Hiding from Shadow Monsters

While the Summer Daze activities were occupying so much of our Star Stable time, we didn't linger in our stable. Now that things have calmed down a bit, we've been spending more time there: taking care of the equines ourselves rather than using stable care, doing stable chores, cleaning up our closet, etc. We didn't make a big deal of it at the time, but when we took home Vanilla the Gotland Pony, we filled the last stall in our stable! 

This definitely warranted a celebratory group photo. We weren't sure we were going to be able to fit everybody into the frame, but we went for it anyway...

Just made it! It's not perfect, but we're pretty happy we managed to snap one where everybody's head is up and facing forward. This is not easy with 18 fidgeting equines, believe us! For the record, from left to right, they are: Frostflight, Tigertin, Desertdash, Magicmirror, Brightbeam, Riverrock, Arcticair, Snowsecret, Pandapie, Willowwind, Eveningecho, Carrotcake, Garnetgazer, Opalowl, Jollyjoust, Ladyluck, Nightnimbus, and Vanillavalley.

Also for the record, here is the stall arrangement:

We were sad to see Summer Daze go.

last Rainbow Race

last butterfly catching

until next year, Ben and Bruce!

Immediately after Summer Daze, Star Stable gave us another Trailblazer Track. This particular one is called "Trail of Wilderness," and never fear, they made sure to note that the saddle pad is faux cow hide.

We will happily earn the free items (our favorites are the stable care tickets and top-notch horseshoes), and here's hoping we won't have trouble finishing it even though we will be on vacation for one of its weeks. Sounds like we're not going to miss out on any of Camp Western, at least. 

Moving on, if you read Julie's last post, you're probably wondering what happened with the bazaar. Did we take home an AQH?

We did see a few of them around, chilling...

....until it's time to zoom!

We came close. On the final day of the bazaar, we got this far - even had a name ready.

We didn't, though. But before you go getting blown away by our self-control, it's not because we've decided against an AQH altogether. We just decided to wait for October, when (hopefully) this horse will be available again. 

Meet Tombhoof, the magical skeleton horse on an AQH base. It at least makes sense for this one to look sad and/or tired most of the time. This will give us some more time to enjoy our full stable as it is, before anybody has to be relegated to the pasture. This also means we're going to blow some major star coins this spooky season, assuming we can take home both Tombhoof and Duskgrim from Galloper's Keep. 

Speaking of spooky, some dark, glowing rocks appeared by Jasper's farm a while ago. We first noticed them when en route to the Goldenhills Championship. With a little more time on our hands, we finally decided to find out what they were all about. We eventually met the witch Pi up the mountain.

These make me think of pop rocks for some reason.

They danced! Even Jollyjoust got in on it, and down came the rain.

This left the pass clear (and very pink), but there's something dark and ominous out there...

Great, just great. Shadow monsters from another dimension (or whatever Pandoria is), and as usual, Clara has to face them solo.

Yeah, that's what we figured, Jolly. Off walked Clara alone.

Hiding from the shadow seekers wasn't so bad, thanks to the conveniently-spaced thickets. At least no crouching was involved!

Yep, found the portal, alright! 

That turned out to be the "easy" or at least, "easier" part. There was a helpful-looking sign that said "Shortcut." We assumed it was a shortcut back to Pi and Jolly, but instead it just led to a cliff with no discernible way down. We tried easing Clara down said cliff in various directions, but only ended up getting stuck on a ledge. This meant having to log out, relog, and start totally over. Then on our second attempt, we forgot to click on Pi first and made our steathly way back to the portal... only to have nothing to show for our efforts at the end. Once we finally made it to the portal the third time, we had a hard time retracing our steps and got caught by shadow seekers multiple times. In the end, we made it out... only to receive a "come back later to continue this quest" message from Pi. Fun times.

I will leave you with something else that was frustrating (this time for Mom) but well worth the effort. Mom got this "sew your own sloth" kit for her birthday this year. The box indicated it was for ages 8 and up, but there's no way Mom could ever have done this as an 8-year-old! It was missing some of the thread it was supposed to come with, with one color missing entirely. Multiple areas of the felt pieces were not pre-punched properly, rendering the plastic round-tipped needle it came with useless. The instructions also left much to be desired. Fortunately, she had extra thread and needles on hand and lots of patience.

We think he turned out really cute! <3 Despite the struggles, it must've been a positive experience overall, because we see she another similar kit on her wish list now. =)

Arbie

It's been toasty here in the Mitten, as is to be expected now that we're in July! We're so glad for AC and for fun things to do indoors, such as playing Star Stable. The Summer Daze has made the last 4 weeks extra fun.

Vanillavalley sparkled for the last time here at Firgrove, joining all her fellow stablemates at level 15. 

After that, all the other equines came back into Clara's riding rotation. Mares and geldings alike have gotten to be decked out in old and new rainbow-themed tack. I'm especially fond of this shimmery saddle, bridle, and boot set.

Lady and Clara joined the Bobcats' hourly parade here but did not take time to dance at the disco after. So much to do!

No Cloud Kingdom this year, but at least its Rainbow Race made a return. Without the golden horseshoes to collect, two laps around the rainbow track each day seemed excessive, but we still enjoyed it! Especially this part where your horse temporarily sprouts wings.

The championships have remained well-attended throughout Summer Daze, but the numbers have definitely decreased a bit since the beginning. We went up against "Cornconqueror" the Percheron in this one. I don't remember if they won a ribbon or not, but that name deserves one. XD

We competed our way to the final ribbon with about a week left in the Championship Ranks, which we were pretty pleased about. All of the ribbons this time around were cute, but the seahorse is by far my favorite! 

During the final week of the festival, Bruce and Ben rewarded Clara for all her help beachside.

Not only did we receive this blue crab pet named Arbie, but Ben also played his guitar for us!

At the end of this quest, our horse (Panda) was auto-moved to the beach rather than where we left her on the dock. So were two other players' horses, leading to this...

=^D

During the final week of the festival, during which the 4th of July also fell, we get to set off a firework once a day from the top of Fort Pinta. Good times.

Here are Clara and Willow posing in their 4th of July finery.

And one more shot during the pre-championship wait, where almost everybody but them appeared to be galloping in place:

Another bazaar has rolled into Moorland. The featured breeds this time are - appropriately - all American breeds: the Mustang, the American Quarter Horse, and the Tennessee Walking Horse.

Obviously, we're already all covered on the TWH front. We love you, Willow! <3

If we were going to pick a breed to get every color variation of, this would be a great one. They're all so pretty! We're not going to do that, though. Don't worry, Lily.

The Mustang would be equally great if we were into pretty coat collecting. Not a clunker in the bunch, if you ask us. Being a bit newer, their discount isn't as big as the TWH or AQH. 

My personal top 3 are the bay pinto, the Spirit look-alike, and the blue roan pinto.

These final two are not discounted as much as the other Mustangs because they are newer. Interesting!

These guys are very tempting. But, as we've said before, we're not into their frequent lip-curling while idle, or their special bucking animation. So, not tempting enough for us to spend our star coins on.

That leaves the AQH for us to talk about. With their super muscular bodies and low head carriage, they look the most distinctly Western of any of Star Stable's current breeds. The low head in particular has made us steer away from them in the past - it gives them a sort of tired, sad vibe.

But, they don't do anything we find annoying while idling, which seems to be getting more and more rare. No head tossing, lip-curling, air chomping, or dozing off. And they do pick up their heads for the faster gaits. Here are my three favorite color variations:

palomino

strawberry roan

fleabitten gray

Hmm, more tempting than the Mustang. We'll let you know next time if we end up deciding to take one home!

Summer Daze

Even though astronomical summer doesn't begin until the 20th, it's already feeling like summer here. It's making us want to expand Clara's collection of short-sleeved shirts, but we haven't made any progress on that yet, thanks to everything else going on in-game right now.

Out at Farah's workshop in Valedale, we dilligently crafted our first complete set of tack and clothing, though. Behold the Able Artisan set! (Fox not included, but he looks great with it.) Panda got to wear the tack first because she was Clara's mount on crafting day, but we put it on Willow next - it looks especially nice on her, plus she can wear the boots. I don't love that the pants are capris, but other than that I feel like the tedious collecting and crafting was worth the effort.

Also note the Riverrock look-alike about to canter out of frame! He or she looks great in that tack.

We plan to craft the other available sets as well, but we need to restock our supplies of gatherables first, which takes a while. Rubia seems to be the hardest for us to find, for whatever reason.

Our next piece of exciting news: Star Stable gave us another horse bazaar! This time, it featured 3 breeds that were just retrofitted to be able to wear all the new tack: the Belgian Warmblood, the Gotland Pony, and the Irish Cob. This retrofitting is great news for our beautiful Irish Cob, Panda! Though, obviously, due to her extreme feathering, she'll still never be able to wear boots.

Belgians sure have shown up in bazaars a lot lately! We hard passed on them yet again, but we could not resist the Gotland's cuteness any longer. The three frontrunners: chestnut pinto, mealy bay, and buckskin.

We deliberated until the final day of the bazaar before finally choosing this one. I fought pretty hard for her, as you can imagine.

Meet Vanillavalley, our 18th equine but only our second pony!

So much cuteness! <3

Ponies are so useful on this game, since they can do everything the bigger equines can do, plus they can participate in the pony-specific activities. She's been flying through her experience levels.

The week before the promised Summer Daze event on Fort Pinta beach, Star Stable "redid" the bridge to the fort. It was a railing-less natural rock bridge before - easy to accidently ride off of if you're not paying attention or something goes wrong with the controls. That won't be an issue any longer!

We also got to take part in a limited-time quest: a treasure hunt that started on Fort Pinta beach. It took us to various beaches around Jorvik, and we had to retrieve items from thieving crabs at several points.

Eventually, Clara and Evie tracked down the "booty," a chest of enormous, iridescent pearls!

The pirates claimed the treasure and left her with this ostentatious pirate hat. Typical. XD

Oh well, we should be able to piece together a decent pirate outfit now if the opportunity ever arises.

The Summer Daze beach area looks great! 

We have some new activities to do to earn summer tokens, and some new items to spend them on too. I'm not thrilled that it's all pink-themed, but I guess that's better for Clara's skin tone than pale yellow...

The star attraction - for us anyway - is Bruce the shark.

We get to play a memory game with Ben and Bruce daily, where we have to pick out the item that Bruce has eaten.

Bruce then proceeds to regurgitate the item, and we're rewarded if we've guessed correctly. Fun times. XD

Bruce also makes appearances in a Summer Daze-exclusive race, which has sections where we get to magically gallop on water.

At some points, seahorses are visible in the water beneath us. <3 

We also have gotten to try out a revamped fishing activity, which goes way faster than the old version once you get the hang of it. 

Just as well, because the old version sure has had its share of issues. There is currently a bug where the bobber is sideways and bobbs horizontally instead of vertically. XD

Finally, we have another series of championship ribbons to try to earn. We have backed off a bit this time around, figuring we'll do the bulk of our competing more towards the end of it, when competition tends to be less fierce. We already have the ribbon we were most excited for, the rainbow. =)

Below is a screenshot from a random championship pre-festival, where we went up against - coincidentally - three Vanilla look-alikes. My guess is that the this might be the club's official pony or something, though this doesn't make great sense when the club name has "Mustang" in it....

At any rate, we are not the only ones who love the chestnut pinto variation of the Gotland. =)

And now, for comparison, here are two screenshots from two champs we've participated in during the first weekend of the championship ranks event. So much company!

Vanilla has not had much success yet at the champs, but being slower isn't all bad: we can more easily observe how the other players are doing the courses and better ingrain the various shortcuts in our minds.

Soon enough, she'll be level 15 like everyone else, and the experience sparkling will stop, so we're enjoying our training time with her while it lasts.

Welcome to the herd, Vanillavalley! <3