As Julie talked about last time, we all agreed for once on which Noriker we wanted to take home. For the record, the black leopard was the runner-up: we love its bold spots and had a great name on deck. That color variation might have won if our one and only Appaloosa-spotted herd member, Eveningecho, wasn't also black and white.
That means, yes, we chose more subtle bay tobiano! We knew we wanted it to be a mare because that gorgeous star meant we could finally haul out a star-themed name for a Star Stable horse. (Believe it or not, this is our first horse with only a star on its face. Brightbeam, our APH, does have one, but she also has a large snip, so it would've seemed wrong to focus only on the star.) Of our shortlist of star-themed names, "Starboard" eventually came out on top. The winning vote actually came from our grandma. =)
Does she have a preference for turning right? Sure, let's go with that. XD
The name seemed extra appropriate to Julie and me because we're in the middle of reading a fantasy book involving lots of sailing.
Both of them look so happy in this girl-meets horse screenshot!
We actually bought her out at the Noriker's current home location of Silverglade Manor rather than at the bazaar itself, since the discounted price applied either place. (It gave us the opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with the Noriker one last time before committing to a specific color and name.)
the first ride!
Absolutely no regrets! <3
The first sparkle
We were in the middle of using a weekly stable care ticket when we had to commit, so Starboard actually spent a few days chilling in the stable after that original first ride. Our goldeny champagne Willowwind was Clara's lucky mount on Mom's birthday. As her birthday was on busy Monday this year, we didn't have much time to play on her big day. More on that to come!
Starboard is now getting our full attention. She's getting quite familiar with Valedale, since we've been spending most of our limited playing time there, either gardening or making progress on the Paths. Once we hit a less busy stretch in real life, we're eager to get back to Marchenghast, but we don't want to do that at a time where we only have a spare 20 minutes here and there to play.
Starboard leading one of Valedale's magic horses to a runestone
We're in a lull between time-consuming special events on Star Stable. As much as we enjoy such events, we are vey grateful for the lull. The most recent exciting game news is the addition of a new draft breed, the Brabant!
Our first glimpse at a Brabant!
These gentle giants are a Belgian breed somewhat related to the Ardennes. Consequently, they look similar to the Ardennes and come in similar colors. We're by no means horse experts, but we think Star Stable did quite well with making them look true to the breed yet still distinct from the Ardennes.
They make Star look petite. <3
As much as I love roans, there is something quite refreshing about this solid bay.
Their "special move" is more a human special move than a horse special move, but whatever.
I'd take this over bucking any day.
It wouldn't be right not to recap Mom's birthday a bit, even if she did spend the majority of it working, going to the dentist, and then working some more.
Ugh, Monday birthdays.
At least the dog on her page-a-day calendar was a cute one!
Mom's fam did a great job making the fleeting three evening hours of her birthday special. There were even balloons! This was round 2 of balloons originally purchased for her sister, but still, balloons!
After everybody was stuffed, it was on to the generous pile of gifts!
Here's the "after!" =)
Yay for more cross stitch kits, a horsey coloring book, and super fun classic-sized Breyer stuff! Just for some background on the front and center gift, Mom absolutely loves her Kindle Paperwhite circa 2013 (AKA "Brighty"), and it is still going strong. She had no intention of replacing it until Amazon decided to discontinue support. As of two days after her birthday, she could no longer put checked-out e-books from the local library onto it. Hence, Kindle Paperwhite: newest model was the very generous gift from Grandma! We hope this one - we're calling her "Jade" for now - lasts as long as the first! <3
