Isadora-Cruce is a new spring release from Breyer, a portrait model whose original subject will also be attending BreyerFest this year.  Isadora-Cruce is the direct descendent of the Spanish horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish travelers of the 15th and 16th century.  

In 1687, a Jesuit priest named Eusebio Kino founded Mission Dolores in Sonora, Mexico.  When not attempting to Christianize the indigenous Native American population, Father Kino was a keen explorer.  Among other feats, he conclusively proved that the Baja Peninsula was not an island, by "leading an overland expedition there."  In 1885, the descendents of Father Kino's original herd of horses were moved to a remote Arizona ranch owned by the Wilber-Cruce family.  They remained there, isolated from the rest of the world and the genetic stock, through 1990.

In 1990, the Wilber-Cruce ranch was sold to the state, which added its acreage to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.  This refuge is 118,000 of unspoiled grassland and wetland zones in the heart of Arizona, which represents an incredibly delicate and valuable wildlife habitat.

The horses themselves were almost immediately placed with a preservation program.  This has kept the line pure, and in Breyer's words, "Today, Isadora's family members are the only known pure-in-strain, living remnants of antique Spanish Colonial Mission horses in the American southwest."

Isadora-Cruce's mother is Sonora-Cruce, who came directly from the Wilber-Cruce ranch in 1990.  Aside from this interesting history, Isadora-Cruce is also a Medicine Hat stallion.  She is an overo mare who was foaled at the Return to Freedom Sanctuary in 2002.  

The California sanctuary is home to over 200 wild horses and burros.  One unusual feature of the sanctuary is that they strive to keep the original herds of mustangs together, rather than breaking up the family units as usually happens.  Aside from being far more humane to the horses, this also helps to keep each herd's genetic legacy pure.

The Medicine Hat marking is of course familiar to anyone who has read Marguerite Henry's classic novel, "San Domingo: The Medicine Hat Stallion."  (San Domingo even had his own Breyer model, which was sculpted by Chris Hess in 1978.)  The Medicine Hat marking occurs in pinto horses, where the ears and poll are the darker coat color surrounded by white - as if the horse were wearing a hat.

Native American legend says that the Medicine Hat horse has a number of magical properties, and Medicine Hat horses were highly prized.  (Particularly if one or both of their eyes were blue.)  These "Spirit Horses" were said to be able to protect their riders from bullets, to warn their riders of danger, and to have an unusual ability to find game animals when out on the hunt.

The Isadora-Cruce model uses the Nokota Horse mold, which was sculpted by Kathleen Moody in 2007.  This has been a very popular model, which was of course originally designed to benefit the Nokota Horse line of mustangs.  It's only appropriate to use it for Isadora-Cruce's portrait model!