What Molds Show Well: Ponies

I mentioned when discussing the typical classlist, ponies weren't always their own division. Once upon a time, you had one class to show all of your ponies. If you were really lucky, they may even split it into two whole classes.

In recent years, this trend has been bucked with the introduction of multiple new pony molds. However, there is little consistency at this point on how the pony division is split into classes. Some classes split by region, like so:

Welsh Ponies
Other British Ponies**
European Ponies*
American Ponies
Other Pure/Part Ponies

*Because there has been confusion on this in the past, the Newfoundland Pony is not a European Pony. Newfoundland is a province in Canada, and not some mysterious country in North Europe. A Newfoundland Pony should not be confused with a New Forest Pony. For those of you who think I'm kidding about this, this was an issue at NAN and Breyerfest last summer. I had a horse nearly disqualified from his class.

**FYI, I'm also the reason they've announced at the last two Breyerfests that they acknowledge that Ireland is not part of the UK, but put your Connemara's in UK Pony, anyway. Laura: the hobby's Geography Nazi.

Other shows split by general pony type. As a judge, this is one of the most confusing possibilities:

Stock Ponies
Sport Ponies
Light Ponies
Draft Ponies
Other Pure/Part Ponies

I get Stock Ponies (POAs, Paint Ponies, Quarter Ponies) and Sport Ponies (German Riding Ponies, Connemaras.) I'm iffy on Light Ponies, although I'm sure it includes American Shetlands, Hackney Ponies, and American Walking Ponies. But I'm always lost what is meant by Draft Ponies. It's not popular concept (to my knowledge) in the real horse world. I guess you could put Welsh and other British Native Ponies here. But where do Shetlands--the most popular breed--go?

I've asked this question a lot and never gotten a standard answer. If you are confronted with this type of classlist, ask your judge where they prefer to see them shown.

For this division, I prefer Flash over everything else Breyer produces. For more on potential breed assignments for Flash, see this post.

Bouncer has been very popular in the OF show ring since his release. Personally, I have a problem with the stance of this mold. When you look at him from the front, his legs are set excessively wide. If you plan to show this mold as a Welsh, be mindful of the different sections. The original release was advertised as a C ("Pony of Cob Type".) In my opinion, his body isn't heavy enough to depict a section C. I would rather see them as a section B, the lighter riding-type pony.

I also adore the Peter Stone pony. I've seen this mold be particularly successful when shown as a riding-type pony or pony/TB cross. Many pony breeds are often crossed with thoroughbreds to produce good mounts for young riders. This kind of cross will often resonate with a judge as being very realistic cross.

What Molds Show Well: Stock

See what I did there? I'm going in order according to my typical classlist.

From this point on, I will cover mini molds separately, in their own post. It's just easier on my brain.

This division is a little different than the other because with one or two exceptions, all stock horses adhere to the same standard. A Paint or Appaloosa is just a Quarter Horse with a flashier wardrobe.

If you missed it, I recommend reading my previous post on types within the Quarter Horse breed first. The same type of splits exist in the Paint and Appaloosa breeds, such as hunter, western pleasure, gaming, roping, reining, and racing types.

The only minor difference in between the foundation types. For Paints, they basically don't exist. No one breeds "Foundation Paints" because Paints were originally registered as Quarter Horses. They weren't split into their own registry for a few decades after the founding of the AQHA and there aren't (to my knowledge) any specialty breeders for them.

Foundation Appaloosas are based on remnants of the spotted horse of the Nez Perce. I'm going to dodge completely around the long and violent history involved here and say that the early Appaloosa breeders didn't have much original stock to work with. Arabian, Thoroughbred, and Quarter were all added in to beef up the gene pool over the years to create the modern Appaloosa. Foundation breeders are seeking to preserve the oldest bloodlines and minimize in the influence of DNA introduced by these other breeds.

Usually, today's Foundation Appaloosa has a large barrel, long shoulder, thick neck, and large head. Their hips are less heavily muscled then a modern stock horse, more like the hip of a gaited horse (such as a Tennessee Walking Horse) than a stock horse:

Model-wise, this body most resembles the Breyer Indian Pony. In general, I don't recommend this mold for halter classes, but with the right assignment I've seen them be pretty successful.

Foundation Quarter Horses are based on a different body type, but the principle is the same: minimize the influence of outside bloodlines. Foundation breeders oppose the influx of Thoroughbred DNA into the AQHA gene pool after 1940--without a hint of irony. Somewhere along the way, the foundation breeders seem to have lost track of the fact that the majority of their foundation stallions were Thoroughbreds. Remember Peter McCue? Registered Thoroughbred. And Wimpy? The known parts of his portions of his pedigree--and even most of the unknowns--are all Thoroughbred.

I feel better having gotten that out of my system.

Getting back to body type, a foundation quarter horses is just a Quarter Horse. They tend be on the rougher, bulkier side, but not outside the spectrum already represented in the AQHA.

Unlike the Appaloosa, I don't see an advantage to showing any of the current Breyer or Stone molds as a foundation. Except for the old Quarter Horse Gelding, none of the molds are unrefined enough to justify this assignment.

In this division, my favorite molds are the Lady Phase, Ideal Stock Horse, and Smarty Jones.

The Lady Phase has some minor quirks in the mold. One of her eyes is bigger than the other and her hooves aren't quite even. However, in the grand scheme of Breyer, these faults are extremely minor. I prefer the new long tailed version to the original, as I find the slightly higher tail set more flattering. A high tail set on a stock horse gives the hindquarters a feeling of "squareness" (as on the real life example above.) A very low tail set can give the false of impression of a goose rump.

A real goose-rump

A slight goose rump can be advantageous for some disciplines, but is a handicap in others.

The Ideal Stock Horse and the RRQH it's based on is an extremely popular mold. The musculature is very realistic, his proportions are great and his flaws are few. I have a few nitpicky problems with this mold, but they are mostly production related. He's a little downhill, but some of the different mane styles of this mold cover this better than others. When buying an ISH as a show horse, always set him on a table and look at him from the front. Some ISHs are "base narrow" meaning their hooves are too close together. This isn't the original mold, but the result of minor warping in the plastic. His off side nostril isn't always prepped correctly and should always be carved out on a custom.

I like the Smarty...probably a little too much. I have a large conga line of them in my own collection and show them frequently. Because of this extreme position, every muscle in the sculpture is tense. This gives him the impression of being bulkier than he really is. If he were standing still I think he would look more like this:

Smarty Jones (the real deal)

However, I like seeing him in stock classes because he makes a great racing bred or high percentage TB stock horse. My only fussy issues are his small ears and slight discrepancies in the lengths of his legs bones (they're off--just a little.)

These three molds are interchangeable between all stock classes except mustang. While I know people show them this way, an ISH or Lady Phase is not a mustang. These molds are so easily recognizable as QHs/Paints/Appaloosas that I don't buy them as mustangs or another breed type. Mustangs have some characteristics in common with the stock breeds and their type varies widely. However, I've never seen a mustang with that much muscle. If you encounter a mustang that looks like the bay in this post, please forward me pics. I wanna see.

Silver is the most popular mold in the mustang class. He reminds me of a ferret.

If I left out your favorite mold, please let me know in the comments and I will gladly tell you why. ;)

What Molds Show Well: Foals

I'm starting a new series based on the question I get asked the most often: Which molds show well and what should I buy?

During this series I will present the molds I've seen be successful in the show ring. However, I can't repeat this mantra often enough: Collect what you love, show what you collect. If you don't like the Proud Arabian Mare, no number of ribbons will ever make you love that mold anymore. Having said that, it is helpful (especially to those of you with large and varied collections) to know which of your models to bring with and which to leave home.

These mold suggestions will apply both to original finish models and simple customs. Moderate and drastic customs are often altered to the degree that their flaws have often been eliminated.

I've split this series into breed groups with the intention to go class by class, following the typical classlist I outlined previously. I'm breaking it down this way because successful molds are predicated on the class they show in. There are some molds that are fine by themselves, but they may not win often at a show because there are better molds that they must compete against. On the flip side, there are molds that only show well because the competition in their class is so scarce.

Stock Foals

In a stock foal class, the Peter Stone Weanling reigns supreme. She was cast from the original resin Parrs Dream Doll by Carol Williams, also a very popular mold. There is very little to nitpick on this mold and she is a wonderful accomplishment by the sculptor.

If Breyers and Stones are shown together in OF or custom, the weanling is your best bet. However, they are split out or you are showing at a Breyer only show, you may consider the classic Mustang Foal, who is making a resurgence in popularity. The G2 foals (including the Running, Scrambling, and Scratching Foals) dominate this class in the mini division and can also hold their own when shown against traditional.

Paint weanling


Stock foals are show their distinctive large butts at an early age

Light/Gaited Foals

As with the stock division, I highly recommend Stone's option, the Arabian Yearling, over anything Breyer produces. For Breyer only, you can consider the Saddlebred Weanling, who has both his fans and detractors. The classic Arabian Foal, like his mustang counterpart, has come back in fashion with the increased popularity of Maureen Love's work. The Trotting Foal is also popular in both mini and combined divisions.

Arabian foals are light boned with high action

The twin foals, Amber and Ashley, show best in this division when shown as Morgans or a similar medium body breed. I've seen them have some success as stock foals, but--in my mind--they don't show any of the type I want to see in a stock foal at this age. Honestly, I don't really care for either of them as show models (I own a few and don't show them), but I that's not a hobby wide opinion.

Morgan foal


Morgan foals tend to look a bit generic

Sport Foals

At the moment, this class is a crap shoot. I've seeing showers win with any of the breed I listed above for Light and Stock with odd breed assignments. Some are creative and make sense, but others are hard to believe.

I've seen a lot PS Weanlings shown as sport horses (often sport crosses, warmbloods, and even Thoroughbreds). I hate this assignment, but it's common and may win this class because of limited competition.

What is ideal in a Sport foal is often a fault in a Stock horse (and vice versa)

My favorites for this class are, again, the Running, Scrambling, and Scratching Foals. I think of them as the Rorschach test of model horses: whatever breed you see them as probably says more about you than the foals. They weren't sculpted to depict particular breeds (to my knowledge), plus their drastic movements and scale obscure any hints of type.

Outside of the minis, the new classic Warmblood foal is my favorite. His type his very obvious to me, although his conformation isn't completely perfect. But I'm mostly biding my time until Breyer releases Galen in plastic.

A very typical warmblood foal

Sport foals are easiest to identify by their action

Draft Foals

The Clydesdale foal.

...you wanted more? No one remembers the last time this class was won by anything else. It's not as much as testament to the mold's quality (his legs are way too short) but to the lack of competition.

Pony Foals

The most popular molds in this division are any of the above shown as one of the "near horse" breeds. By "near horse", I mean breeds that are short versions of standard horses such as the Quarter Pony, the POA, the Paint Pony. You can also through breeds like the Connemara, which has a high percentage of thoroughbred mixed in, to this category.

As in the Stock Foals class, the Weanling and Rorschach foals are very popular.

Model Halter vs. Real Halter: Pt. 1

This was supposed to be Friday's post, but real life decided to intervene before I could complete it. These days, my schedule is not completely my own.

When talking to non-hobbyists, I find it’s usually easiest to describe live showing as a shrunken down version of the real thing. However, this comparison only works to a point. Not all breed associations offer “halter” classes at their shows and those that do each play by their unique set of rules.

And then there’s fashion. A written breed standard is rarely amended, let alone substantially altered, but the current aesthetic in all halter shown breeds appears to be in constant flux. In some breeds, halter bloodlines have become so specialized they’ve virtually become a breed within a breed. For illustrative purposes, I’m going to use the Quarter Horse as the most dramatic example of this split, but the same issues apply to a number of breeds including other stock breeds, Arabians, and Morgans. Cutting, reining, roping, pleasure, hunter, racing, and halter have all split out to varying degrees within the AQHA, but no type is excluded from a model horse halter class.

When I judge a model QH class, I know I have options on how I can approach it. The first option is to judge it as a real world halter class and choose horses that best represent this physical type:

"First under all five judges."

This is CK Kid, and as much as it pains me to say so, he was an AQHA World Champion in halter.

If he were a model horse, I’d say his legs are too small and his back is too short in proportion to his body. Top to bottom, he is completely upright with no body angles to absorb any shock from movement. This much muscle (1500 pounds on a 16H horse) on top of double-ott feet is a recipe for disaster. I’d tell you this horse wouldn’t be able to run correctly with his conformation and is susceptible to a premature death. Considering his sire, dam sire, and grand-sire died at 9, 16, and 12 respectively, it’s a safe bet this 9-year-old stud doesn’t have many years left.

Referring back the judging elements I previously outlined, this horse is typey but not well conformed. His proportions border on unrealistic, which is a concept that makes my head hurt.

As a judge, my second (and preferred) option is a holistic approach. I know QHs include a wide range of body types, each bred to serve a specific function. At live shows, we show all types, ideally with no bias. I try to judge each against their own type, i.e. reiners should look like this, pleasure horses should look like that, and so on. Type-y-ness may be a tiebreaker only in that I prefer a model that is easily recognizable as it's assigned breed, but it’s not my first concern.

In contrast to the above, let’s look at a National Champion model halter horse:

This is a model I would love to have for my own show string. Her shading and collectibility both add to the “wow” factor, but for the purposes of this post, I’m only going to cover her conformation.

Overall, her build is lighter than the behemoth above, but there is no mistaking her for anything other than a stock horse. Her legs and hooves are substantially larger and better built to withstand the physical stresses of athletics. If she were a live horse, I’d guess she's bred for roping or gaming but with the potential for more. She’s balanced and well muscled, with straight legs and good body angles.**

In addition to various modern types, as a model horse judge I frequently encounter horses shown as historical breeds and types. In these cases, make or break often depends on quality documentation (future post.) This kind of breed assignment is usually chosen because colors are often eliminated from a breed and physical types evolve. However, the basics of functional conformation stay the same, as the below horse attests:

Peter McCue, AQHA Hall of Fame inductee.

Not perfect, but the basic angles are correct and a glance at his record testifies that his conformation was more than functional. He was a successful racehorse, but an even more successful stud and founding stallion of the AQHA. He’s built like a horse that could have walked out of a QH breeder’s barn today, but he was born in 1895.

A modern Quarter Horse with similar conformation, born over a century later.

When the AQHA was formed 45 years later, his genes were what they sought to perpetuate. This is his descendant, Wimpy P-1, a grand champion stallion and the first horse registered with the AQHA:

Of the five photos I’ve included in the entry, which of these horse is not like the others? Hint: It’s not the model. (It’s CK Kid.)

Tune in for next week's post, when I continue to rattle on about Quarter Horses (just the model kind.)

**Speaking of body angles, is conformation a topic anyone would like to hear about from me? Please let me know in the comments.