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?