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New regulations and requirements regarding customs forms have gone into effect as of Sept 1. I am unable to meet those requirements at the present time.
Short Answer:
International shipments will cease indefinitely (with only a few exceptions) until the shipping sites get their stuff together. There are ways to streamline things... and they haven't. Until they do, Rio Rondo will not be doing International Shipments.
Longer Answer
September, 2025
I have recently confirmed that some leathers are no longer going to be available. This is going to include Chamois and Japanese Plonge at this time.
The ongoing issues with Sheepskin Skiver are still not resolved.
I do still have a small amount of the Japanese Plonge.
Meanwhile, you can find a little more info on the discontinued leathers on the Leathers Page
NEW! Nappa Pig Leather
A new leather has been added and I consider this to be an excellent replacement for Black Japanese Plonge. This leather is only .5mm thick, has a satiny finish with fine texture, and the reverse side is a soft suede... much like the LJP.
For more information or to order, check out Nappa Pig here.
Leather Re-Stocking
Some of our leathers such as Lambskin and Sheepskin have been restocked. More will be coming in a few weeks.
Due to the lack of Chamois now, we will be replacing it in future Western Saddle Kits with suede. Current kits will still have the chamois pieces in them, until we run out.
I have picked a suede color for the time being, called "Stone", and that's the color recommended for lining the underside of your saddles. Outside of some type of off-white or buff color to simulate sheepskin, I don't know there's a reason you can't use any color you want. A lot of saddles these days are made with "imitation" fleece as it is.
But, in recognition of all that, I've created a new part number, which you'll find on the Suede Leathers Page.
This item is LKIT33 and is a 3x3" piece of suede in "Stone" color, which is the size used in the saddle kits for the liner.
Recently some of our etched stock arrived and boosted our available items. We have more that have come in since, and those items should be added to our stocks over the coming week. I can't recall at the moment which items those are... but it will fill in some gaps. So keep an eye out!
Summertime, 2025
Yes, I know I've been largely incommunicado for quite some time. The life situation continues to be a challenge for me, regardless of how I try to manage things. But, hope springs eternal and I endeavor to keep up and do better... some days work out a bit better than others on that score.
The honest truth is that I've bitten off more than I can chew overall. There just isn't enough time or energy in a day to attend to everything that requires attending. So sometimes orders don't get entered or processed as quick as I'd like, emails don't always get answered in a timely manner (sometimes not at all). It is not intentional, but the sad truth is that I haven't yet found many ways to make things go easier or better.
So here are some updates on things, so you can know a little bit of what is on tap.
New Sales Agent/Representative for Painted Resin Horses
Tammi Palmarchuk has been designated as my Official Agent/Representative, to tackle the details of selling any painted resin horses that I manage to complete now and in the near future. Please note that this does NOT include any Custom/Commissioned orders, past or future. This just applies to sales models.
Any pieces that Tammi will be offering on my behalf, will be new pieces, and payment would be made directly to me/Rio Rondo, and the model will ship from my location in the US.
Typically I usually have a few sales horses I work on alongside commissions. I was able to complete a piece earlier this year, but when I thought to put it somewhere for people to know about, I discovered the hobby landscape had changed on that front. After some thought and discussion, it makes sense to me at this time to have someone else deal with sales details, and here we are. I thank Tammi for her help in this matter.
There are a few other pieces in various stages of completion that will be offered for sale over the coming months.
Meanwhile, I am still working on finishing the last group of models I'd accepted for Custom work (like from 2019/2020 or so), and while I do plan to accept new commissions in the future, old work needs to be completed first. Things in general also need to get on a bit more stable ground, so that such dastardly long delays aren't going to be such a factor. However, once I do get to a place to accept new commissioned work, I will be dealing with that myself, directly with a customer.
Saddle Kits Are Back in Stock
The primary hangup was not being able to get skiver. When we were able to get a tannery run, it took forever and then it got lost in shipping. The tannery did another run, and we're still waiting to hear more on that. Meanwhile, we've secured a very small supply (at a rather high cost) which allows us to provide the Traditional Scale Western Saddle kits again.
Classic scale western saddle kits are in the works.
Unfortunately, we still will not have Skiver leather available for general purchase until everything shakes out.
Silver Etchings
With a wee bit of luck we'll be getting the next silver production run going by the end of this week. It will be a bit of a "short run" in that we won't be able to restock everything we're out of. But we will be producing slotted halter rings, buckles and a few other things.
As with everything, inflation is taking its toll. There will be some price changes as we go.
GOLD Etchings
I know – the lack of gold etchings is a thorn in everyone's side, including mine. Every time I think I can swing it, some other issue rears its head, to block it.
Keep an eye out on this news spot for further announcements.
General Re-Stocking
Over the next few months, we'll be working on restocking as much of the other items that we can, that we're presently out of. That would include various leathers, tools, supplies etc.
Resin-Cast Horses
Yes, we're still getting them made... and if we're out... what you do is email us. First person who orders and pays for a model we're out of, gets a discount on it. We usually get a few extra and update the Availability page , but... you might not get lucky on your timing with that. But you'll always get lucky if you order what can be available as an advance order.
As for sculptures, while I have pieces of bodies around here to someday finish up, I'm not at all sure when or how that will come about. I haven't given up, but it's probably going to be awhile. While I can sit here as I type this and have a million plans in my head for things to do, things I should do, and all that... the fact is I can't juggle any more things than I already am.
BUT! As I get some issues cleared from the decks, I'll be rolling new projects in (or getting back to older ones).
News List and Related Matters
We used to have a news list. That went defunct... or at least became useless to us when half to 2/3 of the subscribers didn't get the emails. You can thank Google, Yahoo, and other major free-email players for that and their spam algorithms. There was nothing we could do to get past that besides go with some large 3rd party firm, like MailChimp, Constant Comment and others.
So I looked into some third-party options...oh, the price! While I actually needed very little (I had NO plans to bombard subscribers with daily emails... maybe 2-4 times a month!) the cheap to free portions of their offerings... either did not cover the number of subscribers we needed to, or the one or two features I felt we needed and wanted. But for a higher price... sure... much is possible. And then there was the upselling... so they could mine data for you from your customers and also sell it on to everyone else on the internet. For a fee, of course.
I did try to figure out how to set things up with MailChimp... and the learning curve of how to set things up was a bit steep. I got a little bit started to get the "look and feel" I was after... only to find I was stuck with altering existing templates. Anything a little more custom... there's a fee, and preferably with a year's contract.
I looked into maybe getting a presence on FaceBook... y'all tell me that's where a lot of the action is. Well... to have a "business" presence there, was going to cost me somewhere around $50/mo just for the basics. Not to mention that I knew I wasn't going to have time to be scrolling a FB feed, or participating much that way. I'm sure FB followers would want me to (but then, who will pack the orders?) FB also was trying to upsell me on extra packages of stuff.
Sure, I could go with a personal account, and then be limited with what I could link (or sell) and also end up having family and business stuff all mingled. And likely a whole bunch of people mad at me for not liking their posts or something. It's not that I wouldn't... but as you know FB can really take up the time... and I know this by watching other people deal with it.
Well, the jury's still out on where things end up with that in the long run. My best suggestion is to check this page from time to time. I am going to try to be more regular on this page.
Other News of Note
There's a lot behind the scenes here that most people are never going to see, or even know about. There's been a lot of personal turmoil that's hampered things here, no doubt about it.
In late 2020, I had decided to help Gary out with his health issues and eventual amputation... and while initially we all thought that would be a temporary thing... it now looks to be a permanent situation. At least as far as anyone can tell at this time. Recently, Gary was once more diagnosed with cancer. At this time, things look good on that front and we'll see how things go over the coming year. He also has continual setbacks with the infirmities of his feet, and some new issues recently came to light.
So we carry on, despite it all. Gary has long been an integral part of Rio Rondo, and is always appreciated to help develop new products, offer advice and input into much of the decision-making that goes on as well as being a good house-guest at this point (along with his 2 corgi-mix dogs). So if you try to call and can't get hold of anyone, it might be because we're going to some doctor or whatever. Or post office, or something. Email is best, to be honest, although we do understand if you wish to convey certain info over the phone rather than the internet. Just be sure to leave a message about that.
But also, some issues mean that Gary isn't, and hasn't been able to do as much as he used to regarding the business. Quite frankly, he's lost most of his mobility. As of this year, he is now officially "retired". So he helps when he can, primarily with orders and emails. And, counting parts etc. His efforts are well and truly needed and appreciated.
However, that means that a lot of things I used to hire other people for... is now done by... yours truly.
That includes all packing/shipping, incoming inventory, all errands, medical travel, pet care, cooking, household stuff and so forth. Much of this is manageable... during normal times. It can still be a bit of a strain but not insane. Even so, when one's day is taken up doing all the little tasks to keep things going, it doesn't allow for the same amount of time I used to have for painting, sculpting, new product development... or even attending to some of the products we're supposed to be carrying.
There's also been a number of family issues... not "drama" so much as just the things that change over time. Growing grandkids, aging parents, adult kids that sometimes still need their Mom. I often feel some pretty strong pangs of nostalgia too... missing some of the good times in the past... and missing some of my hobby friends! Oh how we used to get together and talk ourselves into comas at live shows!
Not to mention, hoping my customers... those who have been around for decades, as well as new "converts" to this wonderful hobby... are doing ok. Still around doing the model things.
But, the world really has gone insane since 2020 (if you know what I mean) and then the inflation issues, holy cow! The simple fact is that a LOT of things changed since then, and fast. What things cost, how they were done, how you deal with things (mail, email, text? everyone expects something different.) Price changes for supplies, suppliers quitting, products no longer available, shipping costs, taxes, insurance, repairs and more all went up in cost and changed faster than I could keep up and keep solvent.
Over the coming months, I'll be rectifying what I can of those various issues. I can't say exactly how some things will go, but at least I have a few ideas. Hopefully things will hold still just long enough to get a few of them done. I'm trying to get on a roll here... one that lasts more than 63 seconds!
This has been a heck of a go the last few years, but we're still working towards things lining out a bit and getting back on a more predictable track in the coming months.
I wish to thank all and every one of you for being patient, and continuing to support what we're doing here for the model horse hobby (and others!)
Have you Seen Miss Mattie?
Painted by Tammi Palmarchuk
Painted by Tammi Palmarchuk
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