Random: Plastic Horses
Studying in the reading room, which does not allow foodndrinks, so when I need another coffee slug or something, I have to take it out of the library and into the hall. On the walls of the hallway are displayed many things. One of the least interesting is a collection of bio briefs and photos of staffers (not vets) in the large animal and wildlife sections of the hospital. Scattered on the glass shelves, amongst the framed parchments and really, really uninspired renditions of experience and worthy effort on behalf of the university and science and All Animals Everywhere...are horses. Little plastic horses.
Also cows, sheep, pigs, and a great number of sea creatures (sharks and whales). But about 50% horses.
They're cheap plastic ones, mostly, as long as my thumb, with a few hand high and one that's a bit bigger than Beryer standard at the bottom, all by its lonesome.
What I like is that - unlike the cows and pigs - there is conformation differences amongst the horse models, not just different coat colors. One's supposed to be Fresian, and it has the leg feathers and thick, ankle-length tail and forelock falling over the eyes. The pinto has a thinner neck and a more scraggly mane. There is a dark brown that I'm nearly certain is supposed to be a Morgan, with the short, thick legs and upright head.
The sheep aren't too bad - the fleece length and coverage varies, as does the shape of the head. The cows - bah. At least they had Brown Swiss and Jersy, instead of just sticking to one kind of non-black and white cow.
The pigs are uniformly peach colored and pathetic.
Looking over at the sea critters, I find the models are scaled so that a bottlenose dolphin is no smaller than a right whale, and also manages to match both a spinner shark and a hammerhead. They do have distinctly different shapes, except I think they're resorting to using the same mold for spinners and tiger sharks, although the great white is thicker and chunkier. The whales are better, and they even have two types of beluga shapes, with the cute head bumps.
The horse model at the bottom is something else. It's galloping, off fore reaching out, and mane and tail blowing in the wind. Jet black base color, but it has an overo splash pattern on it's flanks and rump. Only the splash isn't in real horse colors, it's in the colors of sunset - scarlet and flame and deep purple. Not a real thing, any more than My Pretty Pony is, but not real in a magic of grownups, not children. This is a horse of the Outermost West, a pooka-cousin, a bit of storm wind, condensed to touch the earth.
I like that quite a lot. Even if it is all plastic.
Also cows, sheep, pigs, and a great number of sea creatures (sharks and whales). But about 50% horses.
They're cheap plastic ones, mostly, as long as my thumb, with a few hand high and one that's a bit bigger than Beryer standard at the bottom, all by its lonesome.
What I like is that - unlike the cows and pigs - there is conformation differences amongst the horse models, not just different coat colors. One's supposed to be Fresian, and it has the leg feathers and thick, ankle-length tail and forelock falling over the eyes. The pinto has a thinner neck and a more scraggly mane. There is a dark brown that I'm nearly certain is supposed to be a Morgan, with the short, thick legs and upright head.
The sheep aren't too bad - the fleece length and coverage varies, as does the shape of the head. The cows - bah. At least they had Brown Swiss and Jersy, instead of just sticking to one kind of non-black and white cow.
The pigs are uniformly peach colored and pathetic.
Looking over at the sea critters, I find the models are scaled so that a bottlenose dolphin is no smaller than a right whale, and also manages to match both a spinner shark and a hammerhead. They do have distinctly different shapes, except I think they're resorting to using the same mold for spinners and tiger sharks, although the great white is thicker and chunkier. The whales are better, and they even have two types of beluga shapes, with the cute head bumps.
The horse model at the bottom is something else. It's galloping, off fore reaching out, and mane and tail blowing in the wind. Jet black base color, but it has an overo splash pattern on it's flanks and rump. Only the splash isn't in real horse colors, it's in the colors of sunset - scarlet and flame and deep purple. Not a real thing, any more than My Pretty Pony is, but not real in a magic of grownups, not children. This is a horse of the Outermost West, a pooka-cousin, a bit of storm wind, condensed to touch the earth.
I like that quite a lot. Even if it is all plastic.