Big News to Share!!

 Hi everyone!!

 

Some of you may recall that in the past few posts, I've hinted at taking on a new project that may or may not impact my time enough to disrupt posting here. I'm delighted to announce that I am now a freelance blogger for Stone Horses! In 2026, I'll be writing two blog series - one covering Stone's Tribute Series of models, and one looking at more general Stone history. 

https://stonehorses.com/blogs/news 

I am so thrilled and honored to have this opportunity! It's no secret that blogs have hit a resurgence in popularity in the hobby community in recent years, and as more folks step back or step away from social media, it only makes sense for brands like Stone to cultivate communication tools through their own platforms. As someone who is still a relatively frequent social media user, I can say that Groups and Pages can only be so effective at spreading the word about events and releases. It's not uncommon for folks to miss out on seeing important posts, even if they have made posts from specific groups/pages/users a priority.

Not to mention, it can also be difficult to seek out older posts that have been missed if a person does not correctly guess key words included in a post (and searches may also be unreliable). This is why I'm glad to report that Stone will also be using the Blog to post some announcements. I've already received a lot of positive feedback, especially an overall feeling of relief in regards to this point. In particular, this sentiment has been common on Blab & Discord - platforms where a good amount of the users do not engage or are low contact with social media. 

While my upcoming schedule for posts will be kept under wraps, I can at least talk a little about the story explaining what got me to where I am now!

I'd had the idea brewing for at least a couple months prior about a Stone Blog, but in July 2025 I made up my mind to take a leap and create a proposal. Shortly before heading to KY, I refreshed my normal resume, created a "model horse" one, and wrote a cover letter explaining my thoughts on the idea. I printed it all out and brought it with me all wrapped up nicely in a manila envelope. I wanted to hand deliver everything to Erin, since I was attending a couple of the Equilocity events. 

I ended up choosing the day of the live show to "take the plunge"! And I will be honest, I was *terrified* that entire day. Being an introvert, along with my mental health challenges, doing something like this to put myself out there was very out of character for me! I kept going over what I'd say in my head as the day went on. I knew she'd be too busy to read everything right away, but I still felt that it was important to deliver my idea in person. 

By the end of the day, as the show wrapped up, I waited for the right moment (I was also anxious because bad weather was supposedly coming our way and my friends and I still needed to get across the parking lot to the CHIN before the threat was upon us - it did end up raining a LOT that night). Despite all my rehearsing to sound as much like a competent human as possible, what I ended up saying was probably different (I honestly don't remember much beyond the first sentence or so). 

What I DO recall saying as an opener was something along the lines of, "this week I am keeping with the theme of doing things that scare me" (I also created and submitted an entry for Art of the Horse, which is very out of character for me too) and if nothing else I don't think I'll forget how Erin's face looked after I said that, haha! I'm sure I stumbled my way through some half-cryptic explanation. Apparently though, my uh, "unique" delivery for the pitch intrigued her enough that she actually gave my submissions a read through that night, as I found out later.

I told myself after my "performance", that at least I was brave enough to follow through and regardless of how things turned out, I was proud of myself for that! So, when I got a message from Erin shortly after leaving KY asking if we could talk about the idea on a call, I was swirling with a variety of positive emotions. The development of the idea and the particulars did take a while to coordinate, but it has all worked out so much better than I even imagined! I actually did not pitch the blog specifically as being tied to the anniversary celebration, but given the speed at which things ended up moving, it made for a perfect debut. 

It might be a sappy sentiment, but this past year really taught me a lot about myself and my capabilities. How if there's something I really want out of life, I should take a risk and go for it even if I could fail (to loosely quote "Try Everything" from Zootopia). While the model horse hobby is not my day job (maybe someday!) I am still incredibly grateful that I have the chance to do a job that involves my favorite thing in the world. I never could have expected this to be a possibility - after all, most full time jobs surrounding model horses are either sales related (retailer, large scale reseller) or art based. I don't currently have the space to be in sales that deeply, and my art is not at the caliber of professional full time artists (it's really just something I do for my own enjoyment). So, I did not previously have much ambition to actually pursue a career in my greatest passion. 

If there was a world where having a PhD in model horses was a viable option and led to career paths within the hobby realm, I'd have completed that course work long ago! Unfortunately, there's not a huge calling for "professional plastic horse judge" for example. Friends have described me as a "model horse encyclopedia" which is exceptionally flattering. Part of that knowledge bank is factoids about specific model releases, sure, but it also includes more general hobby knowledge, and probably the most valuable part to me, knowing where to find answers or confirm them quickly in some cases. From a mental health perspective, I try to stick to answering questions or offering help when I can immediately or very shortly give my findings/opinion. 

A little bit of a side tangent, I know, but I've found especially over the past few years, it can be really easy to get sucked into an information quest and that can side-track me for a while. To be clear, I'm referring mainly to posts I see on FB groups where folks are asking generally for help with something. I am more lenient with this when it comes to answering private messages from friends. In many cases, my help in particular is needed (such as show related questions if I am hosting or judging) rather than group/public posts where anyone can answer if they know what the person asking needs. 

Anyway, I am glad I have a shorter word count over at Stone, because I doubt the average person there wants to or has time to go way into the depths with me on topics like I do here! Thank you all for sticking around despite my admittedly chaotic posting "lack of schedule". Again, I'm not sure how much time I'll have to make too many posts here this year, but if the inspiration strikes and I have time, you never know.