I started my online shopping at the place I usually go to for computers and their accessories, but all the mice they had of the sort I was looking for (mice with retractable cords) were shipped not by that retailer, but by some other company operating through them, which meant that I couldn't use any of my store credits.
So I backed out of that store and went instead to that great warehouse of worldly goods -- Amazon. Amazon had the mouse I needed, but the cost of the mouse put it just under the price threshold for free shipping. Normally when this sort of situation pops up I'll browse through the books and videos to find something extra to add to my box so that it all comes to me for free. This time, however, I only needed a little bit more and so I went looking for small model horses. More specifically, I went looking for Schleich model horses, since I know their foals are quite affordable and I feel that their foal sculptures are generally better than their adult ones.
I didn't have to scroll through many pages of Schleich before I found a set that really called to me -- the Dartmoor Mare and Foal set. You see, I've been on edge for months now waiting for the time to come for me to purchase my first Premier models, Rhian and Cadell (this is my first year in the Breyer Premier Club). When I saw this Schleich set there was something about the foal, and the way he was designed to fit under the mare's neck, that reminded me powerfully of the Premier Welshies. I could not resist. Into the cart with the mouse they went.
Schleich Dartmoor Mare and Foal
They're here now, and I still get a kind of warm fuzzy feeling whenever I look at them. I'm not a major Schleich fan or collector, although I think if I had discovered them when I was a little kid I would have filled my toybox with them. I was surprised to discover that I actually had seven Schleich models in my collection before I added these two -- all but one were also impulse buys, and that one was a gift. Three are foals, and four are adults, but most are ponies.
I do think Schleich is a wonderfully inventive toy company, and the range of accessories they offer to go with their horses would have overwhelmed me with desire when I was a child. While I'm not certain that they are concerned with making all their figures in the same scale, they don't seem to have the wide range of sizes that you find with Breyers, Stones, CollectAs, and Safaris, to name a few. Collecting a single scale makes for great shelf displays, and also allows you to compare and contrast the differences between a tall horse, like a Clydesdale, and a short one, like a Shetland. Unfortunately, keeping everything in scale is not a priority for most model horse companies, even within a given size range. Perhaps it requires too much research or measuring -- I just don't know.
Next month, I hope, I'll be getting the email that tells me Rhian and Cadell are ready to ship, but until then I have my wee Schleichs to play with. They found their own shelf room very quickly and are very much at home here already. From impulse to inclusion, in under one week -- that's what happens when I just can't wait anymore.
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