Play Sets: The Saddle Club Rides Again

Waaaay back in 1994 Breyer had a brief fling with Bonnie Bryant's The Saddle Club book series. In 2008, coinciding with the airing of the third and final season of The Saddle Club TV series, Breyer released a line of merchandise tie-ins with plushies, Mini Whinnies, Traditionals, Classics, and of course, Stablemates.

All of the Stablemate sets are based on episodes from the first season which aired in 2001.

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Play Sets: Puppies, and Kittens, and Foals, Oh My!

2006 saw the introduction of some rather interesting sets, one of these was the Puppies & Foals set.

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Play Sets: More Horse Life

The Stablemate gift sets are perennial favourites and there was a bumper crop between 2008 and 2010.

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Play Sets: Fun and Games

There has yet to be a Stablemate board game, but there have been a few other games released with Stablemate companions.

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The card games came first. A single Stablemate came packaged in a window box with a set of Breyer-themed Memory cards. #P55016 Horse Play Card Game - Pinto Half-Arabian (2002-04) came with a chestnut pinto G1 Arabian Stallion. The model is matte to satin in finish with a big blaze, pink nose, and four stockings.

A dark bay G2 Prancing Morgan replaced the G1 model in the #55016 Horse Play Card Set (2005-07) The model has a satin to semi-gloss finish, with an elongated start, snip, eye-whites, and a near-hind sock.

There was a gap of a couple of years before the #31002 Horse Play Card Set, 2nd Edition (2009-11) which came with a lovely dapple grey G2 Clydesdale. The model is matte in finish with small water resist dapples, bald face, pink nose, four white socks, eye-whites, and white mane/tail.

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2008 was the year of the puzzles. Three Breyer-themed puzzles were released with a matching model. These sets were only available a relatively short time and can be somewhat difficult to find on the second-hand market.

The flaxen chestnut G3 Peruvian Paso which accompanied the #46002 Running Free - 300 Piece Puzzle (2008-09) is virtually the same as the #5906 Stablemates singles model. The model is satin to semi-gloss with shaded mane/tail, eye-whites, hind socks, and a snip.

#46003 Fun in the Sun 500 Piece Puzzle (2008-09) came with a lovely flaxen liver chestnut tobiano G3 Stock Horse. The model is satin to semi-gloss in finish with a large blaze, eye-whites, and four stockings.

The G3 Cantering Warmblood in the #46004 The Exciting World of Stablemates 1,000 pc Puzzle (2008-09) was an interesting frosty bay roan with eye-whites, and an off-fore sock.

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Many thanks to Deb Walsmith, Sharon Walbridge, and MySt of My Stablemates for providing pictures for this post!

Play Sets: Arts N Crafts - Activity Sets

Play sets were on the increase around the time the G3 molds were released. Activity sets were similar to the standard play set in that they contained a model or models with some accessories, but they also came with a colour and activity book produced by Scholastic. These sets came in a yellow cardboard box shaped a bit like a gift bag.

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Play Sets: Smaller Than a Breadbox - Pocket Barns

The release of Pocket Barn sets saw a spike in 2007/08 with a regular run and a handful of special runs.

Birthday Week: Not My First Rodeo - Collectibulls, Horses, & Riders

Not Stablemates, but Stablemate-scale, in 2004 a new collection appeared in the Breyer catalogue - the Collectibull Collection. There are six molds, sculpted by Carol Herden and Jane Lugner, in the first collection which depict famous rodeo bulls in dynamic bucking poses. Each bull was supported by a clear acrylic rod which rested in a base made to look like a churned up arena floor; a small name plaque is nestled in the "dirt".

Gift Sets: Horses in Unfamiliar Places - Retailer Special Runs I

Breyer certainly keeps collectors on their toes. There are certain stores where we've learned to expect a yearly batch of special runs such as Target, Walmart, Tractor Supply Co, etc., but there are times when we're thrown a curve ball.

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Now, there was a period in the 1990s and early 2000s when QVC, the television home shopping channel, would have Breyer segment. Collectors with cable would eagerly tune in for their chance to snatch up one or more of these limited special runs. In 2002, the first Stablemate scale specials were offered, a set called the Silver Cup Series.

Play Sets: Holiday Harness

2005/06 proved to be a big couple of years for the horse and harness sets. Not only were a new batch of regular run sets released, but several special holiday sets made their appearance as well.

Play Sets: Horses in Harness

After the all the sets with horses under saddle, it only made sense to start putting them in harness, too. With the new releases in 2003 was the Stablemates Horsepower! collection - three different horses in harness. These sets were chock-full of accessories and the tack and wagons were detailed and appealing, but since the sets only contained re-releases of recent models, they didn't make as big of a splash with collectors as would have been expected.

Play Sets: Cinematic Sensations II

We skipped over two of the movie collections in the last post as both collections are rather photo-heavy.

In 2004 Breyer went slightly wild with the Hidalgo movie. Plushies, Traditionals, Classics, Stablemates, and special runs were unleashed upon the collectors. The sets contained a mix of G1 and G2 molds which caused a bit of confusion at the end of 2005 when the big switch occurred.

There were two gift sets released, on a regular run and the other a special run through Blockbuster Video.

Play Sets: Cinematic Sensations I

Though Breyer has had a long history of producing portraits of famous horses, both real and fictional, on their larger scale models, it wasn't until relatively recently that the Stablemates got into the act. Breyer released tie-in sets for horse-themed movies each year from 2003 to 2006.

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In 2003 the blockbuster movie Seabiscuit inspired Breyer to produce Traditional, Classic, and the first Stablemate scale movie tie-in models. Two different Stablemate sets were released, one a regular run and the other a special run only available through Blockbuster Videos (Wikipedia link for you young whippersnappers)

Play Sets: Equine Life

Soon the horse and rider sets just weren't enough. In 2001 Breyer took it up a notch with play sets highlighting four scenes from equine life.

Play Sets: The Little Red Stable, Part II - Still Little, Still Red

In 1999 the Generation One models in the #59197 Stablemates Little Red Stable Set were replaced by two Generation Two models; the name and number of the set remained unchanged.

#59197 Stablemates Little Red Stable Set 1999-2001

Play Set: Virtual Ponies - Multi-Media Swaps

From time to time models pop up in some unexpected places, sometimes as a result of Breyer specifically producing models for a collaborative product release, at others a company may utilize standard issue models for use with their products. Our model today is an example of the former.

In late 1996 Breyer teamed up with Inroads Interactive to produce a CD ROM and model horse set.

Model and picture owned by Deb Walsmith and used here by permission.

Play Sets and Singles: Got to Be a Götz - Ponies and Dolls

Götz (or Goetz in the US) started as a small, family owned, German doll company in the 1950s. Originally made with paper mache, in 1957 the company began using rotational molding to produce vinyl dolls. They pioneered the mass-production of "designer" dolls with their product line by artist, Sasha Morgenthaler, in 1964. After establishing a factory in the US in the late 1980s, Götz became involved with the Pleasant Company, the producers of the American Girl Dolls.³³ The company continues to be a major player in the designer doll world to this day.

Breyer produced models for both the Pleasant Company and Götz, but the runs produced for the former company were only of the larger scales, and thus of little interest to us here.

Play Set: The Little Red Stable - Paper or Plastic?

In 1976 Breyer expanded the Stablemate line to include a pair of barns and a play set. The most elusive of these items was the #7100 Wooden Stable. This rustic barn and corral was only shown in the 1976 catalogue and its exact production dates are uncertain.



Though this set looks quite sturdy and detailed, the Breyer History Diva reports a disappointing lack in quality. Maybe it's fortunate they're rare.