Introduction

Welcome to my collection.

Since I am a straightforward and methodical person, let’s do what Lewis Carroll said and, “Begin at the beginning."

From 1982-1986, Nickelodeon intermittently aired a British TV series from the early 1970s called The Adventures of Black Beauty.  I don’t know how old I was when I saw it for the first time; my mom thinks I was maybe five or six, which would have put us in 1984-1985.  I don’t remember anything about the show except the opening and ending credits, which were full of gorgeous panoramic shots of a black horse running through various fields, accompanied by a theme song so memorable that I could have faithfully hummed it at any age.  (It was an especially good one – it won an award and was even released as a radio single in the UK.)  If you want to watch, the link is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hasBJ1Gkjy8

I don’t know if that’s the first moment I fell in love with horses, but it’s the first one I remember.  I thought that running horse was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

 

The model horse part begins in 1990 on the first day of 6^th grade.  As I got to the school's front stoop that day, I saw a new girl sitting there.  At that point in my life, I was extremely introverted, and initiating a conversation with a total stranger, even one my own age, was not something I did.  Like, ever.  But I distinctly remember thinking, “If I was at a new school on the first day and didn’t know anybody, I would want someone nice to come up and say hi to me.”

 

So I did.

 

Paula would quickly become my best friend and remains so to this day.  It took us 0.7 seconds to discover our mutual love of horses and create our own Horse Club.  We had a list of rules and even held a few meetings, even though we never grew our membership beyond the two of us and both of our sisters.  We sped through Walter Farley’s books, watched the Black Stallion and other horse movies at her house (which was only three blocks from mine), and when we couldn’t hang out, we called each other on the phone while watching episodes of The Adventures of the Black Stallion on The Family Channel.  Every year of high school, we ended up at one house or the other for the Triple Crown races.

 

Paula had a collection of Breyer horses, which she showed me maybe a month into our friendship.  I was instantly in love and asked her where to get them.  She showed me the sets in that year’s JCPenney Christmas Catalog.  They went straight onto my Christmas list and were my first Breyers – a story I’ll tell another day – and I was off and running.  Paula only collected for a couple years after that; I collected modestly through high school (largely enabled by my awesome parents), minimally through college and grad school, and then re-discovered my love for models in 2010 after quitting a Very Bad Job (also a story I’ll tell another day).  My collection sits around 1500 models right now.

 

This blog is strictly a personal project – there won’t be in-depth discussions of the hobby or sharing of knowledge.  I’m a writer to the core of my being and this is the best way for me to document my collection and the stories and feelings behind my models.  Feel free to tune in or out as you please.

 

I have what are probably unrealistic goals for this blog; I’d like to post a few times a week, but I’m sure life will get in the way at times. Posts will be grouped according to the following structure:

• Sentimental Journey - models with special meaning
• Do That Conga - who doesn't love a good conga line?
• On a Regular Basis - regular runs
• Special Effects - special runs
• Collectibility Spotlight - rarities
• Full Spectrum - fantasy, decorator, and unrealistic models (yes, I do own some!)
• Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth - models I've been gifted over the years
• Show Stoppers - models from my show string
• New Additions - an end-of-the-month reckoning
• Fantastic Finds - models liberated from antique stores or non-collectors
• Other Makes - things that are Not Breyer
• Singles Bar - molds I only have one of

 

The next post will be a Sentimental Journey, where I'll get to that story about the 1990 JCPenney Christmas Catalog models.

 

Thanks for reading.