And They Called it Pony Love

I'm smitten.

My Rhian and Cadell Premier Welsh Ponies arrived from Breyer last Friday and I can't take my eyes off them.  I've been anticipating their arrival for months now, but I have to say it was worth the wait.

Rhian and Cadell and their swag.

 

I don't know how many people are in the Premier Club this year, but I suspect it's more than usual since I'm certainly not the only one to have joined for the first time this year and to have joined specifically because of the ponies.  Breyer (and the Premier Club membership) have a lot to thank Josine Vingerling for.

Way back when, I was one of the Just About Horses subscribers who tried to get some of the Connoisseur Series horses.  The Connoisseur Series was sort of a snail mail forerunner of the Premier Club, promoting high quality models for collectors willing to pay the price.  Unlike the Premier Club, the horses in the Connoisseur Series were not necessarily first editions of a new mold -- in fact, most of them weren't.  However, the numbers of Connoisseur Series horses released were limited and known in advance, whereas the number of Premier Club horses issued is limited only by the number of people enrolled in the Club, and for the past few years that number has not been released.  

Getting a Connoisseur horse was a matter of luck -- like the online raffles of today, you had to have your name drawn in order make a purchase.  I didn't put my name in for all of them, but I was chosen only once -- for Quarterflash.  I still have and still love my Quarterflash.  He was, as advertised, a higher quality model for his time; even today his coat still has the rich, warm glow of an oil painting.

Now that I have a pair of Premier Club horses in my hands, I can say that the same care and attention has been lavished on them.  The mare, Rhian, reveals new surprises every time you look at her -- subtle dapples, fleabites, sabino patches, and a mild maternal eye.  The sculpture is also lovely, with the lightly windblown mane and tail and the mare's indulgent attitude when paired with her frolicking foal -- you get the impression that this is not the first time she's had a youngster at heel.

The foal, Cadell, is a rough and ready little fellow, and his attitude is one of a little colt quite full of himself and the joy of living.  His coat is a lovely fuzzy buckskin -- sooty buckskin, according to his designer -- and it somehow manages to look both soft and spiky at the same time.

Such a sweet pair!

 

Both of the ponies have plenty of pony character in their faces -- it has been remarked by several other collectors that they pair nicely with Breyer's Cefnoakpark Bouncer (sculpted by Kathleen Moody), and even though Bouncer was meant to be a Welsh Section C while Rhian and Cadell are meant to be Welsh Section A, I have to agree.  Checking my records, I notice that when I showed my Bouncer I showed him as a Section A and he did very well -- indicating that he's not as typey a sculpture as he might have been.  The fact that Brookside Pink Magnum's owners also chose the Bouncer mold for a portrait of their Section B Welsh pony also argues against Bouncer's being a perfect Section C.

Rhian and Cadell, on the other hand, do seem on type to me.  In any case, they're much the same size as Bouncer, and like Bouncer, Rhian has a comfortable heft in the hand.  The foal is a little lighter, and perched on his tiptoes as he is he has to be set down carefully to avoid toppling -- I wouldn't say that he's particularly tipsy, but he just doesn't feel as solid as Bouncer or Rhian.

In case you were wondering, "Rhian" is a variation of "rhiain" the Welsh word for "maiden" and "Cadell" was the name of a couple of Welsh monarchs.  I'm naming my pair Pembroke and Cardigan, as I'm afraid my imagination runs to corgis rather than to kings.