With Breyerfest 2022 going on right now, there couldn't be a better time to introduce my latest arrival, 2019's Celebration Horse.
For those of you who don't know Breyer well, each July for the last thirty-something years they've held a big themed event in Kentucky, with model shows and contests, raffles and auctions and sales rooms, real horse guest performances, hobby clinics and talks, and special run model horses. Most of these models you have to pay for, of course, but the entry ticket includes one free model for everyone to take home : this is known as the Celebration Horse.
A lot of people who go will then sell on their free horse afterwards - maybe it's not a breed they care about, or a mould they like, or it's just the wrong scale to keep for their collection. So those of us who can't possibly afford to actually take part in Breyerfest, can often get a chance to get hold of these special runs on the second-hand market afterwards - I've been lucky enough to catch quite a few over the years.
Some pop up more often than others - in a year where the mould/colour combination's not been very popular with fans, you'll naturally find a lot more of them being sold on! 2019's must have been a much-loved edition, very few have yet made their way to UK Ebay.
Here he is!
His official name is Oliver, and he's a portrait of a real horse with a long connection to Breyerfest - he's one of the mounted police horses who lives and works at Kentucky Horse Park, where it's held every year. So a lot of people who've been to the event will have seen or met the real Oliver, making him a very popular choice for the Celebration model. He's also a really big handsome chunk of a horse, a Shire cross with big bold markings which must make him very eye-catching when he's on duty.
This mould was sculpted as a Cleveland Bay, a hefty carriage horse breed from northern England, but has been released as other breeds too, from Irish Drafts to heavy crossbreds, and he does look pretty similar in build to the real Oliver. I'm used to seeing Shire crosses with the leg feather left on when they're shown in the UK, but it seems US draft crosses are more commonly trimmed to have neat heels.
At first glance he looks black and white, but there's a really pleasant hint of brown in his paint - and I also find Breyer's jet black paint tends to be glossy and not match the matte white areas, where this tinted dark dark brown isn't any shinier than his white bits.
The striped hoof detailing is a nice touch, this is the sort of thing which crops up when they're copying a real horse, added markings which they probably wouldn't have invented off-hand but need to be there to keep a portrait paintjob accurate.
Although he's posed trotting, which can be a bit of a worry making models tippy and prone to wobbling, he's very very steady on his feet - the sheer weight of so much solid plastic in his chunky limbs seems to ground him better than the light breeds which have a scarily fine balancing point!
Lovely big ears and a very kind face - the pink shading inside his nose marking is so sweet! I've named him Harecroft Wizard, which has no link to his official name or anything, just a personal tribute to the gentle old horse who lived next door to my pony field, who died recently at a grand old age.
This time last summer, I posted a summary of all my Breyerfest models here, but since then I've also added Dani, a Mountie's horse, and this beautiful buckskin to my collection. I'll need to do a new updated post in time for next year's Breyerfest!
