2016's Fantastic Four

Welcome to the first post of 2017! But before we look ahead, let's look back a little on 2016, shall we?

We added a whopping total of 22 equines (this could still climb to 23, if we keep Tchaikovsky) to our herd in 2016, believe it or not! This is pretty similar to the number we added in 2015, only in 2016, far fewer were wild equines that we caught ourselves. We had the lowest number of 6/6 wild captures of any year yet: only 4 (in comparison to 9 in 2013, 12 in 2014, and 10 in 2015). Clearly, we haven't been wild hunting nearly as often as we used to. *Sighs.* 

Here are the fantastic four:

Donatello: caught 1/26/16
+75
(Julie's)

Iolite: caught 5/20/16
+76
(Julie's)

20-Karat: caught 8/9/16
+98
(mine!)

Doppler: caught 11/10/16
+76
(? Probably will be Lily's or Bethany's even though I caught him...)

All stallions! We never would have predicted this back during that 6/6 stallion drought that spanned over a year. Wouldn't it be amusing if we had a year+ drought of 6/6 mares now? Anybody want to start making bets?

Anyway, to Lily's dismay, the livery, auction house, generous buddies, and ranch stores more than made up for our relative shortage of impressive wilds in 2016. XD I'm certainly not complaining. *Pats Wonderland, Lumos, and Quassia.*

Our Christmas present to ourselves on HI2 was to build another barn in place of our last windmill. Lily firmly insists that these 13-14 slots must last us until next Christmas. We're going to try hard - really hard - to only add 1 horse or pony per month at most. (Exceptions will only be made if multiple 6/6ers and/or high-stat 5/6ers are captured in the same month, which isn't likely if 2016 is any indication.) It will be our New Year's resolution. Here's hoping we'll have the willpower to keep it!

So far, HI2 has not tried to tempt us. The few wild horses we've caught have all had underwhelming stats. For the record, Gromit and I caught our first wild horse - or rather, pony - of 2017. Here she is!

She may have thought quite highly of herself, but we were not impressed.

On New Year's Day, Mom also opened her last round of Christmas gifts: this time from her Mom's side of the family.

Alas, still no doll stuff. I'm excited to see Wreck-It Ralph, though. And to see what Mom colors with the gray and brown colored pencils.