Diamonds are forever

When I was ten or eleven, I put a dollars in an envelope and sent it to Breyer Animal Creations.

In return, they sent me four issues of Just About Horses magazine. 

The first introduced me to the concept of remaking.

The second to Kathy Maestas.

I took one look at this picture and was instantly a forever fan.

Over the years, I accumulated a lot of Double Diamond Ranch sales lists...

plus many, many pictures of her work.

Still, I never did manage to score a Diamond of my own.

It's okay. I don't need one anymore, but I still like to see them.

an entry in Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig's A Good Vintage show
BreyerWest 2016

As I was looking at the horses in Karin's custom/resin cabinet and I spied a piece with that Maestas look. I asked, Karin confirmed and then she pulled out the horse so I could get a better look.

Karin told me that she had scored this horse through a $50 buy-it-now deal on eBay. I noted the nifty vintage bridle, and she said, "Wait til you see the saddle it came with!"

The saddle was downstairs in the horse room, so I did have to wait, at least a little bit. In my mind, I was expecting a typical Western Maestas, kind of like one of these.

What I got was an Australian stock saddle.

Wow! That's both historically interesting and also, legitimately good.

The signature on the flap makes it even better. Marney! 1990! I can't quite make out the name of the maker, but I bet someone here can fill in that piece. Sue or Sue, maybe?

What a fun piece of hobby history! I'm so glad I got to see it. Thanks again, Karin!

Arkansas

The first Breyer I ever bought with my own money was the bay Running Foal. I was seven.

I wanted him in grey Appaloosa to match my Family Arabian mare and foal, but all the store had was bay. I settled.

For the record, the Running Foal never came in grey Appaloosa. Clearly, I had it mixed up with Breyer's "dapple grey"
photo by Triple Mountain Model Horses

But what to name him? My older sister had helped me name all my other horses, but she was away at Girl Scout camp. I sent her a letter.

Her return letter offered two suggestions, Pixie and Arkansas. I chose Arkansas.

That might seem like a funny selection, but really, it wasn't. Our next door neighbors hailed from Arkansas. They were really good to all of us. Naming a horse after their home state seemed like the most normal thing to seven year old me.

Last week, Colleen and I spent a lot of time cleaning out my mother's house. There are only a few horses left in her basement, and Arkansas was one them. I took him upstairs, gave him a gentle bath and then took him back to those same next door neighbors' house where we were staying.

He looked at right at home there, but I didn't leave him. He's in Colorado now and has been reunited with his mother, Arizona.

I'm at a place in my life where I want fewer horses, but this one gets to stay. He's a reminder of my past, a piece of my present and a tribute to some of the best people I've ever known.

Just about friends

Like most hobbyists of a certain age, I discovered the hobby through the pages of Just About Horses.

Back then, I was all about the horses.

I spent countless hours obsessing over the horses in each issue.

The people were secondary.

I wanted to do the things they did.

I wanted to own the things they made.

I wanted to be a part of their group.

I wanted to be them.

A couple days ago, I received this year's copy of Just About Horses.

It is filled with pictures of model horses.

All of them are fabulous.

Despite that, now the horses are secondary.

What I really notice - what I really care about - are the people behind those horses.

I absolutely love this feature about my friend, Kylee, who truly has made her dreams come true.

Ditto this nice profile of one of my all-time favorite bloggers, Nichelle Jones, who I've been lucky enough to meet in person a couple times.

I also enjoyed the articles by Dani Boiko, a talented young tackmaker I met at BreyerFest...

and Lynn Cassels-Caldwell, who painted Winter Games and has been a longtime supporter of NaMoPaiMo.

This vintage custom article was a gold mine of happy friend feelings. It was written by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig, who was part of the Jennifer Show staff in both 2016 and 2019, and features work by my friends, Eleanor Harvey and Lesli Kathman.

And, yes, I still want to own a Lesli horse!

Local hobby kid, Syd Stocker, is the subject of the Collector Q&A...

and my friend, Meredith, who sent me this magazine, is mentioned as the judge of one of Breyer's online photo shows.

From cover to cover, this magazine is a celebration of not just model horses, but the people behind them. I am so happy to be part of that group, to be one of them.

Holiday wishes

In the same way that I've been too busy to keep up with other people's blogs, I also have not done a good job at sorting the mail. I decided to tackle that today. Most of the pile was for Seth or the trash can.

There were, however, a few things for me.

These included not one but two Breyer holiday catalogs.

Well, technically, one of these belongs to Seth, but I think he's happy to let me claim it.

I love the holiday catalog. It's such a pleasure flipping through the pages and looking at all the beautiful models.

It reminds me of my younger self, poring over the pages of the Sears Wish Book and circling the models I wanted the most.

And I wonder, which of these models would I have circled?

Not these.

Probably not the unicorns either.

What I liked best about Breyers was their realness. While most of my toys looked like toys, Breyers looked like horses. These cartoony ponies would not have appealed to me.

Now these, on the other hand...

I would have wanted every single one of these.

And I definitely would have wanted everything on this page.

Not gonna lie, if this was traditional scale I'd still want it now.

Here's something else I want: A beautiful new Paso Fino by my friend, Jennifer Scott.

I think I'm going to circle that one and leave the catalog somewhere Seth might see it. I doubt that will work, but maybe?