Colby and Brooks!

 Alert, alert, alert! Colby and Brooks are now available to order on the Tractor Supply website! Go go go go go! People were having some trouble ordering earlier today, but the issue seems to have been resolved. I ordered a Brooks as fast as I could and it already shipped! I'm looking forward to seeing him. No sign of the other two special runs just yet, but I'm sure they'll show up eventually. 

In other news, I did receive my Riah on Monday. He was the gray version, but due to what seems to be a common tail issue, he had to go back. 

It's hard to see from this angle, but not only is that white stuff at the base of his tail, but it also goes down onto the tail and was even present at the base of his mane, forelock and down onto his face. So, he had to go back. I've seen a lot of Riahs with this issue posted online, so hopefully Breyer has enough replacements for everyone, because...this is pretty egregious. 

And lastly, Hoofbeats and Maple Treats is coming up on Friday! Woohoo! I'm flying to Toronto tomorrow, and I'm excited to be able to report from a collector event for the first time since 2016. And I'm looking forward to finding out what those boutique models are! See you all soon. 

They do exist!

 Exciting news, readers! This year's TSC special runs appeared on the website today! Search "Breyer" on TSC's webpage and they'll be at the bottom of the last page (try not to pass out when you see them!). I was starting to get worried that we'd all been pranked or something. Anyway, the two special runs we were expecting (Brooks, on the Troubadour mold and Colby, on San Domingo) are included, as well as two more we didn't know about! Say hello to Martina: 

A new Forever Saige! Be still, my heart! 

We also get a new Firefly, called Emery:

She looks black in that little picture, but she's actually blue, in a nod to the blue FFA jackets. 

Here's Colby again:

Nice color, but nothing I need. 

And lastly, here's Brooks again:

I definitely want Brooks and Martina, so I guess I'll be checking the local TSC stores a while longer. I wonder if we'll get more later? Seems odd not to have some new Stablemate sets, too. Maybe the tariffs killed them or something. 

Also, my second replacement Rowan shipped yesterday, so hopefully the third time's the charm on this one! 

New TSC blind bags!

 Greetings, readers! I'm super late with posting this, but the Mystery Horse Surprise series 7 blind bags are starting to show up at Tractor Supply stores! I think I mentioned these before, but didn't have a photo I could use. Well, fear not, because now I have my own photos! 

Of the base group shown here, the only one I actually want is the palomino pony, so that was the only one I bought. Pretty sure I felt up a complete set, plus an extra pony. I actually checked four TSC locations around Lexington and only found these at one of them, so I guess that means I'll be checking again this weekend. Anyway, here's the pony! 

I like her face. Sorry for the not-so-great photo; it can be hard to tell if the entire model is in focus or not. 

This photo isn't the greatest either! Oh well. 

So anyway, you might be wondering why I'd bother to keep checking TSC for these things if I found the only one I wanted! Well, that's because both of the chase pieces have been found, and I need both of them this time! One of the chases (probably the less-rare one) is a raspberry-pink-with-spots mini Brishen, and the other (probably the super-rare) is a blue-and-purple clearware Mirado. So I remain on the hunt! These blind bags will eventually become regular runs (I think) so...maybe it won't be too hard to find the chases in the future? I hope so. 

No one ever expects the TSC models (before Breyerfest!)

 Whoa, more new unexpected reveals last night! This year's TSC models are already on the website. Just do a search for Breyer and you'll find them (unless they get removed). Here's the first one, a new Wild Mustang set: 

Ooh, the stallion and foal are both so pretty! Actually, the stallion is like a mini version of Picante. The mare is kinda meh, I'm questioning why they used Mesteno's Mother when they could have used the Haflinger Mare and had her match the foal better. Oh well. 

Next: Bugaboo! 

She's pretty, but uncomfortably similar to the micro run Diana from Breyerfest 2019. They used the same masking on her legs and everything. Not sure I'd be too happy if I owned one of those. Her name, "bugaboo" means an imaginary source of fear, so maybe they're leaning into it? Huh. 

Next, here's Lydia:

Ooh, a new Lonesome Glory! Too bad I sold all mine. I'm guessing it's the female version of Lonesome Glory since she has a female name? 

Next, here's Big Blue! 

Wow, this guy is really handsome! I love his gold accents. They look great with that dark blue color. I'm not a Clydesdale Stallion collector, but I'll admit this color is tempting me. 

Lastly, here's Peyton! 

This one is...very reminiscent of Old Bob. Actually, the Old Bob that's on IDYB doesn't seem to have that striping on the neck, but the one I've been trying to sell for years definitely does. I'm not sure why they reused this color? I mean, Adios has come in pretty much every color by this point, but it's been 25 years since he was issued in a solid bay color (not counting Pokerjoe, who was a Paint), so you'd think they could have done something in that vein. Oh well. 

It's nice to see these releases so early, but the bad part is now having to wait until probably September or later to see them in stores. Guess we'll just have to be patient! 

TSC finds!

 Good news, readers! After weeks of periodically dropping by various TSC locations around here, I finally found the rest of the stuff I wanted! It only took visiting three locations today (one of them twice), but I did it! Behold! 

And more! 

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but I'm irritated that some of the models were repeated across sets - the gray Vanner, for instance, is also one of the TSC blind bag models (I already got one a while ago), and the palomino G2 Morgan appears in the 8-horse set as well as one of the Horse Foal Surprise sets (same for the gray Cassidy and the buckskin Indian Pony). At least none of the foals are repeats, I guess. The palomino color on the draft foal made me realize how much I like the mold! It's much less blobby than the prancing foal that was introduced at the same time. 

Anyway, here are the ones I'm keeping, out of their boxes! 

I really like the roan color on the standing foal, and the G2 Andalusian has a nice color too, if you can get past the word on his side. I like the Warmblood Mare as well. 

So, now that I finally have the TSC stuff squared away, I can go through my sales stuff and figure out how much I have to sell, price things and get them listed! Fun stuff. I may also look through my Breyerfest purchases and unpack a few things and get them ready for photographing. They've been packed away long enough! 

TSC special runs are here!

 Good news, readers! My Tractor Supply special runs (Merle and the Playful Pony Family set) arrived today, a day early! Huzzah! Let's take a look at Merle first: 

He's a bit darker than in the promo photos, and I was kind of hoping he'd be metallic, but doesn't really seem to be. 

It's a really handsome color nonetheless! 

His ears look bizarrely long in this photo. Must be the angle. 

Quality-wise he's pretty good; some small factory flaws, but nothing major. I'm glad I got this one, and super-glad he arrived this fast - looking at things last year, these models weren't arriving at people's houses until September or later and I was really worried I should have had them shipped to our new address. Fortunately it wasn't a problem! Now if my Adonis would show up...

I also received the Playful Pony Family! 

I didn't take the stallion out of the box because I'm hoping to resell him. 

I really like this pair! Attractive colors on both. 

I really like this color on her - she has a slight pearly sheen, but it's not nearly as noticeable as on the Stagecoach Surprises, for example. 

I was also pleasantly surprised to see the mare has tiny little eyewhites, though the stallion and foal don't. The eyes at at least neatly painted on all three, though- a lot of the recent Classics releases have had really sloppy eyes. 

Quality-wise they aren't bad - some minor flaws, like Merle, but nothing major. Guess I didn't take any separate photos of the foal, but he's pretty nice too. 

In other TSC-related news, I got a report that the TSC Flash (Applegate) isn't a flat bay, but rather has metallic undertones, so he's probably worth picking up if you're a Flash collector. In addition, the blue cow ornament may be too heavy to hang on a tree - probably cast in resin like the recent unicorn ornaments. Thanks to Sarah M.! 

That's all I have for today- maybe tomorrow we'll get an announcement about the Breyerfest leftovers sale! 

Breyerfest Closeups: Cheryl White and Jetolara Gift Set

 Greetings, readers! I've got another Breyerfest Closeups for you tonight - the new Cheryl White set with the Classic/Freedom Series Thoroughbred. Here we go! 

This set is one of Breyer's fall releases and will be available in September. The doll and horse are portraits of real-life jockey Cheryl White, the first black female jockey, and her horse Jetolara, who she won her first race on in 1971. The book was co-written by Cheryl's brother Raymond White Jr. and Sarah Maslin Nir. If you want to buy the book separately (like me, because I don't collect the mold), it can be found on Amazon and will be published on September 5. Interestingly, the book is the second in a series called Once Upon a Horse, "stories inspired by real horses and the people who love them." I don't remember this being mentioned in the live Breyerfest coverage, but I might have missed that. 

There is a ton of shading on that Jetolara model! This one is probably a sample, so I wonder if the regular production models will have that much shading. 

If this set is successful, I wonder if Breyer will make tie-in models for the next few books in the series? They seem to like doing Classic horse-and-book sets, so I'd say the chances are high. Anyway, I'm excited to read this book! It looks like an interesting story, and these types of stories need to be told more often. 

On a side note, there's yet another Trad horse in the TSC lineup - Lefty! 

Kind of a weird name, but whatevs. It's a new release on Cigar, and he's not bay! Huzzah! 

Still no sign of the Trad-size blue cow, but I guess there's still time. My order of Merle and the Classics set shipped on Friday and is scheduled to arrive this Friday, so I'm excited to see those as well! 

Breyerfest Closeups: Mini Zafirah

 Greetings, readers! Well, it's pretty late in the day, but I decided to write a quick Breyerfest Closeups post before I hit the hay. Today's model is: the mini Zafirah! 

This is the free Stablemate for this year's Premier Club and will be sent out at the end of the year, presumably included with the final release. She's a teeny version of Zafirah! I gotta admit, those front legs don't look nearly as bad at this scale. 

I'm tempted to keep her...but I'd rather try to trade her for the Vintage Club mini Lipizzaner. 

Sorry for having so few photos, but it was hard to get any decent angles. The front legs do look better here - they aren't as evenly lined up with each other as the Traditional version and don't seem to be so abnormally straight, so she looks a little better. But I don't think I'm going to keep her. 

That's it for the Breyerfest Closeup, but I do have something else to add - another TSC model appeared on the website today! 

Say hello to Gibson the Bubble-Butt Belgian! Very nice. He looks a lot like Dusty on the Halla mold from a few years back. I wondered if there was going to be another Traditional or not. The TSC stuff must be selling pretty well if they're coming out with all this new stuff. 

Also, the fine print on the Cow ornament is that there's a Traditional Blue Cow coming as well! But she apparently hasn't been added to the website set. Maybe on Monday? In other, other news, the Merle and Classics Pony Family set I ordered have apparently already shipped - which is good, because I was a dumbdumb and had them shipped to our old address, which we're leaving in three weeks. I hope they arrive before then! 

Oriole and TSC chase piece!

 Exciting news today, readers- the selections for Oriole have been made! If you entered for her, check your email to see if you were drawn to purchase her. I wasn't drawn, but was able to find one to purchase secondhand! Huzzah! I can't wait to see what she looks like in person. 

In other news, it turns out the second Tractor Supply chase piece is a grullo (?) Rivet. Behold: 

Thanks to Diana T. for supplying the photo! This just means I need to find the Peruvian Paso and I'll be set. Thankfully, the reaction to these seems to be a bit lukewarm - hmm, I just can't seem to put my finger on why. Anyways, hopefully this means the chase pieces won't command ridiculous prices on the secondary market! Good luck hunting for them! 

More TSC Additions and Hope!

 Good news, everyone - my other TSC order has arrived, as well as my Hope horse! Let's start with the TSC set: 

As you can see on the box, this is the Desert Paint Horse Family on the Classic Black Stallion, Harper and Classic Morgan Foal. 

I plan on selling the stallion and foal, so they're still in the box. But here's some shots of the Harper:

I really like her color - she's chestnut, but has a metallic or some type of sheen to her coat, which I found interesting.

I'm still hoping to get my hands on those new mystery unicorn foal sets, as well as the Alborozo from the blind bags - with any luck I'll find those soon.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the eyes on these - it's a little hard to see here, but they're basically just glopped-on black with no detail. Somebody cheaped out there; that happens a lot with Classics though. 

Anyway, let's move on to Hope! 

Her color is much more interesting than the promo photos made it look - she has a purple sheen over most of her body except the mane and tail, which have a blue sheen. Cool! 

Pretty similar to last year's Raider in the Stablemates Club, actually.

I really like the blue sheen, but I really liked it on the Omega Fahim models as well, and I'm partial to blue anyway, so I may be biased.

I also liked the box design for this release - no plastic to be seen! Even the ties holding the model into the box (like the old touchability boxes with a slipcase over top of it) were paper rather than wire or plastic. Let's see more of that, please! I always feel a little bad throwing empty Breyer boxes in the recycling bin, not knowing if they bother to recycle any of it (presumably the inserts are recyclable, but I don't know about the plastic fronts?). 

Anyway, another great release from Breyer, and it's always good to see a new release on Bouncer.

Let's hope we get some exciting announcements soon! I feel like we're in a bit of a dry spell, news-wise. 

TSC planogram has leaked!

 Good news everyone! In addition to the recent Stablemates Blind Bag news, this year's Tractor Supply planogram has shown up on Facebook! Behold: 

So, in the upper right corner we have what looks like a bay American Dream/Freedom Series Rearing Mustang, and it looks like the Classic American Quarter Horse Foal in black is in there with him. On the row below them is a couple of Snowbirds and then what looks like, "Blue," on the Geronimo mold, as some kind of special run for FFA. Below him are a black pinto Zippo Pine Bar or "Zeke," a dapple gray Latigo or "Ashton," and a dunalino long-tail Lady Phase as "Jolene." Below them are the Phantom and Misty set, a new set that appears to be some kind of pinto Classic Black Stallion, Classic Morgan Foal in black pinto and a chestnut Harper, and then Chocolatey. On the bottom shelf there are a couple of styling heads and a Breyer Farms barn I'd like to see up close to see what (if any) models come with it. Whew, that's a lot of stuff! 

Fortunately, I don't need any of it except the new American Dream set and the Classics family set with the Harper. Blue looks pretty attractive, though - but I'm biased toward blue things anyway. Let's hope these new offerings don't take too long to show up at our TSC stores! 

Breyerfest second chance sale and new TSC blind bags!

 Well, the Breyerfest second chance sale is going on now - better log on and buy stuff while you still can! Several items are showing as sold out this afternoon, including the Rotating Draft Surprise, Elbe and Spree, Landler and some of the swag. I did order two more Rhenish Drafts- with any luck I'll get a glossy this time and be done with it. 

In other news, new blind bags have been showing up at Tractor Supply stores across the country, or at least in California. I don't have photos I can use yet, but the molds in the assortment appear to be a black overo pinto Alborozo, chestnut G2 Standardbred, bay tobiano pinto Mini Emma, black leopard G3 TWH, blue pinto G4 Vaulting Horse/Drafter and the chase was finally revealed today as a gold chrome Magnolia. Looks like I'll be on the hunt for the Alborozo, mini Emma and TWH! I'll have to check our "local" TSC stores later this month or next month. 

Tractor Supply special runs are available!

 Good news, everyone! This year's Tractor Supply special runs are now on TSC's website! Find them here. And here they are! 

Best of all, TSC is having a Labor Day sale right now, and the new releases are included in the sale! I scored an Eclipse for $27.99, and you can have it shipped to your local store for free! Definitely don't miss out on this if you want these! I love the blue shimmer on Eclipse, so I can't wait to get him in hand! 

Jacy is here!

Okay, technically he's been here for a while, but I haven't had time to post about him. So, my TSC Jacy came in, and he's beautiful!

I really like his color, although it does make his head look a little weird for some reason. Probably just me.

He's definitely a handsome guy! He'll look great next to my other Geronimos.

Quality-wise, he's very nice - I don't see any flaws anywhere. It looks like the black of his eyes could have been painted a smidge closer to the edges of the eyes, but it's not that much of an issue.

Besides, I'd rather have this than the opposite effect - black dots slopped all over the eye/eyelids - that's been so common on a lot of models lately.



There's a closeup of his teeny fleabites - they're so small they don't even show up in most of the photos I've seen of this model online! I wonder how they did it - probably some type of airbrush splatter effect, I guess.

In closing, I'm very happy with this model! If only the quality for everything could be this nice.

In other news, word on the street is that we're not getting a Mid-States Exclusive model this year due to low sales. This doesn't really surprise me - our local Runnings store hasn't gotten any Mid-States models since the "Brabant Cross" in 2014 - and I think they still had a few with their meager Christmas display last year! That release was a lovely color, so I have no idea why it sold so poorly, unless it was the $50 price tag. Then again, our store hasn't gotten any of the Holiday Horses in the last few years either, despite the fact that I thought they always sold pretty well. Maybe they just gave up.

Anyway, here's hoping the Mid-States Exclusive gets brought back eventually. In the meantime, my wallet is happy!

Tractor Supply Ship to Store Option

Tractor Supply now has this year's holiday selection listed on the website! Here's a much better (and not-flipped) photo of Jacy:

 

Mmm, I really like him. Although that color would be really difficult to keep clean in real life. Ha!

Next, here's a photo of Lakota!


 

Like I said before, the color is nice, but I don't collect the mold, so  he won't be coming home with me.

Now, Tractor Supply appears to be doing pre-orders of these two guys (and everything else Breyer), so you can get them shipped directly to you if you want. Or, if you want to save on shipping, there's a ship-to-store option you can choose to have the model shipped to the store closest to you and then you pick it up. I decided to opt for the ship-to-store option this year because my husband works in the same town our nearest Tractor Supply is in, so I can have him pick it up. If you'd like to do the same, go to the main list of Breyer items and click "Add to Cart" under whichever item you want. On the next page you'll pick which store you want the item(s) to ship to, etc. Make sure you do this from the main list of Breyer items, because for whatever reason, the "Add to Cart" option disappears when you click on individual items. As for when these will be in stock, the last I heard was mid-September, so we don't have too much longer to wait. Good luck and happy ordering!

New special runs keep popping up!

So there are some new releases floating around on the Internet lately. I haven't seen an official announcement yet, but they're the TSC special runs for this year and another clearware special run for Back in the Saddle. I wonder if that's going to become a regular thing? Here's the clearware horse, Sugarmaple:


(image removed as apparently it wasn't authorized for release by Breyer)

This actually isn't the first time the Show Jumping Warmblood has been issued in clearware (apparently both Twilight Terror and Sunny are clearware). He's certainly interesting-looking. One of the alternate names for last year's Patriot was "Bomb Pop;" I wonder if this one should be called, "Camouflage," or something? Nevertheless, I ordered one, because it will be interesting to see what these look like in hand.

As for the Tractor Supply special runs, they're on Geronimo and the old Black Beauty mold:

 

They flipped the Geronimo's photo for the ad, which is kind of weird. But I'm going to have to pick one up - what I can see of that gray in the photo looks really nice! I won't need the Black Beauty, though, despite the fact that his color looks really nice. I'll definitely be haunting our local TSC stores until these beauties show up! 

Halloween Grab Bags and New Arrivals!

Another exciting day in model horse land! (Or plastic pony paradise, as I like to call it.)

Halloween Grab Bags are now available from the Breyer web site, open to all! I've already said my piece about grab bags, so all I'll say is: good luck!

In other news, I have a few new arrivals to share with you all (after shooting some quick cell phone photos in my living room)! First, the TSC Santana:

Next, the TSC "New Beginnings" Sir Buckingham:

And lastly...Leandro! I wasn't drawn for him on my account, but my husband was!

 

They all turned out quite nice, despite the Sir Buckingham being packaged in the box so close to the mare and foal that they were all pretty much touching each other and could have left rubs/marks on each other from it. The Leandro is nice and has lots of details, but does have a couple of booboos too minor to be worth sending him back. All worthy additions to my herd, though! My Silvers, especially, have been multiplying a lot lately. I only had four of them at the start of the year, and now I'm up to nine with another one on its way here. Whew!

Still waiting to hear when the next Collector Club special run is released. I believe last year's Fabien was out by now, so it should be soon. Possibly next week? I guess we'll have to wait and see.