Grand Champions
Mares and Stallions in Detail
Arabian Horses
The Arabians this year are beautiful! We got another mare in
the beautiful, original Arabian Mare pose, and finally a pale
gray
one. Darker coat colors would seem the ideal way to show off
the lines and shape of such an elegant breed, but it is often the
grays that are considered the classic Arabians and the most
sought after. Empire has done right by this desert horse by naming
the mare "Perseverance," as the Arabian is known for its stamina.
The Barb Stallion is no one's favorite, but it looks decent in gray,
and at least it's a change from the usual Barb Stallion, which is about
ten Snow Manes for every Pure Brilliance.
These make a nice pair, also, for having colorful tack: The
Mare's saddle seat was peach to match her ribbon (it is pictured on
Escapade, below),
and the Stallion's was green to match his, and they both came
with
black and silver bridles and saddles. All of the '98s got pretty
colorful tack, and that's the way I like it. '97 was an awesome
year for tack, too, though I gather not as bright as this year.
Some people say that '98 was a little too much in the use of
strong colors, but I love it all.
It's too bad the western saddle
is just too big for this small Arabian mold, or I would keep my
Perseverance in it all the time. I will have to rig her in
something one of these days.These two are not the same in coloration. Perseverance has beige shading and blonde hair, and Pure Brilliance has dark gray shading and white hair. This improves on the earlier trend of identical genders, as even the subtle difference in these Arabians makes each one special and worth having. Perseverance is such a beauty... Not quite as gorgeous as Sienna Silk from last year, but a runner up for sure.
It would have been nice to see a foal from these guys, a running one since the stander has been done in white so many times.
Clydesdales
Ok, these are a little funny looking, but at least they're not bay.
The Mare's colors are close to a flaxen chestnut that you might see
in real life, while the Stallion's are a little... Well.
Interpretive. He is dark brown with yellowish hair and has
almost black shading around his points. I decided to keep both
of these Clydesdales because there are just, gazillions of
these around and I was not able to get rid of the duplicates. These
were common enough that they were even being offered as Blue Ribbon
horses for a while.If you like draft horses, I guess these would be a must. (Come on! They're not bay! That's reason enough !) They have never really done it for me though; I still have a big empty spot for those black Shires they should have made in '97, '99 or 2001, and didn't, and could have made this year, but didn't.
It would be interesting to see what this draft foal could have looked like.
Dutch Warmblood Horses
What happened here, you ask? My interpretation of this atrocity is
that it must be some kind of mistake. Someone may have
accidentally mixed the colors wrong and not found out about it until 10,000
Duchesses had already been made. Then they noticed the situation,
understood that the horses looked awful, but didn't want to waste
the money and materials on making new ones... So they just
packaged these and hoped people wouldn't notice. The MLP collectors
will understand that Duchess is The BBE Baby Shady of the Grand Champion
world... the ugliest one ever made. She
is not much like her package photo,
having
only one sock and being a different color, this
flourescent, radioactive red. It's so bright that it's hard for
my camera to show it accurately; it looks red-orange here,
but it is more of a dark pink in real life. Someone
said that a younger relative affectionately called this horse
"The Hot Pink
Pony," and that's pretty accurate. Her stallion, "Escapade," is odd looking, too, but not ugly. He is a dusty pink color with dark
orange/red shading. Some say he is supposed to be a strawberry
roan,
but I don't think Empire put that much thought or research into it.
I think they were pulling stuff out of their (...) and just went
too far this time. 
You can also see that neither of these came
with the turquoise and purple saddle pads they were pictured with,
and Duchess came with a different saddle. That orchid/purple one
that Escapade came with is actually one I really like, though I think
it clashes badly with his pinky color. It just needs the right
pad and a quieter coat, and it can look excellent on one of your
GCs.Duchess's single sock appears to be accurate to the one pictured, so maybe the other three holes in the Sock Machine were out of paint or something when this batch of Duchesses came through. Otherwise, it looks like she was supposed to be a red chestnut, something like Senor Poncho, maybe. I think Empire is 0 for 2 now on Warmbloods, as the 95s were not much better.
Ok, so it's a bit much to call her The Ugliest (Probably that honor
would go to '96 Majesty, or to the MO Andalusians with their terrible
girth marks), and I guess she could be the Tootsie
of the GC world. She might even look good in a better mold...
Anything
but the prancer with the huge hooves. Ick. I like my Escapade, though. He displays nicely and his color looks like that of a Fantasy Horse. When I first saw him I was not impressed, but it just took time.
Still... It's probably better these guys did not have a child, heh.
The Thoroughbreds
Earlier I mentioned some Must Haves...? Yes, these. And if you like flecked horses, you need BOTH of them! This is the perfect example of how even a minor variation in coat color can make two horses an inseparable pair. You have the mare, "Mon Cheri," who is pale gray with darker gray points and white flecks, and the stallion, "Tokyo Pride," who is like a shaded version of her, but still has the white flecks. He's stunning! Tokyo Pride is not just gray; he has this bit of dark, reddish brown around his wrists and hocks, and even a band of it down his dorsal. It's so subtle that you can hardly see it in this photo, but look close. It's above the dark gray on his legs -- more noticeable in person of course... and WOW ! I just love how it looks.
Cheri doesn't have it, but is still a gorgeous lady in her own right. She is more subtle, with her spots not as obvious and her gray more of a beige, dove gray. She is also blonde haired, while Tokyo has shiny, silvery hair. I think Mon Cheri is the only (?) traditional horse ever sold with a side saddle instead of a normal one. I am not really into the GC side saddle, just because every time I see it, I imagine how uncomfortable it would be and how easily you could just bounce right off the horse and land in the mud puddle that is always there whenever you have your fancy dress on. Or so I've been told. (*Does not wear dresses.*)
Another thing about the GC Side Saddle is that it is usually the same colors, light brown and lighter brown, and it doesn't seem to go with anything. I would be more open to these if they made them in black and such, but this brown mixture always reminds me of either caramel or poop, or both, and that's not too cool.
Mon Cheri is the debut horse (in the standard run, anyway) for this Cantering Mare mold, and what a terrific mold it is ! I love it. These two came with similar bridles and saddle pads. Tokyo Pride's was just like Cheri's, only light blue.
I looked up Mon Cheri, and it is loosely translated as "My Darling" or "My Dear One," so the next time a French dude calls you "Cheri," you could say "merci" or something?
Anyway, spectacular thoroughbreds this year. They are both just amazing and gotta-have.
The Morgans
Chestnut and bay. Pretty ordinary in premise, and maybe the bay
is a little boring, but this is an attractive couple.
The mare is "Smooth Move," though a lot of people call her
"Smooth Moves" or "Smooth Ride" (The name of one of her parents).
She is little like her photo except for the
white markings; the photo mare looks quite average
(Ask yourself, "Self, do I really need another Classic Mare in
chestnut?") but Smooth Move is a pleasant surprise. She is this
fawn-colored chestnut and does not have that dark brown hair.
It is orangey red in real life, and this is definitely the "Horse of
The British Isles," (Mine is Robin Roy) rather than the "Eastern U.S." that the photo
would suggest with that red checkered pad. She didn't even
come with it, but with a puffier whitish one. She is special because
she looks like no other classic mare. Her strawberry hair and
gray brown coat look so great together. The horse in the package
photo would be a nice one, too, but I love Smooth Move. She is
one of the favorites in my herd: the hind pastern markings are a
nice touch. The Stallion is "Tried and True," different in color from Smooth Move, being a light/standard bay instead of chestnut. Indeed, he is the only bay in this '98 group, and was one of the first lightweight bays in GC history to have so much white on him.
(Excepting last year's Clydesdales, almost all the previous bays
had one, or no socks at all.) He is a handsome fellow (I decked mine
in fancy English because he looked kind of posh and noble to me) and
not easy to come by. I think I have only seen two at ebay over the past
couple years, compared to at least five Smooth Moves.
So, Tried and True... Did you know "Tried&True" is a valid filename? I remember when DOS would not let you do such things. How far we've come. Yay for technology and Grand Champions!
Missouri Fox Trotters
What happened here, you ask? The Committee That Never
Met strikes again. It looks like the Horse Design People did
not confer with the Horse Packaging People
in time enough to
update the publicity photos of these two. The mare, "Slide
Rule," is pictured with two socks,
and she actually has none
in real life. And the
Stallion, "Outstretch," well... His color is different, his forefeet
markings are a little off, and he is in the wrong tack and the
wrong mold. And that's not even a stallion-- It's the
Trotting Mare that Slide Rule is in. But then we have the situation with the mare, and she matches her package photo pretty nicely except for the difference in socks. I used to think these two were the same color, but now that I have a Slide Rule for comparison, I think they are different enough.
I have heard the theory that the Stallion Picture is actually the mare's flipped and re-colored, and it is believable. They are pretty similar, and his is even a little blurry for no apparent reason.
This Stallion is definitely an oddity,
I think the Grand Champion who is the most different from his package
photo of the entire line. But he is a nice one with his yellow
ribbon, apricot coloration and
geometric-patterned saddle pad. They both look like
horses of the Southwestern desert. 
For a while I thought this might be some funny custom job, but then I
saw another one like it. It's normal to see some variation in the
paint of GCs, but this peach-shaded Slide Rule sans black is worth a
pic.
©2004 Sloane Eljay
Blue Paradise Stables