Breyer "Pride" and "Joy", 1996

I'm trying to slow down on the horses again but I got these for an embarrassingly low bid on eBay.  They're the Thoroughbred mare and foal set, 1996 special runs "Pride" and "Joy" (J.C. Penney's, I think?).


The late-1980's through mid-1990's were sort of a rough time for Breyer: Lots of bad sculptures (Khemosabi, John Henry, Rugged Lark, Roy the Belgian) and questionable color choices (Appaloosas on Arabian molds, sandy bay/buckskin Clydesdales).  These two were sort of at the tail end of that, and you have to admit they're not the most realistic shade of chestnut.  One sort of gets the impression that it was 3:00 in the morning and they needed one more Christmas set.  Somebody saw the mare and foal set and said, "Hey, everybody likes mare and foal sets!  What colors should they be?".  Somebody else said "chestnut", because it's the most common horse color in the world.  They didn't even bother with multiple shades of paint--they just shot them orange and sent them on their way.

I like them anyway.  I like them in the way I like colored bathroom fixtures and grunge fashion and Cyndi Lauper, because they exemplify their place in time.  And I like these molds, particularly the mare, even though she has calf knees and upright pasterns and generally questionable conformation.

They don't have names right now.  They'll be Missouri foxtrotters but I foxtrotters often have family names and I don't have them PA'ed yet.

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