Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Easter was a bit of a bust, here: chaos, burnt food, and the dog being naughty. Then I had to get to get up for work today at 2:30 a.m. - something I don’t normally do unless horses are involved, and they weren’t. (Tomorrow, maybe.)

Halo did arrive today, but I only just opened the Moose Ghost yesterday, so I think I can wait a day or two, to enjoy him all by his lonesome. He really is as nice as everyone says he is, with just a hint of that iridescent sparkle in the gloss they’ve been experimenting with since last BreyerFest (on the Mariah’s Boon, and the Bell-bottomed Shire Cheerio.)

My BreyerFest ticket also arrived late last week. So far, so good: no ticket trade needed, yet. Unless I find something fabulous and inspiring at the flea market this year, I am forgoing the costume contest this year: the rule changes are still a bit too vague for my liking, and I’d rather minimize the exhaustion and inevitable heartbreak if I can.

I’ve also only committed to one ticket so far: I just finished last year’s inventory paperwork, and well, ouch. Fortunately, most of the models I’m interested in so far aren’t time ticket specific: the Store Special Pinto Brighty, the Other Store Special Bucking Bronco, and the actual Celebration model (Smart Chic, FTW!) I might cough up cash for another ticket depending on the finances, mostly to double my chances of getting one of the Surprise/Gambler’s Choice models, whatever it is.

Because my mind is spinning all sorts of elaborate fantasies about it at this point. (Not sharing, because I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up for nothing.)

And speaking of surprises…they announced the actual Vintage Club Exclusive/Made to Order model today: "Lucy", a Balking Mule in a loud dun appaloosa who (not coincidentally?) looks a lot like one of the first BreyerFest Gambler’s Choice models, the 2009 Quarter Horse Gelding in Appaloosa. The first thing that popped into my mind, however, when I saw her was this cover:

The Fall 1979 issue of Just About Horses - the first one with a full-color cover! (A brief bio of the Balking Mule mold is featured inside.) Kind of an obscure vintage nod, but a clever one. I like it.

So much for the tight reins on my budget. At least the price is not too unreasonable, at $99.95.

The Balking Mule mold and I have an interesting history. It took me YEARS to finally acquire the vintage ones for my collection. In the pre-Internet days, before you could swipe one off of eBay for slightly more than body price, Balking Mules were not easy to come by, and not cheap.

They weren’t completely out of my budget range, but I was determined to find one locally - like I had most of my other "rare" models. It became a thing for me. I wasn’t going to buy one "retail" if I didn’t have to.

I had to wait a very, very long time. I bought the Black Horse Ranch Special Run ones in 1994, and they were awesome, but they weren’t Vintage. Back then.

And then - no joke - I found four in the space of two months, three of them in the same weekend: one at an antique show, and two from a local dealer who I had given some reference material to, and had helped with pricing some of the models from his personal collection.

He later told me that when he found them, he knew he had to save them for me. As a favor for helping him sell off his collection.

I still have those three, because they really were worth the wait. (I also because I overspent a little bit, because of that danged principle!) I justified keeping a second Bay one because it was a variation: so light, it looked like a chestnut.

More on them, next time.