It's Friday, I'm a Guest Judge! Mini Breyer Collectability by Kelly Marlett

Happy Friday, and welcome to the first ever guest judge on the Friday judging clinics. I asked my wonderful friend Kelly if she'd be willing to be the inaugural post, and she graciously agreed. 

Mini Breyer Collectability 

by Kelly Marlett

Hi everyone! I’ve been a hobbyist since 1985 and have been showing for the last 32 years. My collection contains around 5,000 pieces, mostly Stablemates, but there are a few draft mold congas as well. I’ve spent the last handful of years judging in regions 6, 7, and 8, and have been extremely blessed to have been part of the BreyerFest Open Show staff the last couple of years. My favorite thing to judge is OF Breyer Mini Breed and my favorite Stablemate molds as a collector are the G1 Draft, the M1 Giorgio, and the G5 Charleston. My favorite thing as a Breed judge? When people think outside the box with an uncommon breed that fits their model perfectly!

As much as I prefer to show Breed, I have a huge passion for Regular Run Collectibility classes. When people think about Collectibility they think multiple dollar signs and rare pieces. And normally these pieces are the ones bringing home the rosettes and yellow NAN cards.

However, there are circumstances where things that were available in the Regular Run catalog are not only harder to find, but there are less available on the market.

When it comes to Regular Run Stablemate Scale sets with their wagons, riders, fantasy props, and haunted sounds, these sets still overwhelmingly end up in the hands of children (which is exactly who they are being marketed towards.) This is the exact opposite of most Special Runs; while kids do attend BreyerFest and purchase them, the higher end pieces usually end up in adult hands and collections. With pieces primarily bought for play, fewer and fewer of these horses make it into the hands of collectors. Even harder to find are the complete sets that were released with the horse. The little plastic harnesses and colorful carriages are often lost or broken, just like the horses from the set.

What I wanted to concentrate on are three particular horses that are part of Stablemate sets from the same catalog year. To complicate my placings even further, these pieces were also only available for a single year or less. All three of my selections are from the 2005 catalog. I have decided to judge these as if the horse has been presented with their complete set.

Photo courtesy Kelly M

Photo courtesy Identify Your Breyer

Horse A: #5916 G2 Arabian from the 2005 Halloween Haunted Hay Ride set. The set included G2 Arabian in grey w/ diamond star and four faded stockings, harness, wagon, driver, pumpkins, a bucket of apples, and a wolf.

Photo courtesy Heather B

Photo courtesy Identify Your Breyer

Horse B: #5311 G1 Native Dancer from the 2005 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron Play Set. Set included G1 Native Dancer in steel grey w/ US brand, G2 Arabian in buckskin, tree, blacksmith, forge fire, and hitching post. While this particular set was available through 2007, the Native Dancer mold was only available in 2005. It was replaced by the G2 Appaloosa in grey for 2006- 2007.

Photo courtesy Kelly M

Photo courtesy Identify Your Breyer

Horse C: #5990 G2 American Saddlebred from the 2005 Cottontail Express set. Set included G2 American Saddlebred in pale palomino with multi colored ribbon, wagon, carrots, sitting rabbit, and basket.

Find Kelly's placings under the jump!

Collection Spotlight: G1 Quarter Horse Stallion Cull

 Happy nearly six month blogaversary! I restarted this blog on July 15, 2025, and I'm proud of how it has grown since. For my collection spotlights, one of my favorite things to do is ask my friends what they think I should showcase. I collect what I like, so I think all of my models are special and interesting. This month, I asked my friend and fellow blogger Mel (check their blog out here!) to pick the collection spotlight model. She has a love for the G1 Quarter Horse Stallion, and she picked my vintage cull. 

I think this guy is one of the more interesting fellows in my collection truth be told. I bought him in October 2024 from a friend along with a few other Stablemates. He's unique as he's the only Stablemates cull in my collection.  

I think he's likely to be cull of #5045, the palomino Quarter Horse Stallion based on his body color. It's not unlikely he's #5046 or #5047, but since IDYB specifically mentions #5045 can vary to orange and yellow shades, I figured he was most likely to be a cull of that run.  

He's not perfect of course - he's a cull, so he never made it through the entire production process. He has rough seams, and no details past his initial base color. He also has a fairly significant rub on his show side, as seen in the photo above. 

He didn't make it onto the show table for a while. I contemplated bringing him to the BreyerFest Open Show last year, but with the entry limit he ended up not making the cut. However, the decision process did get him a name. 

I sent the photo above in a group chat with two of my friends who would also be showing as a possibility to bring. One friend simply replied "ARNGE." And so he was named. He does look very orange in this photo! 

He finally made his show debut at Off to the Races Live last November and ended up collectability champion of the stock section. I plan on taking him to a couple of other shows in the spring, so we'll see how he does! 

It's Friday, I'm a Judge! Breed: Arabian

It's the first judging clinic of the new year! We're starting off with a traditional breed class. 

As per usual, my judging credentials can be found on my About Me page. 

This week, we're back to focusing on a single class - an Arabian class. Let's start off by examining what it is we should be looking for. According to the Arabian Horse Association, the breed standard is as follows: 

• Comparatively small head with a straight or preferably concave profile, small muzzle, large nostrils, round expressive dark eyes set well apart, small thin and well-shaped ears
• Long arched neck set high, moderately high withers, short straight back, deep chest, comparatively horizontal croup, natural high tail carriage

Arabian stallion

Horse A: Classic Arabian Stallion

Arabian mare

Horse B: Weather Girl

Arabian mare

Horse C: Proud Arabian Mare

Evaluate these three against the breed standard. When you're ready, my placings are underneath the jump. ↓

Monthly Round Up! December Additions

With Club renewals and my continuing time pay, it was a light buying month this month! I mostly had my obligated Club purchases and a few things I bought as a treat for my birthday/Christmas. 

Well, this was an unexpected surprise! I definitely did not expect to pull a micro run for myself this year. I did pull one for a friend I was doing pickups for at BreyerFest, and I thought my luck had been used up. The gray variation of Winnifred has such soft shading around her face. I always preferred her to the chestnut variation, but I wouldn't have sought her out if I didn't receive her straight from Breyer. It looks like I might need to track down a nice chestnut version next year though! I like Isla much more in hand than I did from her preview at BreyerFest - I can't wait for her to have more colors on the mold. Overall, I think this has been my favorite year for the Premier Club - I've been a member since 2023 (it was my reward for getting a full time position), but this is the first year where I've truly LOVED all three sculpts. We've only seen Georgina for next year, but I'm certain already I'll be renewing for another year. 

Winnifred and the Stablemates Club models didn't overlap this year, so I ordered the Brilliance set as a ride along so she'd be double boxed. I put off ordering this set all year, but it had a nice sale discount, so in the cart it went! 

I mentioned in last month's Monthly Round Up that I had already found trades for my duplicate Short and Sweet zebras. One of those trades happened this month! My friend was looking for a gold and I was looking for a green. He bounced in the mail for a little longer than I'd like considering he shipped from about an hour away, but I'm glad to have him. 

Apparently adding a Chip is a monthly thing now! The November Literature series was Macbeth, which is my absolute favorite Shakespeare tragedy. I didn't have a Chip pony in my collection, and as I'm building the Stone Mini show string one would definitely be needed. Clotho is a lovely little bay, and she fit the bill of what I was looking for. 

With December comes the final releases of the Stablemates Club - the new mold and the bonus model! This year, those models were Madonna, a shrunken version of the Hagen-Renaker Large Zara, and Helios, a pegasus on the Darwin mold. Helios is a landmark in the Stablemates lineup - the first horse to have molded on wings in the style of the traditional and classic sized pegasi. 

For my birthday, my mom and I went to one of the local Breyer dealers, Kraynaks, which also does a fabulous Christmas tree display every year. While there, I picked up a pair of birthday/Christmas gifts for myself. I've been meaning to grab the new Classic Arabian Mare since she was announced midyear, and I handpicked for one with really nice mane masking and shading. She has some small offside rubs, but all four of the models at the store were partially loose in the box, so it was going to be unavoidable. I actually already had a Zorah Belle that I picked up from the Kentucky Horse Park store during BreyerFest 2024, but this one was so chalky she just had to come home with me! 

2025 Year End Retrospective

 Welcome to my first ever year-end retrospective on the blog. I'd like to reflect on the year I've had in the hobby and think about the goals I'd like to set for the incoming year. 

The Blog

One of the most noteworthy things I did in the hobby this year was restart this blog! As I've mentioned, I originally started this blog in 2022, but I burned myself out quickly and abandoned it within a month. I'm proud to say that I've stuck to the posting schedule I've created! 

I've been pleased by the reception to the judging clinics I've created. Unlike the majority of the post series on the blog, the judging clinics were something I dreamed up when restarting the blog. I'd always admired the Horse and Rider magazine conformation clinics, and I feel like translating them into the model horse hobby has been helpful not only for new and experienced showers, but for judges as well, including me! I maintain that I don't see myself as an authority on the subject - my placings are my opinion, and opinions are not objective. What I want to see happen is judges thinking critically about their placings, and the ability to articulate why they placed the class the way they did. I find that to be a more rewarding and valuable sentiment than "this is how I would place the class, and that's the only way this class can be placed." 

Overall, I'm mostly just glad I haven't burned myself out yet - it appears I've struck the balance between posting regularly enough to not lose interest and infrequently enough to not feel overwhelmed. I feel energized by the ideas I have in store for the blog, and I can't wait to put those into action! You'll find out more on that further down.  

2025 Show Season

My overall champions from the 2025 show season

This year, I showed at ten live shows by my count. I'm not going to list these out by name, but you can find every show I attended in my Show Reports series. I also stepped up in my judging this year - of the ten shows I attended, I judged at seven of them. It's worth noting that of the three I didn't judge for, one was the BreyerFest Open Show and one was the Stone Little Horse Show. As a contrast, I judged at three shows in 2024. I'd often heard it said that once hosts know you're willing to judge you tend to get asked, and that proved itself true. 

Because of the judging, and my healing broken arm, I was more mindful of the amount of models I was bringing to each show. Minis were doable - the tote I have for them is easily carried in one hand, and running a full string of them isn't hard when judging. I have a basket to carry them to the ring and a horse in every class, so it's pretty easy to swap horses out on the table. Trads were more difficult. I wasn't cleared to lift anything until well after BreyerFest, so if I wanted to show trads I needed someone else to lift my tote in and out of my car, and to help me pack them in the tote in the first place. I decided before the River City Classic that for the spring I'd run a small, select string of about thirty trads, and I wouldn't rotate the string between shows like I normally do. This way, they'd be in a single tote (so I would need minimal help) and I wouldn't have to unpack and repack between shows. Additionally, if I needed to ask a friend to take over the trads while I was judging, it wouldn't be too much of an ask. 

Now, I'm not as much of a statistics nerd as some of my hobby friends, but I certainly appreciate a good breakdown! So, my 2025 show season by the numbers:

Total entries for each show per division

Now, how did that pan out in placings? 

Total number of placings across all divisions shown in 

In what should be surprising to nobody, the majority of my placings this year were in Breyer Mini Collectability. It's definitely a part of my collection that I've cultivated over the years. Showing mostly minis this year assisted in this - minis had a full string at every show I attended, whereas traditionals were about a third of what I usually bring, if I brought them at all! 

The final NAN card count of 2025

I'm also pleased to note that I had a sectional placing at nine of the ten shows I entered this year - the only show where I did not have a sectional champion or reserve was the BreyerFest Open Show. I did have horses on the callback table, and that's good enough for me! Additionally, I had at least one division overall champion or reserve at five of the shows I attended this year - the River City Classic, Are You Kitten Me, Trails and Tails, the Big Orange Bash, and Steel City Live. 

It's been an incredible show year, despite the challenges. I'm already planning my shows for 2026, and have once again been asked to judge at a few. Before we know it, it'll be go time again! 

BreyerFest 2025

No retrospective is complete without mentioning the biggest model horse event of the year - BreyerFest, and all of the associated events surrounding it. This year, additional events included Equilocity and the Dappledown Soiree. Unfortunately, I ended up too busy to make it to either of these events, with the Open Show covering two days. I stayed in an AirBNB with my usual show crew, had late night pizza in the halls of the CHIN, and got to hang out with all of my favorite model horse people. 

2025 also marked the first year I participated in the Collector's Classes at the Open Show. It was such a fun experience, and receiving seventh in the Stablemates Collector's Class was a thrill. I'm already working on the idea for next year's entry! 

I was also pleased to have been asked by NAMHSA to volunteer at their information booth in the Covered arena, as well as making informational fliers and posters for the booth. As we know, I love providing education about the hobby and giving back to the hobby where I can. Working the NAMHSA booth allowed me to do both! 

2025 Collection Additions

Like my list of shows, my collection additions have been pretty well covered in my 2025 Top Five and my monthly round ups. But I don't think it hurts to state it again! 😊

One of the more unexpected aspects of my collecting journey this year was my foray into owning Stones! I started this year owning four Stone models, and I didn't expect to add many more. Then, I attended the Little Horse Show (partially because I wanted a Little Squidward). I have a tendency to take laps around the show hall if I'm only showing in one division and not judging (I like to keep busy!). Turns out this is dangerous when you collect minis and there are several available to purchase. I came home from the Little Horse Show having doubled my Stone collection, and as of the end of the year I now own 18 Stones including the Design-A-Horse I've ordered. With my space issues and budget, I think I'll be sticking to their minis, but if you had asked me a year ago I would not have expected the Stone collection to have grown so much. I look forward to what 2026 will bring. 

As for my Breyer collection, I added several pieces that I'm proud of. I started the year paying off a loose mane Shannondell from my friend Kelly M., so I was on a stricter budget for outside pony spending. That didn't stop me from adding some long searched for pieces to my collection! In the first half of the year I added the dapple gray Horses International Clydesdale Foal and a Chesapeake, the Chasing the Chesapeake Event model. I also was able to buy a Prague at cost thanks to a friend, as well as facilitating the sale and pickup of a glossy Marc of Charm through friends attending BreyerMidwest. 

This year marked my third year as a member of the Premier Club. I definitely mentioned it before on the blog, but this was without a doubt my favorite year in the club. Every release knocked it out of the park for me. I was expecting Cosimo to be my least favorite, as a person who loves ponies and has been waiting for a new mold, but I ended up absolutely loving him. Both variations of Rowan are absolutely darling, and as we know I ended up with the micro run variation of Winnifred. I was unsure about Isla from her preview in the Collector Club tent at BreyerFest, but once I actually had her in hand I appreciated her much more. 

I've been a member of the Stablemates Club since 2016, the very first year. This year was an okay year for me! I loved Madonna and Harbinger, and the other releases were nice. Alana has done well for me in the show ring in particular. The only one I was less enthused about was Spencer, and that's more just on the mold. His color was well-executed, and that makes up for it. 

2026 Goals: Looking Forward

We've looked backward, and as we'll be ringing in the New Year twelve hours from now, it's time to look forward to my hobby goals for 2026. Some goals may be smaller than others, because not every goal needs to be big! 

• The Blog (and other model horse social media)
• Continue to grow the Friday judging clinics, and begin rotating in guest judges for additional opinions 
• Work on ideas for the new Live Show Secrets series 
• Post more regularly on my model horse Instagram and the blog's Facebook page 
• Work on delivering content the hobby wants to see
• 2026 Show Season 
• Prepare for NAN 2026 - check who is qualified already and rotate them out in favor of horses I want to qualify 
• Finish catching up on my results backlog and filing ribbons and NAN cards 
• Continue the project to reformat my breed and collectability documentation
• BreyerFest 2026
• Work on my Collector's Class entry
• Take more photos with my friends! 
• Maybe an Open Show sectional champ or reserve? 
• The Collection
• Continue working on filling out your collection catalog & photographing the herd
• Get additional shelves up and reorganize the horse room 
• Obtain at least one more rare Stablemate and/or other long term grail 

On Faux-OFs and Plagiarism

Definition from Merriam-Webster

I cannot believe this is something that needs to be said, but it's an issue that has cropped up multiple times, perpetrated by multiple people recently. 

Customizing Breyers is okay. 

Customizing Breyers in a faux-OF style (leaving the whites bare plastic) is okay. 

The lone faux-OF in my collection

What is not okay is creating a direct copy of an existing Breyer model (particularly a rare model). It is never okay to sell that copy. 

It doesn't matter if that model is marketed as a custom. Five years down the road when it has passed through several hands, there's nothing to prove that this model isn't authentic, particularly if the model is unsigned.  

Not to mention, Breyer hired an artist to design that pattern. It's ripping off active hobby artists for personal gain. 

Not "inspired by" another artist. 

Not creating a unique pattern. 

Directly copying another artist's work. 

It's unethical and it's gross. It's plagiarism. 

This hobby has a long memory and a habit of keeping receipts, and this is the type of behavior that will ruin a reputation for years. 

There are ethical ways to customize - remove existing logos, sign and date your work, don't do exact copies of existing designs (from making an exact 1:1 copy down to copying the pattern), and when the entire hobby tells you it's a bad look, maybe listen to them? Just a thought. 

Additionally, all customs are one of a kind by nature. Advertising a faux-OF as an OOAK can be confusing to non-hobbyists, who may not realize the difference between an original finish model and a faux-OF custom. It may not have been meant to be misleading intentionally, but like with creating direct copies, intention matters little when the model is sold several years down the road.

(This sentiment also applies to glossing and mattifying OF models, FYI. The preferred ethical measure is "please do not do this, but if you do PLEASE sign it underneath the sealant") 

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-definitions.html

Another concept that has come up recently is 3-D printing resins that are either existing or modified Breyer and Stone sculptures. This goes even farther into copyright infringement than faux-OFs do. This is behavior that will get you a cease-and-desist notice, if not outright sued. 

It's a known fact in this hobby that Breyer was not allowed to use the Proud Arabian Mare and Foal molds for several years after they were deemed to be too close of copies of Hagen-Renaker's Large Zara and Large Zilla. They have only been able to use Hagen-Renaker sculpts since through a licensing agreement with the company - they are paying for the rights to cast the molds in plastic. Note that the new shrunken version of Large Zara introduced in the Stablemates Club has both the Breyer logo and the Hagen-Renaker logo on her belly. It's also a known fact in this hobby that casting resins based on extreme resculpts of original finish molds must be approved by the company first, even if the sculpture no longer bears ANY resemblance to the original. 

Madonna's belly, with Breyer and Hagen-Renaker logos

I don't want to see anyone get sued, and I equally do not want to see anyone get misled, whether intentionally or not, into buying something that they think is a rare original finish model that is nothing more than a copy. It's simple enough to avoid - don't make something that is an intentional copy of something someone else made. 

Stablemate Sunday: Vintage Club 2012-2016

I had plans for this month's Stablemate Sunday, and then I couldn't find one of the horses who was meant to feature. That's what I get for putting molds I don't like as much in storage and then not labeling totes! So, that topic is tabled for now. By popular demand (a Facebook poll) the lovely readers of this blog decided they'd like to see Vintage Club Stablemates featured. Because there's quite a few of these guys, I broke them up a little bit. This month, we'll be looking at the bonus Stablemates for the first five years of the Vintage Club - 2012 through 2016. 

Unlike the Premier Club, which had its first bonus Stablemate in 2014, the Vintage Club has had a bonus Stablemate since the first year of the Club. All of the models featured today are a run of 500, as the Vintage Club is the only Club Breyer offers with a membership cap. The Vintage Club releases pay homage to the older eras of Breyer - with vintage colors on vintage molds, vintage colors on modern molds, and sometimes putting modern colors on vintage molds. The bonus Stablemates in the beginning of the Club mostly were vintage colors on modern molds, since Breyer did not have the rights to the G1 molds. This changed in 2014, but even still Breyer has continued to use a mix of vintage and modern molds for the bonus Stablemate. 

The first bonus Stablemate in the Vintage Club was Eagle on the G2 Arabian mold. His color is reminiscent of the #99 Appaloosa Performance Horse. I love the little halos he has on his spots! My guy has not shown with me, but he did come with NAN cards from his previous owner. 

Jackson was the second Vintage Club bonus Stablemate. He was released in 2013, and is a vintage gray Appaloosa on the G2 Warmblood Jumper mold. This color was seen most on the Family Arabians, though there are some Proud Arabian Mares and Foals who were released in it. I bought my Jackson and Eagle from the same person, and like Eagle, Jackson has NAN cards, but I have not shown him personally. Maybe next year I should rotate them in! 

Of the five models we're looking at today, Sonny was the hardest Vintage Club Stablemate for me to track down (although there are others who took longer - more on them when it's their turn!). Sonny was the 2014 bonus Stablemate, a gold florentine G1 Draft Horse, in his first release since 2004. Sonny also featured a first for the bonus Stablemates, as he had his very own blue ribbon sticker. 

Bravo was the 2015 bonus Stablemate, done as a glossy alabaster on the G3 Rearing Andalusian mold. Like Sonny, Bravo has a blue ribbon sticker. I want to say I think he was one of the first Vintage Club Stablemates I tracked down? My model horse Instagram says I acquired him in 2018, so I think so! He's still really nice, with lovely soft gray shading. 

The bonus Stablemate in 2016 was Riptide. Like Sonny and Bravo, he continues the trend of the blue ribbon sticker. Riptide is on the G4 Rivet mold, in the #175 Indian Pony colorway with war paint. I actually like this execution of the color better than the blind bag version from 2020.