Happy 2nd Birthday Many Mini Hooves!

Two years ago today we made our first post! In these two years we've managed to cover the history of the G1 molds; they will continue to pop up from time to time in some posts, but now our focus is going to shift to the G2 molds which were first released in 1998.

Birthday Week - Footnotes: Modern (2010 & newer) Customs

New techiniques and sculpting materials, and changing style trends keep the Custom scene in a constant state of evolution.

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Birthday Week - Footnotes: One of These Things is Not Like the Others - G1 Oddities

In the early pre-China days of the Stablemate line production oddities, small unannounced Special Runs, and other unexplained phenomenonmenomenom were not uncommon.

In the possible unannounced special run category is the mystery buckskin Arabian stallion. The owner of the Arabian Stallion from the set was told it was a special run from the 70s and came with a black Swaps; Nancy Young was unable to find a second source or any further information. The Arabian Stallion is a mustard yellow buckskin (like the Quarter Horse Mare) with four stockings and grey hooves¹⁷, the Swaps is presumably a solid black as markings weren't mentioned.

Birthday Week - Footnotes: Almost Vintage (2000-2010) G1 Customs

Use of tools such as heat guns and air-brushes, and materials such as masking tape, pastels, and coloured pencils, and improvements in sculpting materials led to a substantial leap in the quality of finish work and detail possible.

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Birthday Week - Footnotes: Stamp of Approval - Evolving Bellies

As we've established, many of the G1 molds have twin molding cavities; others only seem to have one cavity, but have still undergone some changes.

G1 Draft Horse
"Floating" mark & "Tight" mark

Footnotes: Vintage (Pre-2000) Customs

While not Original Finish Breyer releases, customized models have a place in the Stablemate history. The availability of new molds and changing customization techniques keep the Live Show Custom divisions in a state of evolution.

In the early years of the hobby collectors were just beginning to experiment with the media. Oil, acrylic, spray paint, poster paint, wood filler, plumber's epoxy, mohair, synthetic hair, string, and hair from a range of other animals were often the materials of choice. Repositioning was frequently accomplished with hot water or a hair dryer. Some of the early efforts appear quite crude to us now, but were highly successful show horses in their time. If you are a fan of vintage customs, check out the Vintage Model Horse Cust Group on Facebook.

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Birthday Week - Footnotes: Special Run Releases Timeline and Distributor Chart

The timeline for the special run releases had to be split into two parts to make it a bit easier to display. Each image is linked to the file to make detailed viewing easier.

Birthday Week - Footnotes: Regular Run Timelines

If you've been reading here for a while you will know that I am a big fan of graphs, so I thought it would be fun to put some timelines together for the different Stablemate releases.

The first timeline shows the release history of the Stablemate Assortments only. You can view a larger image by clicking on the timeline.

Birthday Week - Footnotes: I Can't Believe It's Not a Test Run - Custom Breyer Look-Alikes

There are some incredibly fun and creative customs out there, some of my favourites are the Breyer-style look-alikes. Dorothy Graham has created some lovely custom Stablemate-scale decorators and other iconic vintage Breyer colours.

We're Turning Two!

Can you believe it?! We're turning two next Sunday!

In celebration of our second birthday we will have a full week of posts! Some will be our usually scheduled Profile posts, others will cover a range of fun topics. Don't forget to come have a look on Monday and to keep checking back throughout the week!

Footnotes: That Inner Glow - Experiments in Plastic

For all we know, Breyer may experiment with different plastic types on a regular basis, always on the look-out for the more cost effective solution, but these experiments have only been obvious at a few points in Breyer History - first in the 1970s during the oil crisis and more recently during the late 1990s. One of these, the not so mellow yellowing plastic, we discussed last year, the others we've mentioned in passing at

Look-Alikes: G1 Thoroughbred Standing Foal

A large percentage of the G1 Thoroughbred Standing Foal consists of decorators, leaving us with only a handful of fairly simple look-alikes.

Variation Spotlight: #710897 Quarter Horse Stallion

JCPenney Special Run

#710897 12-pc. Parade of Breeds

1997