Every year, Breyer designates a real horse as the Celebration model. In general, the horse chosen is one who is known for its accomplishments or else has some unique aspect that makes it a good candidate to be replicated in model form. I thought it might be fun to pull out the Dinner/Celebration models that I have in my collection and take a look at them.
For the first couple of BreyerFests, the model was called the Dinner model and given out around the time of the Saturday evening dinner that was served by Breyer in tents at the Kentucky Horse Park.
1990 Dr. Peaches, Bruce Davidson's five star event horse who won Rolex Kentucky three times. This is the Phar Lap mold. (1026 made)
1991 Mustang Lady (2500 made), a wild Mustang who'd been rounded up as a two year old and had become an endurance champion with rider Janet Tipton. That's a BLM freeze brand on her neck.
1992 Turbo the Wonder Horse (1000 made) If I remember right, he was associated with a cowboy band of singers who also performed for BreyerFest attendees in the large arena. (1000 made)
1993 Grayingham Lucky Lad (1500 produced) was a multi grand champion Shire stallion. He has the oddest wishbone marking under his belly that Breyer replicated on the model.
1995 Mego (3000 produced; notice how the number of models made is increasing as BreyerFest grows in popularity.) Mego was a trick horse who also appeared in the television show, Walker, Texas Ranger, where he was ridden by actor Chuck Norris.
1997 Bold (3850 made; a mug with Bold's likeness was included with the model). Bold was a police horse in Jacksonville, Florida where he served for fourteen years, was in parades and TV commercials, and was Police Horse of the Year in 1995. (Thanks to blog reader Carrie for this information!)
1999 Molokai, (4200 available). Molokai was a Thoroughbred race horse turned event horse and ridden by owner Dorothy Trapp Crowell. An international superstar, Molokai was even featured as an athlete on the Wheaties box!
2001 Atlantis Bey V (3700 made). The son of the legendary Huckleberry Bey, Atlantis Bey V was a champion Arabian. This model is has a beautiful metallic coppery coat. This mold is terribly tippy, and for safety's sake, I didn't pull mine out to photograph. Enjoy the photo of the real horse in a pose similar to the model. (Photo from Wikipedia Commons)
2003 Gladwin's Lucky Grey Lady (4500 made). Thirteen years past the first BreyerFest, Breyer was now producing some truly stunning models for the Celebration horse. Known as Gracie to her owners, she was a Shire mare. She and her sire, 1993 Dinner model Grayingham Lucky Lad, are the only father/daughter duo that Breyer has ever honored as Celebration horses.
2005 Fire Magic (5524 available). An unusual red/bay Friesian stallion, Fire Magic was foaled in the Netherlands and brought to the USA where he showed off his talents with Dianne Olds Rossi as a haute ecole dressage horse. I love the pearly finish on his socks!
2019 Oliver (unknown number). Oliver is a member of Kentucky Horse Parks' Mounted Police. Already very familiar to BreyerFest and KHP attendees, this gentle Shire cross was part of that year's theme of horse heroes.
2020 Ballynoe Castle RM (9500 produced) Ridden by Buck Davidson (son of Bruce Davidson who rode Dr. Peaches, the first Celebration horse), Reggie is the USEA's highest scoring event horse to date.
I don't intend to keep Oliver or Reggie but haven't gotten around to selling or trading them yet. I may use them as prizes or give to a horse loving Pony Pal some day. (You may have noticed that I do not have many of the BreyerFest Dinner/Celebration models. If I don't care for them, then I don't keep them.)
2021 Danash's Northern Tempest (10,000 made.) I love Appaloosas and am very excited to receive this model. She is gorgeous! (Photo from Identify Your Breyer.)
Note: This year's model was supposed to be Terry Bradshaw's Appaloosa stud, Intuit, but Bradshaw withdrew permission to use the likeness of his horse due to negative reactions on social media. (Breyer's statement about that can be found here.)
