My Breyer Stablemates: G1 Drafter and another Appaloosa

Maybe George can help again. There are two distinct types of Friesians. The classic Baroque type, heavier and more typical to the breed and the sport horse, these are often not black. Could it this newer one be considered a Sport Horse type?
Does it exist in black? It is really a beautiful model.
Also, if it is not a big trouble for you, could you take a comparison picture with the Fell pony?

Honestly, I think it's just Breyer not being very precise about scaling in the Stablemates range
Just from the moulds I can see from where I'm sitting, the G3 Arabian dwarfs the G2 TB. The Smart Chic QH is taller than the G2 Clydesdale. The G4 Mustang would be a giant if it had it's head up. Django is definitely one of the really tall ones, but a lot of recent moulds just don't scale properly with the older breeds.
I think it might be cos the sculpts are done a bit more randomly now - the G2s were all made by the same person at the same time. So were the G3s. So each batch had a sort of consistency because the artist made sure their own works were all roughly in scale with each other. The newer SM moulds (mostly introduced one or two per year via the Collectors Club) are often one-off pieces by varying artists, rather than a whole set of ten or twelve by the same person. They're commissioned to do a mini-scale sculpt, and that's what they create, but anyone who's seen or collected artist resins knows that the actual size of 'mini' or 'stablemate' varies wildly from person to person, company to company

I love the Django mould, despite the fact they'd be enormous if they were real! It's got such a sparky, alert face and pose, and the head is very handsome.

Here is a comparison between Django and the Indian pony. The pony looks large even compared to the large Friesian.
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No, Django hasn’t been made in completely black. This Friesian [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] looks similar to Django.

You are probably right, George. There is less consistency in size with the new models, because they were made by different sculptors.

Now let’s have a look at one of my favourites (I know, I have many), the Rearing Andalusian. I already had this sculpt and even though I am mainly collecting different sculpts, I could not resist. It’s a great sculpt, and this one (2006-2008) is painted in a particularly interesting way. “Identify your Breyer” says that he is dappled rose grey.
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Here he is with my other Rearing Andalusian. They look very different and I am very fond of both.
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Sorry, Rogério, I now see that you wanted a comparison with the fell pony. I'll show you later.

There is no bay in the Friesian breed (that one in the linked photo is chestnut - note the pale lower legs, and the mane and tail are red like the body), so this colour Django would have to be a cross.
I can't remember what breed I put for mine, but I know saddlebred x Friesian is quite popular in the USA to make a flashy high-action riding horse, the various warmbloods crossed with Friesian are used for dressage, and he's even light enough that you could go for TB x Friesian. Any of those would work for his bay colour.

Thanks, horse colours are still difficult for me to recognise. With his long legs and slim torso, Django looks a bit similar to the G2 American Saddlebred, so yes, I can easily imagine it as a Saddlebred x Friesian cross.

Here is the Django - Fell pony comparison. My largest vs. my smallest Stablemate.
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Thanks Roger for this last picture, it was exactly what I wanted to see. These ponies are like mini Frisians. Also very interesting the link of a crossbreed fox Friesian.
This last Andalusian is absolutely spectacular, you could use your rose grey as a Lusitano, it represents quite fairly the Portuguese breed. Though, I see the pair of Andalusians looks different because one is dancing Sevillanas and the other one is dancing Flamenco. All from Al-Andalus culture.

Whatever he is, Django is beautiful! As is that Andalusian too!

I really like the Django mold, as I like all sculpts by Josine Vingerling I think it's wonderful to see so much diversity in the new Stablemates, as it makes it easier to find something for everyone. I still need to buy myself Django too.

The cross between Friesian and ASB can be recognized as Georgian Grande breed [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Another possibility for this boy could be Warlander - a cross between Lusitano and Friesian: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] the chestnut Friesian from the link is possibly purebred, the color can exist within the breed as two black horses can sometimes have a chestnut foal (if both parents are heterozygous black the chance for a chestnut offspring is 25%). But two black horses can never have a bay foal.

The rose-grey rearing Andalusian has surprisingly beautiful paintwork! Is it a special run or maybe Premier Club edition?

Great colour on the rearing Andalusian and great info on Django as well and like a lesson in horse genetics as well!!

Roger-there is a really good book on horse colour and genetics called Horse colour explained-A breeders perspective by Jeanette Gower.

Thanks, I need to find that book. It’s amazing that two black horses can produce a chestnut offspring; I’d have assumed that the mare had an affair.

The dappled Rearing Andalusian is from a Stablemates Single Horse Assortment, so not really a special run; I think they were sold on cards.

Talking about special runs, I got a few of these too. They can be expensive when they are sold as “Buy it now” on Ebay, but they sometimes go for more reasonable prices at auction. As Ana suggests, Breyer often puts more care and detail into the painting of the special run horses, so they can be more attractive (not always).

The first special run horse is a “Walking thoroughbred”, also known as “Greyson”. I bought him because I like his colours and it’s still a fairly hard-to-find sculpt. It was issued for the Stablemates Collectors’ Club in 2019. Collectors’ Club models are only sold to members of this club. It came in the original box, still attached to it:
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As you may know, I like boxes. Actually, Greyson looks better in the box than outside it. He looks fine in profile:
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But he is very narrow and looks awkward to me when seen from above or the front (or is that just me?). Perhaps this is OK for a young horse, but his size suggests that he is fully grown.
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That's a lovely large model! I agree that it does look slightly narrow from the front, I'm no horse expert but I think they are narrower when younger! But he has a wonderful quiet beauty about him!

Great Overo colouring and a very nice looking model albeit as you say a bit tall and narrow!

I enjoy reading all these miracles about horse colors.
This last horse is defintely narrow. I think the color of the hooves gives to it a kind of unfinished look. Like it is dirty and clean. Though, it is a very unusual model, quite different from all others.

I have over the years managed to amass a collection of these that exceeds 1300 models....

That's a lot of horses!

Rogerio, white markings have unpigmented pink skin under them, and when that pink skin is the hoof bed, the hooves will be unpigmented and appear sort of pinkish as you see the blood rich tissue under the translucent keratin. That's a fairly appropriate color for white feet and hooves. Dark hooves on white feet generally have polish on them, although there may be freckling/spots around the nail bed that result in dark streaks.

I agree, the model does have a narrow and leggy appearance! Maybe it is a long yearling or two year old.

A gorgeous horse! I quite like the markings on this one as it is pretty unique for a stablemate. Congratulations my friend!

Congratulations on getting that one, he's really gorgeous and a well done interpretation of a detailed colour.

If you want to do a bit of free online reading in the meantime, while you find and invest in a colour genetics book, this wikipedia page has the basics quite clearly laid out all on one page without going into overwhelming depth per colour.
Or this site's one of the classic favourites, it'll take some time to work your way through cos each colour/pattern has a separate page, but it's clear to navigate with excellent example photos for the different shades and variations of each colour, close-up pictures for the details of coat patterns, and not too much text to plough through!

Thanks, George. I am going to take some time to study this.

Greyson is narrower than my photos suggest, but yes, a yearling or two-year old may be possible.

One of this year’s Stablemates Collectors Club horses was “Tobias”, the Appaloosa. It’s a model that I really didn’t need, but that I also really wanted. I didn’t need it because I already have 5 other Appaloosas, but I wanted it because the semi-leopard pattern is so beautiful. Let’s just admire him:
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The colours of Tobias and Greyson are well matched:
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Completely agree, that colouring is really striking! Your collection of these horses is really growing, I remember you showing your first few and now all these... but they're completely worth it!

Both models are lovely, with super nice paint works! I like the Thoroughbred mold a lot, it is quite narrow, but not impossibly so.
Funny, I'm repainting one this week Honestly, the most frustrating parts about this sculpt are his legs and hooves, they aren't matching in size and length.
The Appaloosa is such a cute model with a nice pose and swishy tail

I like the dark parts of the legs of your new Appaloosa, it gives a nice style to your model.

pipsxlch wrote:

Rogerio, white markings have unpigmented pink skin under them, and when that pink skin is the hoof bed, the hooves will be unpigmented and appear sort of pinkish as you see the blood rich tissue under the translucent keratin. That's a fairly appropriate color for white feet and hooves. Dark hooves on white feet generally have polish on them, although there may be freckling/spots around the nail bed that result in dark streaks.

Interesting, such a complex science, I won't complain about trigonometry anymore.

Dunfold wrote:

I have over the years managed to amass a collection of these that exceeds 1300 models....

That's very impressive!

Bonnie wrote:

Completely agree, that colouring is really striking! Your collection of these horses is really growing, I remember you showing your first few and now all these... but they're completely worth it!

Yes, I can't believe that I've been collecting Breyers for less than a year. It feels as if I've been collecting them for many years. Perhaps that's a good thing about collecting fast: it makes time pass more slowly.

Ana wrote:

Both models are lovely, with super nice paint works! I like the Thoroughbred mold a lot, it is quite narrow, but not impossibly so.
Funny, I'm repainting one this week Honestly, the most frustrating parts about this sculpt are his legs and hooves, they aren't matching in size and length.
The Appaloosa is such a cute model with a nice pose and swishy tail

Thanks! Good to hear from a horse expert that the Thoroughbred isn't too narrow, that makes makes me feel better about him.

I like boxes, but I also like pouches:
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What is in it?
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It’s “Hands Down”, made for BreyerFest 2018 (hence number 18), an annual event held in Kentucky. It was a “Store Special”, meaning it was only sold at the store at the BreyerFest. 3000 were made. That sounds very exclusive, but they are actually quite easy to find on US Ebay, so perhaps 3000 isn’t so much less than Breyer produces for a regular run. But at least it’s the only time that Breyer didn’t make it as a Christmas ornament. The other three colour versions of this sculpt all have a ring attached to the jockey so that it can be put in a Christmas tree.
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It’s dangerous to buy a Breyer just because the sculpt is a rare, because you never know in how many different colour versions Breyer will produce the same sculpt in the next few years. Fortunately, Hands Down is beautiful too, so I could just buy it because I am liked it. When I first saw it, I thought it was a larger Classic or Traditional model, because it is so detailed. I was happy to discover that it was a Stablemate.
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I like the way they have made the reins. It’s just a string, but it looks much better than the plastic reins they used for other horses with riders. I like the metal stirrups too. And to top it, the horse is wonderful. It looks like she (I think it’s a mare) has just finished a race.
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OK, she is a very large horse, but it isn’t too obvious when I put her next to other thoroughbreds:
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We have now reached the last Stablemate from my US shopping spree. It’s another Stablemates Collectors Club special: Atticus, the Clydesdale stallion. Like Tobias, the Appaloosa, it was released this year. It’s a wonderful model. The sabino bay colour works really well with this horse. Well, perhaps it should, because sabino bay is quite common for a Clydesdale. This one has a subtle dappled pattern.
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Living in Scotland, I am very happy to have a Scottish horse breed. In fact, I used to live in Clydesdale. Well, sort of, in Glasgow, though I never saw any Clydesdale horses there. Once upon a time, Clydesdales were the most common farm horse in Scotland, but they have become a rare breed, with only 500-900 remaining in Scotland (https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/natural-sciences/farm-animals/farm-animals/clydesdale-horse/).
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You may remember my other Stablemates Clydesdale stallion, the “chess piece”. It is based on the same mould, but the chess piece has a braided mane and cut tail, whereas Atticus has loose hair and a long tail. This makes them look quite different. So far, Atticus is the only Clydesdale stallion version that Breyer made with a loose mane and tail.
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Thank you all for your comments and information about breeds and colours, it has helped me enjoy my new additions even more. I hope you enjoyed it too. In the meantime, more Stablemates have arrived, so you can look forward to more, but I need a bit of a rest now .

Superb additions.The Appaloosa and the Clydesdale are really great!