Mrs. Henry's Horses

They are all old friends.

Misty, Stormy, and Sea Star.  Brighty and Justin Morgan.  San Domingo and Hobo. Sham. Black Gold.

Just say their names and you can probably see their faces in the soft, fuzzy pencils and paints of Wesley Dennis, the smooth flowing lines of Rich Rudish, or the strong bold strokes of Robert Lougheed.

And being a model horse collector you probably also visualize them as Breyers.

My favorite image of Marguerite Henry is one I first encountered on the cover of a Breyer catalog.

There, on the cover of the 1976 Breyer collector’s manual, a photographer has captured an image of the beloved children’s author sitting at her desk, surrounded by a small collection of Breyer horses.  Not just any Breyer horses, but little plastic representatives of her work -- Misty, Hobo, Brighty, and Justin Morgan.

I love this photo because to me it seems to show that Mrs. Henry loved Breyers as much as the rest of us.  Perhaps she was flattered by having her storybook horses sculpted into these adorable little figures.  Perhaps she liked to look at them and remember their stories as much as the rest of us do.

For Mrs. Henry’s horses were unique.  They weren’t just storybook characters -- Marguerite Henry didn’t write that way.  She was often quoted as saying that she couldn’t make up a story if she tried.  Instead, she told stories.  The incidents in her books were all based on incidents in the lives of real horses -- fictionalized for dramatic purposes, to be sure, but real all the same -- based on exhaustive research.

Over time, Breyer has done Marguerite Henry proud.  No fewer than 22 of her equine heroes have been immortalized in plastic, some several times over.

Justin Morgan, Stormy and Misty -- three of my Marguerite Henry horses.

Probably the most famous of Mrs. Henry's horses is Misty of Chincoteague, who was introduced to the Breyer line-up in 1972.  She was followed by Justin Morgan (1973), Brighty (1974), the classic sized Hobo (1975), Stormy (1977), San Domingo (1978), Sea Star (1980), Phantom Wings (1982), Sham (1984), the Black Gold special run (1985), Lady Roxanna (1986), the Our First Pony gift set (1987), the King of the Wind gift set (1990), Misty's Twilight (1991), Hobo on the Phar Lap mold (1991), Little Bub and Wild Diamond (1994), Brown Sunshine (1996), the Misty II, Black Mist and Twister set (1996), Hobo on the Silver mold (2005), Justin Morgan on the Sherman Morgan mold (2005), Sham on the Huckleberry Bey mold (2005), San Domingo on the Semi-Rearing Mustang mold (2007), and the Black Gold regular run (2007).

Beyond the plastics, Misty and Stormy also appeared as Breyer flockies (1984), Misty as a Breyer/Hagen-Renaker ceramic (1993) and, although no connection to the book Born to Trot was made, Hambletonian was released in resin by Breyer in 2000.

Believe it or not, that still leaves some of Mrs. Henry's horses out of the Breyer line-up.  Among the missing are  Maestoso Borina from White Stallion of Lipizza, Gaudenzia from Gaudenzia, Pride of the Palio, Charlie from Five O'Clock Charlie, Rosalind from Born to Trot, and the foal Chip from The Little Fellow.

With some imagination, you can use some existing Breyers to fill in the gaps.  The unnamed horse from the Spanish Riding School of Vienna gift set could be Maestoso Borina, and Pamplemousse could be Five O'Clock Charlie.  I'd probably use the Thoroughbred Mare for Rosalind, the J.C. Penney grey Halla as Gaudenzia, and Willow from the Cricket and Willow set as Chip.  But that's just me.

I used to have more of Mrs. Henry's horses in my collection than I do right now, but I still have many of the molds created as Marguerite Henry horses in other colours, including Brighty, San Domingo, Sham, Lady Roxanna, Misty's Twilight, and Sea Star.

I think it's wonderful that Breyer has put so much effort into creating these molds specifically for the Marguerite Henry horses, and into continuing to use those molds for other horses after their initial run.  And even though Marguerite Henry is gone now, I hope they will continue to honour her horses and maybe even create a few new molds to fill in all those missing links.  

Of all Mrs. Henry's title horses (those that are the main characters in their own books) produced by Breyer, only Black Gold and Midge (from Our First Pony) do not have their own molds.  We could certainly use a new Shetland Pony for Midge, while Black Gold (whose two appearances have both been on the San Domingo mold) surely deserves a sculpture of his own. Having Rosalind, a trotter, to go with Breyer's pacer would also be nice and a palio set with Gaudenzia would be a great addition to Breyer's horse and rider line.

Maybe they'll do it -- who knows?  Until then, at least we have all of the rest of our old friends to keep us company.