The AQHA Chase Begins

The annual town book sale was a bit of a bust – the only horse books there were ones I had donated myself earlier this year. The flea market was better: many fun things, including more minis and more bodies.

It is kind of hard to believe that I came home from Kentucky with a near-empty body box: now it looks almost as full as it was before I left! So much so, that I'm considering adding a few lots to my year-end sales blitz.

That extra money may come in handy, because it appears that the mysterious, much anticipated “other” colors of the 75th Anniversary AQHA release (i.e. anything other than Bay, Chestnut or Palomino) are starting to turn up now – in the Tractor Supply Holiday store merchandise assortment.

This makes sense, because they’ve been adding rarities into the TSC mix for a little while now. They included some of the Chalky, hand-printed Appaloosa Performance Horses (aka “Indian Pony”) last year, and the Gloss versions of the Bay Valentine and Heartbreaker Giselle/Gilen set a few years before that.

The one photo I saw was of the Grulla, and I liked it – a lot. But as I’ll not be home much in the next few weeks, I’ll probably miss whatever pretty little rarities they decide to ship to my corner of the world. (And wherever I happen to be, my co-workers are unlikely to consider “going to the nearest Tractor Supply Store” a fun lunchtime activity.)

Ah well, I guess I’ll just have to enjoy the hunt from afar, and hope there are no old-fashioned Breyer Bald-faced Buckskins found anywhere close enough to me to wince. (As I did when I discovered where a Charcoal rearing Silver had been found locally. Even though the store is now closed, I still give it the stink-eye every time I drive by.)

It’s nice to see this promotion generating some interest in the AQHA mold, that received a lukewarm reception within the hobby when he was first released in 1995 as the Ideal American Quarter Horse.

The general reaction was “You call that ‘Ideal’?”

While some collectors would rather get it now and not deal with the hassle of potential price increases down the road, or prefer the stress-free regularity of dealer handpicking or a subscription service, I like an occasional chase. The whole being-out-of-town thing is more of an annoyance than a negative.

Depending on what shows up.