#model horses

I’m obsessed with the idea of them, but cannot remember what the heck they’re called! I feel like it starts with a B, maybe??? And that they’re just very horse-shaped, but maybe not a specific, uh, breed?

Idk anything about horses, clearly…

Breyer, pronounced “Briar”! They’re super horse-shaped.

They’re nice-quality, anatomically accurate, handpainted model animals made from a nice type of resin. They’re slightly heavy, satiny smooth to the touch - and you can get even quite good large ones for under $20 if you’re patient and clever. Quite pleasant items. A nice meeting-point of mass-produced but also artistic and handpainted; a collector’s item that’s still accessible to a fanbase of little kids; something that people are still happy to admire on the shelf, even if they aren’t aware of its Significance.

There’s a decent community that’s decades old; and several related hobbies, like showing, photography, customising, painting, miniatures, and so on.

The ways to Win at Breyer are quite different from other collecting hobbies. Hoarding is possible but not the point. The most collectible ones that make peers ravingly jealous are often, charmingly, very high-quality customs that have won prizes at shows - meaning that to Win at collecting, people pay (or become!) skilled human artists who participate in community activities. I think that’s nice. Your sculpture/collectible/decoration/status symbol being a Real Guy, with a name, who was once a beloved child’s toy that got bashed up and was later remade by a talented artist, and he specifically got a ribbon in a horsegirl show. You’re supposed to look at him and imagine things. It feels quite human to me.

So you really don’t have to be interested in horses, or even in the models, to notice that they’re just kinda neat. Kind of like the Star Trek fandom, you know? They’ve got so much stuff. so much history and material that it’s quite easy to wander about as a tourist, appreciating what they’re doing, and never needing to be a fan yourself.

You can just appreciate how something that was decent-quality to begin with, that’s been well-loved for a long time, acquires its own patina. I really love that. It isn’t about horses REALLY. It’s about a kind of dreaming.

Resources:

Breyer blog archives with intense little articles about history.

I'd like to introduce you to someone very special! Sylve is Breyer's buck deer made over into a forest unicorn, a project that took over two years from start to finish. Her coloration is inspired by leucistic fallow deer, and instead of the commonly seen narwhal-style spiral, I sculpted her horn to resemble a beam and tine of elk antler. As I gave her an entirely new neck and tail, and resculpted her face, I tried to give her a more ethereal, fey look, a will o' the wisp rather than a horse with a horn.

Horses are measured in hands and I have a horse in mine

What's the constant in ageing?

What ties my life together?

The thing that I can reach for when

I'm feeling under the weather.

When memories creep upon me,

Snippets I don't quite understand.

All of it irrelevant when

there's a tiny horse in my hand.

Who's little face brings comfort?

On my brain a soothing balm.

It could possibly only be

"hey boy, aren't you a handsome one?"

"Want to come home with us? I know a girl who will LOVE you!"

"Hey Omega! I have something for you."