Breyer Tractor Supply blind bag series 4 chase piece

I just had a very exciting evening and wanted to share! I was at Tractor Supply (a US farm supply chain that often has its own Breyer special runs if you aren't familiar) picking up feed for work and I decided on a whim to pick up some Breyer blind bags, because I have poor impulse control. I wasn't familiar with this series yet and only had the back of the bags to go on, but I saw two that I liked and via feel I was pretty sure I had secured them. There was a third, however, that didn't match any of the molds on the back by feel. I KNEW which mold it was, because the vaulting draft has a very distinctive tail, so I guessed it must be a chase.

And it was! A beautiful decorator wedgewood blue pinto. His color was super hard to capture correctly in a photo, it's a soft blue gray, almost desaturated enough to pass as a blue roan (without dark points). I don't know if this is the only chase of this series (the packaging suggests two?), but I feel really lucky to have stumbled on one. I rarely go for blind bags and prefer the security of paying a little more second hand for the ones I really like, but this was a risk well worth it I think. :) The price for individual blind bags has increased like everything else, but still MUCH more affordable than getting them opened at this point - especially the chase pieces!

The other two did end up being the two I thought they were as well - the buckskin Connemara and the bay pinto fell pony, both of which are really nice! This is my first Connemara mold and I really like it. I don't have one of the traditional size, either, but now I am tempted to someday add one . . .

Here's all three together in some outdoor lighting in an attempt to get the correct blue:

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And some close ups:

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Fantastic! I think it's only the second regular run of the Connermara and Fell Pony and they are very beautiful. I think you got the best ones of the lot. Do they say what breed the Fell Pony sculpt is? (Fell Ponies aren't normally pinto, I think.) I am hoping that this series will come to the UK at some point and that I'll manage to find these two. To get the drafter is of course even more special, well done identifying it in the closed bags.

What I don't understand is why Breyer put a number underneath them. Not so visible in the horses you got, but it seems unnecessary.

I'm not sure I understand, you go to a store, to touch tails because you can't control your impulses and you want to share your excitment with us?
I have no idea what I'm writing, anyway.
I am really happy for your luck which is not just luck since you didn't picked it up randomly.
All those figures are beautiful, the Fell pony with these colors almost looks like a Gypsy vanner.

All 3 of these are lovely, congrats! I love that blue pinto draft.

Ooh, yes, the squeezing of bags to try figuring out what's inside I managed to identify the Alborozo and Magnolia I needed by a bit of careful manipulation of a whole load of packets (this was pre-covid on a trade stand at a horse show - since then I've had to buy online and don't get chance to feel my way through them!)

I agree that you got the nicest of the batch, the Connemara looks really good in a true Connemara colour, and the Fell makes a great little cob pony - and funnily enough I've done customs of those exact colours on those moulds!

I also agree that the numbering thing is pretty horrible, especially when they place it so it's visible on the 'good' side of the horse, instead of right under the belly or on the non-display side. The fell gets away with it cos his number's on the other side, but the other two can't.
They're lovely colours, and I can see why you're pleased with them, but honestly, that numbering would put me off wanting to buy them. It's ruining the realism and there's no way to get a photo which doesn't show it unless you face the mould the opposite way (which isn't the photogenic side for either of those, cos they have turned heads/necks)

I seem to remember someone (on here?) got number-marked Stablemates once before, the batch of blind bags called Handful Of Horses which was available in the USA first. Theirs had the numbers but mine, bought here in the UK the following year, didn't have anything on them except the usual moulded-in Breyer logo under the belly. So fingers crossed if we do get them here, it'll be the same again.
Could it be some sort of US-law rule to do with labelling or batch numbers, and the international shipments don't have to have them?
If I was a US collector I'd be seriously looking into buying my Stablemates back from Europe, to avoid having numbers stuck across my poor little horses!

Congrats

Thanks everyone!

rogerpgvg wrote:

Fantastic! I think it's only the second regular run of the Connermara and Fell Pony and they are very beautiful. I think you got the best ones of the lot. Do they say what breed the Fell Pony sculpt is? (Fell Ponies aren't normally pinto, I think.)

It is identified only as "pinto pony" on the package. I like George's interpretation of it as a cob pony.

Quote :

What I don't understand is why Breyer put a number underneath them. Not so visible in the horses you got, but it seems unnecessary.

I don't know why these numbers are something they do now, or how it is determined which have to have them, or why they are placed so horribly! I am lucky I don't do anything with mine but look at them on the shelf.

Roger wrote:

I'm not sure I understand, you go to a store, to touch tails because you can't control your impulses and you want to share your excitment with us?
I have no idea what I'm writing, anyway.

Yes - exactly.

George wrote:

I also agree that the numbering thing is pretty horrible, especially when they place it so it's visible on the 'good' side of the horse, instead of right under the belly or on the non-display side. The fell gets away with it cos his number's on the other side, but the other two can't.
They're lovely colours, and I can see why you're pleased with them, but honestly, that numbering would put me off wanting to buy them. It's ruining the realism and there's no way to get a photo which doesn't show it unless you face the mould the opposite way (which isn't the photogenic side for either of those, cos they have turned heads/necks)

I seem to remember someone (on here?) got number-marked Stablemates once before, the batch of blind bags called Handful Of Horses which was available in the USA first. Theirs had the numbers but mine, bought here in the UK the following year, didn't have anything on them except the usual moulded-in Breyer logo under the belly. So fingers crossed if we do get them here, it'll be the same again.
Could it be some sort of US-law rule to do with labelling or batch numbers, and the international shipments don't have to have them?
If I was a US collector I'd be seriously looking into buying my Stablemates back from Europe, to avoid having numbers stuck across my poor little horses!

That's interesting, I have no idea but it's very frustrating! Like you said, it ruins it for anyone showing their horses and in general is just unappealing. Fine enough for me, as mentioned, since I'm the only one who ever looks at them, but I'd be really put out if I was trying to get show worthy models. (Both of the regular ones have paint flaws as well, I think many collectors might even consider them "bodies" though my idea of a body is much, much more damaged!).

Congrats,some truly lovely little horses!!!

Tractor Supply has some Christmas leftover Breyers on steep discount. Got this set super cheap. I haven't opened it- it's going in the sell/trade pile. But it was real cheap even for 1 of the horses.
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I would be interested in this set,Kelly.

It's all yours then, Taylor!
P.S. I paid $4 for this set. I stopped at a different Tractor Supply, and their sale wasn't near as good- $10 for the same. So YMMV.

Thank you so much,Kelly.

Thank you for the heads up! I'll have to see if I can get down there this week and see if they have anything left.