Thunder and Lightning

Meet Thunder and Lightning - our horses. Why am I telling you about them? Well not only are they part of our family, but they represent everything good about Second Life. Lightning is the white horse and hardly surprising that he's Maels. Thunder is the cute little black horse, and the best present I could have had.

Lightning on the left, looking after Thunder on the right.

I never really thought about owning a horse, but it was my special surprise rez day present. And it was a surprise. A package got delivered - I opened it. Hey presto, there was a horse standing in the living room. She wouldn't fit in the lift to go outside either. Having got over that little problem I set about seeing what she could do. (Good job SL allows us to move things by editing them)

Now no disrespect to anyone else who makes horses, but Mael spent a long time looking for one, and I believe he found one of the best on SL. (And I'm very grateful that he didn't choose the one that provides something to put on your SL rhubarb). The people who made Thunder and Lightning quite obviously have an RL love for horses, and it shows in the time they've put in to creating their SL animals.

In sl terms, these are quality items. Not only do they look the part, but they act it too. When we put them in their paddock, they neigh and whinny, stamp their feet, swish their tails and move their ears. Exactly as you would expect an RL horse to be. I've spent many a time just standing watching them, and it really is as close to watching the real thing as you can get. You even get a pose ball and brush to groom them too.

When you ride you can trot, gallop and even jump. I haven't quite managed to time the jumps yet, but Thunder does very well even if I mistime it. Having never ridden a horse (except for a pony trek when I was a kid and my horse just followed the one in front), I can't comment on how realistic riding Thunder is. I do know that it's very relaxing after a stressful day, and even more relaxing standing brushing her. You can even get them to do tricks too, and each pose has been carefully designed.

In fact they are so realistic I found myself talking to Thunder once - and I mean talking. I think that's how you can tell the quality items - you really do interact as if they are the real thing.

We hear a lot about what's bad in SL - the lag, the failing tp's, the griefers and beggars - that it's nice sometimes to remember that there are still some good things to be found. To me Thunder and Lightning represent everything that's good. Yes, they cost a few lindens, but the time and effort that went in to them makes them worth it. The creator has gone to great lengths to make something as realistic as possible, and they have certainly succeeded. The poses, the moves and the sounds have all been painstakingly made and created and there are so many different styles and sizes available too. Thanks to their efforts we now have to additions to our SL family, which are every bit as real as they could be.

It's nice to be able to stand looking out of my window at something which reminds me what Second Life should be about. Creativity, design and caring people.

And let's see if this link works - they came from AKK Ranch.