Boo!

Hallowe'en is one of those holidays that I just don't get.  Sure, I understand its origins and I'm aware of how it works, but I've never been a huge Hallowe'en fan.

Of course, as a child I enjoyed putting on a costume and collecting candy.  However, every Hallowe'en of my childhood was so cold and snowy that I always had to wear a parka over my costume, mittens on my hands, and sometimes even a scarf wrapped around my face, which kind of killed the costume effect.  So I was really only in it for the candy.

My family was never big on Hallowe'en decorating either.  We had only two store-bought window decorations that I can recall -- a human skeleton and a hissing black cat.  I liked the cat just because I've always liked cats; I could take or leave the skeleton.  When we were tasked with creating Hallowe'en decorations during art class in school, those would also be taped to the window the year they were created, but never again after that (and trust me, this was a good thing).  Where I live now the kids don't go door-to-door trick or treating any more -- they gather for a group party at a local community club.  So there's really no point in putting up decorations in my area unless you just like to do so.

All of this may explain why, when Breyer and Stone come out with their flurry of Hallowe'en horses each October, I'm usually not the least little bit interested in them.  I have no desire whatsoever to bedeck my home with a Hallowe'en theme.  Usually.  But I have to admit that, for the last two years, I've almost caved in and bought Breyer's Classic-scale Hallowe'en horses.  With Bogeyman, they chose a mold I was fond of (although it was originally a mare and not a "man") and I liked the multi-coloured dripping paint effect they came up with for what I assume was supposed to be "goo."  With Salem, I very much liked the cat-shaped pinto pattern they came up with.  I thought the cats were very subtle, and the colour scheme reminded me a lot of Hamilton, the horse that came to stay.  I also liked the glow-in-the-dark effect which is apparently pretty intense on this horse.  However, I reined in my enthusiasm and held back from buying them both. 

(On a somewhat unrelated note, I'm betting next year's Hallowe'en Classic will be on the Malik mold -- perhaps something with a "hair-raising" theme.  I've noticed that ever since the release of Goblin in 2017, Breyer has put their Hallowe'en decorations on the previous year's Horse of the Year, so Malik would make sense for 2020).

The funny thing is that I was fairly certain that I'd never indulged in buying any Hallowe'en horse at all until I remembered the Trick or Treat Play Set of 2010.  Being a huge fan of Breyer's Traditional Shetland Pony, that set was a must-have for me.

I named the pony "Boo."  Remember, this was back in 2010, so I wasn't just copying the name of this year's Breyer Hallowe'en plush.  (I also have a Breyer named "Boo Radley," but that's another story).

Once out of his costume, "Boo" is one of the nicer Shetlands in my collection.  He's a very pretty blue roan with a sweet white face and a smattering of small sabino spots.  In his costume, he doesn't look like anything much, but it is a very cute costume all the same.  Although I've never set him up as a Hallowe'en decoration (since I don't do Hallowe'en decorations), I'm beginning to think that I should make some tiny candy bars to fill his bucket and try to set up some kind of scene with him -- just for the fun of it.  It's not going to happen this year, but next year, who knows?

For those of you who do love this holiday, I hope you have a happy Hallowe'en.  As for me, I think I'll just buy a couple of candy bars and let the rest of it pass me by.

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?

Breyer's Clinky Contingent

With Breyer, it's always best to expect the unexpected.

Breyer has made many unforeseen moves in its nearly 70-year history, and I missed the beginning of most of them.  However, I'm proud to say that there was one I was in on from the start: Breyer's foray into clinky-dom, with the Breyer Gallery.

I wasn't actually all that impressed with the earliest efforts -- the so-called cold cast porcelains which debuted with Spotted Bear and Galaxias in 1991, followed quickly by Secretariat and Fashionably Late in 1992.  I actually saw some of these when they were still brand new, and I couldn't see the point in paying such (at-the-time) big bucks for what were essentially re-releases of existing molds.  They didn't even bother to change the colour on Secretariat, for heaven's sake.  Word went 'round really quickly, too, that they didn't stand up to much handling -- many arriving broken into the hands of those who ordered them.  Most, if not all, of them were SRs for American stores anyway, so I wasn't the least bit tempted by them, although I was intrigued by the concept.

Also in 1992, though, Breyer released their first fine porcelain horse: the Icelandic stallion sculpted by Kathleen Moody.  Now here was a horse who hit me where I lived.  Granted, his colours were a bit stark, but he was a brand new sculpture and his box pictured at least two more new sculptures to come.  And as a bonus, he was not at all difficult to get hold of.  Back in those days I used to travel into North Dakota quite frequently, and there he was sitting on a shelf in a Home of Economy store.  Easy peasy.

It was a love that couldn't last

I took a pass on 1993's Shire horse -- even then I was in danger of running out of shelf room.  But I fell hard for 1994's Spanish Barb and, despite my best intentions, even launched on a collection of the costumed porcelain horses with 1995's Arabian in Costume.

However, my Breyer porcelain collection stopped there temporarily.  I felt that 1996's Circus Ponies were a little washed out in colour, and 1996's Saddlebred turned out to be a little bit harder to get, and I had heard that portions of his costume were in fact plastic rather than porcelain.  1997's Great Horse was getting into shelf hog range again, and while I was briefly tempted by 1998's Indian Pony, the 1999 Drum Horse was another "no" for me.

Aside from the smaller pieces, like the Stablemates and the performing Misty, Breyer's porcelains didn't tempt me after that until a couple of years after the release of Giselle in 2008.  I first saw her in person at a live show and suddenly I knew that this was a horse I had to have.  But I'd missed out on her initial offering -- how on earth would I ever get one?

Model Horse $ales Pages to the rescue.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I found one for sale on those pages at a price comparable to her initial offering.  It wasn't long after that that she became mine.

My love just goes on and on

Since I have relatively few of the Breyer porcelains compared to the output that poured out of the factory post-1991, I can't positively say that Giselle is the best one they've ever made.  In my collection, though, she is the one I am head-over-heels in love with and the last that I'd ever let go.  The Spanish Barb is my second favourite, followed by the Icelandic who started it all.  The porcelain Arab is for sale, though.  She's still a fantastic sculpture, and has all the realistic tiny details that sold me on her in the first place, but since I don't have any other large clinkies wearing anything more than a halter, she simply doesn't fit into the collection as a whole.  I'm sure in time I'll find her a good home where she'll be really appreciated -- until then she's packed safely away in her original box awaiting her next trip.

Breyer hasn't really released a large free-standing porcelain horse since Killarney in 2012.  They've been concentrating on resins and crystals in the Gallery since then.

The clinky collector in me is still waiting for them to come out with some great new porcelains; it could happen.  Until then, I'm very happy with my little crew -- to me, they're some of the best that Breyer has to offer.

Hey Baby, What's Your Sign?

I don't have many decorators in my model horse collection, but one of my favourites is the Gemini horse from Breyer's Zodiac Series.

I think the Zodiac Series was a pretty cool idea.  Unlike its forerunner, the Blossoms Series, the Zodiac Series utilized 12 unique molds.  Sure, it had some misfires (like the laughable lobster masquerading as a crab on the Cancer horse) and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a big seller for Breyer since they eventually sold the entire collection, and then the individual horses, at deep discounts.  But some of the horses were pretty cool.

The horses chosen were a mixture of old molds and new.  That alone is what probably stopped me from considering getting the whole collection when the prices dropped.  You see, while I had very few of the newer molds, I had all I wanted of the older molds and wasn't looking to add to them.

But I did buy Gemini, simply because I really love that mold and it has seen so few releases.  The mold is based on the Best in Show Arabian, with the hair mane and tail replaced by plastic.  The original Best in Show and Onyx, available only at Breyer Fun Days, have been its only realistically coloured releases so far.  In fact, besides Gemini there has been only one other decorator release to date: the Breyerfest 2017 translucent Marigold.  So Gemini was actually the easiest of all the releases to get.

I don't know who sculpted Gemini.  He reminds me a bit of Carol Gaspar's work, but he could be a Kitty Cantrell too, given that she sculpted the Best in Show Thoroughbred.  Whoever sculpted him, I love what they did with him.  He's not particularly studly -- in fact, I thought he was meant to be a mare until I got my hands on him.  But I love the sweep of his mane and tail, his gentle yet eager expression, and his delightful dancer's pose. 

I have one more Zodiac horse in my collection as well:  Scorpio, done on the Morgan mare.  Having been used as the basis for four of the Blossoms horses, she has been released in almost as many decorator colours as realistic ones.  Scorpio was a horse I didn't choose -- I found her in one of the several Grab Bags I've ordered from Breyer over the years.  Still, it could have been worse.  I tend to prefer decorator colours that are close to real horse colours, so if I squint I could call Gemini a palomino or cremello, and Scorpio a dark red chestnut.  There are others in the Zodiac line-up that would work as well, like Capricorn (dun?), Aries (orange chestnut), Taurus (cinnamon chestnut), Cancer (grey), and Leo (golden chestnut).  All the rest take a little more than squinting to bring them into the real world.

There are now so many new Classic molds that Breyer could easily do another 12-month decorator series using just the latest releases -- perhaps something incorporating birthstones, or simple symbols associated with each of the 12 months.  I'd still be interested in seeing something like that, even though I'm extremely picky about my decorators.  However, Breyer waited three years between the Blossoms and the Zodiac Series, and I don't think either one was a big seller, so I'm not really expecting them to do it again.  But then again, Breyer is always confounding collectors' expectations.

I should note, perhaps, that neither Gemini nor Scorpio is my birth sign (although I have two Geminis in my family and I knew a Scorpio when I was a teenager).  So they don't really have any significance for me -- I just like them because I like them.  Since I only have the two they make a nice pair to display on one of my bookshelves.

In time, though, I may send them off to be repainted, or sell them outright, perhaps.  If I could do a trade, I would gladly swap Gemini for Onyx, and Scorpio for the Breyer Fun Days Marigold.  

All I can say is, at this moment, even I don't know what fate lies in their stars.