The Red Roan Mares

Why is everything so hard right now and taking three times as long as it should? Argh!

Oh yeah, I forget: it’s October. Me and October don’t mix. People who say their favorite season is Fall can politely stuff it. Keep your Pumpkin Spice nonsense, I prefer seasons with green growing things!

Anyway, here’s the story of the Red Roan Running Mares I promised.

When I first got into the hobby, I was obsessed with acquiring a Breyer Red Roan. I had just missed seeing them in stores – they were pretty much discontinued by the time I started collecting – so when I saw one pop up on a Bentley Sales Company “Discontinued” Sales List in the early 1980s, I rode my bike to the Post Office and sent that money order by the end of the day I received it.

I had no idea at the time she was the Special Run that debuted at Model Horse Congress in 1982. I was lucky enough to get the Red Roan Running Foal secondhand not long after it was released, but I was either unaware or unconcerned about the matching Running Mare. 

(Maybe because it seemed silly to me at the time to buy a Special Run of something that had already been released as a Regular Run item?)

I loved and adored her, but I was young and dumb and newly cognizant of the power of nail polish remover, and I… slightly customized her, as I did many of my model back then. 

I still have a few of those retouched models, but the Running Mare was sold some years later, I think during my first big collecting purge in the late 1980s. I was slightly embarrassed that I had done such a thing to what was in reality a rather scarce Special Run, and didn’t want to be reminded of my youthful experimentations with acetone.

I did acquire all of the original Red Roans eventually, three of them in one fell swoop at my local flea market. And all with Blue Ribbon Stickers, of course! I contemplated reacquiring a more minty version of the Special Run, but most of the ones I found were a little out of my price comfort zone. But you know me, I am fine with waiting…

At BreyerFest this year I wanted to focus on getting a few choice Vintage pieces, but high quality older items were hard to find. And every time I asked around, I ended up getting directed to rooms that had lots of Vintage Club items, which was definitely not what I was looking for. 

I walked into a room that was still setting up, and came across a couple of Red Roan Running Mares, one of whom was quite obviously the Special Run. They were still unpriced, and when I inquired I was informed that neither one was the Special Run, and the price for either was… less than a current Regular Run Traditional. 

All righty, then.

So I bought her. It was the logical thing to do.

The next day I was shopping in another part of the hotel, hoping to score something else that was higher up on my want list (scarce early Five-Gaiters, a Woodgrain, or a decent Dark Smoke or Gloss Dapple Gray Belgian). As I walked into one promising room, I glanced to my left to quickly scan a chorus line of assorted Running Mares, and I saw her.

My original Red Roan Running Mare.

I immediately vocalized my thoughts: “Oh my God, I can’t believe I’ve found you.”

I did not care who heard me; I doubt anyone was paying attention.

Did I start crying? I can’t remember. My hands shook as I picked her up and I went to the seller to tell her the mare’s origin story. In turn, I found out what my old gal (her name was Peppermint Twist, by the way) had been up to: she had been residing in California in a collection with several other Red Roan Running Mares. 

I managed to get her price down a bit – I think the seller saw how verklempt I was – and thanked her for allowing me to return her to her family, and give her a happy retirement from her travels.

Expectations and Reality

I wanted to present to you all a compelling and epic argument today – with receipts! – about how the model horse hobby is actually very elaborate and specific fanac, but now all I’m hoping for is that the laundry gets done before I leave for Chicago on Wednesday. 

I still plan on writing it someday, when I have time to do the research properly. 

Speaking of, only is this week is going to be rough on my sleep schedule, I’m going to miss out on the local book sale that I use to restock my sales list. I guess I’ll have to skim the stacks at the thrift stores just a wee bit harder.

With everything that’s going on in my lift at the moment, I’ve also made the executive decision to not actively pursue anything from Tractor Supply this year. With one caveat: there is a TSC right next door to the local Salvation Army, and I do shop there from time to time for things other than horse stuff. 

My Second Chance Sale boxes arrived and the contents, for the most part, were unremarkable. As I expected, the Landler was Matte, and the Cleveland Bay Surprise was too. At least I got a different one this time: the Dapple Gray Pinto! Still not my first choice (Buckskin Pinto), or the rare choice (Gray Appaloosa), but I do like him better than the Gloss Silver Bay. 

The model I was most pleased with – and unsurprisingly, the one I had the least expectations about – was Rapunzel:

She’s even cuter in person! I can foresee myself buying more of her in the future. 

A couple interesting things to note about her. One: while her mane changed, her tail did not. That’s unusual, because mane and tail swaps usually go hand-in-hand; I’m assuming if there is another tail option, they didn’t think it was appropriate for this release.

Second, she’s got White speckles in addition to her Chestnut ones. The first couple of white specks I noticed I assumed were flaws, but the closer I looked, the more I realized that they were intentional. This is something we generally only see with their Black and Bay Roans, but I guess this is now an option with the Chestnuts going forward, too. 

The Bland Brothers

Since you all enjoyed the Alabaster APH so much, here he is with his two almost equally bland brothers, Splash Spot Leopard Appaloosa and Red Roan!

Paint jobs in the late 1980s were not terribly innovative or daring, but the fact that three of the four Horses International Performance Horses – all save the Liver Chestnut, who is in storage and I’m not in a mood to dig him out today – were a similar shade of pale was a little much even back then. 

We bought them anyway because (a) our options were limited when it came to Special Runs, and (b) we were buying them sight unseen. “Red Roan” could have been the vintage-style Freckle Roan, and the Leopard Appaloosa could have been the same Leopard Appaloosa we originally saw on the #115 Appaloosa Western Prancing Horse. Right?

But they weren’t. 

The style of Red Roan seen on this APH was something relatively new – first released on the Signing Party Lady Phase that same year – and it represented one of Reeves’s earliest attempts to create more realistic Roans. 

That Lady Phase was pretty well received: as a fan of Roans in general, I thought she was pretty spiffy, too. But the Roan APH is probably my least favorite of the set of four, perhaps because I was hoping against hope that they’d still opt to put that crazy Freckle Red Roan on him anyway, even though they hadn’t been using it much since its brief renaissance in the early 1980s.

I still love him anyway, but dang, he looks a lot like Lady Phase’s slightly homely little brother, you know?

I still long for a vintage Freckle Red Roan on the Performance Horse I had originally hoped for. The pretty Dark Bay Roan they’ve used on releases like the 2012 Constellation, on the Roxy mold, will also do. Speaking of her, I’ve been meaning to pull mine out of storage here; I got a lovely Sample one in the NPOD at BreyerFest years ago, and I am looking to beef up the “non-collectibility” portion of my live show string...

Off to finish off my birthday cake (homemade Carrot Cake, yes!) and head to bed. I did buy some Stablemates to celebrate, by the way, but I left them in the car tonight and I don’t feel like going back outside. I’m not one to complain much about the weather, but I am so over this recent cold spell, and I’d rather not go outside and be reminded of it again. 

The Story of Julius

Dear Reeves-type people: I am completely exhausted and you can stop with all the reveals, new stuff and special offers now. I’m sure everybody at the warehouse would also be relieved. 

Aside from the Vintage Club and Premier Club reveals and another web exclusive Unicorn, take a gander at the New Products page for the latest Good Grief What Now. Not shown on this page: the fact that the 70th Anniversary Traditionals are now also selectable by mold, so if you still need a Palomino Hamilton, now’s your chance.

(I’ll wait for that shiny black one.) 

The Vintage Club is currently taking renewals from current subscribers and will start taking new subbers on November 4th. I have no idea if they will release pictures of any of the other releases in the club, and I am not at liberty to give you any hints anyway. 

Except (a) I expect it to sell out quickly, and (b) I don’t think you will be disappointed. 

As for Julius, the first reveal in the VC, I have a little story to tell about him:

It has been one of my greatest joys – and favorite hobby accomplishments – to name actual Breyer releases. When it came time to find a suitable name for a Vintage Club release on the Georg, one name became very obvious for me.

I named him after my Uncle George (my grandfather’s youngest brother), whose given name was actually Julius.

All of the male siblings in the family were... hell raisers, to put it mildly. The inside joke was that if anything went awry on the family farm, they’d blame it on “George”: that was the name the brothers called each other, much to the consternation of their father. (The brothers actual names were Joseph, Charles and Julius.)

Truth be told it, was Julius who was the biggest troublemaker of the bunch, so he eventually he became “George”. Our grandfather Charles passed away when we were fairly young, so George became our surrogate grandfather, even though he had a son who was two years younger than my brother, which caused all sorts of confusion in school. (We lived in the same town, for a while.)

My brother and I didn’t even know that George’s actual name was Julius until years later, when we wondered why everyone else at holiday get-togethers called him “Julius”, instead.

(There was a lot of that in my family, actually. Both sides. I learned very early on that identity can be a very slippery thing.)

All the men on my Grandfather’s side of the family were stout and big-boned: if they had been horses, they would have been Drafts. The name Julius also has an old-fashioned, old-world feel to it that suited the Georg mold very well. 

There have also been a number of Breyer releases that have unintentionally named after other relatives of mine, so it seemed appropriate that one be intentionally so.

Garage Sale Finds, Yay!

Earlier in the week I was going through my paperwork for the year thus far, and lamented that the “Nonretail” portion of my purchases – made at flea markets, yard sales, auctions and such – was pretty skimpy, and would probably remain so for the rest of it.

Then I did one of my intermittent searches on Craigslist and found a potentially interesting local garage sale that led to… these lovely finds!

Believe it or not, this is my first light, Nonchalky version of the #110 Smoke Western Prancing Horse. My first Smoke – my second model horse ever – was a Chalky variation I received for Christmas back in 1974. I’ve also gone through several Charcoal variations before settling (I think!) on the one I have now.

But a standard, actually “Smoke” Smoke Western Prancing Horse, or one I considered worth adding to my collection, had eluded me until now. I was kind of hoping to find a minty, New-in-White-Picture-Box one, or even an example with a Blue Ribbon Sticker, but this fellow with awesome pinking and original saddle and reins will more than do.

He needs a little bit of touch up work, but I’ll worry about that another day.

And well, you also know my fondness for vintage Red Roans. It’s kind of interesting that in spite of the Red Roan Running Mare’s relative rarity (produced only from 1971-1973) that’s she’s not considered more desirable.  

I think it’s a combination of two factors.

First, while she certain has her share of fans, the Running Mare is simply a less-collected mold than her 1960s contemporaries, like the Semi-Rearing Mustang and Fighting Stallion.  

Second, she’s come in so many Variations, Special Runs and even scarce Regular Run items over the years that the #119 Red Roan doesn’t even break the top ten in terms of rarity or desirability. Even vintage Test Colors of her are not especially difficult to find. (Still not cheap, though!)

Just about the only time you see the price of a Red Roan Running Mare hit the stratosphere is if it’s found in Showcase Collection packaging, or features an exceptionally beautiful or distinctive paint job.

Speaking of that, vintage Red Roans vary, a lot; I’m justifying keeping this pretty girl because aside from her original shipper box, she has finer freckling than my other Red Roan Running Mare, who also happens to have corn spotting. And a sticker that’s not really her sticker, but that’s another story.

All of the other goodies came along for the ride; they’re not things I normally collect, but I have a hard time resisting cute, little things.

The Madness

After having read through a big chunk of the Collector’s Club Appreciation social media brouhaha, I now find myself longing for the days when our biggest arguments were over Palomino Arabians and Breed Standards for Unicorns.

I still don’t see this Glossy Madness ending until this sale – or a variation of it – basically offers Glossies On Demand.

Though to be honest, The Madness wouldn’t go away, it’d just move to another target. I’m old enough to remember when the 1984 Just About Horses Saddlebred Weanling was selling for $250-400 on the secondary market: I was just on eBay earlier today, and saw one for $45 getting no apparent interest. 

(It’s still too soon to tell, but I think it would be absolutely hilarious if it turns out that Reeves actually tailored the quantities of the first set of Glosses to meet hobbyist/collector interest – so we end up with lots of Verdadeses, and not a lot of Enzos?)

Moving on to lighter subjects, here’s Reuben:

He’ll look fabulous next to my BreyerFest Bowland! The only other Charolais Bulls I have at the moment are a “pinto” version of the original #365 release, the Special Run Simmental made for Robbins Weathervane – new in box(!), and what I assume is a cull of the Special Run Red Shorthorn, also for Robbins.

I had the PBR Signature one, too, but I sold him a little while ago when I was doing a bit of a culling of my Cattle molds. While I liked the release itself just fine, I had a strange/awkward experience when I bought him from a local store, and I really didn’t want to be reminded of that every time I saw him. 

I just order my Stablemates Club Corbin – the past couple of weeks have been nothing if not distracting, hence my delay – that I am hoping will be my last hobby purchases of the year.

As I’ve said before, I’ve had a really good run of luck recently, so whatever Reeves throws our way on Christmas Eve/Day will have to be something pretty darn special for me to reconsider tapping my bank account. I’d rather let someone else who wants it more get it, and not be an intermediary in the process.

Reuben

Remember about a week ago, when I mentioned a basic math problem in passing: Decorator Color + Bull Mold = Winner?

Freckle Red Roan + Charolais Bull = Winter Web Animal Special Run Reuben!

Guys, seriously, I had no idea. It’s just another one of my random guesses hitting pretty darn close to the target. Again.

The old-style freckle roaning technique has been used on cattle molds before, most notably on the Longhorn Bull, like the QVC Rebel Special Run, and the Regular Run #399 Texas Longhorn from 2000-2004 that is was based on.

But Reuben most closely resembles the popular BreyerFest Special Run Spanish Fighting Bull Flint, from 1999.

Only 375 Flints were made for that BreyerFest; even though BreyerFest was much smaller then, he was still a hot commodity, and still retains much of his value now.

I know some hobbyists are a little apprehensive about committing to Reuben because of last year’s Woodgrain Pig Hawthorn. Hawthorn was perceived as not all that popular or desirable; he went through so many waitlisters, in fact, that even I eventually ended up with one, and I am somebody who never gets picked off the waitlist.

Based on the fact that I met a lot of people looking for Jaspers at BreyerFest this year, I think it was a simple mismatch of the selling method with the market. Hawthorn might have sold better – and even sold out – if he had been offered as a first-come, first-served Special, like the two previous Winter Web Animal SRs, the Longhorn Bull Olaf and the Cow and Calf Eldora and Sol.

Bulls are a different matter entirely.

The last release on the Charolais Bull, the 2012 Special Run Bowland, is one of the more popular of the recent Nonhorse BreyerFest releases, and a very casual look at recent eBay sales show that even the Regular Run releases are pretty easy sells. So throw in a well-designed vintage-style Red Roan paint job on top of a moderately popular Nonhorse mold, and he seems like a pretty safe bet to me.

I also have to say that I rather appreciate the clever pun of his name: as sandwich aficionados know, the primary ingredient in a Reuben is… corned beef!

(Corned Beef is also a very Irish thing, so the timing of this guy with the imminent onslaught of BreyerFest 2020 Celtic Fling marketing is... interesting.)

All In

Well, it’s official: in April, I’ll be attending my first live show (Pansies & Ponies) in 15 years. It’s something that I’ve been promising myself to do for a while now, and since I’m now in a place – more or less – that I can do it, I’m doing it.

Putting a show string together is going to be a challenge, though. Collectibility won’t be an issue (of course!) but everything else is essentially shiny, new – and a little bit terrifying, to be honest.

I think this is a good thing. Everyone needs to push the boundaries of their comfort zones once and a while. I think too many people define themselves by what they can’t do – or think they can’t do – and I don’t want to be that kind of person.

I definitely can’t snap my fingers, knit, dunk a basket, or parallel park. But I’ve gone rock climbing, travelled cross-country alone, officiated a wedding, and cosplayed in public. Those all took some measure of bravery, and I survived.

I’ll be fine. A little overwhelmed at first, but fine.

Second, I bought some costuming and crafting supplies for BreyerFest last week – new supplies, not stuff pulled from my already-voluminous stash – so I am now officially all-in on that endeavor, too. Even so, everything that was purchased was on sale, and can/will be used or repurposed for other projects. In other words, those purchases weren’t quite as existentially fraught as hitting the Paypal button on live show entry fees.

The final thing that I thought I’d be all-in for, but I find myself hesitating on – is the release of the Collector’s Club Special Run Out of the Blue:

(Props to their photographer for thinking outside the box for this shot! I love it!)

This release hits all my “marks” – the Bobby Jo mold, a relatively simple and well-executed roan pinto, a reasonable price – but I am hesitating. I haven’t finished my taxes yet, and I am still in the process of figuring out my new monthly budget with the new car et al. And I want to keep my new model purchases to a minimum as long as possible this year, because I still feel like I own just too much danged stuff!

Breyer introduced Red Roans in 1968 – on the Running Stallion first, followed by the Lying Down Foal, Scratching Foal, and Running Mare in successive years – but it wasn’t until the late 1980s that they finally attempted to produce Blue/Black Roans.

(Yes, some Tests and Oddballs existed in between, but are scarce even by Test Color/Oddball standards.)

The earliest examples were more like unusual-looking fleabitten grays, like the #830 Quarter Horse Stallion release of 1990, on the Adios mold, or the 1989 JAH Special Run Quarter Horse Yearling.

Neither one of those releases went over that well, so Reeves moved on to slightly-more-accurate (though still a bit greenish) interpretations with the likes of the JAH Special Five-Gaiter Moon Shadows and Stock Horse Stallion Shane. And so on and and so on, with Out of the Blue being just the latest iteration. A pretty attractive one, I must say.

Collector’s Club Specials tend to stick around a while, so I think I can afford to hesitate.

Some APH Tests

It's been one of those days. So here's are some pictures for you to ogle at:

While Test Colors that utilize the original Appaloosa Performance Horse paint job are almost plentiful, Test Colors on the Appaloosa Performance Horse mold itself are not. The reasons why are obvious: the mold is very "old school" Appaloosa and not very flashy. The two vintage photos that I have from Marney's files are both, no surprise, Appaloosas. Here's the other guy:

Although both models appear to be from the mid-1970s - and may possibly even be Preproduction pieces - they utilize a softer, finer speckling technique to their roaning that wasn't used on a production run item until the later 1980s.

At the point these two were made, the only other roans in production were the "Freckle" Red Roans on the Running Stallion, Lying Down and Scratching Foal. So Breyer had the technical capability to make more realistic roans, and chose not to.

Interesting!

There are a few more recent APH Tests floating around, including that fabulous frame overo piece for the BreyerFest auction a little while back, and somewhere, out there, the Test piece they used as a stand-in for the Stud Spider in the 1977 J.C. Penney Christmas Catalog.

Wanna talk about grails? Sigh...

Early New Roans

I’m sort of obsessed with my BreyerFest Diorama Thing right now - which will be one for the ages, if I can get it done in time. The only problem I’m having is the same one I always have, once I have (what I think is) an amazing idea: I’m freaking over the littlest details.

The only good thing in this instance is that I might - might! - have the time to pull it off. Eh, it’s not like I’m sleeping anyway, with the Horrible Chicken Death Flu wracking my body. (Today’s symptom du jour: lots and lots of coughing. Eating an ice cream cone today was…interesting. And messy.)

Speaking of details, here’s a little game. Here’s a Test Color of the modestly popular Breyer #710 Indian Pony. The model ran from 1988 through 1991 - a pretty long run, even back then. This fleabitten-y, pale Roan with the tiny freckles was one of Reeves’s earlier attempts at improving/updating Breyer painting techniques.

Can you tell what distinguishes this model as a Test Color? I’ll give you a minute or two to think about it.

I love Roans in general (and Blue Roans, in particular!), and I was thrilled back then that we’d be getting more and better roany Breyers, but I have to admit that these Early New Roans left me a wee bit cold, initially. They looked more like Fleabitten Grays or really Weird Appaloosas.

I like Fleabitten Grays and Weird Appaloosas, too, but I was kind of hoping that if they were trying to "improve" their interpretations of horse colors, the naming of those colors would also improve.

I love the older, Big Freckle Red Roans to pieces, but I think of them more as a peculiar later Decorator color than a realistic one, in the same category as Charcoal: clearly inspired by a realistic color, but definitely its own thing.

Reeves is a lot better now about this - not perfect, but close enough to be forgivable, in most instances. There’s still some oddness going on with some of the Pintos, some of the Dappled stuff, and the proper formula for Silver Bay seems to be a mystery to them. But they’re right more often than not, and they do seem to be trying. Just not always succeeding.

Give up yet? The detail you may be missing: this one doesn’t have socks! My production run one is currently in storage, but he looks a lot like this one, via Identify Your Breyer:

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/00710.jpg

The Test is also a little bit more brown than red. He’s a shrinky though, too, and this may be affecting his color in some way.

Still, he’s a neat guy, even if his color is a little off - either by nature, or by design.

Sunny Spot

Here’s my pretty little girl:

Makes up for a week full of minor aggravations (Dental Appointments! Missed Deadlines! Traffic Lights Conspiring Against Me! Embarrassing Typos!) There’s some variation in the run, and if you can’t tell from the photo, she’s one of the pearlier ones.

She’s only the second Strapless I have in the collection - the other being the 2007 Volunteer Model Bluegrass, who also has the full braids. So my only quibble is strictly a personal and also minor one: I would have preferred that she had the loose mane and/or tail, because Mold Variations.

There’s always hoping that one like that shows up in the Sample boxes, right? (If not, I'll just have to intensify my search for the 2009 Pottery Barn Special in Bay, without seam issues. A tough girl to locate!)

Along with the Matte Sample Gooitzen, whose picture has been taken down from the Breyer web site and replaced with the Gloss one. Who is so Gloss that it’s hard to tell if there are any undertones, shading, dappling or detailing on him beyond the eyes and hooves. Or if he has the gloss "Tinkerbell" sparkling that some of the newer Gloss Special have had lately.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/bf2014-exclusive-models

On my computer he looks a little bit blue-grayish, but I haven’t adjusted my monitor in years, so I could be imagining things.

A Super-Glossy Dappled Black Friesian with sparkles would make me a very happy camper. Though I’ll be happy if he’s merely Glossy Enough To Squeak when touched, like the Shire Cheerio.

The only other news of note is that the latest Vintage Club release e-mail has been sent out, for the Red Roan Mustang Diablo. As I’ve seen others mention, he’s one of those releases that you think would have been made already, and years ago.

Then again, the old Freckle Red Roan color has always been rather sparingly used.

A combination of factors have contributed to that. The two biggest ones are (a) the technique has been superseded by more realistic ones, and (b) full body freckles = much messiness and room for error.

I don’t mind that the color is one of the lesser-used ones in Reeves’ painting repertoire; it makes the releases that do come out in this color a bit more special. However, I certainly wouldn't complain about more Stablemates in this color.