The Collector Club newsletter released today showed a sneak peek of an upcoming model that will be available "in a few weeks" and when I first saw it, immediately Battlefield Angel came to mind. I have his model, so I bet this is going to be the Collector Club Appreciation event that is done every year. Breyer can't seem to get it right in releasing the CCA. They used to do it around Christmas, then people complained it was too close to the holidays, so they released it last year right before Breyerfest and... you guessed it! Everyone complained they had no money for Breyerfest. I guess this time of the year would be the best time of any. This sneak peek brings up a topic that really should've been posted like yesterday... A bit of a backstory before I get into this post: as a teenager, I would ride these magnificent beasts at the rescue I volunteered at. The rescue housed many ex-Amish plow horses that we would retrain to riding horses. I cannot explain to you the power of the draft horse beneath your knees. I remember feeling like I was in the PBR when one of the drafts I was riding, a 17.1 hh Belgian, decided she wanted to be a rodeo bronc that day and gave me a few solid bucks that I somehow managed to ride out before she stopped right before I fell. This was actually the first time I'd ever been bucked, and it had to be on a draft horse of all breeds. That would have been really far to the ground. All jokes aside, I still find these horses fascinating, although after seeing how much they eat in real life compared to a "regular" horse, I would never want one of my own when you get the same amount of riding time on a horse that is much smaller with less of an appetite. However, I do find the Breyer drafts to be easier on grain and thus have quite a few in my collection. Note that I will NOT be including the Cleveland Bay on this post, as he is more of a Warmblood than a draft horse, nor will I be including any foal molds. The Cleveland Bay will be put on a future Warmblood post. BelgianThis mold hasn't made its way into my collection too many times. I'm not fond of the high stepping action with a smallish head and the huge... um... bum bum... that is even more pronounced with the teeny tiny tied up tail. Basically the confirmation of this horse gets an F and the only model I've ever had is the Trait du Nord. Even in a flashy modern color, I just couldn't fall in love with it, although I know a lot of people who love this mold just because they like big butts. I thought about getting Gibson from Tractor Supply this year, as his coloring looks almost exactly like the Belgian that tried to buck me off, but it didn't help being on this mold and truthfully I don't really want to remember the Belgian that almost unseated me. Clydesdale StallionFor being a Hess mold, he is realistically posed looking as if he is pulling a plow and he has some feathering. I currently do not own any models on this mold, as I don't like models with bobs, although most consider this mold outdated with the more modern releases of Othello and Shannondell. I doubt Breyer will use this mold much more, and of the times they did use it in recent years only Dandy from the Vintage Club and Seamus, a flagship release, were very flashy. Clydesdale MareThis is actually a Hess mold I can be on board with. I've always been fond of the Clydesdale Mare, and she's a rather big mold to boot without an outrageous bottom. I haven't had too many on the mold admittedly just due to the fact that the majority are either vintage or not too flashy of colors, however I did buy Wisteria this year. The flashiest horses on this mold were the Picture Perfect Spotted Draft who is now hard to find, Lanark's Rosebud from the Connoisseur Series, and Pepper from Breyerfest 2019. FriesianAnother mold I don't collect, I've had a couple and they've been kind of tippy, plus that left hind hoof looks weird with it half being sunken in the ground... or shelf if looking at it from a realistic perspective. The Gypsy King was one of the flashiest on this mold, and he was ironically supposed to be a Gypsy Vanner, not a Friesian, but of course back at that time Breyer didn't really have a Gypsy Vanner mold. The palomino from the Let's Go Riding set was also kind of pretty, and so was Harley the track pony. GoffertThis mold represented the Friesian horse well, and is still my favorite of the Friesian molds. I do understand that his biggest flaw is having a stand, but a stand isn't a turn away for me, as I really don't know how Moody could've made him any other way without it. I have several on this mold with Gettysburg being by far my favorite. Kuchi the regular run, Night Mare the Halloween horse, Crystalline the gemstone decorator, Shenanigans from the Connoisseur Series, Noelle from the holiday series, and Kashmir the web decorator from the Big Cat Series were all unique colors on this mold. Friesian SporthorseThis mold was meant to replace the original Friesian mold, and while the details on the mold are astounding compared to the original Friesian mold, down to his eyelashes and shaggy mane, I do wish that he'd been on a different pose and I probably would've loved him more. I do own Battlefield Angel HP because I couldn't resist his flashy color, as he is the flashiest on this mold yet. WixomThis big booty girl has her followers, even until this day. She trots in a very confident manner and has a braided tail. While she is meant to be a Percheron, I beg to differ. I grew up with Percherons and her head is too small for the mold in my opinion. The booty could also have been less emphasized. She also can be a bit tippy. As far as colorful models, she did have the red roan Treasure Hunt mare made on this mold, the Brabant cross limited edition in a metallic bay roan similar to Theo on the Georg mold, Puffin from the Birds of a Feather series, Samhain from the Halloween series, Versailles from Breyerfest 2015 and was sex reversed to portray BHR Bryants Jake who is a much better fit for this mold breed wise. GeorgFor the longest time I mispronouned this dude's name but I loved the mold. Although originally made to be a German Rhenish Draft, it fits Belgians perfectly, and you might even get away with calling him a Percheron. I love how the artist didn't put emphasis on his rear and made him well proportioned. My only complaint is his short cut mane. Most drafts I've seen have long locks, but otherwise this guy is great. Theo the bay roan regular run, Oak from Breyerfest 2020 and Honeybear shown below are by far the flashiest on this mold. I'm sure we'll be seeing him in future, and I expect him to be at Breyerfest again this year since drafts are rescued quite a bit. Gypsy VannerI hesitated a bit as to whether I'd put this breed on here, as you'll get people arguing that they're a cob and not really a draft horse, however since Breyer hasn't made enough cobs to have a post about cobs, and the fact that they're not really ponies either, I decided to add him here. Feather footed breeds have always been my favorites in Breyer models, and the Gypsy Vanner mold was the breakthrough of this rare breed that Breyer had never did before. He is heavy although not very tall, just as Vanners should be. However, with the release of the new mare mold, I've decided to disperse this mold. While I love this guy, he always portrayed himself as a big over the top, a quality a lot of Moody molds have, and the new mare mold is much more realistic. When selecting molds I want to focus on, realism is my number one. While this mold has been modified to an Andalusian form, the original Gypsy Vanner did have a few flashies: the regular run bay pinto Gypsy Vanner, Thriller the Halloween horse, Sampson the Tractor Supply exclusive, and Cheesecake from Breyerfest 2021. Gypsy Vanner MareWhile I don't know the official name for this gal, we will for the time being just refer to her as the Gypsy Vanner Mare. This will probably change sometime down the road. Like the previous Vanner mold, she is solid (heavy) but is also tall, almost as tall as Othello. I'm excited to see more colors on her in future! OthelloThis horse was the breakthrough we asked for with Shire/Clydesdale type horses, and we weren't disappointed! Despite being a Moody mold, Othello is realistic and certainly has an expression on his face to look like he's happy with his draft duties. This mold has been used so extensively, I'm happy to see it being used as a Collector Club special run next year, despite the fact that it's a bit older, as I thought Breyer would dwindle down releases for this guy since he's had just about every color made on him as it is. He is my personal favorite mold over the Hess Clydesdales and even Shannondell. I will not go over every flashy release, as there is way too many to name, but just put it this way... it'd be hard to think of a color that hasn't been used on this mold already. ShireThis vintage Hess mold reminds me of a 70s kid with her bell boot style "pants" with the big emphasis put on her having feathery legs. It's a mold that I've secretly been hoping would turn up in the Vintage Club one of these years in a realistic color and not just the decorator gambler's choices. Besides those, not too many other flashy colors have been made on this mold. My personal favorite was Cheerio from Breyerfest 2012. ShannondellThe latest release of feather footed full size drafts was Shannondell. I don't think this mold was quite a well liked as Othello due to being notoriously tippy, but he does have a large fan base, as Wells (whom was one of the most unique colors made on this mold so far) sold out last year at Breyerfest. I used to have a conga on this mold but sold them after one of them fell and created a domino effect of my other molds, knocking one of my favorite models off the shelf and breaking its leg. Bad pony. My favorites on this mold was Vahana from Breyerfest 2017, Benelli from Breyerfest 2020 and Wells from Breyerfest 2023. If you read my previous blog post from a while back called All The Kings Horses, you'll read about what I wrote about the most popular Thoroughbred molds made by Breyer and the flashiest colors made on each. What I didn't reveal back when I wrote All The Kings Horses was which mold I personally think was the best of the best Thoroughbred mold. It was tough, but I think I've narrowed it down, and I'm going to go with... drumroll please... Lonesome Glory. While Ruffian and Smarty Jones have amazing sculpts, the stands make them wobbly, and is a reason why I didn't choose one of those two. Emerson is the ideal two or three year old in peak condition (Thoroughbreds that are racing fit have muscles all over, even their ribs, which is why he looks like he's starving) but I still think that Lonesome Glory represents the best Thoroughbred at any age group, and his high headedness gives him a look of sass that the hot blooded breed is known for. Although I personally collect all the Thoroughbred sculpts and have at least one in my collection of all the modern sculpts, I find Lonesome Glory to be my favorite.
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