mandag 16. november 2020

Funrise series 1 part 2

 


THE APPALOOSA
may not be famous for its tallness, but the Funrise company seems to think so - this is one of the tallest models in the first series. This gal has legs for days! 
As a kid I always thought of this model as a mare, and blobby bits notwithstanding, I still do. It's just something about her expression... 
Conformationwise, this is an interesting model and a good example of the care that went into making each horse unique. Despite the lumpy, flawed anatomy, this model has some surprising details like defined intercostal muscles just behind the shoulder and even facial veins! Although the silhouette of the neck is cresty, the mane (thick and hangs down on both sides, I'm struggling not to call it a bowlcut) and the convex underneck makes me read this horse as ewe necked. Come to think of it, a thick, full mane and tail isn't a historically typical appy trait... 
The colour is a dark maned chestnut - mane and tail are actually brown, not black, as are the spots - with a white blanket with polkadot spots. 
Another colour related oddity: these models are all (except the white ones) made from coloured plastic, which you'd think meant that they didn't need to be painted. 
You thought wrong. 
The appy's markings are obviously painted, but here's the thing: her body is as well. Looking at the belly you can see the base plastic colour, a more reddish brown, while the upper and legs are more of an umber shade. The difference is subtle enough that it took me a couple years to notice, and I would've taken it for different colours in the plastic itself if not for a few places where the topcoat had rubbed away.  





And now, the KARABAIR.
(no, this breed isn't half Smurf. Ah, winter light...)

Finally a horse from Uzbekistan!
The rest of S1 is exclusively European or (north) American, so something from Asia is a fun change of pace. 
Full disclosure, I know very little about this breed beyond that it was a staple of 80s horse books. No, really, it was. They all had that one chapter which jammed together all the Soviet breeds, and the Karabair was always in there. 
My modern breed encyclopedia (Rousseau and Le Bris, 2014) informs me that this is a lean and athletic horse, used both for sport and for milk, and that it is an ancient breed descended from both desert and steppe horses. 

The Funrise Karabair is... well, perhaps "lean and athletic" isn't the word I would use, with a ribcage wider than it is tall. 
Well sprung ribs aside, it's interesting to compare him with the palomino. These two are very similarly posed, and it would be so easy to just slap a new coat of paint on an existing body - but nope! Even if you removed their mane and tail and primered them both grey, you can easily tell them apart. The Karabair's neck is a little more turned, his right legs are more parallel, his chest is narrower, muzzle narrower, head shorter and more convex. Not Roman nosed, more of a... sheeplike profile. He is also seriously cute. 
I like black horses, and especially ones that have a little extra something. Like a star, or painted hooves when you could just have left them black. 
Or like a surprise belt of sunfaded red around the middle. It looks a bit odd, sure, but A+ for effort!





















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