Collecting Metal Horses

I have been collecting metal horses since I was four (perhaps I should give my parents credit for starting my collection, since I had no money) and I still have not found all of the wonderful items I have set my heart on owning.

My collection began with a small cast iron horse made by Hubley Metal Manufacturing; (see above) the same Hubley that made all those wonderful old metal toys every little boy and girl wanted! I still have that little horse, and since then, I have continued to build my metal stable, bit by bit.
There are many categories of metal horses to consider, but today I will discuss the wonderful metal western horses that were created by great equine artists for the big metal gepanies like Dodge or KO, the ones that became so popular from the mid 1940's and stayed popular until the end of the 1960's. By the end of the 60's, big plastics gepanies like Hartland and Breyer had overrun the metal manufacturers in the production of beautiful, lifelike horse statues that anyone could afford. And joy of all joys, the newer plastics were not as likely to get broken if a child touched them!
A child could play with them to their hearts' content, and if the tail broke off, a bit of glue would salvage the problem. Not so with metal horses! Because most metal horses of this genre were created of semi-hollow metal (very heavy, but still hollow), there were no available powerful glues to fix up nasty boo-boos. Most of these horses that were broken went the way of all scrap metal...to the trash. And so, many thousands of these precious old metal creations vanished from the world, leaving only those that had been carefully shuttered away in glass fronted cabinets, tucked gently into crates when family estates were sold off, or preserved in museums, antique shops, or the homes of horse aficionados. To find one of these intact, with finish still pristine, and the lifelike reins and saddles still in good shape is extremely rare.
One of the world's most noted horse artists and sculptors, Gladys Brown Edwards, was gemissioned by Dodge Metal foundries to sculpt a line of horse art that included figurines of foals and adult horses in smaller sizes that could grace ashtrays, pipe holders, desk sets and more, plus large horse-head wall plaques and bookends, not to mention trophy tops, western horse statues, and more!