New Feature and Meet Jake the Farrier's Cousin!

Okay.  So.  I'm kind of excited about this and I hope the 2 or 3 people who actually read this thing will enjoy it.  It's kind of a spin off of featuring different models from my collection.  What I'm going to do is pick a year that has been significant in my life, hobby-wise, and feature the models that were released in that year and which molds I have, even if they aren't the original model.  Does that make sense?  I hope so.  So, my first year is 1970, which is the year I was born.  The Indian Pony was introduced that year, but I don't have the original IP.  I DO have, however, 2 models on that mold so those are the ones I will showcase.  Got it?  Good.  hahaha.  I should offer a bit of a disclaimer, though.  I was unable to find a master list of every model released every year, so my information is coming from ID Your Breyer.  I guess it's possible they only released 2 or 3 models a year back in the early days, but it seems like such a small number.

Are you ready?  Okay.  Here we go.

1970.  The year I was born.  Yes, I'm "old".  hahaha.  Hush up.  In 1970, 3 new models were released by Breyer.  They were:  Indian Pony #175, sculpted by Chris Hess; Scratching Foal #168, also by Chris Hess; and Quarter Horse Yearling #101, sculpted by...you guessed it, Chris Hess.  Now, I haven't owned any QH Yearlings, but I did have the black blanket Appaloosa Scratching Foal at one point.  I don't anymore.  I do, however, have 3 models on the Indian Pony mold.

#882 Ichilay the Crow Horse - Circled Eye released 1993...

And #701796 Halayi, which was an exclusive from PetsMart released 1996...

Oddly enough, I only remember buying Halayi.  Maybe because he came from Toys R Us and I still remember how exciting it was to go into the store and straight to the aisle that held the famous yellow boxes. I don't even recall where I bought Ichilay and why I chose him over the other three variations available.  Maybe the red circle one was the only one available.  Who knows?

Information about Ichilay from the hangtag:
Ichilay (pronounced eegee'leh) is the Crow word for "horse"; it means "to search with".  Warriors painted their horses according to their medicine.  Often, the horse's face was painted to match the warpaint of its owner, or markings were painted to match the warrior's medicine shield.  If a warrior was wounded in battle, he was entitled to tie a red feather in his horse's mane for each wound.  The Crow warrior was an individual and his painted horse reflected his spirit.

And from the Certificate of Authenticity on Halayi:
A wild mustang stops to graze in a clearing overlooking a Hopi Indian reservation.  The golden, spotted Appaloosa looks longingly at the children playing below.  She is alone and longs for companionship.  She senses they are friendly and enters the village anxiously.  She whinnies her friendship, and a child adopts her through a wild horse adoption agency.  Her new Hopi friend has named her Halayi (Happy).  Now this one lonely Appaloosa has good reason to be a truly "Happy Appy".  Halayi was limited to 1,000 pieces, but for some reason they weren't numbered.  Not on the body of the model and not on the COA, but something makes me want to say there was a sticker of some sort on the box and that's where the number was.  I'm not sure.

What do you think of this new feature?  Do you like it?  Is there information I'm not providing that you'd like to know?  I'm open to suggestions to make it a more interesting read.

Next up, I would like to introduce you to Jake the Farrier's cousin Cassie.  She has decided to come live at the Desert Horizon Ranch for awhile...or for good, I'm not sure.  hahaha.  Here she is with one of her many cats she brought with her.  Yes, she's a crazy cat lady.  The cat's name is Cinder.

If Cinder seems to be a bit of an unusual-looking cat, remember...she's related to Jake and apparently the apple doesn't fall far from the tree where knowledge of animals come into play (remember his new "dog" Ribbon?).  Cassie is at a cross-roads in her life right now.  She left a job in the corporate world to go live in the desert and "play with the pretty ponies".  She is thinking she might like to train horses, although she has no experience doing so.  She barely knows how to ride, but just HAD to buy the cute little outfit that would make her look authentic.  Tune in later for possible adventures with her and Jake as well as both of them individually.

I guess that is it for now.  I hope everyone is doing okay.  Until next time!