Collection Spotlight: Juniper

We've got one of my favorite models again today for a collection spotlight - Juniper! 

Juniper is from the first set of Berry Pony Web Specials, released in 2016. He was the third release, with entries opening in May. There were 350 made of him. Done on the Flash mold, Juniper is a blue roan blanket Appaloosa with an irregular star and snip, a sock on his right front, and white at the base of his tail. 

He's actually stunning with the little details - his face marking is very unique, and his eyes are some of the most realistic I've seen on an OF Breyer - with iris, pupil and sclera. He also has hoof striping, pinking in his snip, and his spots continue off of the whites of his blanket. 

Juniper was actually the first ever Web Special I was drawn for! As I said, I got back into the hobby seriously in college. Juniper was released at the end of my sophomore year, and I fell in love immediately. I was absolutely thrilled to be drawn for him, and he definitely contributed to my enduring love of the Flash mold. 

His show name is Blueberry Pie. Despite this, I think I've mostly only entered him in photo shows. It's possible he went to some of my first live shows, but I can't recall off hand. I show him as a North American Sport Pony because they allow all colors, but even that is a bit of a hard sell. When I have multiple better pony entries, it makes it hard to bring him along, even for collectability. That being said, I think I might try to take him out a couple of times this year just to see how he does! I know I have some horses qualified for NAN, so I can easily give them a break and rotate him in. 

I only have two of the Berry Ponies at this time - Juniper and Strawberry. At some point, I definitely want to add a Bramble - I'm not a huge collector of the Traditional Croi, but I think Bramble's color is just lovely. I'd also like to add Jujube and Bilberry, as I'm fond of both of those molds and think the colors are very well-executed. Actually, the entire series was well done color wise, but some of the molds just aren't my jam and that's okay! 

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

Happy Friday judging clinic! We're back to mini breed land today. I thought I'd carry over the same class from the traditional scale breed class last month, so this month we're once again looking at an Arabian class! 

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

As a refresher, let's look at what we're looking for in an Arabian. 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: G1 Arabian Stallion

Arabian mare

Horse B: Akilah

Arabian mare

Horse C: Zara

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

Monthly Round Up! January Additions

January was another very light month for additions! Club memberships hit me hard, I'm still making time payments on a very cool model, and the market hasn't had much I've wanted. That doesn't mean I didn't add anything! 

I did make a trip up to one of the local dealers, Sir Troy's. They're a fabulous dealer, with great stock and multiple locations. While there, I met up with a few of my hobby friends for a little hobby day. 

Life is always good with hobby friends

My friend Sarah has had a bit of a rough time of it recently, so we decided to take her to the local hobby store and out to eat to cheer her up. We also ended up making a trip to Michael's as well. My friends both participate in NaMoPaiMo and needed to pick up some supplies. I'm not brave enough to tackle NaMo yet, so I was keeping an eye out for things I could use in my Collector Class entry this year and getting my steps in. 

Sir Troy's was a success! I didn't mean to come home with two traditionals. Salvino was one I was hoping to pick up - he's one I've wanted to handpick for a while, and Sir Troy's had six to choose from. This one by far had the best shading, and he has nice masking to boot! The Legend was unexpected, but he was marked down due to the plastic on his box being cracked so he came home with me. The horse was completely fine! 

These Stablemates were also ones I was looking to handpick. The Missouri Fox Trotter was one of two in the assortment I'd be looking to show, and I found one that had nice mane masking and color. I'm still looking for a Clydesdale from that assortment to handpick, but the other four will probably end up tossed in as extras in my Stablemates Club orders this year. For the Deluxe set, I was looking at four horses to possibly show - the Georg, the Cassidy, the Kit and the Fjord. I only had two sets to choose from, but the Fjord and the Kit in this set were so nice that it came home with me. I'm glad I waited until I could find a nice set!

I haven't talked about it as much on this blog (yet) but Flash is one of my favorite molds. I knew I would need the Christmas horse at some point. Although I'm trying to buy from Tractor Supply less, when they had the Christmas horse marked down to over half off I knew I wasn't going to find a better deal. While I was there, I also picked up a few regular runs on the cheap to use as show donations. Supporting the live shows you attend is so important, and this is such a great time of year to grab donations when stock is being marked down to clearance prices. 

Live Show Secrets: The Art of Breyer Collectability

Today on the blog, I'd like to continue de-mystifying things about live showing model horses. You may recall my first post in this series, about what makes a model "LSQ." I was pleased with the reception to that post, as I had always planned on making this a series. There's so much that goes into live showing, and sometimes the information seems overwhelming and hard to find. There's so much that experienced showers take for granted and expect everyone to know. With this series, I hope to make live showing more accessible to new showers, and help experienced showers level up their game. 

Today I'm tackling what we all know is one of my favorite aspects of showing - collectability classes. What makes a winning collectability entry? How do you select an entry? What does your documentation need to have? 

I'm in a uniquely situated position to talk at length about this topic. In addition to my hobby credentials found on my About Me page, my favorite hobby niche is OF Breyer Stablemates collectability. There have been multiple shows where I have received public callouts and documentation awards for the quality of my collectability entries. I don't mean this to sound like a brag - it's a skill I've worked hard to hone, one that I'm proud of, and one that I'd like to share with everyone. 

So, let's dive into it! Like the with the LSQ post, we'll first examine what collectability is - what do judges look for? After that, we'll go through the process of putting together a collectability entry from beginning to end. 

Stablemate Sunday: #5183 Variations

For the first Stablemate Sunday of the year, we're back to looking at variations in a single run. If you read my G1 Thoroughbred Mare conga time, you'd know I collect multiples on that mold. It wasn't intentional, as most of them came in various G1 lots, and I love the mold. 

The run with the most variations by far is #5183 Thoroughbred Mare. She was produced from 1995-1997 as a part of the Stablemates single assortment. The run is entirely produced in the new plastic. It's a little surprising how much variation I've found in this run - you can see in the photo above the difference in shade range. I wish I knew more about when in the production each would have been made, but alas I was an infant when they were produced. 

We'll start with the NIP variation. Unlike most of them, I actually know when and where I received her! In 2024 I was traveling to the Happy Kamper Classic in Indiana with a couple of my hobby friends. Along the way, we stopped at four antique stores to look for Breyers. We struck gold, and I picked up her and a few other models. They told me I should unbox her, and I said I knew for a fact I had at least four more of her at home! So she gets to represent as the NIP girlie. She's on the lighter end of the shading spectrum. 

The first three out of package variations I affectionately refer to as "the triplets." They're near-identical and can be kind of hard to distinguish. Triplet number one is in pretty nice condition - she's on the lighter end, and her color is close to triplet number two. What distinguishes her from her sisters is the extra plastic around all of her hooves. 

The middle triplet is the easiest one for me to identify in my collection, as she's the only one with some slight rubs on her show side. Her hooves are also darker than the other triplets, and her body shading is a little more dramatic. Overall, out of the three identical triplets, she's the one who is the most beat up - and honestly, she's not even that bad! Her legs are also a semi-gloss compared to the very matte other variations. 

The last triplet is very close to the first triplet. She's a shade darker than her sisters, but it's not a significant amount. Like triplet number one, she's got some small rubs on her offside, but she's missing the extra plastic on her legs that triplet one has. 

Next, we have the one with the most dramatic shading. She's not only darker compared to most of my other copies, but her shading has more dimension. Unfortunately, she was well-loved before she made it to me, and her muzzle is severely rubbed. If her condition was better, she's the one I'd put on a show table in a heartbeat. 

We're capping off this spotlight with the darkest variation I have of this girl. While my three lightest copies look nearly identical, this girl is far darker than the rest. She's so dark compared to the rest that sometimes I question if she actually belongs to this run, but there's no other run on this mold she could possibly belong to. She also has one very white back sock, and her plastic is far whiter than the rest of the other variations. She's in perfect condition, and I think I might try showing her next year. 

It's Friday, I'm a Judge! Traditional Collectability #3

Welcome back to the Friday judging clinic! We're back in collectability land today, one of my favorite places to be. 

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

This week, we're looking at a class of Web Special Traditional Breyers. The models entered are all Collector Club Web Specials, available for purchase to everyone in the club. 

Horse A: Heath - 2024 Collector Club Web Special - Unknown amount made

Horse B: Griffin - 2017 Collector Club Web Special - Unknown amount made

Horse C: Moondance - 2017 Collector Club Web Special - Unknown amount made

Look at these three models - who do you think is the most collectible? Why do you feel that way? When you have your placings in mind, you can find mine under the jump! ↓

Conga Time! Sham

For this Conga Time, we're looking at one of my underrated favorite molds - Sham!

Sham captured my love at a young age, when I was transitioning from a horse-crazy child to a model horse collecting teenager. There's just something about the mold that has the spirit, even if as an adult I recognize he's a bit of a conformational wreck. But not every model needs to be a top live show quality model in my collection! I collect what I like. 😊

My Sham conga is smaller than some of my other congas - I try to add at least one a year, but that doesn't always pan out. I believe Lavinia is the most recent addition, and I picked him up at BreyerFest 2024. 

My first horse on the mold was the original Sham! It's not a surprise - I was obsessed with Marguerite Henry's books, so naturally I wanted to collect as many of the models as I could. 

My Sham is signed by Peter Stone! Twelve year old me thought this was one of the coolest things. Thirty year old me is less excited, but it's still a neat fact. 

Pharaoh is one of my favorite models in my collection. He was one of the Special Runs I bought at my first BreyerFest in 2008, along with Limerick. Even though my dad and I both had three day tickets, my budget meant I came home with just two special runs. I did get my top choices at least! 

Lugh is one of my favorites on the mold - the glossy bay with gulastra plume is just done to perfection! I'd love my next Sham addition to be his glossy brother - Quinn, from the 2017 Vintage Club. 

The Regular Runs (L-R): Sshameless++, The Black Stallion, Sham

BreyerFest realistic Special Runs (L-R): Tseminole Wind, Lugh

The decorator Special Runs (L-R): Lavinia, Pharaoh