It was a real pleasure to get to judge OF Stone Breed at the R2 Championships and to really get to look at all the wonderful pieces that are coming out of the factory these days. I have some of the very earliest Stones, back when they thought they were going to sell in toy stores, and maybe my favorite is a judge’s model Palouse that I have.
I covet one of the new mules, they are so great.
What are your favorite Stone models?
I started paying attention to Stone again in Sept 23 when the collection of a hobbyist from my area went onto consignment with a nice lady whose shop is less than an hour from me. I appreciate that local collectors have had the opportunity to keep the models in our community and have some remembrance of our friend (passed at the beginning of 2023). She had a major working relationship with Stone so a bunch of the models I’ve brought home from the sale have supplemented my Stone collection. First photo is of the Large/Traditional scale Stones I added in 2024: the appaloosa ISH came from that collection sale, the chestnut ISH I won in a local show’s raffle (!!), the Trotting Draft I won in the NAN raffle, the Iberian I received for judging at the EQ show (HUGE honor to have been asked! I will always be grateful), I participated in the Eras sale and received a Matte No Fears, and the Palouse is an OOAK from Equilocity. Prior to 2023 I hadn’t added any Stones to my collection in years. The new prices were above what I could afford in my college/grad career & first couple years of working, and I also just wasn’t buying a ton of secondary market models after around the mid 2010’s or so. Like many others, I celebrated Erin’s achievement in becoming the leader of Stone! And very cool to see the rest of the leadership board revealed in December - lots of well known and trustworthy folks. While Peter grew up with the foundation of plastic models as we know them today and has that historical perspective, there’s just something special about the business in the hands of folks who come from the collecting side and understand the perspective of their community.
The medium sized models who joined my herd in 2024 are Glossy Bow Tie (from the local collection sale), Pebbles Draft Horchata (matte) from the Mini Loyalty Club, and Miss Maple (matte) from the Little Horse Show sale in September. Though the club is not continuing in 2025, I am grateful to have been a part of it. Out of the 4 groups, I chose Pebbles three times. Peachy the Mule is home now, but she arrived just last week so she wasn’t part of my year-end photo sessions. I also have Raspberry the Arabian still in progress from the December group and hope to meet her maybe next month. I do hope that if the club returns someday that I can participate again. I appreciated the offering of a photo show (Little Horse Show) on the Only Model Horse Photo Shows platform! While I have participated in PonyBytes in the capacity of staff for Breyer a few times, I’ve found myself more drawn to entering shows myself on OMHPS. I love that we have multiple options for this portion of the hobby outside of FB and defunct platforms of old. My mini herd for Stone is still fairly small, but I was pleased to win a few placings including one first!
Here are the Chips who joined me in 2024! A matte Four Corners of the Globe Draft (apparently an exclusive to Europe, USA got the glossy sets) from the local collection sale, Ranger the Mustang in satin from the Mini Loyalty Club, and three purchases from Equilocity - He’s Just Ken (super cool holographic pink!) the Mustang & Sublime the Andalusian who are both runs, and Nostalgia the Morgan an OOAK (he’s the one who did the best for me in the photo show too!)
Here are the newest arrivals, first for 2025 - Peachy the Pebbles Mule as mentioned above from the Mini Loyalty Club; satin finish customized version, and Snow Angel the Large Mule who is an OOAK from the Holiday Sale (kept matte).
This shelf photo includes my Pebbles and larger collection as of 2024, except Miss Maple. I was thrilled to add several molds I haven’t owned before last year (Iberian, Remington, Palouse, Trotting Draft, Pebbles Mule, Chips Mustang). And Large Mule has already been ticked off the list for 2025!
These two pics show my older Chips from 2023 and prior (and another inclusion of one of my weanlings). In fact, the one with only Chips in it is the herd prior to September 2023 since the other photo was taken right after the first time I attended the local collection sale.
This year, I am most interested in adding a few more new-to-me molds: