Tally Ho!

Copperfox is on its way back.

The British model horse manufacturer, started up by a Kickstarter campaign in 2014, only to close its doors in 2018, is back in business again.

According to an email I received recently, Copperfox 2.0 is getting ready to launch.

From the start, the primary goal of Copperfox Model Horses has been to pay tribute to a wide variety of British breeds, particularly those under-represented in the herds of other model horse manufacturers.  Copperfox's initial offerings included a Connemara Pony, a Welsh Cob (Sec. D), and an Exmoor Pony.  Later, these founding three were joined by an Irish Sport Horse.

The full Copperfox story with all its ups and downs can be found on the Copperfox home page here.

In short, it tells us that Copperfox has been sold to new owners in the United States who will be manufacturing models both in the UK and the USA (it's not entirely clear whether or not completely different models are to be offered to each market).  Copperfox 2.0 promises to "honor and follow the original mission" of Copperfox so that "British breeds will continue to be the largest parts of the lineup."  They do  not, you will note, promise that their line-up will consist only of British breeds.

As before, the new Copperfox intends to release its models in both plastic and resin, with the addition of a line of miniature versions of their larger sculptures in Stablemate (Coppercub) and Micro Mini (Copperkit) scales -- something other model horse manufacturers like Breyer and Hartland have also gone into in a big way.

The final two molds produced in resin by the old Copperfox -- the Shire "Sir Winston" and the Shetland or Partbred Pony "Scamp" are apparently first in line for release.  The Copperfox Facebook site features plenty of previews of Winston in particular, as well as some tantalizing sneak peaks of the minis -- some in decorator colours.

"Katydid" my lone Copperfox model

During the heyday of Copperfox 1.0, I only purchased two Copperfox models -- Trifle, on the Exmoor Pony mold, and Henrietta, also on the Exmoor Pony mold.  Both were seconds, which brought their price down to something I didn't feel guilty about paying.  I had intended to keep them both, but after I got them I just couldn't warm up to Henrietta.  The flaws on them both were minuscule, and irrelevant to me since I no longer attend live shows.  But I didn't like Henrietta's stark pinto pattern, and so was happy to sell her on to someone who would love her more.  That left me with only one Copperfox -- the Exmoor I named "Katydid."

I do love "Katydid."  She's appealingly homely and humble in appearance, and certainly unlike anything Breyer, Stone, or Hartland has ever produced (although her colour gradient does remind me quite a bit of Breyer's Georg).

I love most of the other Copperfox sculptures too -- especially the Connemara and the Sport Horse.  But I have resisted buying them because they look like such excellent performance horses to me, and a good performance horse is pretty much wasted in my stable these days.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the horses that will be coming out of Copperfox in the future and glad to see that, as Hartland has done time and time again, they've found a way back from the brink of extinction.

Let's hope it's a long time before they've "gone to ground" again.