Give Me an "A"

Some time ago, when I was first bitten by the model horse collecting bug, I found myself adding new horses to my herd almost faster than I could name them.  

I like naming horses, but I was getting so many new ones all at once that I was running out of ideas for new names.  To solve my problem, I decided to start naming the new arrivals in alphabetical order, until I had all 26 letters of the alphabet represented.

Of course, I had way more than 26 horses, but it was a start.  Once I got them all listed I could see where I was overusing some letters (like "S") and underutilizing others (like "U").  After that I concentrated on creating names starting with the underused letters and avoiding adding names starting with the overused letters.

I don't do that anymore, but as a result of those efforts I still have horses whose names begin with every letter of the alphabet.

So I thought, from time to time, when I'm feeling uninspired (like now), I'd write a post introducing you to one of my horses, A through Z.  Today we start with "A."

"Afternoon in Vegas," Tennessee Walking Horse mare

"Afternoon in Vegas" is a Creata Winner's Choice Micro Horse -- one of the ones that Breyer eventually reproduced in the Mini Whinnies series.  She's the Running Walk Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) Mare, number 21 of the original 32 molds.

I like the paint jobs on some of the Breyers, but I liked the colour of this original Creata best, which was why I chose to keep her. 

"Afternoon in Vegas" was part of a set of four Creata TWHs originally sold together in one package.  Of the four, I have only this mare left.  The Sitting Foal was replaced by the Sitting Foal in a Creata Paint Horse Mare and Foal set and the Big Lick Walker and the Cantering TWH have both been replaced by Breyer Mini Whinnies in other colours.
 
I'm not really sure where her name came from.  I don't think it's related to the jazz standard "Afternoon in Paris" as I don't really know that song.  I suppose it's possible that I heard the name somewhere and it came back to me as "Afternoon in Vegas" when it was time to name this horse, but I doubt it.  

It seems to me much more likely that I was thinking of the song "Walking in Memphis" (which I love) and by free association came up with "Vegas" (Memphis-Elvis-Vegas).  How "Walking" became "Afternoon" I do not know, but getting to "Walking" from "Tennessee Walking Horse" is a pretty simple leap.

"Afternoon in Vegas" is now one of many "A" horses in my herd -- once we run through the alphabet one time I may introduce you to another.  In the meantime, we'll just have to wait to see what "B" will bring.