Breyer Horse Collecting: What’s In A Finish

As a collector you’ll hear terms used all the time to describe any number of things about Breyer horses. From things like breed names to molds there’s probably a term that collectors use to describe it. One thing that is used very often to describe models are terms for finish. You’ve probably heard things like matte, glossy and metallic to describe a model, but do you know how to tell what your model is?

When Breyer horses are created they are painted with any number of different paints and colors. Each paint has different properties and different finishes that make the model look different than any other model. Collectors began to take notice of this and use terms to distinguish between different types of models.

Glossy models were some of the first types of models offered by Breyer. These models were finished in a thick coat of shiny clear gloss that not only protected the finish of the model, but also reflected popular trends in home design at the time. Glossy models shine with a thick sheen of gloss that is very distinguishable from other models. Today glossy models have become popular again and can be found on many models!

Semi-Glossy models are a step down from glossy models and have a sheen that many collectors describe as similar to a real horse that’s ready to enter a show ring! Semi-Glossy models have a light sheen that shines in the light and is very smooth to the touch. Models have been created in semi-glossy finishes for just about as long as Breyer has been around and is a very common finish.

The most common finish is a matte finish. Matte finish is a flat finish that is soft and can be almost powder like at times. These soft and delicate finishes are the most common finish for Breyer horses and bring a soft and realistic look to a model. Breyer first introduced matte finish models in the 1960′s when glossy models started to become less popular and have continued to make them ever since.

A new finish that many collectors have seen over the past few years is a metallic finish. This finish brings a touch of what real horse owners call “chrome” to the model horse world. These models will shimmer a bit in the right light, just like a real horse that has chrome in his coat. These models are distinctively different from other finishes but can still be glossy, semi-glossy or matte.

Many collectors have one finish they prefer over others but even more love each and every one! Do you have one of each finish? Which is your favorite? Either way, Golden Oak Stables is always ready to bring that new Breyer to you! Which will you pick?

~Stacy
Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Collecting: Mold Makeovers

Breyer horses are created through an intricate molding process that reproduces an artist’s original sculpture into a model that we all can collect! You’ll hear collectors use two very distinctive words to talk about Breyer horses, molds and models. Models change all the time, but when the mold does, it will certainly catch collector’s attention!

The word “Mold” is used by collectors to describe the actual sculpture that artists create for Breyer. These model are often used for years upon years by Breyer and are created in many different colors over decades, so when one changes, it’s certainly big news!

In the past few years Breyer has surprised us all with a few tricks up their sleeves by “refreshing” a few of their models. One of the first models that saw a makeover was the Stock Horse Stallion. Originally released 30 years ago, the Stock Horse Stallion was a favorite for many years in the Breyer lineup as the go to Quarter Horse, Appaloosa and Paint horse.  Breyer surprised us all when they gave him a new hairdo a few years ago. The Stock Horse Stallion now can be seen with a long and luxurious flowing tail, like on the model Elvis’ Rising Sun!

Breyer gave us another surprise for 2012 with the release of Hickstead! Created on the Trakehner model this horse touched the hearts of millions with his determined spirit. It’s no question as to why Breyer would “spruce” up his mold a little, making this model even more special. A new fuller tail also now sits on the Trakehner mold and gives him an elegant touch.

New molds are always exciting and an existing model with a new touch can be just as exciting! It’s not every day that a mold gets a makeover, so when it happens, collectors are sure to notice! Don’t miss all the fun with Golden Oak Stables. Which model will be the next to enter your stable? One with a makeover?

~Stacy
Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Collecting: The Importance Of Documentation

Collecting has always been much more fun than organizing for any collector. Organizing might not be the most fun thing to do with your time but it can really help you in the long run. Documenting your collection is one of the most important thing any collector can do. By documenting your collection you ensure that you not only keep your collection in tip top shape but you also can keep track of it for years to come!

The easiest way to document your collection is to start keeping records early on, but don’t fret if you’re a long time collector! Starting with each horse write down any information you can,  the amount produced, where it was purchased from and what you paid for it. These key bits of information can be very helpful in the future. Doing this for every horse might seem tedious but the information can be priceless.

Another key thing to do when documenting your collection is organizing any other bits of paperwork you have for your model. Certificates of Authenticity, receipts and even those cards from the backs of Breyer boxes are collectible and important to the authenticity of models. It may seem like just a piece of paper, but that little sheet of paper can often tell a collector a great deal of information about a horse.

If you’ve ever live or photo shown your model, you might want to begin storing any ribbons, NAN cards or winnings along with your documentation. These items can be kept for years and tell the story of a horse and it’s winnings! There’s nothing more impressive than a long time show horse with all of his or her winnings!

Many collectors find organizing in binders, folders or envelopes to be the easiest way to keep track of their paperwork. Play around with it a bit and see what works for you! No matter if your collection is big or small, organizing and documenting is a great idea to keep your collection in the best shape possible. So the next time you get a new Breyer from Golden Oak Stables, start a file for it and watch it grow!

~Stacy
Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Collecting: What’s In A Pose?

With hundreds of different Breyer molds that look vastly different from each other you can see why Breyer horses are as popular and collectible as they are! Models vary in many different aspects, breed, size, color but one thing you might not think about at first is pose. The pose of a horse can tell a lot about it, from its breed to it’s job and even what kind of owner they might have, a pose can tell so many stories!

Horses are capable of an incredible range of motion, so it’s no surprise that their elegant and beautiful movements would be captured so beautifully by the sculptors at Breyer. How a horse is moving is one easy way to tell breeds. Breeds like the Arabian and American Saddlebred are known for their flashy high stepping, flashy gait that draws fans everywhere they go! Quarter horses are known for being calm and docile, a trait most desired in the breed. When a model is sculpted these types of things are taken into consideration and what is created are some of the most realistic horses you can imagine!

A High Stepping Arabian

A Calm And Collected Quarter Horse

A position can also tell you other things, like what a horse’s job is. A Thoroughbred racing towards the finish line looks like no other with it’s extended position reaching with every last inch! A western working horse is special too with it’s relaxed and casual movements a calm cow horse is one of the most prized possession of any rancher and a Breyer with that same personality will surely be a favorite in your ranch!

A Race Horse Pushing Towards The Finish Line

A Working Western Horse

With the hundreds of models at Golden Oak Stables collectors often have to make choices in their collections. Without thinking pose is often a deciding factor! What do you have in your collection? A stable full of calm and collected pasture horses? Maybe a stable full of high action eventers that are ready to leap over any jump? Or what about flashy show horses that are ready to light up the show ring?  Whatever your collection take a moment to appreciate just what your model’s pose tells you about it! You would never imagine that such a little thing can tell you so much!

~Stacy
Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Collecting: The Miniature World Of Stablemates

Galloping in at 4 inches tall, the Stablemates of Breyer’s lineup have been a favorite of many for over 30 years. These little bundles of fun are sculpted, painted and detailed to the same level of realism as Breyer’s larger counterparts. These miniature beauties of the equine world are a favorite for just about anyone, you’d be hard pressed to find a collector that didn’t have at least one in their collection! Stablemates go beyond the horses though, Breyer and Golden Oak Stables have everything you can imagine to build an entire world for your Stablemates!

A barn is always a good place to start and the Stablemates Little Red Stable Set is the keystone to your stablemate world! This three stall barn is exactly what you’ll need to start your Stablemate world. The barn includes a tack room that you can store the included jump and barrels. There’s even four sections of fence to make your own corral as well as two stablemates to get you started on your stable of stars!

The Stablemate Riding Academy is a fun way to add to your Stablemate world by opening up a school for others to learn in! Painted green with a tan roof this lovely riding academy comes out of every horse lover’s dreams. There’s plenty of fun to be had with each an english and western saddle set as well as cavalettis and a palomino mare that will help you learn as you go!

No matter how careful you are, accidents are unavoidable from time to time, but with the Stablemate’s Animal Hospital you can be ready when that time comes! With two horses, a donkey, a goat, a dog and of course a cat the animal hospital is ready to handle any kind of animal on your farm.

There’s no wrong or right way to build your Stablemate world and you’ll find that the possibilities are endless! With dozens of accessories and playsets for these tiny equestrian stars you’ll find them hard to resist! Building an equine world of your own is fun and easy with Golden Oak Stables and Stablemates! You won’t be able to resist the charm and beauty of these little equestrian superstars!

~Stacy

Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Accessories: Around The Barn

Breyers may be model horses, but you can still experience what it’s like to manage and own a barn just like any other horse owner. With lots of fun accessories Breyer has made it easy for collectors to have their own realistic barns that they can use to display and play with their collections. Many collectors take this a step further and work to a minute detail to create realistic and detailed scenes that could fool just about anyone! Breyer and Golden Oak Stables have a myriad of accessories that can help you create the stable of your dreams!

Every barn needs to start out with a few key things, fencing is a good place to start! The Breyer Wood Corral is the perfect way to create paddocks for your horses, you can also use the Livestock Corral to create a fun and realistic pen! From there you’ll want to stock your tack room with everything a horse lover might need. Saddle Stands are a must, you don’t want your prized saddles getting damaged when they aren’t being used. A Tack Box is also a popular choice to keep all of your odds and ends organized.

Around the barn there are many things you’ll need on a daily basis, the most important are cleaning supplies. No one really enjoys this job, but having a Stable Cleaning Kit will keep your stalls clean and your aisles clear so that you can focus on the important things, like bringing home that blue ribbon! Keeping your barn clean isn’t the only important thing, keeping your horse clean is also important! A Grooming Kit is a necessity for any horse owner, complete with all of the basics you might need. If you’re headed to a show you’ll find the Show Grooming Kit to be a fun way to stand out among the crowd!

These are just the basics, there are dozens of fun and realistic accessories to help you create the stable of your dreams! We may not all be able to own a real horse or barn, but with Breyer and Golden Oak Stables we can have the stable of our dreams!

~Stacy

Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Collecting: All About The Numbers

Since the very beginning Breyer has given each model ever created a number of their own. Thousands of models later this number has become an important cataloging and collecting tool for many collectors. What number your horse has can tell you many things about the model and help you keep track of what you have in your collection, and what you hope to add to it.

Commonly accepted as the first Breyer horse, the Palomino Western Horse started it all as number 57. For the first few decades it seemed like there wasn’t too much of a pattern to numbering models, families commonly had number in sequence, such as 4,5 and 6 for the iconic Palomino Family Arabian Foals, but models weren’t commonly released in sequential numbers.

In the 1970′s new sets began being released, these classic sets were a little smaller in scale than the Traditional models that had been the only option before then and they had new sets of four digit numbers as well! Stablemates also were introduced in the 1970′s with their own sets of four digit numbers.

In the 1980′s Special Run models became a collectors favorite. These models could be any scale and began coming with a five or six digit number to identify them. Even today Special Runs still have six digit numbers that identify them for both Breyer and collectors alike.

Regular Run models now commonly have a four digit number to identify them with a little variation here and there. This number can be a very helpful tool for collectors to keep track of their collections. Numbers are not commonly reused by Breyer, it has happened a handful of times, but for the most part, one number corresponds to one horse. For collectors this is a great way to easily catalog collections! This can also be helpful for knowing which models you are looking for or which you’d like to add to your collection.

No matter what kind of collector you are, a little organization is always a good thing! So the next time you get a new horse from Golden Oak Stables, take a moment to look at the model number on the box, it might just help you keep things a lot more organized in your barn!

~Stacy

Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Collecting: Rarity

One of the most fun things about collecting Breyer horses is the challenge of finding that horse that you’ve been looking for. Breyer produces dozens of horses each year and some of them end up being harder to find than other for any number of factors!

Rarity is how difficult to acquire an object is to acquire. With Breyers being made for over 60 years you can imagine that there’s some pretty difficult to find horses that have been created in that time. It isn’t always the oldest horses that are the rarest though, some of the most desirable Breyers have been produced recently.

There are many factors that go into determining how “rare” a Breyer horse is, the most important is desirability. How many people want this horse compared to how many people have it? Sometimes a model is retired before many collectors get a chance to add the horse to their collection so that model becomes rare, sometimes Breyer produces only a limited number of a particular model or maybe it’s just a very popular model among collectors and horse lovers alike! Occasionally Breyer produces limited run horses and special run horses that are only available for a certain amount of time or through a certain retailer. Many times these models can be difficult to find.

Golden Oak Stables brings you the full line of Breyers to add to your stable but also features a wide variety of vintage and hard to find models if you want to add something special to your collection! Retired models are often desirable because they aren’t being produced anymore and as collectors look to add these models to their collections, they become rarer and rarer!

As a collector its hard to tell which models are going to be “rare” and which ones will be easier to find, it’s really just a game of waiting to see. The most important thing when collecting is buying what you love and filling your stable with models that are important to you! It doesn’t matter how rare the horse is if you don’t love it, but with how beautiful Breyer horses are, it’s not hard to love all of them!

~Stacy

Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Collecting: Plastic, Resin and Porcelain

You may notice how wide and varied the 2012  Breyer lineup is! This year Breyer has pulled out all the stops to bring some very exciting models to you! Included are the normal Breyer horses that we know so well but there are also porcelain and resin models included this year!

Breyer has created model horses out of a plastic known as cellulose acetate for over 60 years! Since 1950 the plastic that Breyers have been created out of haven’t changed much. All traditional and classic models are still made with this durable plastic that collectors know so well! Breyer Paddock Pals and Stablemates are created out of a similar plastic that is a bit more light weight, but still very similar.

In the early 1990′s Breyer released their first in a special line that would come to be known as the “Breyer Gallery”. These models were created out of porcelain and were quickly collectors favorites. Commonly called “Clinkies” in the model horse hobby, porcelain models are fragile as they are beautiful! Breyer still brings a few very special porcelain models to collectors from time to time, this year it comes in the form of Year Of The Dragon!

Last but certainly not least are the newest releases for 2012, a special line of Breyer Resins. Resin is a substance that carries both properties of plastic and porcelain but is wonderful for molding because of the details it holds! Many model horse hobbyists are familiar with resin because of individual created Artist Resin model horse creations, but Breyer has brought us resins in one form or another for many years now! This year four new models come to you created out of resin that are sure to become collectors favorites!

No matter what the material, Breyer creates astonishing creations to add to your stable! Bring a little variety to yours with a new addition from Golden Oak Stables! While plastic, porcelain and resin are very different materials, there’s no difference in the beauty each brings to the horse!

~Stacy

Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com

Breyer Horse Accessories: How To Care For Tack

Your stable is full of horses and probably plenty of tack, but did you know that proper care of your Breyer tack can make it last for many years?

Breyer tack is often created out of very similar materials to real horse tack, making some of the most realistic tack you can imagine for your models! Before you start filling your tack room it’s important to take a few steps to make sure that it lasts for many years to come!

Proper storage and care is key when it comes to your tack collection. Storage in a cool, dry place is the best first line of defense against keeping your tack from getting damaged. Warm air and dampness can cause glue to come loose on your bridles and saddles, something no one wants in the show ring! But don’t let your tack get too cold or dry, that can cause leather to become dry and brittle. The best conditions are those which you are comfortable, storage in a basement or attic won’t preserve them as long as storage in a temperate location.

The other best line of defense is keeping your tack properly stored. Letting your tack get crumpled or bent will cause creases and bends that are difficult to remove. By hanging your bridles and letting your saddles sit on stands you preserve the shape of your tack!

Another thing to remember when it comes to tack is display. Many people like to display tack on their models. This is a great way of showing off your collection, but extended display can cause damage to both tack and models. When displaying your tack be sure to check every now and then to make sure that the color of the tack isn’t transferring to the model and that the tack isn’t becoming stiff or otherwise damaged.

Golden Oak Stables’ is ready to fill your tack room full of everything you need to have a stable of stars. From English to Western and everything in between you know right where to head to bring a champion to your stable!

~Stacy

Email Stacy: Stacy@GoldenOakStables.com