Late to the Party with BFA

I've known a little bit about the Border Fine Arts (BFA) collection of horse figurines for quite a while, but never really seriously looked into the company and its history as I never saw a figure I really desired to own.

The reason for my initial rejection of the BFA pieces was two-fold:  firstly, most of the figures I saw for sale featured elaborate scenes complete with drivers and/or riders, and I try not to collect such things.  Secondly, scene-based on not, all the BFA figures I ever saw came on a base and I have an inherent dislike of bases as a waste of space.

However, I've always been willing to forgive a base if a horse really needs it because it's being posed in a trot, or a jump, or gallop, or in an unstable rearing position.

And it just so happened that the other day, while trying to scratch my pandemic purchasing itch through virtual window shopping, I finally stumbled across the BFA piece I had to have.

My first BFA foal

She's a sweet little filly in a trotting pose (thus requiring a base) with no riders or handlers to distract from her sculpture.

Since my lack of knowledge about BFA in general now appeared as a gaping hole in my education, I set out to learn some more.  A little Googling brought me some information, but linked me to more model horse sales than model horse history.  It was the folks at the Border Fine Arts Appreciation Group on Facebook who were particularly helpful -- they helped me identify the number, name, and issue dates of my new piece and also informed me that Border Fine Arts actually closed its doors in 2016, with over 50 people losing their jobs.  So sad!

Most helpful of all, collector Roy Wylde provided me with a link to his website, which, with his permission, I am now passing onto you: www.bordercollector.co.uk.

My filly is there, but in a slightly different colourway, and I also found one that sold recently on eBay whose colour was different from both mine and the one on Roy's site.  The Facebook folks mentioned that Border Fine Arts' decorators used to have pretty free rein when it came to paint jobs, and different artists would paint the same model different colours.

Thanks to the BFA Appreciation Facebook folks, I now know she was sculpted to be a Thoroughbred filly, but I think I'll make mine an Anglo-Arab as she seems to have a touch of Arabian sass to her.

I knew that BFA had several different lines, but I was amazed by the number of figures and lines mentioned on Roy's site.  And he says his site is only for "classic" BFA pieces, meaning items not made in China.

I'm assuming, therefore, the more contemporary-looking BFA pieces, such as some of the ones listed on this website, were made in China, but were still allowed to use the BFA name until BFA actually closed.  This sort of parallels the situation with modern day John Beswick figures -- the old Beswick factory is well and truly closed, but new figures, made in Malaysia, continue to be produced under the John Beswick name. 

I still have a lot more to learn about BFA -- about its sculptors and various product lines.  I may be arriving a bit late to the party, but I have my foot firmly stuck in door now.

Appreciation

So, my Breyer Collectors Club (CC) Customer Appreciation model arrived the other day.  The fact that I'm only receiving it now tells you that I was part of the second wave of CC offerings, not being one of those who was in the right place at the right time for the first wave of offerings, which sold out in less than an hour.

That was okay with me, since I actually preferred the selection of models from the second wave to those that were offered the first time around.  In round one, Breyer had five glossy models on offer -- "Thunder," "Latigo Dun It," "Seamus," "Enzo," and "Verdades."  For round two we had four glossy offerings: "LV Integrity," "Khalid," "King" and "Kentucky."

The second wave CC Appreciation models were on offer for a much longer time than the first wave, as the expressed intention of their release was "to give every Collector Club member who wants to participate the chance to do so."  

So if you value your models based on scarcity (or rarity), it's only logical to assume that the first wave of models will end up being of higher value than those offered in the second wave.  But if you value your models in any other way, there would be no difference between the first and second wave offerings.  At least that's the way I feel about mine, even though, as I said, I did prefer the models on offer in the second wave.

My CC Appreciation horse "King," now rechristened "Cee Cee Spot Chex"

So the model I received was "King," a portrait model of one of the Trixie Chicks Trick Riding Team's horses.  He's done on the modified version of Chris Hess's old Stock Horse Stallion mold.

This is the first time I've owned one of the Stock Horses with the new, fuller tail, even though he's been sporting it since 2008.  And I have to say -- I love it!  It really stabilizes the model, gives him some heft, and adds fluidity to his movement.

And wow, I think "King" looks super in gloss!  Mine has a tiny rough area under his belly -- perhaps where some of the gloss dripped off -- but all that's right with him makes up for the little bit that's wrong.

"Look Ma -- No tipping!"

I know that performance showers are not exactly pleased by the sparkly stencil on the left hip of "King."  At first glance, it does seem a little odd.  I believe it was put there because the Trixie Chicks always put glitter on their horses' rumps when they perform.  I don't know if they actually went to the extent of stenciling a "Breyer" design on "King" when he performed at Breyerfest, but I think the intent was to give a nod to the Trixie Chicks' glitter.  

However, for performance showers, especially those who live show, the design could limit the horse's versatility -- he could show in trick riding, in parade, and perhaps a few other fancy dress games or events, but that's about it.  That is, if your judges don't make allowances for Original Finish horses with "extras" -- like all those horses with Native American war paint, horses with ribbons and bows molded into their manes and tails, and horses with bits and pieces of molded-on tack.  Some do, I guess, and some don't.

The stencil is not really a problem for photographs, though, since it's only on one side of the horse and the right side of "King," though not the traditional "show side," will work just fine for most if not all performance settings.

Now showing:  the "non-show side"

In any case, I just don't understand those collectors who receive their CC Appreciation horse and immediately start complaining that they received their "last choice" or a horse that they "hate."  This makes no sense to me at all.  First of all, there is no choice -- that's part of the deal.  You might have an order of preference, but if the selection on offer includes one or more horses you "hate" you do not have to participate in the offer at all.  If you want to gamble that you won't receive one of your "hated" horses, then you have to be prepared to "lose."  That's how gambling works.

Yes, sometimes you risk receiving a horse that might put you in a bit of a quandary, as might have happened to me had my horse been "Khalid."  But the problem would only have been a matter of having too much wealth, and my gut feeling is that, if I had received "Khalid," I probably would have kept both him and "Nazruddin" anyway since they're really quite different and each is attractive in its own way.

But for whatever reason, I just don't get why anyone would complain about receiving a CC Appreciation horse.  It's a free horse, for heaven's sake! (Granted, you have to make a large purchase of other goods in order to qualify for a free horse, but that doesn't make the horse any less free).  And not only is it a free horse, but it's a horse that is matte in its regular run and has been generously glossed just for you!  How on earth can you not love that?

For me, the word "Appreciation" in the CC Appreciation offerings works both ways.  Breyer offers these horses to members of the Collectors Club as a concrete symbol of their appreciation for their custom.  And CC members should appreciate the generosity of a company that would offer these lovely, specially glossed horses to a portion of their public for absolutely no charge -- no body fee, no shipping charge.

"King" is my very first CC Appreciation horse, even though I've been in the Collectors Club on and off since 2016.  And I couldn't, and wouldn't, ask for anything more.

All That Naz

I've been putting off opening the Breyerfest 2017 Celebration Horse "Nazruddin" that came in my 2020 Collectors Club Grab Bag until my Collectors Club (CC) Appreciation horse arrived.

One of the four horses offered during the second round of CC Appreciation models was "Khalid" -- a Breyer "Brick and Mortar" Store special done on the modified version of the Marwari mold.  On the whole, I prefer the look of the original mold to the modified version, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to keep both examples of this mold and wouldn't be able to decide which one to keep unless I had a chance to compare them.

However, that problem disappeared when my CC Appreciation horse arrived this week.  Suffice it to say the horse was not "Khalid."  I'll examine the horse I did receive more closely in another post.  For now, though, I want to concentrate on my freshly unboxed "Nazruddin."  (I have to say for the record that this was one of the most difficult unboxings I've ever done -- I thought those evil twist ties would never give way!)

My "Nazruddin" finally unboxed.

I've been wondering for a while why this horse seems to get so little love from collectors.  Granted, the Breyerfest Celebration horses are always lowest on the totem pole in terms of resale value.  They are limited, but not to the same extent that Breyerfest special runs (SRs) and store specials are.  And all those collectors who attend Breyerfest with multiple tickets in their pockets (in order to maximize the numbers of SRs they are able to buy) will end up with multiple copies of the Celebration Horse, since one model is included with each 3-day ticket.

But when I scan the Breyerfest Celebration Horses listed on eBay, I almost always find that "Nazruddin" is among the cheapest on offer.

I've searched some of the videos posted and some blogs written by people who attended Breyerfest in 2017 to try to find out what the problem with "Nazruddin" is.  I didn't come up with much other than a rumour that many of the models were flawed, either by overspray or by visible seams.  It's also possible that people preferred earlier versions of the mold, like the original Premier Club release of 2012, the palomino regular release from 2013-2015, or the Web Special "Rajah" of 2014.  At any rate, it seems like a lot of the people who brought home a "Nazruddin" didn't really want one.

I assume that Breyer makes enough Celebration Horses each year to match the number of Breyerfest tickets they intend to distribute, with a few left over for replacements or to cover for miscalculations.  And I'm also assuming that my "Nazruddin" was one of those leftovers.

If I were to be super-critical, I could find some of the faults that the folks who attended Breyerfest 2017 found -- he does have a bit of overspray where you usually find it on Breyers, at the base of his mane.  He does have a little divot in his forehead which could be a seam line, and the tip of his forelock seems to have picked up some of the brown of his face.  But in all other ways he's a beautiful accurately painted portrait of the real horse whose story is written out on the back of the box. 

In that story we're told that Marwari horses make excellent dressage and endurance horses due to their boldness and speed under saddle.  I can visualize mine tacked up for both of those disciplines to make an impressive entry.  But mostly, when I look at him I see a horse that would make a great polo pony.  Polo ponies must be both brave and quick, and "Nazruddin" has a slim, athletic build that would make him an excellent, versatile ride.  So I imagine mine as a great polo pony recently retired to stud with a mane just growing in.

"Chukka Cheese" showing off his polo pony form.

With this in mind, I've named my model "Chukka Cheese."  A chukka, or chukker as it apparently pronounced in some places in the U.S., is, of course, a period in a polo match.  It comes to English through the Hindu and Sanskrit words for "wheel," making my horse's name mean literally "wheel of cheese" or "cheese wheel," which amuses me to no end.  The name is also a reference to the much-maligned family restaurant franchise, Chuck E. Cheese.  I've never actually eaten at a Chuck E. Cheese, but the name, once heard, proved unforgettable.

So "Chukka Cheese" is here to stay, and some day he may actually get  tacked up, at least for photo showing purposes.  Live show competitions may have changed a lot since my day, but the sort of tiny flaws I was able to find on him would not have made me hesitate to enter him in a live show of the sort I used to go to.  Perhaps he'd be laughed out of the ring today.  Fortunately (or not) I'll probably never know.

Give Me a "G"

We've now galloped up to the letter "G" in our alphabetic tour of my collection.

This time, for a change, I'm actually featuring three "G" horses since I bought them as a family and they live here as a family, after having first taken a brief family vacation.

Not too long ago I declared a personal moratorium on buying Hagen-Renaker (H-R) horses as I was getting increasingly annoyed at their tendency to break if you looked at them sideways.  More and more H-Rs were disappearing from my shelves and getting thrown into a box of "repair or sell" H-Rs, having broken due to a dusting accident, a cat incident, or spontaneous domino-type toppling.

I managed to hold out for a little while but then, about three years ago, I was looking at the piebald pinto reissues of the Shetland ponies "Rangler," "Maydee," and "Rascal" and realized that some day H-R was going to discontinue these and I was going to kick myself for not buying the closest things I could get to the original Designer's Workshop (DW) offerings while I had the chance.

"Gaston," "Gavroche," and "Gigi" on the day they (finally) arrived.

So I caved in and ordered a set from one of my favourite online sellers -- Triple Mountain Model Horses.  The proprietor, Eleda Towle, is a joy to deal with and she always provides her buyers with tracking numbers so they can follow the progress of their horses.  Triple Mountain Model Horses is located in Maine, so my orders would generally hop over the border into Quebec, spend a bit of time in Montreal, and then come directly to me.

That is what I expected to happen to my H-R Shetlands, but apparently the little rascals had other ideas.  When I checked on them a few days after ordering, I was both surprised and alarmed to find that rather than heading towards Montreal, they were on their way to France.  Paris, France to be more precise.

Neither Eleda nor I could figure out how that happened, so I started tracking them anxiously to find out what would happen to them next.  After a few days in Paris, they were put back on the plane and shipped to Montreal, after which they finally came home to me.

I knew then that I had to give my little world travelers some French names to reflect their adventures in the City of Lights.  So I looked to the world of French literature for some hints.

Naming the mare was easy -- the name "Gigi" from Colette's novella of the same name seemed a natural for a pony or horse.  The name of her colt came to me soon after: "Gavroche," after the clever urchin in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.  The stallion took a bit more thought, but I finally settled on "Gaston," after both Gigi's lover in the film version of Gigi and Gaston Leroux, author of The Phantom of the Opera.  It's also a nod to the villain of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" who was not named as an individual in the original story.

Besides the letter "G" and the references to French literature, the three names also share the distinction of representing characters from musicals set in France.  I'm a huge fan of musical theatre, and it pops up every now again in the names of my model horses.

Settled into their new home surrounded by other H-Rs, some Beswicks, and North Light and United Design resins.

To this day, the whole story of the naming helps me remember the names of my three H-R ponies without having to look them up.  I hope they will remain unforgettable for a long, long time.  There's nothing more frustrating than having a name on the tip of one's tongue and failing to produce it.  But point to my piebald ponies and I'll reel off "Gaston," "Gigi," and "Gavroche" without thinking about it twice.

Pointe-less

Probably the most disappointing thing I received in my 2020 Breyer Collectors Club Grab Bag was the Enchantmints "Ballet Shoes" music box.

I think it's rather low of Reeves to try to foist these things off on model horse collectors, particular those in the Collectors Club who clearly have a more than casual interest in all things equine.

Most of the music boxes in other Grab Bags (there were four to choose from this year) did, at least, have a horsey theme, but there's really no excuse for the appearance of "Ballet Shoes" in a quarter of the Collector Club bags.

Image courtesy of www.breyerhorses.com

Although ballet has its place, and is, apparently, good training for aspiring trick and vaulting horse riders, I have zero interest in ballerinas myself.  I've always admired the talent and artistry of the dancers and choreographers who do it, but despite the ballet figures that decorated my childhood bedroom (on the curtains, the bed sheets, and in, ironically, a music box), my parents never managed to turn me into a balletomane, or even a creature of beauty and grace, which I think is all they were hoping for.

So my first impulse, upon receiving the "Ballet Shoes" music box was to give it away.  I'd done this once before with a princess-themed music box I received in an earlier Breyer Holiday Grab Bag.  But this time not only did I not know of an appropriate child who might like the box, but I found myself in growing need of another small box to house my Mini Whinny collection, which has been expanding alarmingly in the past few years.

So badly did I need this box that I finally decided to see if I could repurpose it into something more acceptable.

If I had any kind of artistic talent I might have repainted the box with equine scenes, or covered it over in fabric with an equestrian theme.  I don't have that kind of talent, but one thing I did have was a bunch of horse and hobby-themed stickers -- enough, I thought, to cover up most of the ballet scenes on the box.  It wouldn't be a thing of beauty, but it would be something I could bear to put on my shelves.

Here's the "finished" project.  If I find more stickers I might decorate it further, but for now it will do the trick.

And that, after all, is the "pointe."

Donkeys - First and Last

My model horse collection may be shy on mules (see Stubborn about Mules for more on that story) but it does contain an awful lot of donkeys.

I was always a horsey kid, but early on I fell in love with donkeys too -- probably due to two influential books I read as a child: Jean Klinordlinger's Whitman Tell-a-Tale book The Knott's Berry Farm Burro in Ghost Town, and Marguerite Henry's classic Brighty of the Grand Canyon.  Both books had great stories, but it was probably the illustrations that really got to me at first -- Peter Alvarado's sweet cartoon rendition of the burro Bucky, and Wesley Dennis's more realistic but equally appealing portraits of Brighty.

Image courtesy of vintagedisneylandtickets.blogspot.com

I was reminded of the very first donkey I ever purchased for myself a few days ago when reading the Braymere Custom Saddlery blog post for Cinco de Mayo which featured, among other things, a picture of one of Jennifer's comical bobblehead donkeys.  That charming little burro reminded powerfully of a bendy donkey I bought as child. ("Bendies" are what I call those figures made of soft plastic over a bendable wire armature -- like Gumby and Pokey were.)

My "treasure" -- a Brabo bendy donkey made in Hong Kong for Imperial Toys

That donkey was the first toy I ever bought for myself, and it commemorated the occasion of the first time I was allowed to go shopping by myself.  There was a small drugstore near my elementary school which I was allowed to go to after school sometimes if I had enough money to buy myself some chips, candy, or chocolate bars, but the deal was that I had to come straight home afterwards and not linger too long at the store.

That was different from "going shopping."  Shopping involved taking a bus to your destination and then catching the correct bus home.  Shopping meant going to a store with more than one cashier -- a store big enough to get lost in if you weren't paying attention to the layout when you ventured inside.  For me, as a child, that store was Zellers.  Zellers was a large, single storey department store, much like Kmart in the U.S.  By the time I was in junior high school my neighborhood also included a Kmart store, but in my opinion it was never as nice as Zellers.

I think I was about 9 or 10 years old when my parents finally decided I was old enough and responsible enough to go shopping by myself.  Technically, though, I didn't go strictly by myself -- I went with my very best friend.  It was her first "solo" shopping trip too, and we were so proud and excited when we got on the bus and started off to our destination.  Zellers was not actually very far from my house -- as I got older I used to bike there and back.  But it was far enough away for two little girls to require public transit to get there, and that was an adventure in itself.

Zellers had a great toy department all year round.  The huge department stores downtown, Eaton's and The Bay, had fantastic toy departments at Christmas, but in the summer their toy departments were dead zones featuring mostly sporting goods like plastic baseball bats, plastic horseshoe pitches, badminton sets, inflatable swimming pools, and beach balls.

Zellers had wonderful toys.  The ones that drew me the most were the books, the paint-by-number sets, the plastic animal sets, and the fad dolls of the year, which ranged from Lucky Troll dolls, to Little Kiddles, to Flatsies (I had at least one of each of these as a child).  They also had an unaffordable (to me) but jaw-dropping selection of Marx "Best of the West" horses and riders, and many large stuffed animals.  Lucky me scored one or two Marx pieces every year for a while, as they made excellent Christmas and birthday presents.  Give me a "Best of the West" piece as a gift and I wanted nothing else.

When I went on my first parent-less shopping trip to Zellers, I knew I had to purchase at least one toy to commemorate the occasion.  I didn't have a lot of pocket money, but in a bargain bin on a bottom shelf I found a selection of scrawny cartoony bendy animals, which included a homely grey donkey.  I had to have him.

Some of his wires are broken, so he's not as bendable as he once was.

And I have him still.  He's a constant reminder of that magical time in my life when the world was my oyster and I was rolling in pearls.  And like so many donkeys, real and fictional, he's impossibly cute -- in a homely sort of way.

Although not the main focus of my collection, I still collect donkeys to this day.  My last or most recent purchase was a John Beswick donkey that I bought last year.  This donkey was available in either brown or grey, and without thinking I chose the grey since most of my other, older Beswick donkeys were brown. 

"Hosanna," the latest donkey to join my herd.

In a way, she hearkens back to the donkeys of my youth -- to Bucky and Brighty, who were both greys, and to my bendy donkey, who was grey as well.

"Donkeys live a long time," Benjamin, the donkey in George Orwell's Animal Farm was wont to say.  My donkeys will live forever -- in my heart if not in my home.

No / Small Regrets

After I make the decision to sell a piece from my model horse collection, I usually don't regret doing so.  Yes, I've had the odd bout of buyer's remorse when I discover that I paid too much for something, but the ones I choose to weed out almost never cause me any pain.

For the longest time, I regretted losing two horses I'd sold on to others, both OF Breyers.  One was the Just About Horses special run (SR) Cantering Welsh Pony "Sassafras," and the other was an unusually pinkish red "Lady Phase" in her original gift set box with book and ribbon.  I used that one in a Collector's Class once at a show and it helped me win the class.

However, time changes opinions.  I've had many opportunities since 1997 to purchase another "Sassafras," often new in box.  And I've found that I really don't have any desire to own her anymore.

As for the Lady Phase, although she certainly was a collector's piece, that was really all she was good for -- her pink tones were shocking enough to hinder any kind of showing career.  And I was on one of my "purging" kicks where I was trying to reduce the numbers of duplicate molds on my shelves.  Given a choice, I preferred the common but beautiful "Breezing Dixie" to the uncommon but freaky "Lady Phase."  Of course, since that time "Sonsela" has managed to creep into the herd (as part of a trade) but "Breezing Dixie" is still my heart's delight.

Besides going though a purging phase every now and then, I also tend to get trapped in buying sprees trying to pursue some sort of collecting philosophy.  At one time I thought it would be neat to have an example of a horse from as many different toy manufacturers as I could find.

I was aided in the quest by the opening of a discount toy store fairly near where I used to live.  This store dealt mostly in overstock, discontinued, and cheap toys.  On one trip there I managed to find a couple of boxes full of Creata Micro Minis, a variety of Blue Ribbon horses, and a bunch of Grand Champions' mail order Clydesdale foal sets (not to be sold in stores).

I ended up buying a few of each.  I already had a fair collection of Creatas so I purchased only the ones I still needed at that time -- I can no longer remember which ones they were.  I also bought a Blue Ribbon Spanish Barb.  

Image courtesy of eBay seller doberdog44

 And then I spied the Grand Champions.  On the whole, I've never been overly fond of the Grand Champions line, although I was intrigued when I discovered that some of their bodies seemed to be "adapted" from horses like the Breyer Classic "Silky Sullivan."  But these twin Clydesdales were cute -- cute enough, I thought, that I should pick up a set for all of my local model horse friends.  So that's exactly what I did.

The foals came with little pink and blue blankets and tail ribbons, but when I took their pictures I left the blankets and ribbons off:

I kept them around for quite a while, and then came another purge.  I decided, in time, to try to concentrate on showable horses rather than purely collectible ones (this is the pendulum I usually swing upon -- sometimes the goal is a great showstring and sometimes it's acquiring a well-rounded collection).  The Creatas were tiny, so I kept those.  The Spanish Barb was sold on without regrets.  And eventually the twin Clydesdales were too.

Yet every once in a while I look at their pictures and kind of wish I hadn't sold them.  I think they're among the best Grand Champions I've ever seen, and the fact that they were meant to be sold by mail order only means they might have been a pair of the harder-to-get ones.  They weren't too big, either -- more or less Classic scale.

The regret isn't strong enough to make me want to replace them now.  I got them at a terrific bargain which I'll never be able to duplicate again.  And they really don't belong in my collection -- they'd stand out like sore thumbs on my shelves.

Still, from time to time I look at them as the ones that got away.  So it's not true that I have no regrets over all of the horses I've sold -- I just have a couple of small ones.

Moody-ness

Ever since 1992, when Breyer first tapped Kathleen Moody to start sculpting for them, Breyer's Moody horses have been among the most dear to modern collectors' hearts.

She's falling slightly out of fashion now, as hyper-critical collectors love to point out any conformation flaws they can see in her sculpts, and some people complain about her sculpting penchant for "big hair."  This is really unfair, since, although many of Moody's works do have lots of sculpted fluff, others are as refined as you could want.  Compare "Brishen" (who is a symphony of hair)  to "Big Ben" (who is not hairy at all).  Moody sculpts the hair to suit the breed; she doesn't add "big hair" just because she likes "big hair."

Early on, too, some people objected to Moody's style as being "too cartoony."  I believe this came from the fact that she was known to have done some work at Disney, coupled with the fact that in 1995 Moody was asked to create the Breyer Dapples line of toy horses, meant to be marketed to the younger set as an alternative to the Grand Champions and other hairy horses that were at that time flying off of toy store shelves.  Besides sculpting the Dapples line, Moody also put her knack for bringing unrealistic horses to life when she sculpted Breyer's Traditional scale "Rain" model in 2002.

(For an excellent and informative interview with Moody about working with Breyer, check out the Mares in Black podcast Episode Nine starting at about the 55 minute mark.)

Some of my favourite Moody horses include the Breyer Porcelain Spanish Barb, Big Ben (of course), Bouncer, Gem Twist, the Classic scale Running Thoroughbred, and the Stablemate scale Paso Fino, Standardbred, and Running Thoroughbred.  I also love her Trail of Painted Ponies Norwegian Fjord.

Image courtesy of trailofpaintedponies.com

Moody horses that I kind of want to add to my collection but don't currently own include the Breyer Traditional Standing American Saddlebred Stallion, the Fell Pony, and possibly the Let's Fiesta or Heart's Fiesta resins.

However, I guess my favourite Moody horses would have to be the Hartland Lady Jewel and Jade.  I only recently stopped myself from starting a conga line of these when I sold  the Bedouin Princess and Blessing set that I had acquired.  For now, I'm sticking with my original Jewel and Jade and a pair of repaints, plus the mini Jewel I acquired from the Hartland Horse and Cowboy Company.

Bedouin Princess and Blessing -- gone to a better home.

When Hartland first released Jewel and Jade in 1989, I didn't have the money to buy them straight from Hartland Collectables.  However, a friend of mine did and in time, when she decided to sell most of her collection, I was lucky enough to purchase them from her (I had more money then).

Hartland Collectables' original Lady Jewel and Jade

The repaints came after I received the thoroughly disappointing 1992 J.C. Penney Lady Jewel and Jade set in bay.  Made from a cheap brown plastic with horribly mismatched and untrimmed seams, the arrival of this set, which I had arranged to buy through a friend from the States, was a huge let-down.  Fortunately, I also had a friend who did some customizing and she really rescued the pair, changing them from eyesores into eye-catching favourites.

Rescued by repaint -- J.C. Penney Lady Jewel and Jade

Both Jewel and Jade have the "Moody look" and one can see their kinship with the Breyer porcelain Arabian in Costume, and resins like Simply Splendid, Magnolia, and Minuet.

The foal, Jade, I have to admit, lacks a bit of refinement but makes up for it with an abundance of the "cute" factor.  Lady Jewel, on the other hand, is just what I would want an Arabian mare to look like.  Arabs come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the fashions of the times and the intentions of the breeders.  Some folks prefer the "dry" look you can see in models like the Stone Standing Arabian and the Hagen-Renaker Nataf, and some prefer the softer "pony" look of older Arabians like Hagen-Renaker's Ferseyn and Breyer's Family Arabian Foal.  In between you find horses like Breyer's Shagya Arabian, Hartland's 7 inch Arabian Family, Stone's Pebbles Arabian, and Hagen-Renaker's Rearing Fez.

Hartland Horse and Cowboy Co.'s mini Jewel -- still going strong.

My favourites are the in-betweeners, and I would put Lady Jewel and Jade among their numbers.  Perhaps that's why they're also among my favourite Moody sculpts -- because they're neither too refined nor too rough.  They are ideals, and isn't that what we want all our model horses to be?

Everybody's Buddy

I think it may be safe to say that the animated pinto "Boomerang" from the Netflix/DreamWorks series Spirit: Riding Free is a fan favourite.  Noticeably smaller and stockier than the two other horse heroes of the series -- Chica Linda and Spirit (or Spirit Jr., if you prefer), Boomerang has endeared himself to viewers through his cheery good nature and general goofiness.

Everybody's buddy, "Boomerang"

It doesn't hurt that his owner, Abigail, also has the sunniest disposition amongst the three human protagonists (Pru is much more of a worrier, and Lucky much readier to see the downside of things).  Although Abigail's relentless cheerfulness can be a bit annoying -- as was acknowledged in the series during an episode in which she tried to befriend the "villain," Grayson -- and Boomerang's antics can be a little repetitive, the two characters always add a bit of levity to almost every episode they appear in.

In addition, Boomerang has demonstrated heroism and bravery in defending his friends, tolerance when Abigail dresses him up in a variety of costumes, and even a wild side in Episode Four from Season One, when he took it upon himself to fulfill a dream of living like a wild horse with Spirit's herd.

Breyer has done a fine job portraying Boomerang in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Most impressively, they created a whole new mold just for him when the Spirit: Riding Free Collection debuted in 2017.  The new mold has also been used once to represent a non-cartoon horse, which it arguably accomplished better than the older Spirit and Rain (now Chica Linda) sculptures did due perhaps to his not having such exaggeratedly long proportions.

I have three Boomerangs in my collection -- the solid PVC plastic one from the Spirit and Friends Gift Set, the SM Standing Stock Horse version from the Series One Blind Bags, and now, thanks to my Collector Club Grab Bag, the Abigail and Boomerang Small Set.

Breyer's Abigail and Boomerang Small Set

I really like the Spirit: Riding Free small sets as they remind me of the Bitsy Breyer and Little Bit sets of old.  Recently, the Breyer Model Horses Facebook page did a "blast from the past" look at the old Little Bits and I noticed quite a few people asking for their return, so I'm definitely not the only one who misses them.

However, I had no real intention of collecting the whole Spirit Small Set series.  When they first came out I took a good look at them and decided that I liked the Chica Linda figure best of all, so that was the one I ordered.

Now, though, I have Boomerang and Abigail to go with Chica Linda and Pru, and I find I quite like the Boomerang mold too.  Just like his Traditional scale counterpart, he's shown in action with his mane flying out behind him, and his expression is open and cheerful.  But it almost seems like sacrilege now not to add Spirit and Lucky to finish off the team.  

Does it look like they're missing somebody?

 I don't have any particular problems with either figure, but it has always seemed like a bit of a rip-off to me that they sell for the same price as the other two despite the fact that you don't get a bridle or saddle with the Spirit and Lucky set.  Sure, the tack is funky cheap plastic, but still ... it's the principle of thing.  Since Spirit doesn't wear tack, I think they should have thought of some other accessories for his set -- a lasso and a feed bucket, perhaps?  Or a hoop to jump through from his circus days?  Anything to justify the price.

I've heard a rumour that Breyer will be discontinuing their Spirit merchandise next year -- whether that's to replace it with newer stuff or because they've just reached the end of their license for, or interest in, the project, I'm not sure.  I'm not even sure if the rumour has any basis in reality, but if it does I only have a limited time in which to decide whether to complete my small set collection or not.

I already have a fair number of Spirits in my collection -- maybe more than Boomerangs -- so it's not like I'm missing a portrait of the hero of the show.

Speaking of which, the world of Spirit: Riding Free continues to expand healthily with no signs of slowing down.  Earlier this year they started up a new series called Spirit Riding Free: Riding Academy, a ninth season of the regular series is supposed to be out this autumn, and a low budget feature film is supposedly in development.

All this means we haven't seen the last of Boomerang yet.