Here for a Good Time, Not a Long Time?

Hamilton, the second issue from this year's Breyer Premier Collectors' Club, arrived last week.

He did not exactly appear in a blaze of glory.  I wasn't home when the parcel reached my doorstep, so Hamilton had to stay in a Purolator warehouse for a week before he was able to come home.  And I'd been fretting about what I was going to do with Hamilton ever since the first previews of the sculpture started making the news in early July.

There's no doubt that Jennifer Scott is an awesomely talented sculptor, and her Hamilton certainly appeared to be a beautiful horse.  But, oh dear, he was also a racking American Saddlebred moving with a lot of exaggerated action.  Wonderful for the show ring, perhaps, but not the sort of horse I generally have on my shelves.  I tend to favour the very plain, ordinary looking horse over the show ring peacock, and I've only made exceptions for horses like the Hartland 9-inch Saddlebred because that horse's action is neat and contained rather than drawing attention to itself.

So even before Hamilton darkened my doorstep, I was thinking of selling him.  By the looks of him, I doubted that he'd even fit on my model horse shelves anyway, and I was sure he would stand out there like a sore thumb.  But you can't judge a horse by his picture, so I promised myself to wait and see.

Even as I opened his box, though, I was prepared not to like him.  He's just too much, he'll never fit, it'll be best to sell him right away before the secondary market gets saturated -- those are the thoughts that were racing round in my mind.

Then I released him from his wrappings and all my good resolutions went up in smoke.

He is so handsome.  The sculpture itself is amazing.  I could hardly stop handing it, it was so full of touchy-feely goodness:  the curves and grooves of his muscles, the wave of his mane, the curlicues of his tail.  And he stands so solidly!  That counterbalance of the tail really is a brilliant stroke of model equine engineering.

Really, the only thing I can fault him with is his lack of horseshoes.  There's just no way, I feel, that a Saddlebred would be performing such a show ring-worthy rack without shoes.

However, I'm not a fan of all Saddlebred show practices.  If Hamilton were a living horse I would suspect him of having an artificially "set" tail, possibly with some hair extensions to create that extraordinary length.  As far as I know, these practices are not illegal, but I still dislike them.  I'd much rather see what a Saddlebred could do with his natural tail flowing out behind him rather than being distracted by the shape of his manufactured one.

Fortunately, Hamilton is a plastic pony, and has been sculpted in such a way that he seems to be enjoying showing off.  Looking at him doesn't make me wince, the way, say, the old Breyer Midnight Sun mold does.  In fact, when I look at him, all I can see are his delightful details.

His paint job isn't bad either.  Some Hamiltons I've seen seem to have too much spot mapping, but the mapping on mine is restrained and contained close to his spots.  The pearly sheen of his whites is very pretty, and there's some subtle pink shading going on beneath his whites as well.  He has a handsome, intelligent head and, as I said, a pleasant, happy overall expression.  What's not to love?

Resigning myself to the fact that I actually liked this horse, I took him into my office to try him on my model shelves.  Surely with that length of tail he'd never fit.  But he does fit, just as well as any of the other "big" horses on my shelves, and better, actually, than my Stone Palouse, who is only hanging on by his front heel.

So it seems that Hamilton will have a home here for the time being.  I can't say how long he'll be around.  He won't be on top of the list to go when next I attempt to downsize, but for all that I could see myself trading him away for something equally as special that better matches my rather plain tastes.

I really didn't expect to like him, but I do.  So he's here, and he has a new name  that is both inspired by a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon and is a tribute to the most famous Saddlebred fancier I know of, William Shatner (aka Captain Kirk).

Readers, may I present ... "Spaceman Spiff."

The Saddlebred that wouldn't be denied.