We didn't have time to go into it last time, but Star Stable has introduced a new horse breed, the Jorvik Mountain Horse! It is based on the gorgeous Rocky Mountain Horse. Apparently because the breed name is trademarked, they couldn't use it in the game. No huge loss if you ask me, since the "Rocky Mountain Horse" wasn't developed in the Rocky Mountains anyway, but instead in the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky.
At any rate, these horses are often silver dapple, and Star Stable ran with that to give us some stunners.
I think Tigertin was impressed. Our pup... not so much.
To our delight, they do not do anything annoying while idling!
Rocky Mountain horses do a special ambling gait called the "single-foot" rather than trotting. Jorvik Mountain Horses do something called a "trail walk." Either way, it must be fantastic for real-life trail riding!
The rest of their regular gaits are lovely...
...and they also have two special movements!
a faster "pleasure gait"
and a cute animation sequence where the horse plucks a drifting cardinal feather and gives it to its rider.
The rider then places it in the horse's mane.
You get four thumbs up from us on this breed, Star Stable! Fantastic job!
We're savoring one last slower-paced week before Camp Western kicks off next Wed. Not looking forward to the beasties, but we're excited for the rest of it! Time to dust off our Western gear!
And now onto a little real-life update:
As Bethany mentioned in her last post, we were on vacation for a week mid-July. We dolls had a technology-free camping expedition in the backyard. We were planning on doing this anyway, but it actually became even more desirable because the house's AC broke down while the humans were gone. After a few days, it was often cooler outside in the shady backyard than in there!
The humans took off for a week in South Haven, MI. Mom slept in a chilly basement room, but she came prepared with extra blankets and fuzzy socks. Ruby the reindeer got to go along, of course.
It was warm and often sunny and humid during their stay, with each day hotter than the one before. It rained on the last afternoon/evening, but other than that it couldn't have been better for South Haven's big draw, the beach! Mom went swimming in Lake Michigan every day.
Not as many puzzles got put together as some years, but here are the ones they did get to:
done in honor of a Spiderman-loving kid in the family
Mom's favorite. (And yes, she got to do the horses.)
This one - from the rental house - had velvety sections
Another one of the puzzles that was there, The Creature from the Black Lagoon!
Alas, 2 pieces were missing.
There was also a lot of white dog or cat hair mixed in with the pieces, which was weird because no pets are allowed in the rental house...
This one was a group effort. Mom spent most of her time on the fire pit and sky.
So tropical!
This one was too big for the table the traditional way, but it just fit diagonally.
A few of the other activities:
stopping at Sherman's for ice cream
walking the pier and watching the sunset
shopping in downtown South Haven
These are Mom's practical... and not-so-practical souvenirs. The story on the owls: the brown one was lying sadly on the ground by a stuffed animal display tower, face down. Mom picked him up to put him back where he belonged... but decided he belonged with her instead. And, naturally, she couldn't buy him without also buying his gray buddy. Mom felt like she did pretty well leaving the toy store with the just the owls - there were some beautiful Breyer horses also on display that she forced herself to resist. She has named them Myth and Merlin.
Until next time!
