Breyer Madison Avenue

Breyers are like potato crisps: you can never have just one...

Yeah.

 So, I'd like to introduce you to my latest model. She's sculpted on the Rejoice/National Show Horse mould, and I believe she's the Madison Avenue model, but she could just as likely be the warehouse find/reissue version. I'm not really bothered either way.

   She's second hand, and has a lot of small rubs and scratches. You can see the most obvious two on the base of her tail and her off side hip. I can probably touch in the one on her tail with some brown/black paint, but her imperfections really don't bother me. In fact, as someone who only collects Breyers as a hobby, I'd rather have the imperfect models and let the pristine/immaculate ones go to the showers and competitors.

Probably the biggest thing that attracted me to this girl was her colour. She's got this fantasticly shimmery buckskin coat that wonderfully highlights the contors of her sculpting. I love the way her golden pelt is darker and lighter in places, and the juxtaposition between the rich tones of her body and the dark chocolate black of her points is just superb.

  I'm a big fan of solid colours in horses, so I like the fact that she only has a few white markings as highlights. I also like the fact that the markings on her legs are all different lengths. I feel that it really adds character to the model.

 The mould itself is really lively and animated. She feels like a very sassy, energetic mare, but at the same time very dignified and proper. It just feels like she's begging to be harnessed up to a light trap or prancing around a showring in hand.

 Because she only stands on 2 legs, her exaggerated tail is essential to balance the mould. Despite this, she's actually very stable and no more prone to tipping than any other model. Her long, thin tail does seem like a potential snapping point, though, so I'll have to be careful with her in that respect.

 Her off hind leg is actually drawn under her body as well as forward, and I like the fact that there's a very obvious slant in her hips to emphasise her movement.

 Her hooves seem a bit pale to me, but that might just be with age or exposure to sunlight.

 She's got an intelligent head. I love the way her ears are pointed in different directions. She's definitely listening to something behind her (her driver/rider, maybe?) whilst focusing on where she's going at the same time.

 I think it's a bit of a shame that her eyes are just plain black with a white edge. She's got such large, emotive eyes that it would have been nice if they were a bit more detailed.

 The black tips to her ears are a really nice touch, and something that customisers often forget buckskin horses have.

 

Her mane and forelock certainly seem tack-friendly, and she's got the large bridlepath traditional to the National Show Horse breed. I can't tell whether it's her golden colouring, her energetic pose or just the joy that comes with a new model, but every time I look at her I can't help smiling.

Most of my models quietly wait for me to find the right names for each of them. But true to her lively, sassy nature, this girl got tired of me procrastinating over naming her, and told me to hurry up and call her 'Jewel' already! I couldn't argue with that, so her showname is now Persian Jewel. I've got to say, it'll be nice to have a mare with a bit of attitude in the herd :)

Variations and the Trouble with Online Shopping

First off I'd like to apologise for the lack of blog posts lately. I've tried multiple times over the past week to write something, anything, but each time I haven't succeeded. And it's not for a lack of ideas for blog posts either. I just haven't been...'feeling' it, if you understand what I mean. Hopefully I can get my brain in gear and make more regular updates.

 Ok then, so I'm sure by now (if you're a fan of Breyer model horses) you've probably seen the Classic Haflinger mare mould, otherwise known as 'Gretel'. She's sculpted by Brigitte Eberl (one of Breyer's most popular sculptors), and was revealed at Breyerfest 2011 with her charming colt in a stunning flaxen liver chestnut. Shortly afterwards the mare alone was released as a regular run in standard flaxen chestnut as a purebred Haflinger mare.

Breyer collectors love this model and I've seen her repainted in just about every colour you can think of. While I'm not personally a massive fan of flaxen chestnuts the mould alone has enough character and beauty to earn a spot on my wish list. But there's one very big reason I still haven't got her yet: variation.

You see, this mare comes in a surprising range of colours, from very pale, almost blonde, chestnut to quite a rich, gingery chestnut. I've even seen photos of one that seems to have a body so pale it's the same shade of flaxen as her mane and tail (although there's every chance that could just be a case of poor lighting in the photo). My personal favourite is probably the mid range chestnut, and this is the kind of colour I'd like to get when I buy one.

But that's where my problem lies. Not only are all of the above examples photographs, so they may not reflect the model's true colour 100% accurately, but because of all the variation it's almost impossible to buy one with the exact colour you want unless you go to a shop and see them for yourself in real life. And that, sadly, is where I fall short. There are no shops anywhere close to me here in the UK that sell Breyers. Don't get me wrong, I know there are some. And there are plenty of online shops that sell them. But when the seller uses Breyer's official picture as their photo I have no idea if the model that will arrive is a colour I like or one I don't.

I would love to buy this mare, and I probably will at some point. But unless I can find one with personally taken reference photos I just don't want to take the chance and end up with a model I don't really like. If only I had the experience and confident to repaint her, then it wouldn't matter :)

Liver Chestnut Marabella

I've actually had this girl for probably about 2 weeks by now, but I've been procrastinating terribly over getting her named and photographed. Even now I'm not entirely sure of the name I picked out for her, so I may go back at some point and rename her. But, for now, please meet my newest Breyer: Whispering Blaze, a.k.a. Whisper.

 She's the 1999-2000 liver chestnut mare on the Marabella mould (can you tell I'm fond of this mould?). I've long admired this model, but I was always a bit put off by the over-spray on her mane. I was also always unsure whether her points were blonde or more of a rosy orange colour, since all photos I could find of her online seemed to be rather old and not very clear.

 I finally decided to just go for it and see if I could find one for sale. This girl was actually being sold on ebay by a retailer in North America, and whilst I normally make a point of avoiding international sales (since I've been stung by customs charges in the past) there were no UK retailers selling the model I was looking for. The price was very reasonable, shipping wasn't too high and customs was included in the price, so I plucked up my courage and went for it. And I'm so glad I did.

 My mare arrived within good time. The seller's photos showed her with these beautiful rosy points and I was quietly hoping they weren't just a trick of the light. I adore liver chestnuts with rich brown bodies and lighter, gingery manes and tails, and when I saw the official photos of the Breyer OT Sara Moniet RSI I thought she was going to be like that (I was a bit disappointed to discover that her mane is actually closer to her body colour, but I still love her none the less). So I was delighted to find that my new Marabella mare really does have this wonderful colour in real life.

 Because of her dark red/brown body she's quite difficult to photograph accurately. But I've done my best to adjust the brightness and contrast on these photos to give you a better idea of what she really looks like.

 The lighter stockings may seem a bit unrealistic, but it's actually very common for chestnut horses to lighten around the fetlocks and lower legs, especially in flaxens. What's more, this shade of liver chestnut with a gingery flaxen mane and tail is actually quite common in Morgans, and since the Marabella mould is meant to be a Morgan broodmare it's a very fitting colour for this model :)

 In certain lights (and photos) she may appear almost black in body colour, but I assure you she really is liver chestnut :)

 Like all Marabella models, my girl has this adorable subtle braid in her tail. It's perhaps a bit more noticeable on her than on Ember because Whisper's tail is lighter than her body. 

 I can't tell for sure, but I think her eyes are the same brown as her face. They've just been glossed so they stand out from the surrounding features. She's got a charming blaze down her nose which sometimes makes her seem a bit Roman (convex) nosed from the side, but this is just an optical illusion.

 Her forelock has an extra piece of hair falling towards her right eye that Ember's model doesn't have. I also have the 2004-2005 My Friend Flicka model on the Marabella mould, and this mare also has the extra strand of forelock hair, so I think it's a feature of the mould that has either been lost or removed, for whatever reason, from the mould since 2005. I'd be interested to know from anyone who has the Renaissance Horse or Lindsay's Faith whether either of these models have the extra tuft of forelock hair.

 The part of her markings I find the most charming is this adorable lip spot on her her lower lip and chin.

  Overall, I'm really happy with my newest mare, and she fits in beautifully with my Marabella conga.

  Since they're all chestnuts I've made these 3 lovely girls half-sisters by the same father, so they all have a link to fire in their names. From left to right it's Indecisive Flare (Flare), Embers of the Heart (Ember) and Whispering Blaze (Whisper. I tried to call her Blaze but she didn't like it...). I imagine their father to be a Kennebec Count model named Flame On :) (though I don't actually own him).

My First Collectible Model

I would like to try something here. I appreciate that it can sometimes be difficult to think up a subject to write your next post about, so I'd like to issue an invitation to anyone and everyone who would like to give this a go. All you have to do is write a post about your first collectible model.

That's it. No tags, no nominations, no rules. Just tell your readers about the first collectible model you ever got. You can be as flexible as you like with the subject. You might choose to write about your first Breyer, first resin, first custom, even your very first toy pony if it got you collecting!  It can be any make, any material, any age, anything. It doesn't even have to be a horse. Just write a post and put it on your blog. It's an open invitation, so if you'd like to, go ahead.

Right, so here's mine.

My First Collectible Model: My First Breyer Traditional

I've been collecting model horses for most of my life. My various collections include vintage Pony in my Pocket, My Beautiful Horses, Schleich and even a little herd of assorted zebra figurines. Like many Breyer collectors, my love for Schleich horses led on to collecting Breyer Stablemates, since they were similarly sized. But it took a special model to give me the push to move on to larger Traditional and Classic scales. That model was Ember.

I saw her for the first time in the 2010/2011 edition of the Utterly Horses sales catalogue. She's the Morgan horse from the 2010 Lets Go Riding English set, which came with a rider, saddle and bridle, and she's on the much loved 'Marabella' mould. If you were familiar with Utterly Horses they had a charming gimmick of naming all the Breyer and Schleich horses that didn't come with names already, and the name they chose for this mare was Ember. Coincidentally, it just so happens that I adore Morgan horses, chestnuts (especially red chestnuts with shaded legs) and one of my favourite names for a female animal is 'Ember'. It's almost as if she was custom made for me!

I dithered for a while. Traditional Breyers are quite expensive for a model horse, and I didn't know whether I'd have the room for her. But eventually my heart won out and I bought her, along with a couple others that I liked the look of. So, whilst I got a couple of horses at once, I consider Ember to be my first Traditional: if it wasn't for her, I never would have bought any of the others.

Please note: The above is not my photo

 What was really interesting about the set, however, is that there were two versions featured in the catalogue. One was the official photo, which clearly showed a long haired rider and a horse with two socks and no facial markings. The other photo was one Utterly Horses had taken of an unboxed model, which featured a doll with short hair and a horse with 4 socks and a blaze. I loved both horses, but secretly hoped for the one with more markings, since I preferred that one. And, as you can see, that's the version that arrived. I was delighted. I have since only ever seen the other version in official Breyer photos, never collectors' photos, so I think the official one must have been a test/unreleased version.

 I passed the doll and tack on to a fellow collector, since I didn't want them: it was the mare I really wanted. And I instantly fell in love with her. The Marabella mould is so elegant and feminine, and her colour is so rich and vibrant. She has 4 chestnuts on the inside of her legs, each individually painted. Her 4 white socks and striking white blaze balance out the chestnut coat perfectly, and I adore how long and curly her mane and windswept tail are.

 I'd never before seen a Traditional or Classic Breyer in real life, so as I was examining her I was surprised to find a small, circular hole in one corner of her mouth. At first I assumed it might be a hole to put a bit in when bridling the horse, but then I looked closer at photos of other Breyers and saw some with holes in their nostrils. Other collectors kindly told me that these holes were meant to be there, as they allowed warm air to escape from the plastic model without causing it to bloat and warp.

 Since I loved the name so much I kept my model's name as 'Ember'. After a while, however, I began to notice that many other people, especially those in the UK, who also got the set called their mares 'Ember' as well. This started to annoy me, as I didn't want my mare to get lost in a sea of identically coloured and named models, so I changed it. Very recently, though, I changed it back to 'Ember'. It just fits her so well, and feels right for her in my eyes.

 There's a wonderful feature of the Marabella mould that I keep forgetting about because it's so subtle that's it's easily overlooked: in her tail she has a loose braid. I love this feature. It just gives so much character to the mould, and is a wonderful little extra, like an Easter egg on a DVD. If you've got a horse on the Marabella mould, go have a look at her tail. I'll bet you find the braid too!

 Ember got me into collecting Traditionals. I fell in love with her picture in the catalogue, and then I fell in love with her all over again when I received the model. She's the perfect combination of everything I love in a horse, and the mould is just so wonderfully beautiful with the kindest eyes. If it wasn't for Ember I wouldn't have any of my other Traditionals, and if I ever had to sell my collection, she's the one model I'd keep. Maybe it's wrong to have favourites, but there's no doubt in my mind that she is mine.

So, there you have it. I consider Ember to be my first Breyer Traditional, and maybe even the founder of my herd, because she started my Traditional collection.

Repositioning a Breyer's Leg

After having a look at other collectors' photos of their Mariahs, it became clear that my girl's bent foreleg was not an intended part of the sculpture. So I decided to try repositioning it with heat. I followed Shoestring Stable's tutorial for this, with the exception that I don't have a heat gun, so I used a hairdryer instead.

Here she is before treatment. Her near (left) foreleg is noticeably bent inwards under her body.

 I aimed the hairdryer at the upper part of her leg, as this was the area I intended to reposition. I made sure to heat all sides of her leg, and I was worried about damaging her paint, so I didn't apply the heat for very long. Each side of her leg (left, right, top and bottom) got about 30 seconds of heat.

 After heating I turned off the hairdryer and carefully tried to move the leg. If it was still quite resistant I reapplied the heat and tried again until the plastic was quite flexible. I then gently manoeuvred the leg into a more natural position.

 Once repositioned I quickly dunked the model's leg into a glass of cold water to cool the plastic. My glass wasn't big enough to dunk just one leg in far enough, so my mare got both forelegs dunked :)

 The finished result. Her near foreleg is now much more naturally positioned. I'm not convinced that I've moved the leg quite far enough, but I'm anxious about doing anything more, especially as the upper part of her leg is much more solid than the rest of the leg, so it'd need much more heat to become flexible. As it is now I think it's fine, and I'm quite happy to leave it like this.

 

And here is a clearer comparison between the before and after photos, to clearer see  the difference. 

Oh, and I need to correct something I said in my last post: after looking at her a bit more closely, I think her near (left) ear actually isn't missing it's tip. It's just that the awkward way the ear is turned makes it look a bit square at the tip when viewed from the front.

Breyer 2013 Horse of the Year "Mariah"

Yeah, ok, I bought her.

She's lighter (in weight) than I expected. She's also second hand, so she's got the usual small rubs and marks that you can expect with a model that's had at least one other owner. Unlike the official promotional photos from Breyer she doesn't have any dapples, but she's a lovely silvery grey.

 Now that I can actually see her with my own eyes and turn her around in my own hands I can get a better picture of her conformation. She still looks a bit...off, to me. Her near (left) shoulder seems a bit disconnected from her leg, and she's definitely much more attractive from her off (right) side. In addition, from this side it looks like her neck is a little too long.

On my girl the charcoal airbrushing on her forelegs doesn't extend all the way round, so the backs of her forelegs are awkwardly blank. But that's a painting issue, not sculpting.

I've read another collector's comment that she looks like she's coming to a halt from a trot. I personally think she'd look lovely under harness, perhaps pulling a light trap (cart).

 She has one ear flicked forward and one flicked to the side: I absolutely love this! I feel it gives her real character. Her near (left) side ear seems weird, though. It's awkwardly sliced off at the tip, and seems weirdly connected to her head from the left side. It's not unheard of for real horses to lose the tips of their ears in accidents or fights, though.

I don't know whether it's just my girl, but her near (left) fore leg seems to bend in underneath her body, and the distance between her hooves seems very narrow.

As nicely as possible, she's got quite a big butt :) This makes her quite pear-shaped from above, as her shoulders are quite narrow. In fact, she's almost as pear shaped as a CollectA horse from above!

 All four legs have sculpted chestnuts (the hard growth on the inside of the leg). This is a nice touch and not something you see on every Breyer model. I wish they'd painted her hooves better, as they're just vaguely airbrushed in.

 Her mane is lovely and flowy, and I like the multi-tonal way they've painted her mane and tail.

 Her head is relatively attractive. She has large, gentle eyes, although mine has a bit of overpaint on her right eye.

 I can't quite tell for certain, but I keep thinking that her head is slightly too large for her body...

I like the dark tips to her ears, but does every model have a missing ear tip?

 What is up with that left ear??

 From the front her face seems a bit too narrow. You can really see it below, compared to the Johar (bay) and Duchess (chestnut) moulds.

So, what's my verdict? The mould still seems awkward to me, but that doesn't mean I dislike her. Whilst I don't think she'd win any awards for her looks, in my opinion she'd look quite nice under tack, either ridden or driving a small cart. She certainly doesn't have the body of a younger animal, but as an older mare or even broodmare I think she could work. And despite her flaws she does have her charm, and wouldn't look out of place in a stable set up.

Now I just have to find her a place on my shelves. Hmm, easier said than done...