My Breyer Stablemates: G1 Drafter and another Appaloosa

Great additions,especially the pinto.When I was growing up in Ireland these horses were called Gypsy cobs or coloured cobs and they then manifested themselves in to Vanner.

Thanks, useful to know it can represent a cob.

rogerpgvg wrote:

I guess you don't agree with Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, which only lists him as second (behind Man o' War). Interesting list, I recognise quite a few in the top as Breyer models.

I think more people have probably casually heard of Man o' War that aren't horse people (if you said the name they could probably be like 'Yeah that was a race horse'), but Secretariat is certainly considered the G.O.A.T as they say.

I've only heard of either of them due to Breyer models! US racing isn't really a big thing over here (it's only been on tv for the last two or three years, and even that's just the Breeder's Cup coverage on a fairly obscure tv channel) and all our books on things like the history of racing and top racehorses of all time, focus on the British and Irish ones with barely a mention to anything happening further overseas unless it was one of 'our' horses going over to challenge for an international win!

As for the cob, the little Fell mould is fine for the breed, but there's a more recent development now known as a Pony Cob! And it's PERFECT for that!
Originally, travellers aimed for a minimum 14.2hh for their driving cobs, and anything less than that was kind of a disappointment and one they wouldn't have retained for breeding. Mayyybe if it was a well-marked mare of 14hh-ish, and they'd put her to a taller stallion in the hope of getting full height offspring. But over the last maybe six or seven years, there's been a shift in attitudes to the smaller horses, and now they're suddenly sought after, and being bred for deliberately! Small heavy mares and being put to small flashy stallions, with the short but heavily feathered pony cob being the aim.
Just myself I know a couple of people who have little stallions of around 13hh, and multiple mares have come through the yard for training or with their foal at foot - lately everyone's interested in breeding smaller cos the demand is suddenly there, and prices are going up and up at the sales. No longer a disappointment which everyone wishes was bigger, a mini cob is valuable now! Colour is, as always, essential, and no-one's that into solid black (these are almost the reject horses now, gelded and sold off to pet-type homes cos the travellers want something showier), but spotted, blagdon (sabino), or well-marked tobiano pintos are prized.

Here's a good example of how much air is inside a Stablemate - a see-through one where the bubble is visible! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I was expecting a larger bubble.!

Thank you, Jill and George. Interesting how horse/pony fashion changes and also to see the bubbles. My impression is that Secretariat doesn't just have bubbles, but is made of quite a thin hollow plastic. Someone said I am the craziest collector around here (an honour I have to share with the other Roger), but I am not tempted to cut him open though!

I gotta admit, your special anniversary Secretariat got me a little jealous so I had to get my own. All I need is an excuse these days!

rogerpgvg wrote:

Thank you, Jill and George. Interesting how horse/pony fashion changes and also to see the bubbles. My impression is that Secretariat doesn't just have bubbles, but is made of quite a thin hollow plastic. Someone said I am the craziest collector around here (an honour I have to share with the other Roger), but I am not tempted to cut him open though!

I have a figure in my collection which works nicely as an illustration to your post.

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The polar bear is shocked to see that he functions as the fox's bum .

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

I gotta admit, your special anniversary Secretariat got me a little jealous so I had to get my own. All I need is an excuse these days!

Jealousy isn't normally a good advisor, but in this case ...

rogerpgvg wrote:

The polar bear is shocked to see that he functions as the fox's bum .

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

I gotta admit, your special anniversary Secretariat got me a little jealous so I had to get my own. All I need is an excuse these days!

Jealousy isn't normally a good advisor, but in this case ...

Agreed, but sometimes it works out ok.

rogerpgvg wrote:

The polar bear is shocked to see that he functions as the fox's bum .

What's surprising on that Roger? Who arrived first, the fox or the bear?

I finally found a G1 Draft horse:
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It's a new G1 because it was sold between 2015 and 2017 as part of the Best of British set. When I started collecting Breyers, this set could still be bought as new for a reasonable price. I regretted not buying it then. There were so many other Breyers to collect and I didn't know the Draft horse was a rare sculpt. Anyhow, I did finally get it.
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It's quite a small horse, especially for a drafter. Here it is with two later Drafters, which are only slightly larger:
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It came with another Appaloosa. My 11th Appaloosa. I didn't need it but I like the Appaloosa model and this is another one with a good colour.
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Great model. Can we see it with a Britains Suffolk Punch? Those ears look really small but the model is beautiful. :)

Congratulations on getting it Roger!
The 3 drafters look good together.
And the appaloosa is a nice model, I like the colours.

Roger wrote:

Those ears look really small but the model is beautiful. :)

Do they? I keep looking at it and can't see what you're seeing! Maybe slightly smaller than that newer draft mould in comparison, but that's by a sculptor who often gives models prominent well-defined ears which can be a bit too long, so I think the proportion of the older mould is fine. If you fold a real horse's ear right down*, it reaches their eye, which I think the Suffolk's would if he was bendy not plastic?

*they get mud on the backs which need brushing off! I don't recommend just approaching a horse you don't know and grabbing an ear

George wrote:

Roger wrote:

Those ears look really small but the model is beautiful. :)

Do they? I keep looking at it and can't see what you're seeing! Maybe slightly smaller than that newer draft mould in comparison, but that's by a sculptor who often gives models prominent well-defined ears which can be a bit too long, so I think the proportion of the older mould is fine. If you fold a real horse's ear right down*, it reaches their eye, which I think the Suffolk's would if he was bendy not plastic?

*they get mud on the backs which need brushing off! I don't recommend just approaching a horse you don't know and grabbing an ear

Never try to see what I see or you risk seeing nothing.
They still seem small to me even though they are elegantly proportioned. Not that I know much about muddy plastic ears, and I thought it could be a praise. :)
In my homeland they get upset at me when I mention their large mule ears.

Thank you, Rogério, Annette and George!

I didn't realise the Drafter was a Suffolk Punch, but yes, Breyer marketed it as such in their Best of British set. Here is a comparison with the Britains Suffolk mare:
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We can compare their ears too:
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The ears of the Britains are more detailed, more separated from the rest of the head. For example, the space between the Breyer's ears seems to be partially filled up. Breyer's ears don't strike me as small, but perhaps this "integration" with the rest of the head makes them look small.

That's interesting Roger, they are nearly the same height! Quite a few of these Breyer models tend to be a lot than Britains. I think the broader face on the Breyer makes the ears appear shorter? plus all that filler where the fringe is Britains sure did a good job of sculpting details in their models when compared to other figures this way :) but the Breyer looks so beautiful, sleek and plump and healthy

I knew this comparison would be perfect. I really like seeing these figures together, and profile views reveal many morphological similarities. This photo of the small ears is truly interesting. I am convinced that the different ways these figures are manufactured can contribute to these design differences. It's worth noting that Breyer figures are more fragile, and it wouldn't be easy to achieve as well-defined ears as those of the Britains mare. Additionally, those are balloon ears, yes, those with a hole that we blow air into. Believe me, the Breyer horse has a hole somewhere, but it's not worth spending time looking for it.
Thanks for providing these great pictures and aren't Suffolk supposed to have small ears?

Nice draught horse addition,I only have one of this model-a nice bay.Its among my favourite along with the cantering draught.

The G1 draft is such a beauty, congrats!

Roger wrote:

I am convinced that the different ways these figures are manufactured  can contribute to these design differences. It's worth noting that Breyer figures are more fragile, and it wouldn't be easy to achieve as well-defined ears as those of the Britains mare.

The G1 Stablemates were originally made by Hagen-Renaker in ceramic. I don’t know much about ceramics but I am guessing that a lot of detail may be difficult with ceramics. This may be the reason why the G1s are not so detailed. It’s certainly possible to use Breyer’s cellulose acetate to give more detail to the horses. Let’s have a look at two other horses I recently got:
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One is a “trotting warmblood”:
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I thought I only had one with rubbed ears, so I decided to replace it with this new warmblood. However, it turned out that I was wrong and that the horse with rubbed ears was a “cantering warmblood”. You can tell if you have too many figures when you don’t remember them! Here is the trotting warmblood with my cantering warmblood (confusingly, this colour version was marketed as a thoroughbred):
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They are kind of similar, no wonder I got confused.

Anyhow, the trotting warmblood is nice enough. I think it’s the best one of the three I now have:
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The other one is this palomino standardbred:
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I had been considering buying it for almost as long as I am collecting Stablemates, but I was never sure whether I’d like it or not. Now that I have it, I am still not quite sure. Does it have beautiful striking colours or is the body too golden and the tail and mane too white?
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We can have a look at their ears again:
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The trotting warmblood has quite detailed ears. The standardbred's ears are less detailed (and turned backward). The detail in the ears seems to be the sculptor's choice rather than determined by the material.

Although our considerations regarding the ears of the horses go along the same principle, certainly the fact that the G1 figures derive from ceramic models is a more significant factor. Furthermore, these more recent figures refute my theory because despite being made of materials more fragile than PVC, they are certainly more resistant than ceramic.

Great additions.I used to have some of the Hagen-Renaker model horses and they were very detailed.I no longer have the horses-I traded them a long time ago-I still have some of their dog and wildlife models and they too are detailed.

So then it is possible to have a high level of detail in ceramics. On the other hand, the ceramic versions of the Breyer G1s look very similar to the later Breyers. It is interesting that the Drafter was sold as a Percheron in ceramics.