Buying for horse lovers can be hard... Which breeds do they like and what do they already have? We have some ideas that will make buying easy, and make you their Holiday Hero! I'm going to break this guide into sections for different types of horse lovers, from youngsters to hard-core collectors, so you can find gift ideas for that special horse lover on your list.
These age ranges are just based on who we've seen buying these the most. Model horses bridge all ages, so don't feel limited to a certain segment. As with all retailers this year, our stock is limited. If any of the links below take you to a "404 Page Error," it means that item has sold out for now.
Best Gifts for Horse-Loving Kids:
This year's most popular items for young horse lovers up to about age 7 have been Breyer's Li'l Beauties line. These small horses have cute faces, fun colors, and brushable manes and tails. There are even playsets that come with a horse, a building that opens for play, and accessories. Prices range from $11.95 for a horse with a brush to $21.95 for a playset.
Breyer also has a new set of six Stablemates models in their own rugged, solid wood barn. Rear doors open and fasten shut with a bead-and-loop fastener. A wood handle on top makes it easy for little ones to carry around. Two styles are available: Horses in a blue barn or unicorns in a pink one, for $24.95 each.
Best Gifts for Horse Loving Teens and Tweens:
The Schleich line is super popular with horse lovers from about 9 through teen years. Many teenage collectors even make youtube videos using their models or showing how they create tack or stables for them. Schleich sells individual models from $5 -$9 and playsets range from $19.95 - $124.95. Schleich leads the industry in amazing playsets with lots of great accessories.
Very similar to Schleich, we also recommend the CollectA line. They are the same size and material, but their sculpts are more realistic, and can be easily identified as particular breeds, so they're educational as well as beautiful. CollectAs are collected by adults as well, and even compete well at model horse shows.
Best Gifts for Artistic Horse Lovers
Breyer makes some superb craft and activity kits, each including one or more model horses. Most come with paints and a paintbrush. Some come with other goodies, like decals and costume materials. This year's Crafting Til Christmas Advent Calendar includes instructions and materials to create a new Breyer Stablemate ornament every week of December. Even if your horse lover doesn't get the set right at the beginning of December, they'll still love making each of these four lovely ornaments. We also have Stablemate singles Paint N Play kits, including some suncatcher kits with a clear horse and translucent paints that allow the sun to shine through them!
Another popular line are our 3D wood puzzles. From easy, 30-piece unicorns to the incredibly fun (I made one!), intricate working carousel music box with moving horses, everyone is loving these puzzles. Some even come with paints and a paintbrush so you can decorate your finished piece.
Best Gifts for Serious Model Horse Collectors
These can be hard to buy for, because they seem to have everything. (They don't, but they're working on it!) For serious model horse collectors, your best bet is to show your support without buying a horse! What? That's right - Unless you can get a wish list from them (they can make one on our site and email it to you, by the way), you can avoid worrying about duplicating what they already have while being their hero by gifting them one of these wonderful, related items:
Horse Safety Racks and Museum Putty
We all have models that like to tip over, and they can damage other models. Safety items like Horse Racks and Museum Putty can keep these tipsters from starting a line of very sad dominoes. Horse racks are telescoping plastic racks specially designed by a collector to protect models from damage. Each rack holds six horses, with soft plastic bumpers protecting their fragile paint jobs. Museum Putty is used by museums to keep items from tipping or falling off shelves. A bit under one hoof is usually enough to keep a model safely upright.
Copperfox Model Horse Jewelry
Copperfox is a family-owned model horse manufacturer based in Massachusetts. They will soon be producing Traditional-sized model horses, but right now you can support them and delight your horse lover with a piece of pure British pewter jewelry in the shape of their model horse molds... British pewter is 100% nickel and lead free, and captures details beautifully.
Triple Mountain Gift Cards
If you're just not sure, you know THEY know what they love, so a Triple Mountain gift card is always a hit! We are based in Maine, USA, but also ship models around the world. Our electronic gift cards get emailed to you immediately, so you don't have to wait for anything to arrive in the mail, and you can hand it, mail it, or email it to your gift recipient anytime. The cards carry a balance, so they can use them over multiple purchases, if they like, right down to the last penny. We don't charge any processing fee on gift cards, so if you spend $100, they get $100. It's new release season, so they could even use it to pre-order the new 2022 Breyer models.
We have thousands of model horses, accessories and other animals available here at Triple Mountain, so we're the favorite source for thousands of collectors. And, as a family-owned business, we appreciate all of our customers and support our community and local charities, so you can feel good about every gift you get from Triple Mountain!
