Blue Freckles

Did I forget to mention that I opened my Canadian Walmart Stablemates Blind Bags? Nothing out of the ordinary – and no surprises, which is no surprise, really:

At least I’ll be able to do some handpicking, and the Red Dun on the G4 Endurance Arabian looks really good on him! I am, naturally, enamored of the Freckle Blue Roan on the Reiner:

Although Test Colors and other examples of questionable provenance have shown up over the years, this is the closest we’ve come to a wide-scale production release of a Black/Blue version of the original Freckle Red Roan color. 

Early attempts at Blue/Black Roan, like the 1989 JAH Special Run Quarter Horse Yearling, featured much sparser freckling on a stark white base color. Which I liked, personally, but it didn’t seem to be as big a hit with anybody else. 

Maybe because they looked more like Fleabitten Grays than actual Roans? The Red Roans of the same era were painted almost identically, part of Reeves’ experimentation with more naturalistic paint jobs. It definitely took Reeves a while to get the hang of Roans, and then they lost the will and/or the knack for the old-fashioned Freckle Roans somewhere along the way, though this fella is definitely an encouraging sign. 

Another encouraging sign: the Blind Bag Stablemates that briefly appeared at some Tractor Supply stores (definitely not ours!) were – like the Unicorn Surprise sets – simply early releases of 2022 merchandise. I am on the fence about buying a case when they’re available: I know it’s my best shot at getting a chase piece, but I’d really rather not add more models to my sales list, even if they’re only Stablemates.

Virtual Show Wrap-Up

One thing I was not counting on was being exhausted this week, even though I didn’t go anywhere, do much of anything, or even go outside and enjoy the heat all that much over my “vacation”.

(For the record, I actually do “enjoy the heat”.)

The Surprises are starting to show up, and as a courtesy to those who want to be surprised when they arrive, I won’t discuss them until mine does. (So… about another three days, at least.)

It’s… not a mold I expected (I had it pegged as an outside chance) but the ones I’ve seen are quite lovely, even (especially!) the one that seems to be the most common. As always, I’m hoping for a Gloss, but not counting on it. Like, at all. 

So here are my top three “winners” at the BreyerFest Virtual Open Show.

First is Winslow, a Collector’s Choice Sergeant who took Second in OF RR Donkey/Mules/Zebras/Primitive Breeds (Class #106):

I bought him years ago as a companion to a Sample of the release I found in the NPOD. There’s not a huge difference between the two - the Sample is slightly darker and pearlier, and has notations and signatures on his belly. I was rummaging around the display collection looking for last minute entries the Saturday before, and he caught my eye.

Second, my #103 Appaloosa Yearling Premonitions, who took Second in OF RR Stock Breeds & Types Foal (Class #503):

I bought her at BreyerFest years ago, in a room in the 200s. I had been looking to upgrade my big-blanket variation of the Appy Yearling: she was very pretty, with immaculate spotting, and her price was right! I almost entered my two-sock variation, but this girl was in better condition overall.

Third, my Riegsecker 1984 Red Chestnut Draft Horse Joonas, who took Second in OF SR Mini Draft Breeds (Class #613), showing as a Jutland:

I have the complete set of seven Riegsecker Stablemate Drafts. When I used to show some of these Drafts before, I’d always go with the flashier ones - the Red Roan, the Palomino, sometimes even the Steel Gray - even though I always thought the Chestnut was the nicest one in the set I received. Glad I decided to go with my gut!

Since, like most folks, I couldn't get anything to function properly on Friday, I spent most of my day refreshing the show results. I was pretty pleased that I hit my “target” (10 placings) by lunchtime, and the placings were fairly evenly distributed through the entire ribbon spectrum, except for the utter absence of Firsts.

I totally tanked in Special Run OF (only one ribbon out of 30 entries) and did best in Collectibility (14 out of 65) and Foals (5 out of 22).

If you factor out the OOAK/Test Colors Classes - I had only one placing out of 12 I entered in that section, partly because the Test Colors I do have are on older and less flashy molds that I bought second hand for cheap - I did quite well statistically, though I was hoping for better (one First!)

Some of the placements I found… uhm, interesting? That’s something that's always been a thing, both at live shows in general and BreyerFest shows in particular, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Judge’s prerogative and all that.

And it benefited me in some ways: I entered my pretty Bay PAS Witez II in OF RR Arabian Stallions because I couldn’t fit him in anywhere in Collectibility. While not normally considered a competitive mold since the introduction of Huckleberry Bey, it has been getting a positive reevaluation in recent years.

Combine that with the fact that his paint job is flat out gorgeous (he finished fourth in a very competitive OF RR Collectibility Class at Pansies and Ponies last year!) I thought he’d have a shot at a lower placing - but he finished third!

As someone whose hobby preoccupation is history, I did wince at some of the documentation that I saw in some of the Collectibility Classes, and cringed even more when some of those models placed over mine. I know other factors are in play when it comes to those class placements, but some of them did feel like tiny little stabs in the heart.

On the other hand, in regards to my breed assignments, I thought I did pretty well. Before I became obsessed with Breyer History, I use to obsess over horse breeds, and I used to look forward to buying the October All-Breeds issue of Western Horseman every year.

If I do pursue Live Showing more actively in the next year or two, I think the best use of my time (other than taking my customizing more seriously) may be in focusing on the breed assignment aspect.

Appaloosa Yearlings

Behold, one of the most popular releases of the 1970s and 1980s:

Yep, the #103 Appaloosa Yearling. She ran from 1971 through 1988 – longer than both the Palomino and Liver Chestnut releases, both of whom only ran from 1970 through 1980. So I’ve found a fair amount of them over the years, and always have at least one in my Body Box at all times.

This year I’ll have at least two, including this rather typical specimen (the little girl above) I found at a local Salvation Army a little over a week ago.

It always surprises people when I tell them that she was one of the most popular releases of that era. Somehow she managed to hit the sweet spot – color, mold, breed, pattern or je ne sais quoi – that lead to a rather remarkable 18-year production run.

The mold itself intrigues me just enough that I think I might be able to do something with her, but I haven’t been motivated enough to set one aside for my personal stash of experimental bodies. I still have a couple of Duchesses, Performance Horses, a Mesteno body and an entire herd of Family Arabian Mares to “play with” before I’d get to her anyway.

I keep hoping that one of these years Breyer decides to either add a “vintage body/Hess mold” class for their Customs Contest, or use that concept for their thematic class.

Just as long as the mold is still somehow recognizable, none of this “I’ll just use it as an armature anyway” kind of extreme custom that kind of bores me to tears at this point and really isn’t as clever or creative as everyone seems to think it is.

(Whenever a conversation starts with “You’ll never guess what mold I used….” It’s a Touch of Class. Seriously, it’s almost always a Touch of Class….)

(And yes, I am vaguely aware of the Sarah Mink’s Vintage Custom Month thing. Not on Facebook, blah blah blah, etc.)

I am at the point of my BreyerFest prep that I’d rather hide in the basement and just work on my quilting instead, so any thoughts of firing up the Dremel drill and having at one of my partially finished projects will have to be put on hold for the duration. 

Speaking of… time to log off to do more prep. Since I abandoned my diorama idea, I’ve decided to go full bore with a completely different something I’ve had rattling around my head for the past couple of years. More on that next time, when I’ll have an actual sample/test piece to show you what I’m going with.

(Not trying to be sneaky or anything. Nothing is actually completely done yet!)

It's A Day

Apparently the new standing Stablemate Warmblood mold is a mare, but the rest of my criticism about that One-Day release still stands.

It’s overt and heavy-handed pandering to an audience that might pay off in the short term, but will be costly in the long-term. If you become increasingly reliant on a smaller but more intense clientele, that clientele eventually begins to think it can dictate the business of the company itself.

(Looks in mirror. Yup, you too!)

Anyway, since I had already planned on focusing most of my resources to finishing old business, rather than starting new business, I’m going to regard my displeasure at the thematic aspects of this year’s Special Run lineup as a potentially positive development: buying fewer models means I have to spend less money – and time! – dealing with them.

Let’s see, what else to do we have going on today, aside from the birthday (which is a national holiday, incidentally, sort of).

I am somewhat relieved that the “My Strongest Suit” model Beau is already sold out, though I am curious about the piece runs on these more recent first-come, first-served Web Specials. I know other factors are in play – the choice of molds, colors and finishes, and in the case of Beau, the two different mane options – that are helping with the quicker sellouts, but I’d still like to know, you know?

I actually like the latest Test Color “raffle” piece, the Autism Yearling Hope in a Gold and Pearl Appaloosa covered in primary-colored puzzle pieces:

She’d make a lovely birthday present, and I see a lot of people posting the same yucky-faces they did when the actual production run release came out, which would make you assume – wrongly – that there will be fewer people entering for her.

What’s interesting (but not entirely unexpected, to me) is that the original production release is starting to pick up a little traction in the aftermarket, presumably either from collectors who don’t give a hoot about realism or showability, and/or from people who have a personal or familial connection to autism.

I fall into both categories, but I’m still dealing with some time and space issues here, it’ll happen when the time, place and money are right, and not a moment sooner.

Unless the Test Color happens.

I have a bunch of photographs to take and some deadlines to meet, so that’s all for today, folks.

Fangirl Swooning: 2015 Releases!

First, let me say that I had no idea that Reeves put up a picture of a real live puppy wearing an actual Breyer horse blanket on their Facebook page a few days ago. My only contact with Facebook is checking out the Breyer page about once a week for news and clues. But the original points remain: easy-to-do and cute.

I was going to write about the Banff, because it's Banff. But he's not here yet, and I was in a mood to write now, not later.

Then I thought I’d follow up on Denise’s comment a couple posts back about the other B-marked Foals, because there's an interesting discussion to be had there.

But then Modell Pferde Versand had to post pictures of some of the new 2015 models, and I kinda lost my mind when I noticed who was among them:

My beloved PHB! Yes! And in a somewhat different pattern!

Other hobbyists are more excited about the Pinto Desatado, or the stunning Smarty Jones Polo Pony that was shown on the 2015 Calendar, or over various Classics molds, but you know had to be the Polled Hereford Bull for me.

I was promising myself that I wouldn’t be buying much new stuff the first half of the year. It’s not a lack of money or space, just a matter of wanting to focus on other priorities for a while. But dang it Reeves, there you go making things near and dear to my heart!

I sort of suspected/hoped he’d be back; while it was certainly possible to make the Marshall Special Run from warehoused bodies, they also could have been produced from "test shots" made in the process of prepping the mold for production.

But I sort of discounted that notion, because lately almost all the Nonhorse, non-Companion mold releases have been either Special Run items of significantly larger piece runs, or items made from warehoused bodies.

So yes, I am very, very, very excited that I will soon be able to buy a new Polled Hereford Bull off the shelf without having to resort to ninja moves or Vulcan nerve pinches. (Unless special ones happen to show up in the you-know-where.) It’s nice to see the Cow, Calf and Deer Family making comebacks, too. (Will my hoped for Piebald set finally become a reality?)

Although the mold itself isn’t wildly popular among hobbyists, the Polled Hereford Bull is a pretty good seller in the nonhobbyist market. I’ve never had a problem selling any duplicates for a decent price when I've had to. So I think he’ll be a good seller for Reeves, too.

The other model among this initial group that will be on my must buy list - after the Polo Pony, I hope - will be the Autism Awareness Model, on the Quarter Horse Yearling mold. It’s not the mold, or the color, but the cause: my older cousin Todd is autistic. He was one of the first autistic kids to be mainstreamed into the public school system in Michigan, graduating in 1980.

So yeah, that's something that I'm more than happy to support. (FYI: Todd's more of a cat person than a horse person.)

Equal Time for the Palomino

In the interest of fairness, here is my Palomino Quarter Horse Yearling - with a Blue Ribbon Sticker!

She has the USA mark, so she’s probably slightly later than the Liver Chestnut one. (1970 was the year that the USA marks were introduced for most - but not all - existing Breyer molds.)

Stickers on Quarter Horse Yearlings are uncommon, because the mold was introduced in 1970, which I believe to be the last year for the Blue Ribbon Sticker program. Other molds and releases introduced that year are also somewhat uncommon with stickers, including the Indian Ponies, Yellow Mount, the Scratching Foal, and the Dall Sheep.

(There was a really nice stickered Dall Sheep on eBay a couple weeks ago, in fact, but he was just a little bit out of my price range. Darn it all!)

If I am recalling correctly, this Yearling was purchased in a group lot with several other rarities, so whether or not she was a bargain is a matter of debate. I am happy to have her, whatever her "real price" was.

I suppose in the market as it is now, I might make that money back, but I rarely seem to make a profit on box lots like some people do. The storage tub of Hartlands I found earlier this year was the exception, not the rule. (I still have a few odds and ends left from that lot I need to sort and price out!)

I’ve listed genuinely rare items that sold for body prices, and I’ve listed perfectly ordinary things that generated crazy bidding wars. It usually averages out in the end, but it does make me wonder sometimes if the effort I spend in preparing my sales items is mostly for naught.

(Other than the cleaning. I find that personally therapeutic, regardless of the return on investment.)

That’s why I tend to take a somewhat measured approach to box lots. Either they have to be cheap enough that I can at least break even selling them as bodies, or there has to be one or more items in the lot that are collection must-haves - AND I can still get most of my money back selling the rest at body-level prices.

I just bought a nice little box lot earlier last week that fell into the latter category. Most of you will laugh when you see what it was that motivated me to buy it.

That Liver Chestnut QH Yearling Variation

There was unwelcome company and an unexpectedly busy start to the work week, so I have little time for more than a drive by today. So here’s a picture of a well-known, but rarely seen older Variation:

The Two Sock Version of the #101 Liver Chestnut Quarter Horse Yearling. This was the original version of the paint job, released in 1970; consequently most, if not all, of them will not have the U.S.A. mold mark.

Most of the earlier Breyer ephemera that features the Liver Chestnut Yearling shows the two sock version. The Palomino - released the same year - did not come in an equivalent variation; if it did, I have not seen one. She always came, and was shown, with four socks.

The Two Sock Liver Chestnut Variation was not released that way for long, and is a relatively rare bird. It took me several years to find this particularly lovely example at one of the earlier BreyerFests. I wouldn’t mind upgrading to one with a Blue Ribbon Sticker, but with the prices stickered models have been commanding recently, that’s probably not likely.

If I recall correctly, this little girl was pretty affordable. Although quite rare, this variation is lightly collected because Quarter Horse Yearlings as a whole aren’t very popular, outside of the occasional Test Color, Chalky or Stickered example. Oh, and the Presentation Series pieces, of course. There was a really neat Chicago Era Matte Alabaster Test one on eBay a little while back I found quite fetching, but alas, a lot of other people did too. 

Playing Catch Up

I took the day off (for the most part) from blogifying yesterday. Even though I worked fewer hours this week, I was even more tired by the end of it. Some (confidential for now, sorry) stuff came up that complicated things, but I think it was mostly Morpheus playing catching up with me. 

Continuing on that theme…

In case you didn’t already know, there’s a special drawing for Vintage Club members this weekend for 80 pieces of the Special Run Balking Mule Lucy, in Gloss. I don’t know if this represents the portion of the run that wasn’t officially ordered by club members, or just a random number they pulled out of the air. Been putting my entries in, regardless, because ooh, shiny.

The BreyerFest survey forms have also been sent out, via e-mail. I always laugh about "confidentiality" part; I have a fairly distinctive writing voice, so I assume they know it’s me, anyway, and write with that assumption in mind.

There’s a small, blurry, Facebook-derived picture floating around of an alleged new Breyer mold coming out soon, a portrait of Harley D Zip. I didn’t find out about it until the Blab forum topic had reached well over a hundred posts, running the gamut from "OMG I LUV IT!" to "Meh". I think I’ll wait until I see a larger and more official picture before I give it the thumbs up or down. 

I also found a bunch of neat stuff at the flea market last weekend that I never got around to talking about. There were a couple of decent bodies, a Lomonosov Polar Bear Cub, a Limited Edition Royal Doulton Bunnykins figurine, and a book about Draft Horses illustrated by Francis Eustis (going straight to the reference library). The "biggest" finds were a pair of Mastercrafters clocks - one of those mysterious "Quarter Horse Yearling" clocks, and a Swinger with an Onyx case:

I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned it here or not before, but we’re still unsure of the relationship between the QH Yearling and the goldtoned clock above. The clock clearly predates the Yearling: this example has a postal zone, rather than a zip code in the company address listed on the back. Zones were phased out in the 1960s, but the Quarter Horse Yearling didn’t officially debut until 1970.

Breyer’s relationship with Mastercrafters lasted well beyond the Western Horse/Davy Crockett era, but for how long, and in what capacities, we are not sure.

The Yearling clock is an upgrade, but the Swinger is technically "new" for me - I have had several in the Brown Burl case, but none in the Green Onyx before. In my excitement, I didn’t examine the clock as closely as I should have when I negotiated for it: it is still partially disassembled because it required extensive cleaning.

This is a polite way of saying that it was possibly one of the grossest things I have ever bought at the flea market. (Not The Grossest Thing Ever. You really don’t need to know about that. All I can say is that it wasn’t a horse.)

When I got it home and took it out of the bag, I initially thought that the previous owner had lined the bottom of it with felt.

It was not felt.

It was an encrusted layer of dust, dirt, cigarette smoke, and cat hair. Upon closer examination, it looked like something you’d see getting shoveled out of a window on the TV show Hoarders. The saddest part is that I found an address label under the crud indicating that the previous owner had purchased it, reconditioned, from a clock shop not even ten years ago.

Most of the gross is gone, but it still needs more cleaning and repair work. It’s been an interesting restoration challenge, if nothing else.

(Ooh, freaky. I just noticed that they are stopped at exactly the same time, even though I bought them from two different vendors!)

Appaloosa Yearlings

I’ve never been much of a Black Friday enthusiast; aside from the horses, there’s never been anything I needed so badly that I was willing to stand in line for hours in the rain or cold. There are a few things I intend on picking up today, but there is nothing I need to stand in a line for.

I briefly considered making a Toys R Us run to pick up the half-priced Stablemates set, but then I remembered the mistake I made a couple weeks ago. I had a half an hour to kill before work, the TRU was right across the street, and I thought what the heck, I’ll go check out the Breyer selection.

Not realizing it was the same night as their "Midnight Madness" sale.

That sort of thing happens to me all the time. It’s like I have an internal flash mob GPS. (Have you ever asked yourself "How on Earth did I end up in the middle of a Jesse Jackson rally?" I have.)

With absolutely no segue whatsoever, I present to you my Appaloosa Yearling chorus line:


(You’ll just have to pretend that the Palomino Western Pony is my Chalky Yearling, who for reasons unknown even to me is apparently detained somewhere else for the duration.)

I hardly ever find Liver Chestnut Yearlings, and Palomino ones aren’t super common in these parts, either. But at any given time, I always have at least one Appaloosa Yearling either on my saleslist, or in my body box. If I manage to sell one, the Universe manages to put in an automatic restock order.

That’s how come I have about a half dozen in my collection. You get that many passing through, and you’re bound to find variations. Big blankets, small blankets, different blazes, differently colored spots? Yup, gotta keep 'em.

There’s only one I consciously sought out - the two sock variation. She was a tough one: it took me a while to find her, and she’s not minty mint. It’s definitely an earlier variation, but it’s not one seen in any catalogs or other contemporaneous PR materials: all of the pictures of her from 1971 onward show her with those solid, Sandy Bay legs.


The Appaloosa Yearling is the only Breyer model to come in this peculiar shade of bay-that’s-not-bay. I can’t even recall seeing any vintage test colors that might have sported it. The closest match is the #154 Bay Blanket POA, whose color tends to be much warmer and more orangey.

The fact that the color is peculiar to the Appaloosa Yearling makes me wonder if they were modeling it after a specific, real-life horse. I haven’t found any evidence of that, but it’s another one of those notions I keep in the back of my mind as I mine old horse magazines for other precious nuggets of Breyer info.

On Rarity, Again

I just got a supercool thing in the mail, but since I’m a little crunched for time today, y’all will have to wait a couple of days before I can discuss it in full.

Many of us have gotten used to the using the term "rare" or "exclusive" only when referring to items of exceeding rareness. Since I am somewhat in between topics here, I guess it’s a good time to address the discrepancy between the way I use those words, and the way the rest of the online hobby community does.

Hobbyists who have become blasé about sub-100 piece special runs have forgotten that what they consider "rare" is not what either the greater hobby or the general public considers "rare." The online hobbyist community - and here I refer to those who actively participate in the online community, and not just everyone who has access to a computer - sometimes forgets that it does not encompass the entire hobby.

There are lots and lots of passive, part-time or casual collectors, whose interactions with the hobby may be limited to a subscription to Just About Horses, standing orders with their local toy stores, or lurking online. For many of them, attending BreyerFest - and acquiring any of the special runs distributed there - is out of their reach, physically or financially. All of those special runs, to them, are rare.

Dealer Specials, Web Specials, Treasure Hunt Redemption Horses, and Connoisseur models also fall into this category. If they can’t just walk into a store and buy it when they want it, it’s rare.

That’s why I so often rail about the lack of precision in Reeves’ language. The words they chose were calibrated to a certain segment of the hobby - ironically, to the ones always complaining about Reeves not catering to their specific wants and desires - but did not take the members of the larger hobby into consideration.

Like a certain acquaintance of mine.

I just made a rather big sale (nearly half my saleslist!) to a very nice gentleman whose interaction with the greater hobby is rather limited. He subscribes to JAH, corresponds with a few other hobbyists, but buys most of his models locally. I’m not sure how he managed to get my name, but he always calls me after BreyerFest for the latest gossip - and my sales list.


Most of the stuff that populates my sales list, at any given time, consists of items that most of the online hobbyist community does not consider rare, like this rather nice #103 Appaloosa Yearling. I get most of my "stock" from the flea market, thrift stores, and occasionally from online auction lots: super-rare stuff doesn’t turn up in those venues very often. When it does, I tend to keep it.

(I almost kept this Yearling, incidentally. I already have six other variations, so she had to go.)

While the items I sell to him aren’t considered rare and desirable to us, they are to him. His notions about rarity are shaped by what’s available to him. In his sphere, rarity is a word that can extend to items manufactured in the thousands, not merely the dozens.

So yes, many items sold at the warehouse sale would definitely fall into his definition of "rare."

Lucky Ranger Clock

Ever have one of those weekends where you don’t manage to get a darn thing done?

Yeah, it was one of those. Evil discovered my quilt frame - and the unfinished quilt in it - and, well, it looks like I’ll have to finish that project now, before she does. (As for what she did in retaliation for taking away her favorite new toy - the less said, the better.)

Slow day at the flea market; it would have been decent pickings for most folks, but since I have a rather scary-looking credit card statement arriving in my mailbox this week, I decided to be picky. There was an interesting clock - not a MasterCrafters one, but possibly related - but the dealer seemed more interested in conversating than in selling, so my money went elsewhere. I can only hope his own credit card statement will motivate him to be a little more customer-friendly next week.

Before I forget completely, let’s finish up the conversation we began just before BreyerFest, with the mysterious MasterCrafters Lucky Ranger Clock. This one, in case you’ve forgotten:


So, what’s up with THAT?

I don’t know.

When I first ran across the reference for this clock, on a list of trademarked MasterCrafters names, I assumed that it referred somehow to a clock similar to the Davy Crockett one - with a Lucky Ranger mounted on it, instead of a Davy. The link in question:

http://www.clockswatches.com/foreign/showpage.php?em=1544

Since I had never seen such a clock, I assumed it was either very, very rare, or possibly never put into production. Then I found the clock in question: the case is obviously Breyer-molded, but the horse and rider part? It’s a cast pot metal pendulum, in the shape of a bucking bronco and rider.

Obviously, there has to be some sort of connection between the Breyer Lucky Ranger and the MasterCrafters Lucky Ranger. It’s just too much of a coincidence not to be! The real question is what that connection was.

First off, I don’t think there was any sort of legal or financial dispute over it, or at least one acrimonious enough to end the working relationship between the two companies, as it did with MasterCrafters and Hartland. According to Peter Stone (via Nancy Young, of course), Breyer was still manufacturing cases for MasterCrafters when he formally started working for Breyer in the mid-1960s.

Personally I think the Lucky Ranger connection, combined with an extended work history, suggests that the relationship between Breyer and MasterCrafters was more than merely one of custom molder to client. It may have been collaborative, as well.

A more collaborative relationship, for example, might explain the similarities between the metallic gold/bronze high relief wall clock and the Quarter Horse Yearling. Were the early "Bronze Glo" experiments also related to it?

It might help explain the origins of the Davy Crockett clock, too. Could the Davy Crockett figurine another MasterCrafters commission, "sold back" to Breyer in an arrangement like the original Western Horse?

It's an intriguing possibility.

From what little information I've been able to gather about this specific clock, it is rare, even by MasterCrafters standards. I think the bizarre design is mostly to blame for that: a log cabin, surrounded by cactus, on top of a horseshoe, framing a scene of the Oregon Trail, propped up with metal fencing? You almost get the feeling this thing was cobbled together with spare parts.