The Peter Stone company had their Moonlight Madness event today, and I just want to compliment them on what an awesome job they did! In the past, Stone would select a list of people who could participate in the event and they'd select from the list what order each person would get a chance to shop. Basically, if you were last on the list, you didn't get very good choices. Thankfully, last year they did away with that and made it a free for all event. The speed of which these models sold out astonished me last year, so you could imagine how I felt this year when the same thing happened. I felt like Stone should do with Moonlight Madness what they did last year with the Christmas event, how they'd release one or two models per day and one day of OOAKs. Maybe one day they will. The models this year were very creative. Lots of skeleton horses, sugar skulls and black light reactive paint. I already have a sugar skull so I looked for another Halloween decorator, preferably on a mold I didn't yet have. I found it with In the Shadows, a beautiful dark shaded grey appaloosa Santa Fe Morgan that caught my eye in the Facebook lineup. I've always wanted something on this mold but have been waiting for the right one to come along, and this guy was a limited edition of 3 rather than a OOAK so I thought I'd have a good chance of getting him, despite our incredibly slow internet we have now since moving to the boones of Kentucky. After watching the live stream, I began to fall in love with Bloody Mary on the ever popular Bunny mold, especially when I found out she had a "blind eye" so I tried for her first. I lost her. Then I tried for a black light reactive pebbles Arabian. Lost her too. But there he was, still hiding in the shadows, waiting for me to bring him home. I held my collective breath as I went through checkout... and snagged him! I guess it was meant to be. I loved his cobweb design, which will go good with my sugar skull and graveyard horse from last year. My favorite color of Stones are greys, the realism in the shading is unlike any other. This will be my third grey on Stone horses. I would like to thank Amy and the girls at Stone Horses for doing these events. They don't have to and, like Breyer, constantly deal with complaints because they can't ever seem to please everyone. However, they really upped the numbers of the runs this year so most people who wanted a model could get something, and that's really great to see. Maybe one day the Stone company will grow to finally meet the demand of their customers. If y'all attended the event, feel free to share what you snagged! Hope y'all had a fun and safe Halloween!
All Collector Club members should have received their monthly email by now. The article of the month is about the different types of packaging for the Vintage Club. The giveaway was the glossy version of the grullo 75th anniversary AQHA made for the very first ever Collector Club Appreciation. We've come a long way since then, as only few got glossy models while everyone else (myself included - I ended up with matte bay) got regular run matte versions, so it's nice that they now give out glossies. Speaking of which, if you took part in the Collector Club Appreciation this year, you should be receiving your glossy model soon. They've been spotted on social media. I have to say that I would love to have the Saddlebred or glossy Theo, but alas y'all I'm honestly just tired of gambler's choices. The monthly reveal is a... very unique pony to say the least. I'm not really sure what to make of it. Looks like they're trying something new this year. No hint is given as to what it will be but most likely this will be a lottery model. It looks like a horse... I see the hint of a mane so maybe the winter decorator? We still have yet to have an animal decorator too before the end of the year, also a lottery model. The rest of the limited editions are now available on Breyer's website. These are web exclusives only and not available to dealers, so you must put your order through Breyer. The new releases include Kohl (the Pony for Christmas series that comes with a blanket and collectible gift box), Ceres and Minerva the holiday mare/foal set, Neva the annual winter decorator and Altair the annual Classics unicorn. I put my order in for Neva, who isn't expected to be shipped until December 5th, to add to my American Dream conga. Kohl is very similarly spelt to my last name so I'm teetering on him. He's described as being "pearly" by Breyer but I have to see him in hand before I decide for sure or not. Here is his side picture: My Constantia finally arrived, and she has me torn. I had high hopes for this gal, being only the other Standardbred mold besides Adios and the Pacer, which are both vintage now, and she is a nice heavy mold. She has beautiful coloring and her whites are chalky, not bare plastic, so she won't ever yellow. However she does have one flaw that is really irritating me... a rather large rub on her barrel which is very noticeable. I don't know if it's worth sending her back since this whole batch seems a bit blah and I could potentially get one with even worse flaws that someone else has sent back. I can see the regular runs having flaws because paying $50 for a model is a lot less strain on the wallet than $200 including deposit and shipping, but in all honestly I've received regular runs with less flaws than the club models this year. While most people are rethinking the clubs for next year for this reason, I'm not ready to throw in the towel quite yet, but I do hope that the third horse is better. Breyer offered Stablemate Club blind bags to Stablemate Club members last week. I also didn't participate in that because y'all know how I feel about gambler's choices and blind bags. I just saw at my local Tractor Supply a bunch of ripped open blind bags on the shelf... Breyer just let us buy what we want so this doesn't happen! Ugh!
Anyways, the last of my Halloweenies of the year have been posted on eBay. You can see them on my 2022 customs page also. Be sure to check them out if you're a custom collector! I hope y'all have a fun Halloween and stay safe out there! I know that all of you come to my blog for model horse news. Some may even get upset by me bringing real horse news to my blog. However, if you don't read all my blog posts, I'm not going to be offended. If you're here solely for the models, that's perfectly fine. Scroll on past this post. A few have asked me about my auction endeavors and this is what this post is about. Attending auctions is always a gamble. You never know if you'll come back with an empty trailer if you can't find anything in your budget, so I'm grateful that our new neighbors often rescue horses on the side as well and came with us as guides. As you've probably read, I saved all the earnings from my model sales the month of October for this day to try to pull a horse from the slaughter pipeline. Thanks to your help, we were able to save TWO horses. Y'all rock! One of them, a gorgeous black and white Tennessee Walker named Dixie, is currently living with our neighbors. The other, miss Molly, will be staying with us. The horse we kept is probably the flashiest horse I'll ever own. She is a chestnut pinto Tennessee Walker with one brown eye, one blue eye and mapping who was retired from giving public trail rides at a state park. At the auction she arrived malnourished and covered in burrs. Thankfully she has a hearty appetite but the burrs are going to take some time to remove. After being rented to numerous people to give them the time of their life, she is now only going to go on occasional rides around our farm. No more hard work for this poor gal. Which reminds me that Breyer needs to update their Bluegrass Bandit mold, their only modern TWH mold. Who here agrees? We most likely won't be attending another auction for a while, probably not until the spring or late winter at least, since the grass won't be growing as quickly and we'll be feeding hay soon. My business profits in the meantime will be going towards maintenance for our current rescues and putting new stalls in our barn. Molly's information will be added to my Rescues page and her condition will be updated in a few months on there so as to keep my real horses separated from my models since the majority of you all come here for the models. However I did want to prove that my business profits are going to a good cause. I appreciate your support!
Those of you in the Collector Club this year should be on the lookout for your annual JAH magazine. Several collectors have already had theirs show up to their door so it's only a matter of time. A few new sneak peeks have been had in the newsletter. First, the Stablemate Club first release is a mare and foal set. Collectors have been wishing for this for years, along with the vintage lying foal. Breyer listened and we'll see the Arabian mare with the foal next year. While they're cute, I'm going to wait and see what molds are going to be used this year before I decide to join or not. The good news is that the Stablemate Club prices are staying the same despite the Collector Club price and the other clubs going up. Vintage Club members... I have both good and bad news for you. The good news is that the club is being upped to 1,000 members for 2023 so those who have been wanting to join will have a chance now when memberships open up. The first release is a stunning black pinto with mapping (the first time ever for this club) on the Fury mold named Rustler who will come with tack AND is a music box. That's right! That knob on his shoulder plays music. Breyer is getting more creative with each year. Now the bad news... prices are going up. Models are hiking up an extra $10 each and the third model (I'm presuming the gambler's choice) will be $200 plus shipping. If someone is willing to pre-order Rustler from me through my store, as he's beautiful but not something I collect, I may consider rejoining the Vintage Club when it opens. If not, however, I won't be rejoining. The last two years I was in it, I only kept two. The same price hike is unfortunately happening with the Premier Club as well. The third release in the PC is hiking to $200 plus shipping. No idea why the increase on just one of the models unless they're now charging for the stablemate, although it makes me wonder if Breyer has something big planned for that release too, something to really "wow" us. I guess we'll see soon enough.
For those of you who are planning on attending Breyerfest in person next year, the dates have officially been released so you can now book your hotel: July 14-16th. As always, if you are NOT able to attend in person, I will be doing a limited number of pickups with more information being released after the first of the year when the models start being revealed. Not much will be changing as far as the terms and policies go on my pickup page, as many people seemed happy with the way they worked last year, except that I will be limiting each person to no more than FOUR traditional sized models due to having a hard time finding boxes large enough for that many models. This includes both store specials (aka limited editions) and special runs. If you have not subscribed to my website yet, I highly recommend doing so if you want to be notified of Breyerfest pickup availability without having to check my blog everyday. So remember that beautiful Paso Fino for next year's Premier Club? Well, Breyer heard collectors moan about him being too "simple colored" so they did what they like to do when they feel they need a push to sell something: they glossed it. Now I was going to join the Premier Club anyways, and although I'm not typically a glossy collector (they are fingerprint magnets) I'm sold on the glossed version of him. It makes his shading and blood red color pop. He'd look like my own Paso Fino if he had a black mane and tail instead of flaxen. What do you think? If you all are still waiting for your Halloweenies, I have some good news: they should be on the way soon! I never got tracking for this box, yet they showed up on my porch today. My Tabitha (who is covered in flaws but I'm just happy she's here) and her two companions, mini Mischief Night and mini Kasper. I only purchased two instead of four this time because I was saving money to rescue a horse from last month's auction (more on that will be posted soon - I know several of you have been waiting for an update) and so I'm just happy that they weren't duplicates. They scaled the shimmer on Kasper way down compared to Jack last year, but he's still cute. I'm blown away by Mischief Night though, the pearling on his white areas is a weakness of mine. I'm actually glad I ended up with these two because I conga Mirador and I didn't know if Samhain would stand. I'm actually thinking about selling mini Night Mare because she keeps playing dominoes and the Belgian mold Samhain is on doesn't always stand well either. I will have several Halloween customs finished and on eBay next week. These will likely be my last Halloweenies of the year. I'm going to start working on Christmas ponies next. 'Tis the season, y'all!
On Breyer's "coming soon" page includes four new releases available to everyone: the annual Pony for Christmas is a chromey black beauty on the Cantering Welsh pony mold; the annual mare and foal set is a unicornized Bluegrass Bandit with a lying foal in a sunshine color; the annual winter decorator is a must have for me in a blue splash pinto with a winter mural on the American Dream mold; and finally there's the annual Classics unicorn that was revealed at Breyerfest in a celestial sky color similar to the Northern Lights. These will most likely be the final releases of the year for non-Collector Club members. Collector Club members will likely see a couple more lotteries and the Santa Surprise before years end. This about wraps up the limited edition releases for non-Collector Club members. If you are a CC member, there will still be a couple more lotteries available, plus the Santa Surprise on Christmas day. Stablemate Club members are still waiting on the gambler's choice, the new mold and optional 7th purchase, Helios. Vintage Club members are still waiting on their gambler's choice and Premier Club on the final third release just revealed last week. Remember to join any clubs you wish to join by the end of the year.
Rumors were going around talking about how Breyer might possibly cancel the clubs after all the shipping issues and the fact that this was the 10th year of the Premier Club while the Connoisseur series that the PC took the place of ended after 10 years. Well, here's the good news, readers. Breyer put these rumors to rest by announcing that they are not only continuing with the clubs next year, but they also gave us some sneak peeks of upcoming club models. Eye candy, anyone, while we drool over these ponies we can't touch until next year? First up is the 2023 Premier Club first release, and it looks like I'll be getting my long awaited for Paso Fino after all! They really needed to replace El Pastor. Being a Hess mold, it was long overdue. I only wish they would have waited to make Vivaldi de Besilu until they released this mold, as bay would have looked amazing on this sculpt and his connections were very enthusiastic about him being a Breyer at Breyerfest. You could tell they truly loved their horse. The Premier Club model is named Cancion and is being done in a rich blood red chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail. Here is a picture for those of you who haven't seen it: Some people new to the clubs have asked many, many questions about how to join each one. Let me try to do a breakdown for you. When you go to the "Join the Club" page on Breyer's website, you will see six tiers, and if you have no idea which to pick it can be very overwhelming, as the website isn't the best at explaining. If you're a current member of the Collector Club or the Deluxe Collector Club (the only difference between the two is that the Deluxe membership comes with a free stablemate - and a pin next year) and you want to renew, you will choose the 2023 club membership. If you are new to the clubs and don't currently have a CC account, you will choose the 2022/2023 club membership if you'd like to reap the benefits of being a member the rest of this year as well, which really only includes a few lottery models and the Santa Surprise. Most of the models from this year's club have been released. If you don't want the Santa Surprise or to take a gamble in the lotteries, then choose the 2023 club and you will become an official Collector Club member in January. This is only if you don't want the stablemate and pin. If you do want the stablemate and pin, join the Deluxe club membership, but it's the same: new collectors can choose either the 2022/2023 membership for the Santa Surprise or wait until January for the 2023 models while current collectors need to choose the 2023 membership only. Same goes for international. I hope this helps a bit! The regular Collector Club shows a lush glossy dapple bay on Fireheart. His name is Bolero and yes, he will be available to all 2023 Collector Club members, not just those that win a lottery draw. He will be the spring release that Breyer typically does which is sold until it sells out, so while you will not have to worry about being selected for him, you do have to worry about purchasing him before he sells out. He'll still be limited, but 1000s limited versus only a few hundred. While I don't usually purchase plain bays, I have to say it looks good on Fireheart. I'm tempted. The Deluxe membership freebie stablemate is a gorgeous glossy dapple black sabino on the Twist mold named Fandango. I haven't decided yet if I want him for myself, but he looks very similar to the coloring of Lafayette. The pin portrays Bolero. It looks like we're in for a year of solid colored horses this time. While I'm typically a flashy horse collector, I have to say that I'm falling more and more in love with solid colored horses after dealing with yellowing on my pinto/appy models. I do wish Breyer would let you choose to get glossed models or not, because I'm not fond of glossies with them being fingerprint magnets, however I know that they appeal to a lot of collectors and they do provide an extra layer of protection to models since rubs have to go through the gloss first before getting to the original layer of paint. It would be nice to be able to choose, and not just by gambler's choice.
I apologize for not posting much recently, readers. I have been incredibly busy the last week winterizing our home, getting ready for the cooler temperatures ahead. Everyone should be getting their Johann models they ordered, and rumor has it that several have also spotted Tabitha coming to their doors. While I did get Johann already (and I'm happy to say that I received my first pick - the pinto - which hardly ever happens for me but to my benefit it did seem like the pinto was the most common color) I'm still waiting on Tabitha and my Halloween stablemates. In the past few days, we've had many back-to-back club releases: Jameson the Stablemate Club drafter is now available for purchase to club members; the optional release of the Vintage Club, Woodstock (my Woodstock is available in my store if anyone wants him); my personal much anticipated release is now available to Premier Club members only, Constantia; and Breyer held yet a second Collector Club event with the same models being glossed from the last two events. If you're like me that are in all the clubs at once, you're in for an expensive month. Premier Club members: we also got a preview of the final release, whose name is Anamar. I was hopeful for an updated Paso Fino or Peruvian Paso mold, but instead this guy is a breed most of us probably never even heard of: Amazigh of African origin, aka a Barb. He was portrayed to be similar to the chunky bois in older paintings. Just a heads up Breyer has announced that the freebie stablemate for the Premier Club will be coming WITH Anamar when you order him. If you want the stablemate, make sure you don't send it directly to the buyer. The stablemate will be a mini me Georg but as of yet we have not seen which of the three colors from this year's models they are going to put on him. I'm assuming it won't be this one because of how highly detailed those dapples are. If anyone wants my Woodstock, she is available in my store right now. She is the optional purchase so you don't have to buy her to stay in the club. I really liked her at Breyerfest but I'm eliminating the decorators in my collection. Where we gained in acreage we decreased in home size and I only have room for four bookshelves of models at our new house so I have to be extremely picky about who I keep for my personal collection. She does come with a mini me stablemate (could probably sell the stablemate for some return if you only want the traditional) and is super adorable. Both have beautiful feathering in their manes. Here is my picture from Breyerfest I took of them: Don't know if you have been under new releases on the Breyer website lately but this pretty girl popped up. On the POA mold, she was the pearly palomino sneak peek from the newsletter. The only reason we didn't recognize her is because of her resculpted swish tail. They made a similar playset last year with the Welsh Mare. There's also supposed to be a colorful Classics drafter unicorn that was previewed at Breyerfest which should be out any day now. Whether they do another Pony for Christmas model, or if the playsets will be taking over that series, and the mare and foal holiday set has yet to be seen. The palomino ponies are getting a bit old (with Snickerdoodle last year and Honeybunch the year before) so I most likely won't be adding this gal to my collection. The larger Halloween customs I've been working on have been delayed. I was hoping to have a couple traditional and a Classics custom available by now, but because of the winterizing project, I'm going to have to work on them next weekend. I hope to have them finished and on eBay by next week... fingers crossed!
The latest newsletter was sent to Collector Club members. In it, Breyer wrote about how Emma was introduced to the lineup, as she was the main mount of Her Majesty, the Queen, who recently passed away. It was a nice tribute to her, and interesting to learn the history behind one of my personal favorite molds. The giveaway this month was not one, but THREE Rhenish Drafts from Breyerfest. He was a must have to the loyal Georg conga collectors, however he wasn't flashy so I can understand why he wasn't super popular, and Breyer beefed up the run to 5,000 models. He was similar to a real Belgian draft who was a previous Amish plow horse that I rode as a child, but she had dapples, and I think I would have liked him better if he had dapples. Last but not least, the reveal everyone gets excited for is a glossy palomino. Expecting Chadwick, it looks more like the butt of the Proud Arabian Mare (PAM), which is a mold I was expecting to be used for the Vintage Club this year. It could be either one of the Vintage Club gambler's choice sets or the annual holiday mare and foal set, like Diadem and Alcor from last year. Usually they do a unicorn set every other year. Their only hint is "web exclusive" which makes me think it's not a lottery model either so I'm leaning more towards the holiday mare and foal set since Breyer typically doesn't show specialty club models in their newsletters. What do you think? Could it be the Vintage Club gambler's choice or is it something everyone in the club will be able to buy?
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