Me and My Breyers

If you’re a horsey person – especially if you were a horsey young girl – you’ll know exactly what the title of the post means.

For the rest of you, Breyers are much-coveted, much-loved model horses. From their website, this explains the basics:

Breyer® models begin as beautiful horse sculptures created by leading equine artists that are then cast into a copper and steel mold. Each model is created one at a time from the original mold, which is injected with a special resin selected by Breyer for its ability to capture the depth of detail, delicate feel and richness of color in our models. Once the model is molded, Breyer’s artisans take over, and the handwork begins. Each individual Breyer® model is prepped and finished by hand and then turned over to the painting department for hand painting (with airbrushes) and detailing (with paint brushes). In all, some 20 artisans work on each individual model horse, creating an exquisite hand-made model horse that is as individual as the horse that inspired it.

If you visit their website, you’ll see Breyer has become a model-making machine – they have multiple lines of models, they do special runs, etc. They’re also available everywhere – well, in tack shops everywhere and, of course, thanks to the internet, online.

When I was a kid (this is how kids today know somebody is old – when they start a sentence with “when I was a kid”) – anyway, back then, Breyers were hardly available in Canada. They certainly weren’t sold anywhere in Ottawa, and there was no internet.

They used to be about $20 each and I would save, and save, and save, so that when we were someplace that sold Breyers I could buy two or three. They came in boxes, with the picture of the horse on the front – it was magic.

The one place the majority of my Breyers came from was Washington DC. My great-aunt lived there. She was widowed, and she was my grand-mother’s older sister, so she was really a grand-motherly age with no kids of her own, and she was the best kind of great-aunt to have.

Because she was brave, or eccentric, or had a short memory, she would have my brother and I for visits – I can remember being about seven, and being put on a plane in Ottawa with my little brother, to be met in DC by my aunt and taken to her house for two weeks.

The things I remember about Washington (actually a suburb called Kensington) are the following:

– It was hot. Sweltering, humid, unbearable heat that made Ottawa (a very hot, humid place in the summer) feel almost cool.

– Aunt Pam had a Chihuahua named Peanut, and marmalade cat who was bigger than the Chihuahua.

– She had blue plates – collector plates – with the date on them, up all around her kitchen. I own those plates now, and they’re in a box in my basement, because I don’t have anywhere as cool as Aunt Pam’s kitchen to hang them up in.

– My aunt drove us to Chincoteague one year to watch the pony swim (yup – she was cool!)

– She let us do things my parents would never let us do –  like when the stray golden retriever showed up – not only were we allowed to keep him for days (while, I suppose various people looked for his owners) but I was allowed to bring him under the covers into my bed to sleep with me.

There were other things, but the main thing I remember is the trip to the toy store. There was a toy store near my aunt’s house that sold Breyers. Lots and lots of Breyers. The minute we landed, I pretty much wanted to go to that toy store immediately. And, coincidentally, my aunt would always give me spending money – just enough to buy a Breyer. So, I’d have the money I saved, and brought with me, and my aunt’s money, and she was always really good about taking us almost right away, so my vacation would start off with new Breyer horses.

So exciting!

In this manner – Washington DC, and other trips – I managed to collect well over 50 Breyer horses. I had them all over my room. My dad built me stables to hold them. I loved them.

They were, and are, beautiful, but now they’re in boxes in my basement and what do you do with a collection like that? A collection that was never about the money, but always about the excitement and joy of collecting?

It’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while.

Are some of those Breyers worth a lot of money today? Probably. Then again, most are probably worth the same $20 I paid for them.

Do I have the inclination to research which are rare and valuable, and which aren’t, and put them up for sale on eBay, and ship them separately to collectors all over the place? No.

I just want them to be out in the light of day, and enjoyed.

So, this year I’m finally doing something about it. I contacted Veronica Grajewski of Partridge Acres which, really has one of the loveliest pony-and-young-rider programs I know of, and asked her about setting up a booth where I could sell books and give away a Breyer with each sale.

Veronica, as she always is, was very positive and went a step further – would I be interested in sponsoring a division in their Stepping Stone Series of shows? I could provide a Breyer model and a book for the Champion and Reserve Champion in the Pre Children’s division in each Stepping Stone show and, with the remaining models, I could still set up a “Breyers and Books” booth at one of the shows.

So, that’s what I’m doing. I dropped off two very beautiful Breyer models at Partridge Acres last night, ready to go to new homes after the first show on Saturday.

I’m hoping by the end of the summer all my Breyers will have new homes where they’re appreciated. That, to me, will make this a successful endeavour!

Did any of you collect Breyer models? Do you have any stories about them?