Everyone has That One Thing they collect, right? However you define that one thing, it's yours. A lot of hobbyists have a focus - one of everything, all of one thing, only a certain breed. My focus revolves around my primary hobby activity: tack. That One Thing, for me, is Stablemates - performance ones specifically, but because you never know what's going to happen I make sure that I have one of every mold in my body box and a show quality copy of the ones that actually get attention. Sure there are some sentimental favorites, like my chorus line of G2 Saddlebreds.
But still. That One Thing is performance friendly Stablemates. What doesn't fall under performance friendly? Well, a lot of Breyers, especially the foals. Just not a lot you can do with those. So why do I have 23 of them??
When I scaled back drastically on my hobby involvement around 2010, I purged a lot of my collection, including the Stablemates. You would have thought that the babies would go, too, and I'm pretty sure one or two of them did. The vast majority managed to escape the Great Sell Off, and I'm really not sure how. Maybe I should be more careful about keeping the mares and stallions separated. Realistically, it's Breyer's disgustingly smart marketing plan - certain new molds are only released as part of a set (I'm looking at you, Icelandic and loping stock horse), so it's a family deal, so to speak.
They're cute little stinkers, though, so I guess they can stay.
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| The glossy gray was my very first Breyer ever! The gloss was a later nail polish addition. |