Some colourful CollectA arrivals

Back when I first started buying CollectA horses, almost every sculpt was released in two different colours, at the same time rather than over subsequent years. To save on money, and avoid having to buy any badly designed disappointing paintjobs, I decided to go with buying whichever was my favourite colour for each breed.
And til recently, I was really happy with this method of adding to my collection - the horse which first made me doubt the decision was the Icelandic coming out in bay dun, a colour which suited it even more than the original first release. But one colour per model was my rule, so I stuck to it.

With the 2022 announcements including several gorgeous re-releases which featured beautifully done new colours on already familiar sculpts, my resolve wavered a great deal - and I thought I probably would end up buying them once they come into stock.
Recently, seeing a collector's real photo of the buckskin Appaloosa reminded me of how much I'd liked it - and that made me realise something : if I've already given in to the inevitability of buying the 2022 new colours, it made absolutely NO sense to keep any of the older alternative colours out of my herd!

So I placed a little order of horses in moulds I already have, but these are all their 'other colour' releases, and now the sun's been out I have photos to share.

The Appaloosa, which was the final straw in my choice to collect multiple colours. His spotted blanket pattern is rather stylised, but I like it, especially the way the dark spots vary in size.

His face is interesting too, the blue eyes are a first for CollectA (normally the eyes are just black, even in colours which could be blue-eyed), and they've used a grey dividing line to look like the 'mapping' overlap between white and colour which often shows on face markings.

The spotty pattern on the other side. I haven't named him yet, but I did paint a custom a similar colour last year, so I might try to pick something themed alike for them both.

Next, the Norwegian Fjord stallion in grey dun. I chose the yellow originally as it's their commoner colour, but actually this version is a nicer interpretation, with more shading.
I must admit, I did temporarily have this one last year, and felt it was a real shame to paint over him when I didn't have the colour already and liked it so much, but he had some missing paint on his face and feet, so he wasn't quite good enough to keep for my collection. And now I have him again, but nicer!

His dorsal stripe is carefully painted in to go all the way through the middle of his trimmed mane, just like it should. I've named him Måneskinn, Norwegian for 'moonshine' thanks to his bright silvery colour.

Now, the Icelandic, the release which originally made me doubt my one-per-mould rule in the first place!
He doesn't have the lovely pale mealy muzzle shown in the catalogue photo, but having seen several different 'real photos' of the finished models, it seems none of them do, so it must've been too much effort/time to paint when it came to the production line.

I've named him Stjörnufákur - many Icelandic horses are given names which include descriptions of their colour, markings, or other physical attributes, and this name means a riding horse with a star marking on the head.

I really like his colour, despite lacking the pale nose the dark face is a good example of typical dun features, and his leg shading and dorsal stripe are lovely and softly applied. There really is no such thing as too many Icelandics in a collection, and it's nice to have another for my CollectA selection.

The final 'other colour' choice is the Akhal-Teke mare in metallic golden buckskin. I originally went for the perlino, thinking it was a much rarer colour to see on a model horse, with the pinkish tone under a silvery sheen - one of the very few breeds where I actively like a pearlised paint application! But there's nothing wrong with the buckskin version, and it was the logical one to track down and finally buy now I'm gathering more colours.

It's a lovely sculpt, catches the fine hard profile of the head well, and the unusual conformation without being too exaggeratedly thin and raw-muscled, which suits a mare.
I've named her Iriska, a name picked from a sales page of real-life Akhal-Teke horses. I always figure that when dealing with languages I don't speak and find it too hard to research, if I choose a name a real breeder has given to a horse of the same colour, it can't be wildly inappropriate - like naming a chestnut something which means 'spotted', or a black horse a name which means it's very pale!

And finally, one last choice, not an alternate colour, but I needed something to push my order over £40 for free postage (no point spending the price of a model on shipping when the company will ship for free and I get an extra horse!), and thought I'd go for one more I'd originally decided against...

The mare and terrier set. Well, I'm not sure if it counts as a set when they're actually attached, but never mind! In a way it's a shame they are fixed together, I'd have liked to be able to photograph them separately as well as in their pair pose, and I'd imagine kids would have fun playing with the dog loose, 'jumping' in and out of it's resting position on the horse's back.

Despite that, it's a nice fun pairing, and you do see stableyard pets on horses' backs sometimes - it was a favourite with photographers doing a shoot with showjumpers or famous racehorses for horsey magazines back when I read them in my early teens, if the cat or dog had a particular pal who'd let him settle up there.

Neither of them have been given a specific breed in CollectA's catalogue, other than the vague terrier, and the words pony mare in the description they issue for shop sites, and she's definitely pony sized when stood between these other models. Maybe wire haired Jack Russel for her little friend.

So that's it for now, a parcel which doesn't contain any new breeds for me, but still a really good one - it's been very satisfying to go back and pick out the colours I probably should've been collecting all along.
I'm still not going to aim for an Every Model Released collection of CollectA, the less exciting or just plain disappointing alternate colours can remain unbought, but from now on, I'll be picking everything I want, rather than sticking to a rule!