Foalish Pleasure

I recently made a trade for an old Designer's Workshop (DW) Hagen-Renaker "Fez" -- the lying Arabian foal -- when it suddenly occurred to me how many DW foals I actually have.  Until very recently I only had one DW horse and no foals at all.  Now I have five of them!

H-R "Fez" photo by former owner
 

Two are vintage pieces: the new "Fez" and a "Roughneck" Morgan foal that I bought from the Renaker Family Trust estate sale.  One is current: the "Rascal" Specialty Shetland foal.  And two are pieces I had custom-glazed at the Renaker factory through their DW Reissued Horses offer: a black "Sherif" Arabian foal and a palomino "Butch" Mustang foal.  "Sherif" and "Butch" are better known to Breyer collectors as the Classic Arabian Family and the Classic Mustang Family foals.

H-R "Roughneck" and Made in Japan copy

I couldn't say which one I like the most.  The "Fez" is not something I was really looking for, but it's a lovely old piece to add to my collection.  The "Roughneck" is special because of his connection to the Renaker Family -- he was either an unsellable second or a sample piece.  

 H-R "Rascal" and family -- Gaston, Gigi, and Gavroche

"Rascal" appeals to me because of my well-known weakness for Shetlands.  While piebald would not have been my first choice for colour, when I decided to buy him I did so because I knew I would end up kicking myself if I didn't.  He also has a bit of a story associated with him -- he was shipped to me from Triple Mountain Model Horses in Maine, but he and his family took a side trip to Paris before being redirected to Canada.  That's why all three of them have names from French literature: Gaston (stallion), Gigi (mare), and Gavroche (foal).

H-R Reissue "Butch" and "Sherif"

And then the "Sherif" and "Butch" were custom orders:  I purposely chose black and palomino because historically these two foals were never released in those colours.  Although not "true" customs since I was not able to request white markings or other details, I suppose you could call them "factory customs."

All in all, it's a sweet little group of foals and I'm quite pleased to have them.  Hagen-Renakers sometimes drive me crazy because they are so delicate it seems like they snap if you look at them sideways -- I have a whole boxful of broken minis damaged by my own clumsiness or that of my cat that are probably not worth restoring, but are too good to toss.  My new old "Fez" actually has a repaired ear, but it's been so well done that you can't really see it.  The rest are mint and I'm going to try to keep them that way.

As long as the cat co-operates, of course.