The Royal Canadian Mounted Police

I don't tend to buy as many Classics as Traditionals or Stablemates- they have some really nice moulds these days, but some I'm not as keen on, quite a lot are sold in expensive playsets where I don't want all the horses or any of the stuff, and a lot are let down by the paintwork (blurry edges to markings, pearly colours, paint spatter used instead of masking for spots, that kind of thing), and they're too big for me to comfortably repaint, so this is the smallest proportion of my Breyer collection by a long way.

But I've nothing against the scale for size purposes, so when I see one I really like, I'm perfectly happy to add it to my herd - especially when it's one of a limited edition of 1000, for just £10!

And here he is. He actually arrived a month ago, but I only just realised he got missed on the blog, oops!

An interesting release, done for Breyerfest in 2019, when the theme was Horse Heroes, he's representing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, specifically their musical ride. His markings don't seem to be copied from any one individual horse, at least the info doesn't mention it if that's the case - I think they just went with a black horse cos they all are, and put some white on so it wasn't too boring!

The box is bilingual, but as he was only sold at Breyerfest (which is held in Kentucky), I don't think that's a practical choice - he wasn't intended for sale in shops in Canada, so it's just a nod to the horses' home country.

His tag's on elastic so it can be removed without damaging it, I took it off for pictures but will put it back on for display on my shelf, cos otherwise there's not much to point out he's anything to do with the Mounties, unless I wanted to store the box right behind him instead of flattened out and put away with my other informationy stuff.

It's kind of a shame they didn't make a set with tack, or at least a halter/bridle, so the horse was more distinct and recognisable once out of his box, but then, Breyer's tack can tend toward being very toyish and inaccurate so perhaps not!

I've named him Nimrod, picked at random because as I said he isn't based on any one individual. And the only Canadian police horse I ever met in person (because he was given to the Queen, so he lives over here with his cavalry mates now) was called George, and I don't fancy naming models after myself!

He's very handsome, some Breyer horses with black coats are given such a flat, semi-glossy coating of pure jet black that they don't look real, more like art sculptures given a sleek black coat of paint in the same way they could be coated pure white or fake bronze - an aesthetic choice rather than trying to copy a real horse colour. But he's one of the lucky ones, there's enough brown in his paint to give warm tones, a more lifelike black which is actually varied shades of very very dark brown.

I did some reading up on the real horses; early on the breeding was very varied, sounds like any light riding horse that could be sourced would do, from stock horses to hunters, later tending toward a more thoroughbred type. And they could be any colour, it was only decided that all-black would look better once they went to ceremonial duties (rather than being the main police transport).

Nowadays they're bred specially by the police for this job, rather than bought in from elsewhere and trained up, the way our military and police do here. They're still mostly-thoroughbred ancestry, with some recent Hanoverian stallions to give them a bit more bulk and substance.

The one indication, outside of the packaging, that he is Canadian - a maple leaf on each side. The horses are given these markings with a stencil and damp brush when they perform the musical ride, it's not permanent like a brand, and it's been added here with a neat clear gloss finish.

It's a bit confusing how to file this one on my website : although it's a great opportunity to have my first of the Canadian Horse breed thanks to his nationality and prominent maple-leaf mark, the mould is a Stock Horse Gelding, so maybe he belongs with the Quarter Horses? Or does he go on the partbred page as Thoroughbred x Hanoverian, like the real ones on the musical ride? For now, I've gone with the last option, just so he doesn't get missed out and forgotten cos I can't make my mind up!