Astrid

     I am not an OF collector. Though I did buy the Breyer premier horse Altynai from a friend last year and I absolutely loved him. He arrived and was a huge shelf hog, so I had to let him go. Last year I decided I would join the premier club myself, so I joined the collector's club for the first time. And then, because I am a crazy person I also joined the stablemate club. I am not an OF collector so all of that definitely seemed a bit much, but I did it anyway. 

    When Fireheart arrived, the first offering of the 2021 premier club, I absolutely loved him. He is such a gorgeous sculpt! But he is also somewhat of a shelf hog, and not really a performance horse (though I have seen him cleverly put in some performance entries) so he also had to go. So far I have kept most of the stablemate club horses, though one of them I rehomed as soon as it arrived. It seemed that the stablemate club hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

     Typically, the second offering of the premier club comes out in mid-year. Nothing about 2020 or 2021 has been typical. This year we have had to go back to the times of being patient. Supply lines are a mess, there are random shortages of things. You learn to wait and you learn to be OK with things that are not exactly what you wanted. Or you complain and make everyone around you miserable because you have become so spoiled and entitled that you want it all now! I am fine with waiting, though I had been eagerly anticipating Astrid's arrival. She got here on Saturday. 

     When I saw the reveal for Astrid during Breyerfest I immediately loved her. This would be an amazing performance horse, I was sure of it! So of course the first thing I did when I unwrapped her was to work on getting tack on her. 

     I still have no idea of her condition as a collector's piece. I don't know if I have a flawless LSQ model or something full of flaws. And let's be honest, even if I took the time to look her over in detail, I likely wouldn't know if I had a flawless model anyway. I don't have OF collector's eyes. Because I am not an OF collector. 

     But this is what I do know. Astrid is small. She should be, she's a Fjord. But unless you happen to have a lot of tack she may be tricky to fit things to. I have a lot of tack and I had some struggles myself. For reference, this English set is one that has been used on a Bouncer and on a Stone pony. This is the set I used on my Rhian, the one where I cut the browband to fit her properly. And I have discovered that Astrid has quite a small head. While the bridle fits her reasonably well, or would if it had a one-piece browband, it is still actually a little bit big. 

     Next, because I am me, I had to put Astrid in western tack. She is not a big horse, as I have mentioned, so I knew that the only western set I own that was likely to fit is the one specifically made to fit on a Stone pony. So I put her in Halestorm's tack. The saddle fits well, I am really excited about that. But, again, the bridle is a bit large. 

      I could not really adjust it down far enough to be a great fit. The earloop is also definitely too big and looks sloppy on her. I will say though, she is amazingly tack friendly and once I have bridles that fit her properly she will be simple to tack up and use. Looks like I need to learn to like making bridles...

     As I mentioned, Altynai and Fireheart were lovely horses that I couldn't justify keeping because they were shelf hogs and not particularly performance friendly (even though I have seen both in performance). Astrid however is a perfect little petite package of performance awesomeness that was easy to find a space for. Saturday afternoon I had already, conveniently, pulled a bunch of micros to try to sell. So I pushed the remaining unpainted micros closer together, moved the stablemate club and Breyerfest stablemates to the micro shelf, and Astrid fit easily on top of my mini shelf. Now she is hanging out with a couple of my pigs on the shelf in my room. And she is awesome. 

      I know that a lot of people have probably been laughing throughout this post. Every time I say I am not an OF collector I am sure there were some eyerolls. But really, I am not an OF collector. What I am is a performance shower. And Astrid certainly fits into my performance model collection.