Breaking the Mold

“Nontraditional” dressage horses spur imaginations of Breyer model-horse collectors

By L.A. Sokolowski

One of the most successful advertising campaigns in modern American history posed the question: “What becomes a legend most?” (The answer, according to the iconic 1960s-to-’80s ads, was a mink coat.)

Ask an equine enthusiast that question, however, and chances are they’ll say a Breyer Horse portrait model—one of the detailed, lifelike plastic models embraced by horse lovers of all ages since the 1950s, specially created in the likeness of a real horse.

In 1967, Breyer (then known as Breyer Animal Creations) released its first portrait model, #47, of the legendary Thoroughbred racehorse Man O’ War. Two years later, #50, the Standardbred pacing sire Adios, joined the catalog. Both signaled big strides for the Pequannock, New Jersey, molding company that created its first horse in 1950 when Mastercrafter Clocks commissioned it to create one to adorn a mantel-style timepiece.

After it completed the work, Mastercrafter offered the horse mold to Breyer, which used it to produce and sell its own plastic toy horse complete with snap-on Western saddle. When orders for horse models outstripped sales of mantel clocks, Breyer Animal Creations was born.

Breyer then set its sights on recreating some real animal magnetism: Man O’ War. The champion racehorse also proved a champion in popularity and sales as a horse model. Ever since, portrait models have constituted a significant portion of the manufacturer’s regular run of its best-known line, the Traditional (1:9) scale models. From Misty of Chincoteague to equine stars from a wide range of breeds and disciplines, some of the most famous horses in modern history have been immortalized as Breyer models—including standouts in the world of dressage.

What Becomes a Model Most?

What goes into deciding that a real horse deserves a Breyer doppelganger?

A lot of factors, says Stephanie Macejko, Breyer’s vice president of marketing and product development for two decades. Recommendations from a breed association, letters or e-mails to the company, and Breyer’s own research may play a role.

Model #594, Flash, the US Pony Clubs 50^th Anniversary Horse, was the result of almost 50 write-in nominations by members of the Mt. Kearsarge Pony Club in New Hampshire, who succeeded in turning their 14.1-hand Morgan and former event horse into a new sculpture by Sue Sifton.

Florida-based horse trainer Marsha Hartford-Sapp admits that she “almost didn’t open the e-mail” from Breyer with its subject line “From Reeves International” (the company’s current name). When she finally read the message, she learned that Breyer had been following her journey with Cobra, an American mustang that she took from 2010 Extreme Mustang Makeover contestant to dressage and Western dressage champion, amassing such honors as Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds titles through Prix St. Georges and being voted the US Equestrian Federation’s (USEF) 2018 National Horse of the Year.

Breyer “thought Cobra would make a super model with his incredible story,” Hartford-Sapp says. “It was amazing. I still cry about it.” Cobra became a Breyer portrait model in 2017, his distinctive freeze brands gracing the Flash mold.

Dressage and Breyer-model enthusiasts appreciate the fact that the company has continued its practice of honoring both “traditional” dressage stars (such as Ravel and Verdades) and those of a noticeably different color. In July 2020, Breyer released its portrait model of the three-quarters Friesian/one-quarter Dutch Warmblood pinto mare Adiah HP, who won multiple Grand Prix-level championship titles at the 2017 and 2018 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® under rider Jim Koford. And in September 2023, collectors began snapping up the portrait model of another of Hartford-Sapp’s champions, the 2016 Thoroughbred racehorse turned dressage star Full Moon Rising, whose unusual white-spotted coat made him a standout as he earned titles in dressage and Western dressage in his first year off the track, including a Training Level Open Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds reserve championship from The Jockey Club and a Western dressage Horse of the Year title from the USEF.

Finding the Foundation

A Breyer model begins with a sculpture. Creating that sculpture is a collaborative process among the artist, the company, and the horse’s stable of humans.

In 2013, Breyer commissioned German sculptor Brigitte Eberl to create a likeness of Totilas, the black Trakehner stallion who with Dutch rider Edward Gal set the dressage world on fire with his record-breaking scores at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

Eberl traveled with Macejko to meet the real Totilas, where the Breyer rep “worked closely with his owners to ensure we captured Totilas’ expressive extended trot and air of confidence, and Brigitte created an amazing sculpture that they approved and Breyer fans love.”

Breyer collectors know that existing horse molds may be used as the basis for new creations. Totilas (#1438) proved just the right foundation for creating the Adiah HP model (#1830).

Adiah’s bold chestnut tobiano coat “looks good ‘on’ him,” says Jim Koford, the North Carolina-based dressage pro who trained and rode Sherry Koella’s homebred 2007 mare through Grand Prix for six years, until the mare’s sale in 2021. “Seriously, Breyer was very specific about getting her details right. It was a total honor,” Koford says, noting that the model “lets us appeal to the next generation”—which, of course, is a boon for the sport of dressage.

Similarly, the Full Moon Rising portrait model (#1877) is a splashy interpretation of mold #583, introduced by Breyer in 2003 and sculpted by artist Sommer Prosser.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to see such a fresh and unique color on my Breyer work,” says Prosser of seeing “Mooney’s” unique coloring on a mold that was introduced as the legendary solid-bay hunter mare Strapless. “I’ve always been a fan of colorful horses,” the artist continues. “Having owned several myself, I think his color dresses up the sculpture beautifully!”

As Macejko explains, molds for new portrait models may be chosen for reasons that transcend physical resemblance. For Adiah and Mooney, “We chose models that represented their personality and athletic ability, and focused on getting coat colors and details just right. Full Moon Rising was a challenge with his coat!”

At the Factory: How a Breyer Model Is Made

The art of creating a Breyer model is not so different from dressage. Done well, both make their hard work invisible.

“There’s as much artistic process to creating the model tools [used in the factory production process] as in the sculpture itself,” Macejko says. “My job is to make everyone happy. I’m the ‘between person’—between the owners and the engineers.”

Creating a model begins with an artist’s sketches. “Sketches always start the process, regardless of what’s next, clay or digital,” Macejko says. Next, a sculptor creates a wire armature and begins to apply clay to flesh out the body. Not only must the artist capture the horse’s breed characteristics and way of standing or moving, she explains, but it’s equally important that the model brings out the horse’s innate spirit and personality.

The material responsible for that distinctive Breyer look and feel is a customized cellulose acetate. The darling of industrial production since the 1920s for its thermoplastic pliability, cellulose acetate is still found in eyeglass frames and screwdriver handles. When heated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, its ease of molding and extrusion lends itself perfectly to making Breyer’s horse molds.

Each model half is created by a left concave and inner convex, and right concave and convex inner quarter piece, adding up to four sections that weigh in (yes, like a real horse) at about 1,000 to 2,000 pounds.

“There’s definitely a hands-on human element to preserving the details about the creation of each Breyer molding injection tool,” Macejko says. “The tools are created using a poured casting process rather than being machined.” She explains: “Our horses need the look and feel of a real live horse. The machining process sometimes wants to smooth things out and clean up details too much, like a slightly messy mane or a wrinkle over an eyelid.”

When the completed mold casing is mounted in the injection machine for production, the cellulose acetate is heated to a liquid state and forced at a very high pressure into the mold. The halves are removed after curing; while they cool, they are set in a liquid acetone soaking mixture that helps soften the edges and seams before assemblers bond the halves together. Inside the bonding machine, an even application of pressure creates the whole formed model. Rough seams are filed and buffed before the new, unpainted body is cleaned and sent to the paint department.

Here is where the Grand Prix-level hands-on work is performed. Skilled painters apply layers of color so as to make the horse’s coat look as authentic and lifelike as possible. For complex or intricate patterns, such as Mooney’s white forehand, a “mask” covers the portion of the model intended to remain white, while holes punched through the mask allow colored paint to reach the rest of the body. When the body work is complete, a painter removes the mask before finishing the hooves and other realistic touches.

You can’t rush making a model any more than you can rush making a dressage horse. From start to finish, it takes roughly 12 to 18 months to produce a new Breyer model, including several months of artist’s sketches and working sculptures, another five or six months to build the injection-molding tool, and finally the production time itself.

Honoring Horses of a Different Color

Breyer lightning does have a way of striking twice for those who work with dressage horses that are a bit nontraditional.

Not only has Hartford-Sapp produced both Cobra and Mooney; Koford also has had multiple mounts become portrait models. His first brush with Breyer immortality came in 1995 when the company chose its #58 Hanoverian mold for a semi-gloss finish Single Release #710595 model of his famous piebald dressage partner, Silverwood Farm’s 1983 Grand Prix-level Dutch Warmblood stallion Art Deco, for the J. C. Penney catalog.

Regardless of the horse’s background, Macejko says, the real-life horses chosen by Breyer are all standouts in their own right, whether as an Olympic medalist, a Kentucky Derby winner, or one that happens to simply be a solid (dare we say it, model?) equine citizen.

3D Printing the Modern Horse

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has come to the model-horse world.

“Some sculptors create their work digitally rather than in clay,” says Breyer’s Stephanie Macejko, who estimates that the last few years have seen more artists starting by creating digital prints of a concept. “It’s fun to see new artists exploring 3D printing.”

For now, 3D-printing materials cannot match the durability of the custom-made cellulose acetate that Breyer uses for its models. However, Macejko reveals, the company has on occasion used 3D printing for “some prototypes.” Collectors with a taste for elusive factory rarities might take note….