The Biggest Bite This Hobby Has Taken Out Of My Wallet

When I got back into the hobby and graduated from childhood carpet herd into serious collection, there was a few rules I set up for myself. First, it was only collect minis. Mini CMs, mini OFs, mini resins - whichever, but only those. That was quickly discarded when I discovered traditional molds, specifically Stone horse molds and even more precisely the saddlebred, and fell in love with them. Then I grew my collection more, decided to stop collecting plastics, and focus only on resins. And yet I'm still adding OF and CM minis into my collection.

Other rules were that I would never buy a horse I'd have to buy on time pays. My thought was, if I couldn't afford it right then and there, I didn't need it. It's only a plastic horse, after all, Other finances become more important. But when I was heavy into conga'ing, I wanted so badly to complete my OF Breyer Marwari conga, that I started time pays and eventually purchased a glossy prize palomino.

Throughout all this time, I've dreamed and fantasized about owning models that come up for sale that are into quadruple digits in price - always after winning the lottery or coming into some sort of immense wealth to do so. I never imagined I would purchase one any time soon, or ever really, especially not all at once. And yet, here we are, over a grand later:

I may have had a bit of an "oopsie" with this guy. To put it in perspective, I've always, always dreamed of owning a sculpture by Emilia Kurila in the distant future with aforementioned fantasy lottery funds. Her work is in such high demand that it is hard to come by and expensive when it is. As a spanish breed lover, I specifically day dreamed about owning her Lucius or Leonardo resins. I did enter for Leonardo for both his releases - I was too slow to get in on the first come, first serve release, and unlucky when it came to the email lottery. My hopes of owning one were essentially dashed as I knew I would never pay the secondary market prices any time soon.

But oh, then this guy came up for sale. The price was well over any amount I've shelled out for a model horse. But it was a price I personally considered quite low considering the immaculate paintwork by Anna Zaharenkova and the sculpt's worth on its own. I was smitten. I was immediately considering how to buy him and was practically writing an email to the seller minutes after I saw the ad. I paused and tried to think straight, I even turned to my usually reasonable boyfriend to talk me out of it. He's done it before, telling me no, don't do it, it's just a horse, that's so expensive - you know, being level headed and not model horse obsessed. This time, however, he was not so helpful. He must have known I wanted it so bad, and actually encouraged it. The nerve! 

Rachel, my closest hobby friend, was no help either, and enabled me as well. A few short emails and the biggest amount of money to ever go through my Paypal account later... and he was mine. This big, beautiful, gorgeous, expensive hunk of a horse that arrived a week later all the way from Russia. Through the whole wait of him getting here, I was having my doubts, my buyer's remorse, but when I unwrapped him it was all over. He's my dream horse, and he's here. And he's here to stay. And so is the dent in my finances!

​But who could say no to that pretty face?