Sightseeing and a New Pony

Felicity wants it noted that we caught exactly 20 wilds on her birthday this past Wednesday, and she wasn't tempted to keep any of them. She also had to endure... snow - and we're talking serious snow, not just flurries or gentle snow globe snow - but luckily the ground was too warm for it to stick. Areas to the south and east of us were not so fortunate, which is just weird.

So yeah, it was not one of Felicity's best birthdays. At least some of the wilds had interesting names:

It's been a cloudy, cold, will-probably-start-raining-as-soon-as-you-try-to-do-anything-outside kind of day today. It may be the last weekend where Mom's "household" is holed up too, because on Monday two weeks will have passed since they've all been vaccinated. (Mom was last, since she is young and "nonessential.") Not going to lie, though, Mom has enjoyed the slower pace and working from home, and we've enjoyed seeing more of her.

I only have one likely new addition to our herd to tell you about this time, thank goodness, so let's save him for the end. Before that, here are some screenshots highlighting some other recent happenings on the game:

We caught another badger-faced wild! 

The effect is more subtle due to a smaller white marking to begin with, but it's still there.

Speaking of subtle, that tiny dot of white on her cheek is the only evidence of "frame" on this poor wild!

Aw, we almost didn't want to lasso this wild and separate her from her buddy. 

(But we did... sorry. XD)

=)

I wish I could've seen how she got up there. 

This player's Walls of Terror cracks me up.

Here's a side view. (Also, Orange Slice is really cute. <3)

Felicity and Snappy decided to mow down every single pole just for fun. It took some actual jumping to knock some of the tallest ones, since they're taller than Snappy.

Mission accomplished. 

They didn't stick around to see how long it took for the poles to reset.

We came across this cluster of cool mules on a mail run and let Nightingale visit for awhile.

And she thought her own ears were long...

After PukkaPixie commented on our last post, we really wanted to see her lucky find Forest Mongolian, so we decided to visit her ranch. It took 3 tries on 3 different days, but Mythical and I finally found it last night!

And my goodness, he was totally worth the effort! We were expecting him to be kind of clunky with an upright mane, but no, this guy is absolutely gorgeous! What an awesome first lucky find!

Here is our first lucky find, Talvi the Finnhorse, posing with him. <3

Nightingale also had to meet PukkaPixie's lovely 16+ hh mule filly, of course. <3 

Now to circle back to our newest herd hopeful, as promised. Horsie sense led us to him while we were out on a mail run last Saturday.

No markings, sadly, but still easy on the eyes.

His genetic stat total is more impressive than his performance metrics, but the performance metrics are still definitely better than some. Unlike many volcanic wilds, he's not a great jumper. I think he makes up for that with his high sprint boost and acceleration rate. He's skittish - bummer - but is otherwise pleasant to ride.

Yay, even though he's only 14.1 hands, Pepsi does not look silly! I know I don't normally go for ponies on this game, but I think I may have to make an exception for him. (Palominos rock!)

Luckiest Find Ever?

The calendar may say April, but it's felt more like late May or June around here over the past week or so. We could actually wear short-sleeved dresses outside on Easter last Sunday, which hardly ever happens. It turned more April-like this weekend, with falling temps and lots of rain. Good excuse to spend lots of time on HI3.

Here, for the record, is what was in Mom's Easter basket this year:

The plump gray lamb was obviously the star of the show, but Mom's also been enjoying the chocolates and jelly beans you can see peeking out underneath him. =P Mom's sisters also got stuffed animals this year along with their candy, whether they wanted them or not (baby Yoda and llama.)

HI3 has been as generous as the Easter Bunny since our last post. 

Back on March 29, we found yet another mare, but our streak of ponies was finally broken. 

She's a better example than Tempest of the typical fjord-type wild: dun and big-barreled. However, she has silver dapple going on too, which makes her mane and tail paler than they'd be otherwise.

Kryptonite's performance metrics aren't so great. She's lazy enough to display the annoying constant slowing when first mounted too. Her one stand-out is that she turns pretty well despite her bulk.

The next day, out in alpine terrain, we found Chuckles. Not a pony, not a mare, and not even a Grade! Meet our 9th lucky find, a Modern Wurttemburg stallion!

Wow. Everything but the name is so elegant. He makes Kryptonite look like even more of a chunker. XD

As we scrolled and saw that he was both speedy and a pretty good jumper, we worried big time that he'd have a horrible personality. But no, he truly is a lucky find! He may freeze up in crowds, but other than that he should be a breeze to ride.

Sure enough, he is! <3

That was finally it for March. On the night before Easter, April 3, it was getting dark on the game and we were about to log off to go to bed. Horsie Sense sparkles indicated there was yet another wild nearby, though, so we felt obligated to catch it first. In the semi-darkness, it didn't look like anything special. Clearly a mediterranean wild, and with some fun pinto spotting, but not especially remarkable. 

(I can totally relate to Helena's comment here, by the way. XD)

Turns out she is our first ever mosaic wild!!! 

It's pretty rare to find a mosaic wild on Horse Isle. We never found one on HI2 and weren't really expecting it to ever happen on HI3. But here she is!

She's not even a slowpoke, scaredy-cat, bucking bronco, or lazy bones! Not to discount Chuckles or any of our other wonderful lucky finds, but I think I was even was more excited when we found Delta. <3

Her brown patches are not very noticeable under saddle unless she's coming towards you. That's a bummer, but oh well, we can always have her pull the cart if we want to flaunt them. =)

There are still two more wilds to go on about in this post, if you can believe it. Like I said, HI3's been generous.

Here's our Easter beauty, a pinto we found among the wonder shrooms who was bizarrely named "Flypaper." 

She has nice performance metrics to go along with her high genetic stat total, which from our experience is clearly is not a given. We wish she was braver, but other than that she's quite a pleasant horse to ride. From her fancy stance I thought she might be gaited, but nope. 

Our last wild is - sorry, buddy, but it's true - the least impressive appearance-wise. Meet Debussy, the unusually small savanna wild:

He looks much better with his head up. 

He kind of grows on you, despite the small head and thick neck. The dapples, almost-hidden star, and stubby tail are endearing. He reminds us of Ossagon, only slightly bigger and considerably more awkward. XD

His performance metrics are ok but nothing spectacular. His skittishness is unfortunate but to be expected of a savanna wild. It's his only issue under saddle, though.

There, we've made it through them all! I think it's safe to say Chuckles, Delta, and Flypaper aren't going anywhere. Not sure yet about Kryptonite or Debussy.

In case you're wondering about the ponies from Felicity's last post, we're - shocker - still deliberating. At this point both Timeslip (butt levitator) and Crossroad (pretty pacer) are still hanging around, but nothing's final yet. Finding this new batch of beauties is not making things any easier.