That Western Style

No big real-life events to report, other than an awesome chill Saturday birthday for Bethany back on the 8th. We've been savoring some AMAZING summer weather here in the Mitten. 70's, sunshine, breezy... just about perfect if you ask me. We've spent a lot of time outside but have not neglected Star Stable either.

The Western Festival wrapped up on Tuesday, 8/18. In its later stages, Star Stable added some enjoyable new Western-themed races, but alas, no free pets this year. 

Wild for Hay Race:

So much hay! Fun detail: if you mistime a jump and bump a bale, it moves quite realistically!

Cowgirl Cross Country Race

The little hills and valleys on the loop outside of the arena made for some tricky jumps.

My favorite western races are still the two cross country ones from last year that start and end in the renegades' camp. The slippery mud keeps things interesting, and the splattering each time our horse lands a jump is such a satisfying touch.

For the record, our best score in Gary Goldtooth's gold mining challenge was 238 nuggets, which we managed on the second-to-last day of the festival on Frosty.

Too bad we had to give it all to greedy Gary.

I wonder what he'll do with it all?

We dutifully completed all the daily tasks from festival start to finish, even though there wasn't as much motivation for us as sometimes (no tokens to amass for next year, no new event-limited items we loved enough to shell out max shillings for.) We did make enough shillings to buy a few pieces saved to our favorites in the global shop, which was great!

The very last thing we did was complete the pumpkin growing contest between Dorith and Jasper.

Oh, wow. Sorry, Tigertin and Clara. If this contest comes back next year, maybe we'll finally remember to ride Magic the Shire for the pumpkin transport.

In a shocking turn of events, it was another pumpkin tie.

Lisa Peterson then performed a song on stage like last year. Pretty sure the song was different this year, though, and people just watched from hay bales - no dancing.

So long, Western Festival. 

The Western theme has carried on for one more week with a Yeehaw edition of the Style Riders competition. 

Day 1: A Sheriff and Her Steed

We were going for Woody and Bullseye from Toy Story. Not sure if anybody could tell, but we tried. XD

Day 2: Ranching is Hard Work

We tried to pick something practical for ranch work but added sky blue to lighten the mood and keep the pair cooler. Many of the free sets we've gotten are earth tones, so we thought this color palate would be a refreshing change of pace.

Day 3: The Lonely Bandit

We think Clara and River made quite convincing bandits. New Halloween costume idea, maybe.

Day 4: Line Dancers, Dance!

Carrotcake was a good sport and rolled with the Barbie vibes this one gives off.

Final: Rodeo Night

This is as fancy as we could manage with our limited Western wardrobe.

Last bit of news: it's bazaar time again! On sale this time are the Mule for 595 star coins, the Shire for 450 star coins, the Jorvik Connemara for 486 star coins, and the Akhal Teke for 510 star coins. 

I'm still not loving the old Connemara Pony or the Akhal Teke, but my sisters and I are all pumped to take home a goofy mule at long last!

Here are our choices:

flaxen chestnut pangare, sooty bay dun, grullo...

...bay leopard, black pinto, sooty bay dun blanket...

...dapple gray and bay dun

I don't care for the markings on the black pinto, but the others are all fanastic! My clear favorites, of course, are the two appaloosas. Both are so cool that I didn't have to do much to convince my sisters to narrow it down to one of them. Which will we pick? Not sure yet, but we'll be sure to tell you all about it in our next post. I wish we could get both, as well as they go with each other. I know that's not going to fly right now, don't worry, Lily. Maybe someday, though...

Western Festival 2026

I'm pretty sure Star Stable called the Western Festival "Camp Western" in previous years, but whatever you call it, it's back! The first thing we noticed when we logged in was that our home stable has been decorated for the occasion. Such cheerful sunflowers! 

Two thumbs up on the tack room decorations. <3

The next thing we noticed: there's a new western-themed Trailblazer Track! The color scheme of the western set, white and blue, is lovely! 

We're not fans of the shirt (crop top with crop jacket over it), but the rest of the set is nice. We're way more excited for the free stable care coupons and horseshoes from the master blacksmith. 

Star Stable made lots of changes to this event this year. There's a hub in Moorland for the first time, which allows non-star riders some limited participation. 

A wagon can then whisk horse and rider off to the other hub in Starshine Ranch for free. We LOVE this feature and so wish there was a wagon from Starshine back to Moorland... Maybe next year?

The wilds around Starshine Ranch are totally wolf, bear, and bull free this year! This seems to have bummed out many players, but it was welcome news to my sisters and me. While the beasties did keep things interesting, and the wilds feel emptier without them, it is so much easier and less stressful not having to deal with them!

Cantering unconcernedly through the formerly-wolf-infested grassy expanse between the beach and Starshine Ranch. If you're wondering what's with the donkey's legs, it's actually two overlapping donkeys. XD 

Making things easier is a theme this year: revamped task board, cowboy hat icons indicating which activities pertain to the Western Festival, no more trying to find treasure chests and horses that aren't plotted on the mini map. We're down with all that.

The aspects we miss: gold mining, ways to earn free pets, and a token shop. We're still enjoying the event without those things, of course, but it was more fun with them.

Our favorite ranch chore, herding three ranch horses down to the beach, has returned with different ranch horses from last year. 

We do still get to find three missing ranch horses, but all the challenge is gone. The NPC specifies the region to search, and their locations are plotted on the mini map besides. (It's like somebody put GPS trackers on the horses - smart!)

The missing horses vary somewhat day to day. As you can see, one of them is a Phoenix duplicate. =)

sometimes they space themselves well...

...and sometimes not.

Back at the Moorland hub, Clara is helping out both Dorith and Jasper grow massive pumpkins for an end-of-festival contest. Every few days, they both grow identically bigger, so I'm guessing it will be another tie.

Conrad's strength contest (whack a target with a mallet) has migrated there, and you can do a new twisty cross country race around Moorland.

The other new race we've gotten so far is a western trail type one where you navigate through obstacles as well as go over some small jumps - quite fun!

Rootin' Tootin' Race

The premise of another new task, moving hay bales out of the road because the hay truck drivers are locked in their trucks and can't do it themselves, is rather ridiculous. However, it is quite satisfying to move these by ramming into them at various angles.

We do still get to do a timed three minutes of gold mining a day. This has made us much faster at mining!

Sadly, Gary Goldtooth takes all the gold at the end of each session. We do get a set amount of Jorvik shillings for participating, at least. And we quickly earned an amusing but totally impractical stack of 5 hats.

Here is someone else modeling the full stack:

What's odd is that all of them except the must be stacked and cannot be worn on their own.

As expected, we did get another edition of the Champion Ranks. My sisters and I are growing weary of these, especially now that the ribbons aren't nearly so fun - each one just a progressively fancied up version of the one before. But at this point we still enjoy participating and watching the other players and horses, so we're going for it and working our way steadily towards the daunting 250-point goal.

It's cool to see so many other people embracing the western gear for the festival!

There have been so many bay brindle Quarter Horses in these - more on that later!

Here's a look at some of the ribbons. We still have a long way to go before earning the last one, but you get the idea.

Thanks to all the championships and western-themed activities, Phoenix blazed his way to level 15.

the final sparkle

The other horses are now back in the rotation and enjoying their beast-free western activities. Star Stable has lost no time trying to get us to buy even more horses, though.

They timed the release of their new American Quarter Horse well: right at the launch of the Western Festival. We took a long look at them in the Starshine sale paddock and have also seen many being ridden around Jorvik. They are all gorgeous! Four of the stunning color variations are below.

The old American Quarter Horse has been renamed "Jorvik Quarter Horse" and has good reason to hang its head low now. The new and improved ones seem to be way more popular than they ever were. We definitely want a new one in our herd, but not at their current 950-star-coin price tag. We'll bide our time until they eventually show up in a bazaar.

The western event exclusive color variations of the Mustang, American Saddlebred, and Mule have returned at lower cost than last year. They are all quite nice, but the discount isn't that deep, and we're not in love with any of them.

The latest bazaar doesn't have us tempted at all, since we already have a representative of all four breeds in our herd (Brightbeam, Honeyhollow, Willowwind, and Kitekey.)

Looking good, guys! Hooray for American breeds!

Until next time!

Phoenixfeather

Back on Tuesday, 7/7, we said our fond farewells to Summer Daze!

After doing all of the dailies on Panda, it was finally time to take home our Jorvik Mountain Horse from the bazaar barge! Here he is!

We wanted to incorporate something to do with birds in his name, since his special animation involves a cardinal feather. Hence, Phoenixfeather!

Clara was still wearing her wild "tourist shirt" from the festival when she met him, but Phoenix was not fazed. He may look fancy, but he's a pretty happy-go-lucky, chill dude.

The first ride:

Side note: the Mustang in the background looks so disappointed to have been passed over. Sorry buddy! 

The Chincoteague looks like he couldn't care less. XD

Instead of trotting, Jorvik Mountain Horses do a smooth "trail walk."

Obviously, he'll be spend most of his time under saddle at a gallop, and he looks amazing doing so!

The first sparkle!

I could moon over Phoenix way longer - I already love him to bits - but let's move on to what came immediately after Summer Daze, another week of a Style Riders competition. This time around, the daily themes were beach-related.

Here are our entries:

We went with a black and pale iridescent theme - probably the only time Clara has ever worn this shirt, skirt, and shoes. XD Opal was the horsey model because she looked great in the tack and because she's from Iceland, a country that experiences Midnight Sun.

Our inspiration for this one: sprinklers and the rainbows you might see in the water droplets on a sunny summer day. Snowy is modeling for obvious reasons.

We're aware crabs are technically crustaceans, not fish, but they are ocean-dwellers too, and we figured everybody else would be hauling out their manta rays... 

Since this was the final day we could participate, we couldn't resist using Phoenixfeather.

Alas, we missed the remaining days of Style Riders (subthemes Tourist in Fort Pinta and Underwater Royalty) because we went camping while the humans went on vacation. Fortunately, we managed to do well enough during the three days we did participate that we earned both the participation ribbon and - more importantly - the tie-dyed t-shirt. It goes great with some of our saddle pads - you'll see it in some of the screenshots below.

In our "breather week" after Style Riders but before Camp Western returns, we're getting another bazaar!

From left to right, we have the Marwari on sale for 475 star coins, the Percheron for 425 star coins, the Ardennes for 495 star coins, and the Welsh Pony for 400 star coins.

We are already the proud owners of a sleepy Ardennes (Sandman) and a sassy Welsh Pony (Seaglass), but our herd does not yet include a Marwari or Percheron. I don't remember ever seeing the Marwari in a bazaar before. They're normally hidden away out in New Hillcrest with some of the other not-very-popular early generation 3 horse breeds. 

Marwaris have the awkwardly-moving, more cartoony feel we've come to expect with the early generation 3 horses. However, in my opinion, they somehow manage to rock it in ways most of the others do not. The curled ears, the goofy facial expressions, the floaty mane chunks, the cartoony roundness... it all just comes together in a happy, endearing way. Here are the 8 interesting color varieties:

extreme sabino (caught with its eyes shut, oops) and black

badger-faced sooty palomino and liver chestnut

badger-faced bright bay and oddly-marked bay pinto

cremello (beautifully posed here!) and light gray

As tempting as both the Marwari and the proud, muscular Percheron are, we're thinking we will resist and instead eventually bring home the magical Marwari and Percheron pair from Hollow Woods instead. Both are always 450 star coins. (We're not sure why the Hollow Woods horses are so much cheaper than their non-magic counterparts, but we are certainly not complaining. Maybe because it takes so much effort to unlock them?)

Here they are: Birkir and Hanami. We finally unlocked them this weekend just so we could check out their non-magic coats.

Birkir becomes a black sabino: not really what I was expecting, but handsome all the same.

Hanami becomes a dun. We don't love that Hanami's eyes remain pink, but the subtle wood-grain texture in the coat is so cool!

We also unlocked this pair of magical runestone Clydesales this weekend - someday we may take home one of them too.

Unlocking these guys set Clara over the edge with her experience points. She's finally made it to level 24!

Whoo hoo!

Before I go, I'll also share some photos from Mom's vacation in South Haven, MI. (We didn't take any photos while we were camping, as we like to disconnect from tech as much as possible. We had a great time too... until we were driven inside by extremely thick wildfire smoke.)

A couple of photos from different sunset pier walks:

They thought the setting sun was going to be shrouded in thick clouds on this day, but it emerged just as it neared the horizon.

Tiki boat sun block

a pastel afterglow

Mom's cozy bed in the chilly basement. She had Ruby and Hoops for company. 

(This was Mom's final hurrah with Hoops before he finally got passed off to the 2026 winner of the family's NCAA March Madness bracket pool. The winner is a first cousin once removed's fiancé, so not someone Mom sees often.)

The fam's morning walk destination: a shady bridge over a small, lazy creek, where there is the daily stick race. Participants pick a stick during the walk, then drop them in tandem on one side of the bridge. It's a quick rush to the other side to see whose stick will emerge first from under the bridge. Yes, they are easily amused.

No records set with jigsaw puzzles put together this year, I don't think, but it was still impressive:

the eyes on these puppies... XD

musical group puns

(Imagine Dragons, Arctic Monkeys, Rolling Stones, etc.)

100-piece cereal collection. They came in a box that looked like a variety pack of single-serve cereal boxes.

General consensus: the Cheerios was the hardest

The lack of a comma bothered Mom's cousin, but other than that, it was quite a fun puzzle. This was one of the places Mom and fam visited two summers ago.

Asian rainforest. Very challenging due to all the leaves and the circular border.

This one got done way more quickly!

Mom had to leave for home early, while this final puzzle (another challenging one) was still about 2/3 complete.  It got finished before the rest of the fam left, though, and our grandma had the photo to prove it. =)

Mom got a chance to visit a few of her favorite shops in downtown South Haven, including two toy shops. It made us all very happy that the Audubon bird plushies are still for sale in one of them.

We absolutely love this bird tree! We sure could use one (or two) of these to display our collection.

The one toy shop that offers Breyer horses had a very small, picked-over display. The stuffed animals (other than the little birds tucked away in a back room) were quite picked over as well in both shops. However, as you will see below, Mom did not leave either shop empty-handed. In the first one, she found the little snowy owl with a scarf. He had probably been there since winter and seemed so lonely. In the second shop, the horse was sitting decoratively on a shelf about eye-level with Mom. Again, all alone, looking so hopeful. She was so cute and so reasonably-priced that Mom could not resist her either. 

Here they are along with Mom's other souvenirs: a clearance t-shirt and a couple of rocks from a beach north of South Haven

We will never cease to be amazed by the great beauty and variety of water-tumbled rocks!

The little snowy owl is living his best life now with Myth and Merlin, the two owl buddies she bought last year, probably at the same shop. They have lots of Audubon bird company as well. <3