cleanup work and bubble filling than a first-quality casting, so they are discounted at $80 each. Please reach out to me if you would like one of these girls! 
If you're interested please PM me. This lovely Overtrad Dutch Harness Horse mare isn't a medallion, she's a *bust*! Her braids are highly detailed, her other side is detailed (she is not flat on the back side but sculpted!)...and I look forward to seeing her strutting her stuff all dressed up by our amazing, talented artists in this hobby...
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Reflecting -

​Great People and
​
Great Experiences!

NaReViMo

(National Retro Vintage Painting Month) 2025

A huge shoutout to Sarah Minkiewicz-Bruenig for hosting NaReViMo! This year, I decided to focus on one of my favorite muses of many, many years, Lynn Von Baum Myer. I customized this PAM to a Lynn Baum style flaming chestnut with her iconic string mane and tail. She has a narrowed forehead, as the PAM head is pretty wide, and a new neck, some facial/eye resculpting, new ears, and a new tailbone. I topped her off with a satin clear-coat, to match Lynn's style. Her color just pops under that satin finish! I pined away for a Lynn custom as a kid, especially for my friend Alice Jez's "Bey Elegance" (who is just *gorgeous*!) and I am so happy to have the next-best-thing in my collection, now. 

Breyerfest 2025

Oh. My. GOD! Breyerfest and Lexington!!!!! I attended my first Breyerfest in 2023, then again in 2025. Here are my "moments" from that experience. I was elated to meet Shauna McDaniels, Darryn Bednarczyk, Vincent Lange Teagan Leighton Davis, and Maggie Bennett...just a to name a few of the incredibly talented and wonderful people I was fortunate enough to meet at the event. If you haven't had a chance to check out Vincent's and Darryn's Equilocity 2025 entries, you should go take a look! Mind-blowing!  A huge thank you to Kristin Chernoff, for generously sharing her room for model horse sales and for being the amazing person she is! 
Eqilocity 2025 was quite the event! Gorgeous goodies for sale, with a joint artist sales event, Dappledown Soiree, hosted by Kylee Parks. Amanda Brock, Maggie Bennett, and Tiffany Purdy were also present with tables full of tempting goodies! I blew my fortune on Maggie's "The Warden", but, ...I was just dying inside over all these incredible ponies! 
Downtown Lexington never disappoints! I get happily lost in all the old architecture and patisseries...coffee shops...resturants...and the distilleries! If you love coffee, goodies, (an occasional) good bourbon, late 1700's/early 1800's architecture...this town will not disappoint! 
I recommend Old School Coffee, at the Old Schoolhouse (a schoolhouse converted to shops), but Martines was amazing for breakfast, and they have a really cute gift shop as well. The Greenery Coffee was outta this world, and Third Street Stuff had some great coffee and a really fun, inclusive, artistic atmosphere. I really enjoyed the food at the Sedona Taphouse, right next door to the Clarion hotel. It's pricey, but worth it! I had such a memorable time, and I hope to attend Breyerfest 2027...and do it all over again!
Adventures and Hobby Legends...
Ramona Studios Open Tour; MAY 2025
​Kitty Cantrell, Sue Sifton, and Caroline Boydston Oh MY! 
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My ongoing quest to meet our hobby LEGENDS! 
I am soooo fortunate to live in an area where I can meet and get to know these wonderful, inspiring women who have helped shape our hobby for so decades! Their talent and skill may be otherworldly, but they are the earthiest, warmest, most beautiful souls...just awesome people in every way!

This is at the Annual Ramona Studios Open tour in Ramona, CA, which is held in May. I was able to get down there for the first time and meet one of my heroes, Kitty Cantrell! Kitty is known as a national treasure, but as if that wasn't enough, Sue Sifton AND Caroline Boydston were there, as well!

​I was in model horse heaven talking shop and touring both Kitty's (mind-boggling!) studio and visiting Sue's place to play with her gorgeous ponehs, Brave and Indy (a KIGER Mustang and a 15/16th red Friesian, respectively). My daughter had a blast as well, looking for quartz at Sue's and playing with her horses, and sharing her music interests with Caroline! Oh, and we rode Kitty's elephant. Yep, so that happened...lol!
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My new "Hissy Boi" sculpted and painted by Kitty Cantrell. I love him! 
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Speaking of Kitties...this sleek beauty was sculpted by the talented Caroline Boydston and cast in micro-mini scale, in pewter! I can't wait to paint him!
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My lovely daughter, Kyrah, rock-hunting with Sue, and me with her stunning chestnut Friesian gelding, Indy. He's such a sweetheart! 
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Kyrah and Indy strike a pose...
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This gorgeous boy is "Brave", a Kiger Mustang! He is a sweetheart as well, and loves treats...maybe too much! Isn't he stunning?
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Me with Caroline and Dutchie...hamming it up at Kitty's studio...
   Looking Forward:
2025-2026..
-Molding and Casting: ​I learn new skills each year. This year it's molding and casting! Exciting, scary, time-consuming, and costly, but I'm loving the process! I have learned so much already as I am & will continue creating these high quality Dutch Harness horse busts in-house. 

-Original Sculpture in the Works: I am still working on my original sculpture baroque poneh and will continue to do so.  I redid his entire hinder as it just wasn't quite right and his armature wire noodled on me, which affected joint-to-joint lengths and required correction. This non-linear approach to work is so necessary for the process, and has produced better and better results each time, so it's all progress! Will he be completed and cast in time for Breyerfest 2025? That's a big "We'll see", but it's certainly one of my top priorities!

-In ongoing guided learning: I love taking Heather Bullach's classes in oil painting! As of October, 2025, I am thoroughly enjoying her dapple grey class, a lonnnngggg awaited experience for me! I have only taken one session (with the next tomorrow!) and am already learning! If you get a chance, check out Heather Bullach's classes, she is an amazing teacher! 

https://equineartbyheatherbullach.com/workshops/
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Working for Chex resin in progress to dapple grey
Looking Back over the Years...2024 
What an amazing year! Wire to Whinny Workshop at Bluebird Studios in gorgeous Santa Fe, NM, held by the incredibly skilled artist, Lynn Fraley....
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Alicia Vogel, Me, and Lynn Fraley
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And if that wasn't enough talent in the room (there were many talented ladies there that day!) Nikki Button and Kylee Parks were also "in the house!"
SO.MUCH.TALENT! (I am in awe, can you tell?)...
Canyons & Caballos Live,
​Los Angeles, CA
Speaking of seriously talented people...Heather Bullach and Mindy Berg, after a long day of judging. I have taken classes by Heather, and we have all seen both Heather and Mindy's phenomenal work...yes, I took a spanking at that show! Haha! It was my reintroduction into live showing and I could not be luckier, than to have been judged under two such experienced judges, with seriously top competition! I mean, Coralie Journoud's work won overall grand, and there were 100 participants showing that day. What a day! I did take home some NAN's so I will lick my wounds with that as comfort!  
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Southern California Hobbyist's Group
​Christmas Get-Together....
The Christmas gathering at Heather Well's 
beautiful home, enjoying model horse shenanigans, 
drooling over Heather's *mind-blowing*(!!!) collection,
talking model horse hobby history, and enjoying lots of great food and laughter!
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THE BIRTH OF DUTCH BABY...A MESSY SAGA
Ever wonder how model horses are born? SURE ya did! ......
Molding and Casting; ugly business but with great results! It looked like an episode of "Breaking Bad" was being filmed in my garage...playing with chemicals...hehe...
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Rubber Version of a Chernobyl-style event...EPIC MESS!
This was the waste-mold being poured as Dutchie was being cast. 
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 The resin first (master) Dutchie resin pour...like opening a Christmas gift...!
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Looks like pink sourdough starter....but no...it's rubber in a degassing chamber. WEEEEEE! BUBBLES!  
Annnnd....the first pour from the production mold! There is always a lot of cleanup work to do after these guys come fresh out of their mold. As you can see, I should have made her mold tighter for this pour, but no worries-all that flashing (re: hot mess) came off cleanly.

​The "sticks" you see are sprues, to allow trapped air to escape. The hex-nuts cast into the rubber serve as "keys" that lock the mold in place so it lines up properly. Despite the messy appearance, these girls were actually pretty clean casts! And...that's my birth story for Dutch Baby. It was full of highs, lows, anxious moments, pain, and joy...and in the end, well-worth it! 
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Models Completed in 2024
Stromness: 
My Stromness (sculpted by Eva Rossiter, Rhytherial Studios, with customization by me) NAN'd, winning 1st in her breed class at Canyons & Caballos LIve in Los Angeles, October, 2024.  
This gal has really made me stretch my skills, and made me wait, wait, wait, as her intense details took their own time to be completed. I resculpted her mane and tail and flipped an ear to give her the look of a spooky young mare on a windy Irish day. I think it gives her a very different personality from the original, which was already incredible, in my opinion! Then I proceeded to give her a hair-by-hair dark dapple grey paint job in oils, with lighting marks and all the great little details we find on early dapple grays, including ticking. To top it off, I added a set of Rio Rondo shoes and painted shaded nailholes/chromey nailheads on her detailed feets. She was signed and then sealed in Dull Coat, with hooves and eyes glossed, Fall of 2024.
​And she is, after almost a year, finally DONE! I had planned to sell her over the summer, but I think I will hold off until next summer. I am hoping to take her to Nationals before offering her for sale.
BUT...If I get an offer I can't refuse, from a very involved show home...I'm keeping an open mind! 
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Bitten by the Bug:
She is Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig's "Bitten by the Bug" medallion that I painted which was featured in Sarah's Newsletter September, 2023! I was still working on tiny fidgety details at that time, and her back side mural, so I took my time with her.  I painted her to a buttery, warm dun with attention to all her wonderful fleshy details. She has a canyon sunset mural painted on the back side. I gave her a working name; "La Llorona" after the Mexican mythological spirit of a woman scorned. Doesn't she look like she would eat little 4-H kids for breakfast? She is available for purchase. Please see my SALES page for details.
(*Buyer is welcome to change her name, if they prefer*)
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Brandebun:
*UPDATE* : Brandebun is now DOUBLE NAN'D IN WORKMANSHIP AND BREED!   
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​I was so excited to show this beautiful girl at Canyons & Caballos Live in Los Angeles, October 2024. The competition was BRUTAL and she did great! If sold, she will come with her NAN cards and pumpkin paper "ribbons". She will also come with her (digital) photos as seen below. 
Brandebun (Stacey Tumlinson) is such a sweet little ball of pudge! I painted her a roan tobiano with one blue and one brown eye, with "textured" whites (hair-by-hair with "shadows" painted in to show the roots of the hair and the growth patten), and carved/sculpted hoof bottoms/frogs...countless hours went into this girl, but she's so worth it! Brandebun is available for purchase. Please see my 
SALES page for details.
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Benedek:
*UPDATE* : Benedek is available for purchase! Please see my SALES page for details.
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CUSTOM IN THE WORKS
Meet "Derp"! Looking for that stoic drafter that's going to pull carriages with class for you, or logs with stoic, Viking-esque strength? Yeahhhh, Derp's not that horse. Sorry. Derp is actually that horse that has cast himself on the fence...again...and licks other horses, on their faces...lays his head on the farrier's back, and scared himself into a tree, because...he farted? Derp is THAT horse. We've all had a complete goober of a horse we've known and loved, and Derp is the embodiment of that goober! I love his sweet face, and windblown, breezy tendrils! 
He has a new eye, as his original left eye looked a little "off" to me, and ears, and mane, tail, and feathering. He has a whole new muzzle, with a slightly open mouth and lots of fleshy wrinkles. He also has a special friend! Derp's friend is an equally derpy butterfly, who doesn't  yet realize it's not good to be flying on a windy day. Derp and his butterfly both have nimodium magnets so they can stick together :) As soon as Derp's feathering is completed, it'll be on to Phase 2 - Prepping, for this silly drafter. I plan to show him prior to selling, and am thinking about taking him to Nationals at Breyerfest 2025, assuming I can get him qualified! Let's see what happens! 
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  • HOME
    • Contact
    • FINNEAS (aka "Dad Bod")
    • DUTCH BABY
    • WHS GALLERY