Another Chalky QH Gelding

This is not the first time this has happened to me... I spend years YEARS looking for a model and not finding one. Not just not being in a position to buy it when it's for sale, but even finding one for sale at all. Nada. Then I find two within a month!

That's what happened with my hunt for a chalky buckskin Quarter Horse Gelding. Both colors of the QHG (buckskin and chestnut appaloosa) are pretty rare in chalky. That is surprising because they were both made well through the chalky era - I can only assume they weren't particularly big sellers so there were enough blank bodies still available from the early 70s to carry them mostly through the oil crisis era before they had to use regrind and basecoat, or chalky plastic (as are both my buckskins)

I found this guy on eBay and he wasn't listed as a chalky but I was around 90% sure from looking at the photos so I snapped him up! He arrived recently and is indeed chalky! He's also in amazing condition. I have a few little rubs to touch up and his gold halter buckles are tarnished but otherwise he's in really really great shape. Quite a step up from the very well loved fellow I got last month.

He's still going to be a fun project to work on restoring - but now this one will probably end up for resale once I get him fixed up.

One of my goal projects is to print a chalky field guide for people who like hard copy booklets so I'm always thrilled to get another example to photograph for the book, particularly when they're in good condition!

It can be so hard to tell chalkiness in photos and people often ask me what I look for. The brightness and whiteness of the rubs on this side were the primary tell for me that this was a chalky, along with the general "feel" but admittedly "feel" often goes wrong if people have messed with the brightness or clarity of the photos in post processing. Chalkly plastic is tough too because it doesn't have as many tells as basecoat chalky.

It's easy to confuse very bright white plastic with chalky plastic but it really does have a very distinct look to it - like the paint is sitting on top rather than blending in to the plastic

Everything looks crisper, like the sharpness has been dialed up