Breyer's newest Traditional model, Esprit, is scheduled to be released next month.  Esprit is a special new mold, created for the 2010 Equestrian Games, which Breyer is sponsoring as the "Official Model Horse of the 2010 Games."

Esprit is a new mold for 2010, created by Kathleen Moody.  This beautiful windswept dapple gray horse (breed unknown) also graced the cover of the most recent issue of Just About Horses (JAH), Breyer's model horse magazine.

Esprit is a lovely mold, although it looks like it might be a bit "tippy" in real life.  Collectors, have your Blu-Tak at the ready!  I'm not so sure about the realism of the tucked head posture in conjunction with the extended front leg, but it is undeniably beautiful.  Let's call this one "sculpture" and leave aside the realism.

The coloring job is particularly nice on Esprit, given some of the lackluster color jobs I have seen in recent models.  Dappling always takes a lot of care, given that each Breyer horse is hand painted, and Esprit is no exception.  There are three different colors (light gray, medium gray, and dark charcoal) with overlapping shading, as well as the dapples themselves.  

The play of colors is really nicely done on this model, and I would love to see more work like this in the future.  Just look at the overlap of colors on the hindquarters!  Much less the work in shading the tail.  And I love the single white hoof, which is a really nice touch as well.

According to Breyer, Esprit was created "to symbolize the spirit of the horses competing in eight different disciplines."  The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games feature Dressage, Driving (where a team of horses pulls a coach through a set of obstacles), Endurance, Eventing, Jumping, Para Dressage (dressage for physically challenged riders), Reining, and Vaulting (which is apparently gymnastics performed on the back of a horse - I really had no idea this existed much less as a sport).  I imagine it would have been quite a challenge for Ms. Moody to create a design which symbolized all of those in one single horse!

The World Equestrian Games are a sort of "horse Olympics," to be held this year in Kentucky from September 25 to October 10.  Breyer will also be creating a series of models depicting "key competitors from various disciplines." You would think they mean to create one for each of the eight gold medalists, but maybe they want to leave themselves some leeway.  In case, I don't know, maybe a really ugly horse wins one of the competitions.  Hard to say.  Rumor has it that Breyer will be creating "a reining model and a dressage model," but these reports are unconfirmed at this point.

Breyer has also promised that Esprit will be available in "several different mediums," but at this point we have no further information on what that really means.  Could they be planning a woodgrain version?  Or a painting?  Sculpey?  Mashed potatoes?  Lego?  I'm definitely curious to find out!