Full Spectrum: CM G3 Cantering Warmblood #1

Oliver would like you to know that he is donut-free, and that he greatly missed his toys, and that he does not apologize for making me late on this blog post because he suffered through eight days of restricted playtime and now requires me to play with him for hours every night as a catch-up, thank you very much.

 

In my last post about Equidae, I mentioned Rainbow Rave Live, an annual LGBTQ+ friendly show that benefits the Trevor Project. The next three posts will also feature models I got at RRL, so let me briefly talk about it.

 

My first time attending was in May 2023, less than a week after I mangled my right ankle tripping over air in my driveway. It was wonderfully swollen and appropriately fit into the rainbow theme of the show with all the bruising. I should have entered it in one of the fun classes. I'd have called it Three Severed Ligaments: A Color Study.

 

I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle the rigors of a show day, but the cause was really important to me and the hostess, Sarah, said she could put me at a table right next to the ring I was showing in the most, so I made the trek. I've been back every year since. It's a pretty awesome show, well-run with quality judges, rainbow tablecloths, callback tables for each division (best idea EVER), hilarious fun classes, and a huge raffle.

 

In 2025, I was lucky enough to win three rainbow custom Stablemates from the raffle, so that's who I'll be talking about over the next few posts. Here's the first one, a G3 Cantering Warmblood in rainbow leopard appaloosa. His spots are haloed in silver to match his hooves, which is a neat effect. The Cantering Warmblood is one of my favorite G3 molds; I have 21 original finish and four customs.

 

Funny story – Sarah (the hostess) was pulling tickets and announcing raffle item winners toward the end of the show. She announced that someone had dropped the “Keep This Ticket” halves into the cup instead of the half we were supposed to write our name on. I heard the announcement, but I was up to my eyeballs in judging a huge Breyer division and figured it wasn't me, so I ignored it.

 

I managed to make it back to my table a little while later and glanced at my raffle tickets – which didn’t say “Keep This Ticket” on them, and also had my name written on the back. I was like, oh no, did I forget to put them in?! But I couldn't find the "Keep This Ticket" sides, and I definitely remembered dropping my tickets into the cup with the rainbow Stablemates, because they were what I wanted the most. Then the light bulb went on - what if I was the ding-dong who dropped the wrong tickets in? I went over to the raffle table, where the three Stablemates were still sitting in front of their raffle cup. Sarah had taped the winning ticket to the cup, and sure enough, it was mine. Oops!

 

All's well that ends well, though, because I still got to bring home three cool handmade rainbow ponies.