Do That Conga: Stone ISH, Part 1

With four “Do That Conga” posts under my belt, it’s time to start on one of my biggest congas: the Stone ISH.

If I graphed my Stone ISH purchasing over the years, it would look kinda like the BreyerFest auction prices graph - steady for years, a slight uptick, and then WHAM, into the stratosphere. Through the end of 2022, I had five ISHs; with the purchase of Ima Shifty Goodbar last Thursday, I’m now at 29.

The ISH was sculpted by Carol Williams, premiered in 1999, and was originally issued in four body styles (mare/stallion changes notwithstanding):

• Short mane/short tail (SM/ST)
• Short mane/long tail (SM/LT)
• Long mane/short tail (LM/ST)
• Long mane/long tail (LM/LT)

They started experimenting with factory customs in 2002 or so, turning ears and changing manes and tails and such, and now hundreds of variations of the ISH exist. There have been over 130 different customizations available just for the Design-A-Horse program.

I got curious about the distribution of the body styles amongst my ISHs, so I did a quick count. Turns out I’m pretty in love with the mold no matter what they do with it. I have 9 with factory customization, 8 long mane/long tail, 6 short mane/long tail, and 6 short mane/short tail. The non-customized long mane/short tail body has been used much more rarely than the otheres - only eleven releases prior to 2005, while there were dozens of releases on the other body styles. I’m not surprised I don’t have any of those in my collection ... yet.

Since my distribution of body styles is fairly even, they'll split up nicely over the next four months of Do That Conga posts. My first ISH was a short mane/short tail, so I’m going to start with those today. The next body style I picked up was a long mane/long tail, so those will be featured in April. ISH #3 was a factory custom, so I’ll go over those in May, and I’ll finish up in June with the short mane/long tail ISHs.

 

 

Whilst wandering the CHIN during BreyerFest 2014, I happened into the room of a hobby friend, Beth D. This lovely ISH, #9997 Legacy, a run of 250 models in 2000 for subscribers of The Hobby Horse News magazine, was standing there on the shelves and priced at only $40. I’m not an appaloosa person, but I love red duns, and Legacy was pretty adamant about coming home with me.

I’d bought a totally random model from Beth the year prior, a customized Breyer Saddlebred Weanling, so I said something like, “Well, Beth, you got me again!” when I handed her the money for Legacy. Because of that, Legacy’s show name is Double or Nothing. She has done surprisingly well in the show ring for being an older model - and extra so because until writing this blog post, I didn’t realize she was a mare, and I have shown her as a stallion her entire life. Oops!

 

My next short mane/short tail ISH didn’t come along until November 2022. My friend Chesna hosted a swap meet in Ohio right before Thanksgiving that year. I took a bunch of models with me, hoping to make some great sales prior to Christmas. I wasn’t supposed to buy anything.

Apparently, older ISHs priced at $40 are my kryptonite, because that’s what happened again here.

This is #9978 Gigabyte, a run of 575 models produced in 2000 for the Haynet online community and distributed through P.S. Cord & Co. [I tried googling P.S. Cord & Co. to learn more about them, but all google wanted to tell me was what cords to use for a Playstation and how to replace them if they don’t work. Womp womp.]

I walked around the swap meet hall several times that morning and kept coming back to him. I hadn’t made any sales yet, and I wasn’t supposed to buy anything, but he was so pretty that I couldn’t resist.

 

He doesn't get to come out to play much in the show ring, but when he does, his show name is Muscle Memory. 

 

 

This ISH and the next were both purchased from the same seller via Facebook in early March 2024. Early 2024 was rough for me - our cat Monti wasn’t doing well and we eventually lost him to kidney failure later in March, and the hobby itself wasn’t my favorite place for a couple reasons (which I might talk about later, but probably not). That led me to stress-buying five ISHs from the secondary market in the first three months of 2024.

First up is a glossy Rocky, a run of unknown quantity for Equine Affair in 2006. This color is outstanding and looks especially good in gloss. I’d like a matte one someday, too. He was the first one to catch my eye from the seller’s photos.

 

This shiny bay thing is Noble Steeds Coach, a run of 15 models from the 2022 Stone Super Bowl event. All runs that year were gambler’s choices - the Noble Steeds vs. the Rough Riders. While I loved the Noble Steeds bay, I didn’t care for the Rough Riders bay appaloosa with football-shaped spots in his blanket, so I chose not to take the gamble. I was super happy when I noticed Noble Steeds Coach, in gloss no less, not too far from Rocky on the seller’s shelves.

 

His show name is Outside Chance. 

 

Ahhhh, one of Mel’s most famous “What the actual f***?” purchases.

I’ve said it many times - further up this blog post, for example - I am not an appaloosa person. I am especially not a loud appaloosa person. My solid-colored-horse-loving brain tends to nope right out as soon as I see spots.

Except, apparently, when it comes to Decimus, a run of 60 pieces for Equilocity 2005.

He was on my want list for a long, long time.

On the Fourth of July in 2024, my friend Eleanor posted a few Stones for sale and said she could bring them to BreyerFest for interested buyers. Decimus was among them. So was another ISH (who I’ll get to in April) and a shiny bay Standing Draft. We made a deal for all three. Five days later, we met up at the CHIN for the exchange.

 

I don’t like appaloosas. I don’t like loud appaloosas.

I love this horse.

 

(Photo courtesy of myhomemaderecipe.com) 

 

Eleanor showed him with the name Spotted Dick. That sounds like a name my friend Chunk would come up with - he loves to think of names judges generally can't yell across a crowded show hall - but I can't say I disagree with Decimus' resemblance to the same-named dessert pictured above, so I kept it.

 

 

Vic just got his first turn in the spotlight this past weekend in my February acquisitions post, so I won’t say much else about him here, other than how much i love his color.

 

There are five short mane/short tail ISHs on my wish list: ES Bayberry, Hot Spots, and a glossy Caroline's Summer Star, who are all higher quantity older runs; and OOAKs Royal Quest and Stone Blitz, both painted by ... surprise ... Audrey Dixon. Stone Blitz came up for sale this past year at the CHIN during BreyerFest, but I sadly didn't get to the room fast enough to snag him.