Kathy's "Beginners" & Her Blue Horse

Like so many of us, Kathy Bateman's collection began with a gift. For her, this gift was from a very special lady. She writes,

And here are the horses that started my collection. Sent to me by my

great grandmother when I was about 6 years old. 

The one with the rider has JAPAN inscribed in the grass on the back side, the others have no makers mark.

She and I agree that the red one looks like it might be from the Art Deco period. As I looked at it as I write, it occurred to me that it might be a bakelite piece. The time periods for both overlap, so maybe?

(If anyone has information on these pieces, please post it in the comments or email it to me at horsiemama8@gmail.com. I'll see that Kat gets it. Thanks.)

Then there is her beautiful blue horse. The first decorator I ever saw in-hand, he was a beautifully shaded wedgewood with pinking and hoof pads.

Another piece Kat received in childhood, here is his story from her.

I had a good friend in the house behind us across the alley, Ricky. He was a year younger than me. I was a tomboy and we would play with cars or army men or whatever in the rock driveway, smoothing out roads and such. 

Well, one day we were playing cowboys or wild horses or something and he came out with the most beautiful model horse that I had ever seen ! A shiny, realistic palomino stallion rearing up on his hind legs. That deep color with gorgeous shading. I was beyond smitten. 

When we were done playing I went home and told my mother all about this wonderful horse and how much I *really, Really, REALLY* needed to have one ! (As an aside, I don't know if Ricky's sister ever knew that her horse was out "in the field" but it never made another appearance outside). 

Christmas morning I open a present and there is the Fighting Stallion ! But, but he's blue. Whoever heard of a blue horse  and he has these stupid foam pads on his hooves. Even at that age I knew to be gracious but I was sooooo disappointed. So he just stayed on the shelf and never got to come out and play. 

Then I met Lynn and Blue Thunder finally got to strut his stuff at shows and was featured one year in JAH as a winner in a photo show. He is no longer a part of my herd but I keep an old, dark honey glossy FS as a reminder.

And in all fairness, I know that my mother talked to Ricky's mother about the horse and can only imagine that when she went to buy it, all they had was the blue and she just hoped that it would be good enough.

How many of us who were collecting during Breyer's early years received a horse as a gift and had a similar reaction to Kathy's? I did - when my dad got me a woodgrain Running Foal after I got my braces on, I, too, "knew to be gracious," but I did wonder at that coloring!

There is still a little more to Blue Thunder's story and that is that I offered to buy him. I was throwing newspapers to earn money for our big family, and I could not offer a lot, but I offered Kat what was a huge sum of money to me, $75.

Almost immediately, I felt badly about that offer. While it was a lot of money to me at the time, I knew that there were hobbyists who could pay Kathy much more for Blue Thunder. She was still very new to the formal hobby and I was being unfair in not telling her that. 

So, I did tell her that he was worth far more than I had offered for him and he remained in her collection for some time after that. He came to shows with us and did well both in live and photo shows. It was always fun to see her unpack him, set him on the table, and see how people reacted to that beautiful, blue boy.

I learned a big lesson from that experience, one that still guides my actions today - a friend is far more important than a model horse.

Kat, thanks for letting me share about our friendship and your beautiful collection. Most of all, thanks for the gift of a life long friendship. How grateful I am that my old newspaper route brought us together. Who'd a'thought, right??