A few new and second hand models to update - these didn't all arrive today, but I've got really bad at keeping up with posting them, so this is a batch post to summarise everything from this spring
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A regular run portrait model from 2010, I never bought Fleet Street Max first time round and can't even remember why - perhaps there were other models I wanted more in his year, or maybe I just didn't get round to it before he was retired?
Most regular runs stay in the catalogue for several years in a row, or even longer - just did a quick scan down the list for the oldest still on sale, and they currently have horses which first came out in 2009, 2012, and 2013! This usually gives collectors plenty of time to order all the ones we like, but for some reason Max never carried over into the following catalogues, even though he wasn't described as being a limited edition. So I suspect the reason I didn't buy him was purely down to missing out during the brief time he was available, and not for any lack of liking the look of him!
This one popped up on Ebay for a total bargain price, I thought I'd take my chance to get him after all.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I really like his markings, I find the ones copied from a real horse tend to have shapes and placements that someone just designing a made-up paintjob for aesthetic appeal, wouldn't necessarily have come up with - they're more asymmetric, less balanced, there'll bee 'too much' white on one side and 'not enough' on the other, but it's that very lack of artistic design which makes the markings and patterns so much more appealing! His blue eye stands out very well, not all regular runs get colours painted in but they do make a deliberate effort when the eyes are a more unusual colour, and essential to capturing the likeness in a portrait paintjob!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I've named him Snow Moon, cos he arrived on the February full moon traditionally known by that name, and it seemed such a good fit for him!
Next month, I got two of the brand new 2024 models. I've found that ordering them from Germany is SO much cheaper than paying UK prices, and also removes all doubt and concern about if/when they'll ever be in stock here, or whether I'd even catch the ones I like before they sold out. Although it's a shame not to buy much from UK dealers I know online, it's become a budget-conscious and practical decision to import them instead. When I can get two Traditionals together for just over £60 from Germany, or wait months, not knowing if I'll ever own the horses I like, and then pay £50-60 EACH, then I'm afraid I'm going for the cheaper easier option every time.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]This is Atlanta, a portrait model of a record-breaking Standardbred race mare from the USA. The sculpt is very new, only having been used for a pricey and exclusive club model and a Breyerfest special, so I was surprised to see it reach the regular run line this fast!
Here you can see the clear plastic stand which holds the model very steady on the shelf despite the dynamic pose, but I don't like the way they spoil photos, so for the rest of the shots, I fitted it
underneath my fake grass!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Here she is again, stand concealed, flying along at top speed! I only realised when the model arrived in-hand, that she's a trotting Standardbred, rather than a pacing one - the legs are posed in diagonal pairs, rather than both legs on the same side being forward at the same time.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Her colour's a bit plain, but given enough shading to look deep and natural, rather than too monotonous, with some really rich highlights, and of course the white markings help with adding detail and interest, too.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I prefer this side for her pose, but the light was terrible and the garden too flooded to drag the chair around and face her the other way
You can also see the freeze brand mark on her neck, racehorses here are identified and checked by microchip scanning at the course, but all the Standardbreds seem to have a visible freezemark in photos, so I think they use that method instead.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Again, struggling with the light a lot, I might try again in mid summer when the angles aren't so tricky to keep the horse's shadow off the background.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]And here's my other 2024 purchase so far, Cossaco - a Lusitano champion which has for some reason been made on the Barb (Moroccan/North African) mould, rather than a truly Iberian one! He's a gorgeous model, but I'm changing the breed of mine, to better suit the build and conformation, and the pretty neat little head. Lusitanos are beautiful, noble-looking and extremely
handsome horses, but no-one would ever call them
pretty! So I'm going to show mine as either an Arabian x Lusitano first generation crossbred, or maybe a Hispano-Arabian, which is a long term crossing of Arab and Andalusian horses in varying percentages over any number of generations, with a studbook registry of their own.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Another mould making it's debut in the regular run line, after just the Premier club initial release, and a Breyerfest special. It's brilliant that Breyer are finally letting the exciting new sculpts out into the world so much sooner, so anyone who can't afford to buy in to the whole must-have club ethos, and/or spend big money on the US resale market for all the special runs and exclusives, can still feel like we can get nice things, and not be such second-class collectors.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I love the Barb mould, it's great to see one at long last, after much neglect from nearly all the model horse companies. This breed was hugely influential in European horse breeding through the 17th and 18th century, with several Barb stallions being used at the royal studs, and for the forerunner of dressage. The Duke of Newcastle, who wrote books on horse training and a very precise and technical riding style, owned, rode, and bred from Barb stallions along with a certain preferred type of Spanish horse (which became the modern PRE or Andalusian), and the now extinct Neapolitan. So they're seen surprisingly often in art from the era - if you pay great attention, you can even trace horses by name or distinctive markings, all through his writing and book illustrations, including some which survived his exile during the English civil war for being a Royalist, and some individuals which he bought out there and then brought home with him when the Monarchy was restored, and he came back to re-start his stud and riding school.
So it's a pity, as a fan of the breed and having studied it's involvement in the history of British horsemanship too, that I have a model in a colour a purebred Barb cannot be!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]He's a bit smaller than I was expecting, not as big as a typical Traditional Breyer at all, but looks so full of presence and spirit that he'd be the sort of horse who doesn't
know he's small and will show off at, or threaten, much bigger stallions!
Some people have noted really bad moulding flaws on this mould, on the curve of the neck just below where the mane starts - you can see slight subtle dimple-lines on mine in the right light, but if there was ever a rougher lumpy/jagged seam, then it's been carefully buffed down smooth before painting. So I think it's a case of how much care's been taken by each individual handling this stage of the manufacture, and maybe some batches were rushed more than others?
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]His beautiful flowing mane, windswept but in a natural weighty way, it's been given a lot of texture and not overly stylised and smoothed.
And now, some Stablemates models, from 2009.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Gendered packaging sucks, by the way, Breyer. Neither model collecting nor real ponies are for 'gals' only, and not all girls like pink anyway, so deliberately branding these special runs as
the pink ones for girls is a really bad choice, heavily backing up sexism and gender stereotypes for the intended child audience, and probably annoying some of the adult buyers too.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The G3 Stock Horse mould, in a different chestnut Appaloosa than last year's regular run.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]My favourite of these four, the G3 Rearing Andalusian mould, in palomino and sold as a Lusitano instead
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Another G3 mould, the Tennessee Walking Horse, in chestnut roan
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]And the G2 Thoroughbred in pale grey - I've already got
a grey, but not
this grey, and there's something about Stablemates which makes it perfectly ok to have loads of the same mould/colour combination as long as they're sliiightly different
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. Different from yours even though the rearing Lusitano and running thoroughbred are among my favourite Stablemates. Can thoroughbreds be grey?