The Mare with the Most

From time to time, Breyer offers model horses with some tempting extras.  Some come with extra accoutrements: ribbons, floral drapes, blankets, bridles and saddles.  Some come with a doll rider and some with a doll in addition to the tack or costume.  Some come with books; others come with movies.  Some come with extra "stories" in the form of hangtags or brochures.  Some even come with pedigrees.

It works the other way around too.  Sometimes it's the object that comes with extra Breyer horses (usually Stablemates): a stable, a truck, a game, a jigsaw puzzle, a compact disc, or an activity set.

The two Elegance Collection sets, Western and Dressage, each come with a wealth of stuff: a horse, a rider, tack, and a tack trunk.  But I don't think I've ever seen a pony come with as much stuff as Sergeant Reckless.

When ordered directly from Breyer you can get Reckless with a book, a blanket festooned with awards, and a set of six trading cards.  She even has her name, "Sgt. Reckless" stamped in gold on her belly -- something not at all common in regular runs.  All she needs is a Marine doll and a pack saddle to make her story complete.

The Sergeant Reckless set may not be as beautiful as either of the Elegance sets, but it certainly costs a lot less and gives you a considerable bang for your buck.

Looking at all the pictures that we have at her, I think Breyer did very well in selecting the Galiceño mold for her portrait.  It accurately represents her relatively small stature, her deep, narrow chest, sloping croup and low-set tail.  Her white markings are also accurately copied onto the model, and although there are no colour pictures of her in her book or on her cards, she was indeed a chestnut red enough to be called Flame-of-the-Morning by her original Korean owner.

Since I got my set in late May/early June I've been slogging my way through Sergeant Reckless's book.  It's not exactly a page-turner, but it is a great collection of facts about the little Korean ex-racehorse and the time she spent fighting with the American Marines.  She's only one of many military horses, both real (like the Horses in American History series) and fictional (like Joey, from the book, stage play, and movie War Horse) immortalized as a Breyer model, and yet in many ways her story is unique.

The most remarkable thing about Reckless's exploits -- the thing that is emphasized by the cover photo of her book and statues of her at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Camp Pendleton, and the Kentucky Horse Park -- is the extent to which she performed her duties by herself, unguided by rope or rider.  Once she learned what it was the Marines wanted her to do, she just went to work and did it, in much the same way that delivery horses of old knew which houses to stop at along their drivers' routes.  The difference with Reckless is that she did it all under fire.

So perhaps, upon reflection, Sergeant Reckless doesn't really need a Marine to stand by her side.  If she didn't need one in real life, why in the world would she need one now?