Breyer recently passed along some very sad new via their Facebook page. O'Leary's Irish Diamond, the subject of a popular Breyer Portrait model and a guest at this summer's BreyerFest, has died.

O'Leary's Irish Diamond was a Registered Irish Draught, who was imported to the United States in 1997 after receiving stunningly high marks from the Irish Horse Board breed registry.  He continued to receive stellar reviews and scores throughout his career, which included dressage, jumping, and eventing.

Breyer's O'Leary's Irish Diamond model was done on the Cleveland Bay mold, which was created by Karen Gerhardt in 2006.  A popular mold with collectors, the Irish model featured a lovely gray color, subtle dapples on his flanks and barrel, darker shading on his legs and muzzle, and a nicely pinked nose.

The Irish Draught is Ireland's official national horse breed.  Bred to be both strong and calm, the Irish Draught is descended from a blend of horses, from the now-extinct Irish Hobby and medieval war horses in medieval times, to Thoroughbred and Clydesdale horses in more recent years.  

Originally used as a farming and a working horse, the Irish Draught has been a threatened breed ever since the early 1900s.  It first faced the threat of tractors and other mechanical competition, when according to Wikipedia "thousands of horses went to the slaughterhouse each week as farm horses were sold to pay for tractors."  

The Irish Horse Board now works to preserve the breed and maintains the breed registry.  However, the Irish Draught's popularity as a foundation horse is ironically also threatening its numbers.  Irish Draught crosses are extremely popular for dressage, jumping, and eventing.  This has led to a situation where Irish Draught horses are often used exclusively to create crosses, and not to breed more purebred Irish Draughts.

O'Leary's Irish Diamond was an outstanding horse, and an unusual one in this respect.  A purebred Irish Draught who competed - and won - at high levels in both jumping and dressage.  He won championship after championship, and sired a tremendous number of fantastic foals to boot.

According to what I've read online, bits and pieces mostly, O'Leary's Irish Diamond picked up a virus while he was traveling - possibly even while he was at BreyerFest itself.  He had problems with his respiratory and digestive tract, enteritis most likely, and was taken to an equine veterinary clinic where they took him into surgery.  Sadly, he died on the operating table.

Much mention is being made of the "Breyer Curse."  It is true that many horses which are immortalized in Breyer form go on to die relatively soon afterwards.  But it's also true that most horses which are honored with Breyer models are older horses.  With few exceptions - race horse Rachel Alexandra comes to mind - it takes at least a decade for a horse to prove itself awesome enough to become a Breyer model.

O'Leary's Irish Diamond was foaled on April 29,1994.  At 16, he was technically a "senior horse," even though his performance skills and outstanding nature belied his true age.