{"id":660659,"date":"2026-05-09T22:33:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T22:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660659\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T22:33:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T22:33:20","slug":"the-world-of-australias-model-horse-collectors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660659\/","title":{"rendered":"The world of Australia’s model horse collectors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maeve King “came out of the womb” obsessed with horses.<\/p>\n

One of their clearest childhood memories was seeing figurines of the animal, about the size of a modern smartphone, at the shops.<\/p>\n

It kickstarted a 25-year-long passion for model horses, which they now own hundreds of.<\/p>\n

\"Maeve<\/p>\n

Maeve King has collected model horses since childhood. (ABC News: Timothy Ailwood)<\/p>\n

The Sydneysider is part of a worldwide community who collect and showcase intricate replicas of different horse breeds.<\/p>\n

Hobbyists invest hundreds, and sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars in the process.<\/p>\n

But to the untrained eye the “little plastic ponies” may appear as a simple plaything.<\/p>\n

\"Brunette<\/p>\n

Riders and tack accompany model horses for a realistic diaroma. (Supplied: Kerri Afford)<\/p>\n

“It’s kind of a dichotomy of yes, they are just toys, and no, they can represent so much more,” Ms King said.<\/p>\n

“They are an avenue for community, for creativity \u2026 for self-expression, and for people to engage in horses in a way that can be cheaper than having an actual horse.<\/p>\n

“I could not have 350 real-life horses in my apartment.”‘Just blows my mind’<\/p>\n

Model horses can be made from plastic, resin, porcelain or 3D printed.<\/p>\n

Each is handpainted meaning no two are the same.<\/p>\n

\"Kerren<\/p>\n

Kerren Hampton has been collecting model horses for decades. (Supplied: Kerren Hampton)<\/p>\n

Some are custom-order but the bulk are commercially sold straight out the box.<\/p>\n

Traditional size is about 20cm tall, but can be as short as 7cm, with the pricepoint starting at about $60 per model.<\/p>\n

Kerren Hampton was an early importer in the 90s, who would ship them around Australia via mail order.<\/p>\n

She said nowadays, limited edition, vintage or special-run horses could fetch $10,000 or more.<\/p>\n

While models can dip into the realm of fantasy, most are favoured for their realism \u2014 taking inspiration from famous horses.<\/p>\n

“We even have ones after Australian horses like Winx and also Black Caviar \u2026 and many years ago, they did a model of [New Zealand-born] Phar Lap,” long-term collector from South Australia, Kerri Afford said.<\/p>\n

Hobbyists get together for live shows to present their collections and compete in different categories.<\/p>\n

\"Box<\/p>\n

A selection of ribbons and vintage models. (Supplied: Kerri Afford)<\/p>\n

\"Small<\/p>\n

Each model horse is handpainted.\u00a0 (ABC News: Timothy Ailwood)<\/p>\n

\"Table<\/p>\n

A collection of horses in various stances at a live show. (Supplied: Kerri Afford)<\/p>\n

Here, the models are accessorised with tack like saddles or reigns, and set up in realistic scenes accompanied by rider figurines.<\/p>\n

They can be judged by the breed or colour class they are based on, and are separated by size.<\/p>\n

“There are some that just blows my mind and you’ve got to look twice \u2026 because it looks so real,” Ms Afford said.Finding community down under<\/p>\n

The community, spread out across the country, stay connected online.<\/p>\n

Ms King said Australian collectors were close-knit and “everyone sort of knows each other”.<\/p>\n

\"Cabinet<\/p>\n

Just some of Ms Afford’s collection. (Supplied: Kerri Afford)<\/p>\n

“It’s a nice group of people who all have each other’s backs and are overwhelmingly supportive and just have a really fun time in the face of what I think people often think is a really, really weird hobby,” the 29-year-old said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve experienced a lot of judgement before so it’s nice being around other people who just sort of get it.”<\/p>\n

Ms Afford said the community was “quite big” with “thousands” involved nationwide.<\/p>\n

Not everyone attends live shows but a “big” turnout could see dozens of participants, she said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a convention hosted by US manufacturer Breyer draws 30,000 attendees to Kentucky each year.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“I don’t know that we need to be as big as America or as crazy,” Ms Afford said.<\/p>\n

Ms Hampton said despite the larger population and deep “horse heritage” in the US, the same love was extended here.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got your stockmen, your drovers and your light horseman, you’ve got your brumbies; there’s still quite a horse culture in Australia,” she said.<\/p>\n

Beating misconceptions\"Brown<\/p>\n

This resin model has been “rehaired” with a mohair mane. (Supplied: Kerri Afford)<\/p>\n

Ms Afford said there were always going to be people who thought collecting was for “nut cases”.<\/p>\n

“They think, ‘What do you do? Do you gallop them around the table?'” she said.<\/p>\n

“There are people out there that just want to ridicule what somebody does just because they don’t understand it.”<\/p>\n

\"Kerri<\/p>\n

Kerri Afford says the model horse community is sizeable.\u00a0 (Supplied: Kerri Afford)<\/p>\n

Despite this, Ms Afford said she saw new people discovering the hobby weekly \u2014 exacerbated recently by the Year of the Horse.<\/p>\n

“I just see [the hobby] going forward and getting better.<\/p>\n

“I myself don’t plan on stopping collecting anytime soon.”\"May<\/p>\n

The horses have brought “a lot of joy” to Ms King. (ABC News: Timothy Ailwood)<\/p>\n

Ms King said the horses represented an “escape from reality”.<\/p>\n

“I think people would just dismiss it as silly and frivolous \u2026 and it kind of plays into the ‘crazy horse girl’ trope that exists.<\/p>\n

“But this isn’t hurting anyone and we’re having a good time \u2026 it’s brought a lot of joy to my life.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maeve King “came out of the womb” obsessed with horses. One of their clearest childhood memories was seeing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,319204,319206,319207,5214,19570,126347,319209,319208,319202,319201,319203,319205,25269,44],"class_list":["post-660659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-model-horse-collectors","tag-breyer","tag-breyerfest","tag-community","tag-equestrian","tag-equine","tag-model-horse-groups","tag-model-horse-groups-sydney","tag-model-horse-hobby","tag-model-horses","tag-model-horses-australia","tag-modelhorse-collectors","tag-mould","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}