About Me
Hi and welcome to my site!
My name is Sam Helton, I was born and raised in the UK but moved to the USA with my family in 2007. My husband, 2 children and I now live with a small zoo of crazy animals in Northern Virginia, just west of Washington DC.
I started collecting model horses at the age of 2 when I found a fuzzy plastic pony in a souvenir shop while we were on holiday. I loved that pony and took him everywhere with me, unfortunately he must have gotten lost at some point as he just disappeared one day. This still makes me very sad. However, he was the start of a lifelong obsession with all things horse and will never be forgotten.
I have always loved playing with toy horses, my best friend Sue and I would hold small shows in my living room, first with Sindy and Barbie horses, then with Breyers. We would make rosettes and trophies and my Mum would be the judge. The famous Pony magazine article in 1981 opened my eyes to the fact that there were other people out there as obsessed as we were and we soon joined Model Horses Unlimited. I took part in photo and postal shows and then sometime in the late 80's went to my first live show.
I don't remember who hosted the show but it was in somebody's house. It was an incredible experience and I had an amazing day. There were quite a few collectors there including Marian Rickerby who had some of Dawn Walsh's huge collection there to sell. On the windowsill was the most beautiful palomino pony I had ever seen. I had never seen a Julip before but it was truly love at first sight. I asked to pick her up and knew I had to have her, another collector was interested but saw how much I loved her and said I could have her, I will always be grateful to her!
I called her Abbeymore Pink Fizz, she is a palomino Julip Welsh Pony. I guess she was a fair few years old then and I have owned her now for 30+ years so she is probably around 40 years old. She is still in great condition, just a little cracking of her legs and even though now I have almost 40 Julips (vintage, HOTY and Originals), she will always be my favourite.
My name is Sam Helton, I was born and raised in the UK but moved to the USA with my family in 2007. My husband, 2 children and I now live with a small zoo of crazy animals in Northern Virginia, just west of Washington DC.
I started collecting model horses at the age of 2 when I found a fuzzy plastic pony in a souvenir shop while we were on holiday. I loved that pony and took him everywhere with me, unfortunately he must have gotten lost at some point as he just disappeared one day. This still makes me very sad. However, he was the start of a lifelong obsession with all things horse and will never be forgotten.
I have always loved playing with toy horses, my best friend Sue and I would hold small shows in my living room, first with Sindy and Barbie horses, then with Breyers. We would make rosettes and trophies and my Mum would be the judge. The famous Pony magazine article in 1981 opened my eyes to the fact that there were other people out there as obsessed as we were and we soon joined Model Horses Unlimited. I took part in photo and postal shows and then sometime in the late 80's went to my first live show.
I don't remember who hosted the show but it was in somebody's house. It was an incredible experience and I had an amazing day. There were quite a few collectors there including Marian Rickerby who had some of Dawn Walsh's huge collection there to sell. On the windowsill was the most beautiful palomino pony I had ever seen. I had never seen a Julip before but it was truly love at first sight. I asked to pick her up and knew I had to have her, another collector was interested but saw how much I loved her and said I could have her, I will always be grateful to her!
I called her Abbeymore Pink Fizz, she is a palomino Julip Welsh Pony. I guess she was a fair few years old then and I have owned her now for 30+ years so she is probably around 40 years old. She is still in great condition, just a little cracking of her legs and even though now I have almost 40 Julips (vintage, HOTY and Originals), she will always be my favourite.
Once I had encountered Julips it wasn't long before I heard about Rydals. Having seen pictures I knew that I absolutely had to have one but it seemed a distant possibility. I dreamed of Rydals for many years but in 2007, just after we moved to the States, Sue mentioned there were 3 on eBay. I don't remember the 3rd horse but there was a grey Arab and a pony. The second I saw the auction photos of the pony there was no going back, he had to be mine.
Time crawled slowly as I ate, slept and dreamed Rydal pony for 6 agonisingly long days, watching the price climb higher and higher and getting outbid time and time again. In the last hour of the auction I was in the basement with my laptop and a strong cup of tea, glued to eBay and messaging with Sue at the same time. My heart was pounding so loud I was sure my family could hear it upstairs. At one point I said to Sue "I'm going to have a heart attack" She said she would call an ambulance, I told her to "make sure to bid first!"
The minutes counted down and with 4 seconds to go I typed in my final bid. I don't remember what I typed, I know it was more than I should have, or could afford, but I would have done anything. It's all a blur but in the end it went my way. He was mine. I squeeled so loud my husband came running to see if I was OK. I was ecstatic.
The long week and a half waiting for him to make his way across the Atlantic was pure torture. I was so worried he would be stolen, the plane would be lost in the Bermuda triangle, he would be a latex blob when he arrived... You get the picture. But the moment I opened that box it was all worth it. He does have some damage to his nose that I have since repaired, and he has to be kept in the dark as his tummy is a bit gooey (whimper), but I wouldn't trade him for the world. His name is Mynydd Marshmallow.
I had seen the Equorum horses and knew I would get one at some point, but it wasn't until I saw the Bedouin Arabian that I fell in love. My husband bought one for me as a valentines day present and he was quickly followed by a lovely donkey from a load the lorry. That was it for a couple of years but I have recently added, ahem, 9 more, including portrait models of my current horse, Clue, and my first pony, Cookie. I still love my first Bedouin though, his name is My Funny Valentine.
Earlier this year I heard that Donna Chaney had started making her own latex horses, the RubberNedz. Fascinated, I contacted Donna about them but with no reply. Later that week I got an email from Donna asking if I had seen her new RubberNedz! She sent a price list and I drooled over the photos of the available models. I decided my first would be a Dartmoor but I couldn't decide on a colour. My husband agreed to buy him for my birthday and that we could even meet Donna at Breyerfest to pick him up.
I was even more excited about Breyerfest that usual, I couldn't wait for July. Finally the day came and we set off on the 10 hour drive to Kentucky. We just had time to drop off our cases and grab a quick meal before I dragged everyone to the Artisan's Gallery. Donna's table was a delight as usual! She had some stunning horses on there including 3 RubberNedz Dartmoors, a bay, a grey unicorn and a lovely silver dapple who I was instantly drawn to. Donna said she had been hoping I would like him and that she would see if she could get him haired over the weekend.
The next evening, after a great day at Breyerfest, we headed back to the holiday inn. Donna was making another sale but she nodded towards the corner of her table and there he was! Complete with a long flowing mane and tail. Beautiful! I didn't put him down for the whole weekend, or since then really. I have a chestnut Arabian mare on order for Christmas as well and I would love to add more eventually. Maybe next Breyerfest :D
I show him as a Welsh Section A, this is Mynydd Treacle Pudding.
I have always loved the handmade, felt horses and ponies. My first was a beautiful Palomino APIS who I was extremely lucky to win in the raffle at a MHU live show, probably in the early 90s. I called her Mynydd Buttercup. *I am noticing a theme here, apart from valentine, all my CFT 'firsts' have been Welsh ponies!*
In the early 2000's I bought 3 felt models made by Laura Bond. I did photoshows with them and they all did well in SJR and TDA postal shows along with my Julips. Then last year, I used Atomic Snowball as a pony for my Kelly doll Ruth in her photostories and I started looking around for more. I bought 2 needlefelted ponies and even a knitted paint horse.
These and the Julips formed the start of Oak Valley Farm. Initially a side setting for Ruth's photostories but which soon grew into an entire room of my house. I made stables, paddocks, an arena, and tack and props. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting back into making things, taking photographs and setting up scenes. And buying more horses to fill it of course! Most of the horses have their stories on Ruth's site, (see links above), but I thought that the models themselves could have an informational site as well, like an online copy of my records binder. Mainly so I could keep a track of them all! So here we are! Please enjoy looking through the photos and check out Ruth's site as well. ~Sam :)