My Points System

Every time I share pictures of my collection Instagram and Facebook and talk about their average points I get questions about my points system, so I thought I should do a quick blog post about how I work out the points for each of my horses.

The Points

Let's start off very simply with the points. Each placing that a horse can get is allocated a number of points. The points get higher the better the placing. Below is how many points each placing is allocated.

Overall Champion = 100

Overall Reserve Champion = 85

Overall Reserve to Reserve Champion = 70

Section Champion = 50

Section Reserve Champion = 40

Section Reserve to Reserve Champion = 30

Champion = 25

Reserve Champion = 15

Reserve to Reserve Champion = 10

Top 10 = 25

Best of Breed/Group Winner = 8

1st Place = 6

2nd Place = 5

3rd Place = 4

4th Place = 3

5th Place = 2

6th Place = 1

Points are doubled for shows which the horse had to qualify for (BMECS/BILS/MECS/LEMS/Southern Champs/Northern Champs/NAN)

Here is a handy image that you can save/pin/print off for quick reference!

Keeping Records

So how do I keep the records?

All placings are written into a PowerPoint presentation. There is a slide with basic information about the horse and then a slide for all of their placings. Here is the one for CRS Fiery Rose:

In terms of keeping a record of points I have this recorded on my massive horse spreadsheet.

You can see the points in the end three columns:

First Column = Total Points

Second Column = Number of shows attended

Third Column = Average Points (Points/Shows Attended = Average)

The formula you will need for column three is very simple it is just: =AF30/AG30 (enter the columns you are actually using)

I use filters on the top of each column for sorting which allows me to sort the average column from highest to lowest. This lets me know who my best horses are.

It's worth noting that my records have been developed over 20 years, if I was starting from scratch now I probably wouldn't have the PowerPoints and would instead record individual show records on Excel and have it work out total points for me, but I'm not re-doing the whole thing! I already don't have every horse in the massive horse spreadsheet because I only started this about 10 years ago!

Average or Total?

The next point is whether you work out your best horses by average or total. I used to use total points but increasingly it meant that horses that had been to more shows were obviously always classed as the best. This works fine for your first few shows as a new hobbyist but I recommend going for average long term.

If you look at the list above you can clearly see this, the second horse down has over 1000 points total but I've owned him for quite some time! The one above only has 128 points but I only got him 2 years ago. That's why average works out as a fairer and more accurate record of how well horses have done.

If you want a template for the massive horse spreadsheet please just shout. Free downloads don't work on the new website but I'm working on a category of free downloads that you can 'order' the same way as a paid for digital product but obviously it is free!

What Inspires You?

What inspires you in your customising? Today I'm going to be sharing some inspiration pictures of real horses that might provide you with a bit of inspiration for your next custom. Some are really cool colours, some are really cool poses, each one is lovely and each one would make an amazing custom. I've even included some that would be very unusual performance set ups.

First up we have this palomino with a really cool flick in her mane. This would be a great minor custom, it would be even more amazing in mohair!

Second we have a really cool performance idea, this would be an absolutely amazing performance set up. I can see the Breyer Traditional Akhal Teke working really well as a base model for the horses

Third we have a Marwari foal who is insanely cute!

Fourth we have a three for the price of one!

Fifth we have a really nice face marking on a palomino pinto. You could combine this with the flicking forelock in the first picture and it would make an amazing custom

Sixth we have this really cute pony, I love the out of control mane but I also love his thin stripe, it is a really unusual shape and I do love a little bit of pink on the nose

Seventh we have this lovely bridle, plaits and bow combination. Again I think this would make a really nice performance set up

Eighth we have a cute pinto Icelandic, I do love a pony with a coloured head and then almost completely white body

Ninth we just have a cute foal with quite an unusual coat colour, a really good example of how different foal's coat colours are to adult horses

Tenth we have this mane, again this would be a great minor custom idea. Would look really nice on a sport horse/Thoroughbred style mould

Eleventh we have a really nice dapple grey, lovely dapples on this girl. I wish grey horses just stayed one colour! I'd love a grey like this one but I am not dealing with white greys, waaay too much effort!

Twelfth we have another really cool facer marking. A very dramatic marking on a chestnut, would suit a variety of colours but imagine this on a black!

Thirteenth is another really nice dapple grey. A good reference to combine with the one above to get the face colour correct

Fifteenth is the pose on this foal, this would make an amazing resculpt

And finally we have this really cute mare and foal pair. There are a few resin mare and foal sets that I think would suit this well

Are you going to have a go at attempting any of these pieces? Let me know if you are! I'd love to see what you create

Hoofbeats and Maple Treats Event Models

Breyer have released the event models for Hoofbeats and Maple Treats the 2025 Breyer Collector's Event.

The Breyer 2025 Collector's Event is this October/November in Toronto (I did try and work out whether I could go out at the end of half term and fly back ready for work on the Monday but it wasn't quite possible and I don't think it would have gone down well).

At the Collector's Event you get two models with your ticket a Traditional scale model and a Stablemate scale model.

Let's start with this year's Traditional scale model, Legacy

Legacy is a lightly dappled bay on the Bristol mould. I'm quite surprised by this mould choice because firstly, it looks really similar to Voyeur (although obviously different variation) and secondly because this is now the third time they've used Bristol this year. Did they just over produce long mane Bristols or something? Because there are so many of them! Also usual complaint, give me plaits or hogged, no long manes please thank you.

Secondly we have the Stablemate Tamarkuz

Tamarkuz is a bright orange chestnut on the G5 Walking Thoroughbred mould. A cute little model that very much fits the theme of maple! He has definite maple leaf vibes.

What do you think of these guys? Are you also slightly confused by the 2025 Bristol obsession?

Iquitos

 Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit frog obsessed so imagine how excited I was to see that Breyer's latest release in their Wild Animals series is a FROG! Yep that's right an actual frog themed model horse, how amazingly cool is that?

Not just any frog but a dart frog, one of the coolest and most colourful creatures out there. Iquitos was inspired by the poison dart frog and is a gorgeous decorator on the Bristol mould. I absolutely adore this model, his colour is absolutely beautiful.

If you'd like to get your paws (or frog legs) on him then you need to be part of the Breyer Collector's Club. Entries are open for him now. He will be priced at $200 if you are lucky enough to get picked for him.

New Sales Models Available

I feel like everyone wants to have a clear out of models at the moment! I have had so many messages with collections and job lots for sale that I am becoming quite overwhelmed as to where I am going to store all these horses! I even purchased two new boxes a few weeks ago (which are both already full)!

Basically what I'm saying is please buy some horses as my Traditionals box is full! And I've got two more coming today and another collection next Saturday so I really could do with the space!

Anyway moving on from my space issues, I am really excited about some of the horses in this lot. There were some really beautiful models. I also have a few smaller (and more budget friendly) models available as well. That's the wonderful thing about model horses, there really is something for everyone's budget.

So here we go, all available now at Chestnut Ridge

Pinto G2 Appaloosa

Price: £3.50

About: Breyer Mystery Horse Surprise Series 2 (2019-2020)

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/pinto-g2-appaloosa?search=top-products

Grey Peruvian Paso

Price: £4.00

About: Breyer Mystery Horse Surprise Series 2 (2019-2020)

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/grey-peruvian-paso?search=top-products

Fluorite

Price: £3.00

About: Breyer Mini Whinnie Unicorn Surprise Series 2 (2022)

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/fluorite?search=top-products

Frankel

Price: £30.00

About: Breyer 'Frankel' Regular Run

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/frankel?search=top-products

Bravour 54

Price: £40.00

About: BreyerFest 2023 Celebration Horse - 13,200 made

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/bravour-54?search=top-products

Athenian Lady

Price: £40.00

About: BreyerFest 2024 Celebration Horse

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/athenian-lady?search=top-products

Melange

Price: £100.00

About: Breyer JAH Special Run - 1,000 made (2010)

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/melange?search=top-products

Chablis

Price: £70.00

About: BreyerFest 2022 Limited Edition - 3,000 made

Link: https://chestnutridge.co.uk/products/chablis?search=top-products

Which one are you planning to add to your herd? My favourite is definitely Chablis, I really love him, he's one of my favourite models. 10/10 would recommend.

New Arrivals

 The herd is ever growing and never shrinking. It grows and grows and I wonder, where will I put all these horses? The answer is I do not know. I have no solutions. Only horses.

This week it has expanded further as I have added 10 new models to my collection. Many of these were prizes at Celebration of Breyer Live 2025 but there is also a gorgeous new OF that came as part of a job lot for resale and I decided to buy for myself.

First up we have CRS Xing Fengsu. This model is Tiger's Eye and was the chase model from the Breyer Mini Whinnie Unicorn Surprise - Series 2

Second we have CRS Shivaji. Shivaji is Breyer Stablemates Blind Bags Peruvian Paso in grey.

Third we have CRS Smash and Grab. This is Moonstone who is also from the Breyer Mini Whinnies Unicorn Surprise Series 2 blind bags

Fourth is CRS Sneaking Suspicion which is Pyrite from that same Breyer Mini Whinnie surprise bag.

And finally CRS Snorri the Seal - the final model from the MW Surprise Bags

Next we have CRS Soft Target. This model is 'Snowdrift' from the Breyer Fire and Ice Unicorn Surprise bags released this year.

This is CRS Sophie's Choice, he is from an older set of Breyer Unicorn Surprise bags, he is the model 'Sky'

I was doing well for Peruvian Pasos! This is CRS A Spoon Full of Earth (Spoon). Spoon is another Breyer Stablemate Surprise Bag model.

And now we have my favourite from the batch. This is CRS Spycatcher. This is the Breyer Wapiti model, I love the modified tail on this model, it is so gorgeous and the main reason I kept him.

Finally we have CRS Look Up Child (Lawrence). Lawrence was one of six custom Breyer Stablemates that I painted as champion prizes for Celebration of Breyer Live 2025. I was lucky enough to win a champion and take Lawrence home. He is a custom Breyer G2 Standardbred to a max white, painted by myself.

So which is your favourite out of the new additions? Can you work out the naming theme I was using for the OFs?

Highland Pony Models

Today we are going to go through some of the Highland Ponies in my collection. The Highland Pony is a native pony of Scotland and is one of the largest British Native breeds standing between 13-14.2hh. Typical to other British Natives it is a hardly breed with a nice thick winter coat. Highlands are often seen in true dun but also come in grey, bay, black and chestnut. Like many other British Natives they should have very minimal white markings, with a small white star being the largest accepted for stallions and no white on the legs.

Commercial Resin & China

The first model is CRS Sleeping Beauty aka Beau. Beau is a Beswick Highland Pony in dun. I purchased Beau at a local auction house in a job lot of Beswicks and decided to keep him to add to my collection.

Original Finish

This is CRS Croissant Cryptid aka Thumbelina. Thumbelina came from the Best of BreyerFest 2021 set.

Secondly we have CRS Pablo Escabar aka Pablo. Pablo is another Breyer Stablemate G3 Highland Pony (sometimes also called the Athletic Pony). This one is the regular run Highland Pony.

This little guy is CRS Inspector Gadget aka Gadget. Gadget is from the British Breeds 4-Piece Set that was released in 2006.

This is CRS Facebook aka Kylie. Kylie was also a regular run Stablemate Highland Pony, older than Pablo.

This is one of my oldest Breyer model horses. This is the Breyer Traditional Pony Family stallion on the Haflinger mould. Named CRS Just Jack aka Jack.

This little Stablemate is a Breyer G3 Highland from the Best of British Stablemate set. Named CRS Creamy Olive Dance (Olive).

Which is your favourite out of this batch of Highland Ponies?