Found! A Chalky Appaloosa Performance Horse

I have been looking for a chalky Appaloosa Performance Horse for years. When he was first released, I did not like the mold (that tail!) and so I chose other Breyers over him when I was buying new pieces for my collection. But, I did love the color - it is probably my favorite of all the colors Breyer has ever produced.Recently I found a really nice one. It was a smidge over what I wanted to pay, but because it was so nice and my search had been so long, I purchased it. (Photo by seller.)The color is one of Breyer's most popular and has been used for several Vintage Club offerings.

And they all have the smile-inducing double dots on the back.

The free Vintage Club stablemate in 2012 was Eagle. This was the first year for the club, and we vintage collectors were thrilled to see that APH appaloosa color used again.

The next year, Halo, the Stretch Morgan in the APH appaloosa coloring, was one of the four Vintage Club offerings. I was surprised to see the color used in the Vintage Club so soon again, but I sure wasn't going to complain as I loved it!

We had to wait six more years until 2019 when Leopold was released for Vintage Club members on the Fighting Stallion mold.

Of course, by then I had begun a serious search for the original Appaloosa Performance Horse to add to my collection. I bought this non chalky piece in 2017.

But still I kept looking for the chalky version. I found and rejected many on various sales sites - either the price was more than I was willing to pay, or the model was in poor shape (and even a few that were a combination of the two - high price/beat up horse.)

This guy has some flaws, but they are minor and hard to see. I am pleased to have finally completed my search! (Photo by seller.)

The Odd Dots

As I was examining my four models in the Appaloosa Performance Horse color, I noticed that Breyer had been very faithful in reproducing the original color. But there was one big difference: the placement of the two spots that can be found on the original Appaloosa Performance Horse's back.

Look at how they are located at the base of the tail and on the withers in the original color (far left) but have been placed closer together on the three newer pieces.

I wondered if it was just my piece that had such an unusual placement, or if all the Appaloosa Performance Horsess were painted in such an odd way. A search online turned up a some variations. (All photos from the public domain.)

I found four examples of the spot placement. The first is very similar to the painted spots on mine.

 This second one's tail spot is a little further forward while the withers mark is set back away from the withers and mane somewhat.

 This one clearly has both spots closer together towards the middle of the back.

As does this one. (The yellow spots are caused by mildew, a condition that occasionally happens to some of Breyer's paint jobs.)

Just in this small sampling of photos, I see two variations emerging - a by-the-tail/withers placement and then one with the spots closer together and more toward the middle of the back. It wouldn't surprise me if there were one-spot and no-spot variations, too.

Some of the fun of Breyer collecting is looking for variations like this. I plan to keep my eyes open and take a closer look at any Appaloosa Performance Horses that I run across, just to see how those two big spots are placed.