Schleich Zebra Family

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately, guys. Every time I've tried to write it's just... fizzled out. Honestly, it just feels as if my brain is full of fog at the moment. But you're not here to read about that.

When I was a little kid I had a fantasy of one day taming and riding a zebra. As I grew up I came to realise that part of the beauty of the zebra is their wild and free nature, and whilst my fantasy faded my love for these equines has continued down to this day. A small collection of model zebra has slowly built up on my shelves, and when I saw Schleich's zebra family I knew that one day I'd like to add them to my little herd.

The stallion and foal came to me second hand as part of a lot of other Schleich animals from a seller. Once I'd bought them I set about looking for the mare to complete the family.

 I'd actually gone into the last shop that sells Schleich models in my town (that I know of, at least) looking for Schleich cats when I saw her. There were no cats on the shelves, but there was a lone zebra mare.

 She was in pretty good condition for a shelf model, so I seized the chance and bought her. I like the fact that Schleich's zebra actually look like real zebra, and I think the brown shading is a really nice extra detail. I'd have liked more realism in their face stripes, though.

 As you can see from her off side, my mare has a few painting flaws. Truth be told, though, I actually really like the spot on her back. It may not be realistic, but it definitely gives her character :)

You can't see from the photo, but she does have small udders, and I like that her hooves are carved underneath.

 Daddy and baby arrived the next day. The stallion's face is less well painted than the mare's, and sculpted a bit too narrow in my opinion. But I like the fact that he's a different sculpture, not just the same mould with male parts.

 Like his mate he's also got gentle brown shading on his mane, tail and hooves. There's something very solid and wise about this guy, like he's lived on the open plains all his life and he's got the skills and the strength to protect his family from anything that threatens them.

  His hooves are also carved out underneath, and I like the gentle flick to his tail, as though it's blowing softly in the Serengeti breeze.

 Last up is their little baby, who has got to be one of the cutest foals I have ever seen!

 Whilst the other babies are bounding around and getting up to mischief, this little girl seems shy and nervous of the bustling crowds. Probably only a few days old, she hasn't yet got the confidence to venture far from Mama's side.

 Just like Mum and Dad, baby has gentle brown shading on her hooves and top line, and she's got just the sweetest little face imaginable. Her legs are a bit thick, and her hooves and fetlocks lack definition, but that little face more than makes up for it.

 Unlike her parents, baby's hooves aren't carved underneath, which seems a little odd. Maybe this mould was sculpted before the others, I don't know. But it's a minor issue on an otherwise adorable model.

I haven't come up with any names for these guys yet. I tried looking for inspiration on zoo and wildlife park websites, to see what they named their real zebras, but so far all the sites I've looked at haven't listed their animals' names. It seems fitting to give them authentic African names, so I'll probably just have to keep looking until I find anything that suits them.