NEW PRODUCT: MR. Z: 58th round-Shire Horse 2.0 version full set of 5 colors

skywalkersaga wrote:

shazzdan wrote:These are draught horses. They were originally never meant to be ridden and they never existed before the 18th century. They are completely unsuitable as a warhorse.

We are well aware of this.

So why do most of the Shire Horse websites falsely claim that they used to be ridden in battle?

shazzdan wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

shazzdan wrote:These are draught horses. They were originally never meant to be ridden and they never existed before the 18th century. They are completely unsuitable as a warhorse.

We are well aware of this.

So why do most of the Shire Horse websites falsely claim that they used to be ridden in battle?

I presumed you were directing your comment at the people in this thread, not at random Shire horse websites. I'm pretty sure we've had this discussion here on this forum before, and thus most people who have commented so far are probably aware that the use of these specific horses as ridden mounts in 'medieval' warfare is pure fantasy. The Mr.Z promo pics show fantasy figures riding them, so there isn't really an issue there, either.

If Shire horse websites are making erroneous claims, I imagine that is either out of genuine ignorance or a misguided attempt to make the breed seem more appealing to an uneducted general public who has only ever encountered these horses in films. I don't agree with misrepresenting animal breeds in that manner, but that's my guess as to why someone would claim that.

^this.

Most of the big European draught breeds have shared ancestry, and many of those horses were used in battle, but none of them were the massive, hairy and bulky breeds of today. I’m pretty sure Henry VIII introduced a law to encourage the breeding of taller horses, as the average was around 15hh, if that.

Shires and Clydesdales look impressive, and since they’ve been used in films and TV for it, unfortunately the misinformation has stuck.

The average ‘warhorse’ back in the day was probably around 15hh, stocky and far closer to the Iberian breeds of today - the Spanish Riding School with their ‘airs above the ground’ famously shows the movements that were originally trained into them for war.

Well said, Lynkhart. There's unfortunately a lot of misinformation about horses in general that is perpetuated via tv and movies, as what looks cool and dramatic on-screen is not always what is historically accurate or practical in real life. I grew up both riding horses *and* watching almost every movie with horses in it that I could get my hands on, so I was always acutely aware of the discrepancies. It's to the point that I pretty much just compartmentalise it all nowadays, or else I'd never be able to enjoy anything.. ;p

Same, I still get irked when they play the same angry horse noises whenever a horse does literally *anything* on screen.
Horses are actually pretty quiet most of the time, but Hollywood would have you believe they’re snorting and whinnying all the bloody time! XD

Don’t get me started on the use of Friesians in every historical period too.

Lynkhart wrote:Same, I still get irked when they play the same angry horse noises whenever a horse does literally *anything* on screen.
Horses are actually pretty quiet most of the time, but Hollywood would have you believe they’re snorting and whinnying all the bloody time! XD

OMG, this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine, too! LOL!

ETA: In my experience, horses will whinny in very specific circumstances... like if they are being let out into a pasture and being greeted by the other horses there, or if a new horse arrives at a stable and they all start whinnying to one another. Or, if it is feeding time....then the whole stable is noisey.

But it's also similar to what they do with 'wolves' on-screen, too. They always put this snarling/growling sound effect when the wolf enters the scene, when a wolf would be pretty damn quiet when sneaking up on anything! It wouldn't be growling it's head off...

Lynkhart wrote: Don’t get me started on the use of Friesians in every historical period too.

As much as I adore Friesians, I agree they are very overused on-screen. And while 'the Friesian' existed in earlier times, it would not have looked like the extremely tall, high stepping carriage horse and/or lean sporthorse versions of today.

Oh nothing beats the cacaphony of low whickering when the feed buckets get brought out! I used to help out after my riding lesson as a kid, and come 4/5pm all you’d hear was this rumbling coming from the stables, along with a few impatient door kicks.

Yeah, the wolves thing annoys me too, especially after I started following someone on Instagram who has a high content wolfdog and stresses the fact that no, wolfdogs don’t make good guard animals because they’re too much like their wolf ancestors and will flee from danger rather than confront it.

Yes!! People forget that they were bred for harness rather than riding!

Yeah, I’m well aware it’s pure fantasy that these draught horses were used as warhorses, but I don’t really care if I’m using it for a fantasy figure. Sheesh!

My gert clodhopper Myrtle who is a shire horse (actually i pay to go hacking or beach riding and she and I have become good friends)



the picture was taken a couple of years ago an Marazion beach you can see St Michaels mount in the background where they are currenly filming the prequal to game of thrones.

I went out with her today and had a great time cantering on the beach unfortunately on the way there my mind was elsewhere and she decided to compare her new shoes with my boots while my foot was in it..... It hurts!!

Nice photo, S. Myrtle looks like a sweet old gal. I’ve had a regular thoroughbred stand n my foot once, didn’t realize it was, and trying to get him off was excruciatingly painful — I couldn’t even imagine an even larger horse doing it. Yikes!

Oh she’s lovely! As much as I like my horses floofy, there’s just something really nice about ones with clipped out legs.
I’m pretty sure Rocket here, who I rode once on holiday, was partbred or possibly even full Clydesdale - he was certainly big enough!

Me and Rocket by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

That is indeed a large horse, Christine. Rocket looks like an enthusiast.

He certainly lived up to his name I can tell you! As you can no doubt tell from my general pose and expression, I was incredibly uneasy up there as we were a little bit late in arriving and my friend and I were just immediately shoved on horses without being given any other information, and he kept dancing on his toes and waving his head around before we’d even left the yard!

Lynkhart wrote:He certainly lived up to his name I can tell you! As you can no doubt tell from my general pose and expression, I was incredibly uneasy up there as we were a little bit late in arriving and my friend and I were just immediately shoved on horses without being given any other information, and he kept dancing on his toes and waving his head around before we’d even left the yard!

We had a similar experience with our thoroughbred when I was a kid. He must have been used in shows at one point, as he had a definite “march” to his canter and trot, and once he took off — holy cow! It was often times a bit frightening. He definitely was a runner, and loved to just be let loose, but his full-on gallop was actually fairly smooth, just incredibly scary as a kid. He was a real enthusiast, who liked to run full steam — he threw me several times right over his head when he would just come to a complete skid stop. I started to avoid riding him for our mare after that.

These ones were absolutely unsuitable for what we’d gone there for - it was a hunting yard rather than a riding school, so they all had zero brakes and absolutely nothing I’d class as ‘calm’ We’d give for a week’s holiday there and were told that if you didn’t want to go out on hacks you could have a lesson instead, but that turned out to be ‘rides with instruction’ so basically a hack, with someone telling you stuff at the same time.
Had I been a more confident rider I’d have enjoyed myself a lot more, but every ride felt like I was *this* close to coming off at speed, so that wasn’t quite as fun. Worth it for the beach rides later on though.

Nice pics, Delanie and Lynkhart!

Sounds like you had some really bad luck with that riding holiday, Lynkhart. So sorry it was such a frustrating experience. It's distressing when less confident or less experienced riders are just shoved onto a horse, makes me so nervous. Many years ago, before I actually lived in the UK, my sisters and I were here as tourists, and we went on a hack in Wales. I was experienced, but my sisters were less so. At one point, the person leading the hack had everyone start galloping through the hills. It was way too fast even for me, and I was so scared for my younger sisters. Thankfully they made it through unscathed, but I almost had a heart attack on their behalf.

Oh god, that sounds terrifying!

Yeah, I think if it had happened now I’d have spoken up about it but I was only 16 and it was the first time I’d ever been on holiday independently from my parents so it was a little intimidating! They used to do hacks with like 15 people of all ages and abilities, riding on the roads and at one point some kid’s pony spooked and went galloping down the thankfully empty road, and that set everyone else’s horse off as well. I vividly remember a complete beginner being put lead file because ‘the horse likes to be in front’ like??? If that’s the case then put a staff member on him, not some random guy who sits like he’s in his armchair at home and doesn’t know how to hold the reins!

Aww, yeah, that would be very intimidating. :/ My own experiences point to it being far more worthwhile to just attend one-on-one riding lessons.... somehow trail rides/hacks always end up being a bit iffy for me, unless I'm on a horse I already know very well. ;p

But back to the figure in question.... does anyone know if this is available for pre-order anywhere? For obvious reasons, I don't want to pre-order it from ebay. I'm hoping to get it from SPACE figuren (the german website) as they tend to have good deals on Mr Z horses, but it doesn't seem to have shown up there yet.

I haven’t seen it anywhere yet.

Stryker2011 wrote:I haven’t seen it anywhere yet.

Ah ok, thanks. Hope it actually shows up!

where to buy this? i hope it won't sell out like the other Mr.Z horse

agentghost wrote:where to buy this? i hope it won't sell out like the other Mr.Z horse

Where are you located? I just PO'd it from S.P.A.C.E. figuren (german store):

https://www.space-figuren.de/advanced_search_result.php?categories_id=&inc_subcat=1&keywords=mr+z+shire

Oh I thougt this would be the thread for that new seamless horse. Is there a thread for it yet?

Anyway, great pics of you riders!
And I also realyl like how MR Z always uses his personal customized figures for these promo shots.

Ovy wrote:Oh I thougt this would be the thread for that new seamless horse. Is there a thread for it yet?

What new seamless horse? Share a link, perhaps....? ;p

ETA: Is it another InFlames one? All I see are listings that are 'sold out'.

skywalkersaga wrote:

Ovy wrote:Oh I thougt this would be the thread for that new seamless horse. Is there a thread for it yet?

What new seamless horse? Share a link, perhaps....? ;p

ETA: Is it another InFlames one? All I see are listings that are 'sold out'.

Someone on another forum posted this, that's all the info I have:
https://www.hobbyfanclub.com/figure/soul-made-model-play/War-Horse-16-27-49424

Ovy wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

Ovy wrote:Oh I thougt this would be the thread for that new seamless horse. Is there a thread for it yet?

What new seamless horse? Share a link, perhaps....? ;p

ETA: Is it another InFlames one? All I see are listings that are 'sold out'.

Someone on another forum posted this, that's all the info I have:
https://www.hobbyfanclub.com/figure/soul-made-model-play/War-Horse-16-27-49424

Ah ok, thanks. I hadn't seen it. Looks ambitious, though I'm not sure about some of the anatomy and movement, especially the back legs.....

skywalkersaga wrote:

Ovy wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

Ovy wrote:Oh I thougt this would be the thread for that new seamless horse. Is there a thread for it yet?

What new seamless horse? Share a link, perhaps....? ;p

ETA: Is it another InFlames one? All I see are listings that are 'sold out'.

Someone on another forum posted this, that's all the info I have:
https://www.hobbyfanclub.com/figure/soul-made-model-play/War-Horse-16-27-49424

Ah ok, thanks. I hadn't seen it. Looks ambitious, though I'm not sure about some of the anatomy and movement, especially the back legs.....

Aaargh always with you horse people, never let's us ignorant plebs enjoy a bad horse we liked!

But yeah it's ambitious, I think the reason why noone else tried it yet in that scale is the price maybe. I want to know it and at the same time, I don't.

Ovy wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

Ovy wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:

Ovy wrote:Oh I thougt this would be the thread for that new seamless horse. Is there a thread for it yet?

What new seamless horse? Share a link, perhaps....? ;p

ETA: Is it another InFlames one? All I see are listings that are 'sold out'.

Someone on another forum posted this, that's all the info I have:
https://www.hobbyfanclub.com/figure/soul-made-model-play/War-Horse-16-27-49424

Ah ok, thanks. I hadn't seen it. Looks ambitious, though I'm not sure about some of the anatomy and movement, especially the back legs.....

Aaargh always with you horse people, never let's us ignorant plebs enjoy a bad horse we liked!

But yeah it's ambitious, I think the reason why noone else tried it yet in that scale is the price maybe. I want to know it and at the same time, I don't.

LOL, I'm sorry. I just feel I would be remiss if not mentioning inaccuracies, so that people can have better informed idea of what they are (potentially) purchasing...

Having had a look at it...it has potential, but oooft, some of those poses make me cringe. XD