No Foal Like An Old Foal

It struck me the other day that there was something I really missed about Breyer's newest crop of foals:  it's the opportunity to buy them as individuals, as opposed to in sets.

Back in the day, this used to be the primary way one acquired Breyer foals.  Even though they were produced to be members of a "family," it was only rarely that you could get them boxed together with a parent -- that kind of thing usually only happened with Sears and J.C. Penney special runs.

Breyer's earliest foals can still be purchased individually today -- up until they were discontinued at the end of last year the Action Stock Horse Foal "Van Gogh," the Clydesdale Foal "Shadow,"  and the Running Foal "Milo" from the Best Friends Collection were available as stand-alone horses.  But just try purchasing a new Lipizzaner Foal (2017) without a hanger-on,  either "Gilen" or the Performance Lipizzaner Mare.  It can't be done.

The same can be said of the Andalusian Foal (2015) and his mama, and "Le Fire" (2002), who is never seen without "Susecsion." I very much fear that the Welsh Foal, "Cadell," (2019) is going to go the same route, even though Breyer used to sell the tinier Traditional foals like "Sea Star" (1980) and "Stormy" (1977) as stand-alones.

The reason I miss these stand-alone offerings so much is that they were so much more affordable than buying sets of horses.  You also got more variety in the stand-alones, as the foals did not have to be made to match a parent.

The real oldies -- the Proud Arabian (1956), the Family Arabian (1960), the Running (1961), Grazing (1965), Lying (1969), Clydesdale (1969), Scratching (1970), and Rough Coat (1978), Standing (1983), and Action (1984) Stock Horse Foals, as well as the Quarter Horse Yearling (1970) and Saddlebred Weanling (1973) -- were routinely sold as individuals.  The only foal of that era to always be sold in a set was the Suckling Foal (1973), who, admittedly, looks kind of goofy without his Nursing Mare.

Old foals from three different painting eras -- '60s (Running), '70s (Proud Arab), and '90s (Rough Coat Stock Foal)

Aside from reissues of the older molds, the only Traditional foals that have been sold outside of sets in recent years are "Amber" (1997), "Ashley" (1997), and "Gilen" (2009).  

This seems odd since, although we are well past the foal bonanza years of the '60s, '70s, and early '80s, Breyer has still managed to come up with seven new Traditional foals in the past two and a half decades.  With all those new bodies hanging around, it seems like it must be merely a marketing decision that has kept them from being released as individuals, much as their predecessors were before them.

Unlike the earlier foals, all of the new ones are expressing their individuality in another way -- by being initially released under given (as opposed to breed) names, including:  Amber (Morgan), Ashley (Morgan), Le Fire (Arabian), Gilen (Warmblood), Corazon (Andalusian), Selene (Lipizzaner), and Cadell (Welsh Pony) -- the last three all debuting as Premier Collection horses, and Gilen as a Connoisseur Series horse.  Now it may be that many of these are just too recent to have had their day as stand-alone individuals yet, but I wonder ...

It's impossible these days to buy Classic foals as individuals too, although the old Classic Arabian and Classic Quarter Horse foals were initially released on blister cards for individual purchase (1973/75-82).  How I would love to be able to buy the new curly-tailed Stock Horse Foal, or the sweet little Haflinger foal on blister cards!

The Little Bits/Paddock Pals horses never had foals, unless you count the similar-sized hairy Young Rider horses, the fantastical Wind Dancers, or the Corral Pals foals, and of those only the Corral Pals are/were made outside of sets.  

Stablemate foals, old and new, have never been available outside of a set of some kind either, whether that set includes other foals, adult horses, barns and accessories, or simply a keychain attachment.  The one exception might be the Stablemate Scratching Foal, which was available as a stand-alone porcelain for a limited time.  

Similarly, none of the Mini Whinny foals have been offered alone either -- despite the advent of blind bags, the foals have always been offered as at least a pair, and often as part of much larger sets.

I say it's time for the young ones to break out on their own again.  For a time, I actually considered collecting only foals -- it's one way of keeping a collection small (in all senses of the word) but still getting a good representation of breeds.  Wouldn't work for performance showers, but it might have worked for me. 

Alas, that time has passed.  I still love the little ones, though, and happily make shelf room for them when I can.  They don't take up a lot of real estate, and their appealing aspects more than make up for the space they take.