Jaci Dawn

Who hasn’t cherished a favorite toy at one point? Do you still have it or an old photo of it? What emotions does it stir up? Do you ever picture it coming to life like Buzz & Woody? Do you ever think today’s toys are “cooler” than what you had?

I got my very first model horse on a birthday. I disremember which birthday, but I do remember what I did the same day I got the Hartford Tennessee Walking Horse model (other than to name it “Black Satin”, nick-named “Blackie”, which was highly original of me). I took Blackie out to the empty lot out front so he could run in the dirt and jump small weeds, and dig up – oops! – small rocks.

I broke his leg off. I cried. I carried the leg around for years, lost it, and eventually made a prosthetic out of polymer clay which is still attached to him with wire and super glue.

Somewhere along the way, Blackie’s ears got chipped off as well. He’s endured a lot.

I decided this week that when I do my next declutter, the broken plastic model horses are going. I have a lot of fond memories of Blackie, but I don’t want to leave him to my children to dispose of. He’s long past the age any horse should live, and he had a lot of three-legged adventures in his life time. He even had a girlfriend, another model by Hartford that my best friend owned. I think her name was Cammie or Kammy, and she wasn’t a natural color for a horse.

I owned a lot of Breyer model horses, but I finally sold most of them to a collector back in the late 1970’s. I kept three back (including Blackie) – my favorites.

Man O’War is a Breyer horse. The story behind his is that there was a store in Winnemucca that sold tack and other goods. Dad shopped there/ I would wander to the back of the store where the tack was, and just stand and breathe in the smell of leather: leather saddles, bridles, halters. Sharp, tangy, and full of horse-ness.

There was a glass case back there which housed two magnificent hand-carved wooden horse statues, carefully painted: Man O’ War and War Admiral. As I recall, one was $75, which was a whole lot of money back in those days. And, oh! How I coveted Man O’War and his beautiful son, War Admiral!!

The closest I could come was the Breyer reproduction, purchased with my own money for around $15 or $20. Man O’War fell off of his perch about eight years ago, and his hind leg is glued on with super glue. Like Blackie, he is destined to be retired in the kindest way possible. I just don’t have room for broken horses anymore.

This is the only intact Breyer I have: WitezII Proud Arabian Stallion, mold #212. In my younger years, I fancied Arabians a lot, and this guy has had a special place in my heart. He was never one of the Breyer herd to be played with – he’s always been a display model. And, honestly, I never knew his name or the history behind him until tonight, when I googled “proud arabian stallion” under the Breyer website.

I will keep him. He’s the only plastic one I will keep – I have a much cooler collection of ceramic horses created under the Trail of Painted Ponies label (mine are all probably retired now). Breyers are great for kids who want to play with the horses and have them “run” and be free at night when noone is looking. But for collector value – which is what I need to think about when leaving this mess of “stuff’ to my kids – the Painted Ponies are worth so much more.

Isn’t it funny that our toys are reduced to resale value when we become old and think of having our children clean up after us? Goodwill – trash – eBay? That’s how the kids will think when they come through the estate and look at what the Boomers accumulated during their lifetimes (and their parents’ lifetimes, because I have certainly inherited my folks’ tendency to collect!).

In the comments, tell me if you have a prized toy you have saved? (My kids can’t play – I have their stuffed animals in boxes waiting to go home with them…maybe even sent some home already to one kid!!)