Brighid and Beltane

Well I don't think anyone guessed this! Well done if you did.

The latest BreyerFest Special Run are Brighid and Beltane and I am absolutely in love. These are the first models that I just have to have, how cute is that foal!



GAH! They are just so squish!!! *squishes*

Supreme Champion Data - An Update

It's been two years since I've done a Blog post with updates about my Supreme Champion data collection project so I thought it would be worth sharing again.

As always I am starting with a disclaimer. There are many flaws with this data collection. Firstly it does not cover all shows, there are many I haven't been able to go to, some shows don't have supreme champions and some I simply don't have the data for. Also there are many factors that could skew the data. These include:

Specialist Shows - For example Animal Artistry Live 2019, the champion was obviously going to be an AA as only AAs were being shown.

One Exceptional Model - One really nice model can win several championships and this can alter data. For example if a good Western Trail entry does very well this will impact the data, even though it is the same entry that is attributable to all those wins.

Assumptions - Sometimes I've had to make assumptions about the breed. That's why generic breeds such as 'warmblood' may do better. If I had reliable information about each type of Warmblood then this may not be in top spot.

Classes - Not all shows have classes for all types of models. So if a show doesn't have a performance section then it can't win. Equally if a show has a workmanship and a breed section then that doubles the chances of an AR or CM winning.

Make Up of Supreme - Some shows do not allow the performance winners into the supreme, this obviously effects the number of performance entries that can win.

Numerous other factors that take too long to mention!

OK disclaimer over, let's drill down into the data!

The Data

The data is collected from 174 shows over a 12 year period, starting 2018 and ending in 2020.

All shows were held in the UK.

For each supreme champion the following is recorded:

Show Name

Year

Finish

Colour

Breed

Mould (this is incomplete and therefore not included here)

Type (In Hand or Performance)

Brand

Performance Type (where relevant)

Data is then collected and presented in pie charts. I've also included a list of the Top 5 most popular for each category, the number in brackets is the number of champions I have recorded for that item.

Brand

Brand is the make of the model. For Artist Resin/China this is simply recorded as 'Artist Resin' or 'Artist China'.

This first pie chart shows what this looks like with AR included:

This second pie chart has been edited to remove AR, because AR is more of a finish than a brand I think it is helpful to look at it without this (I forgot to remove Artist China from this one, sorry)!

The top five brands are:

Breyer (34)

Peter Stone (10)

Animal Artistry (8)

Equorum (6); RubberNedz (6)

CopperFox (5)

This excludes artist resin and china!

Breed

Below is the pie chart of breeds. As you can see there is real variety of the breeds that have won, which is lovely. Unfortunately, it's really hard to get accurate data from photos on what type of Warmblood each one is going back 12 years. So take the Warmblood with a pinch of salt!

Below are the Top 5 breeds:

Warmblood (10)

Appaloosa (9)

Mustang (8)

Paint (7); Thoroughbred (7); Arabian (7); Sport Horse (7)

Andalusian (6)

Colour

Below is the pie chart showing the colours of the models. Again lots of variety but some real clear favourites here:

The top 5 colours are:

Grey (33)

Pinto (29); Bay (29)

Chestnut (14)

Blanket Spot (13); Palomino (13)

Buckskin (7); Sabino (7)

Finish

The below data looks at the finish of the horse. This is which section it would generally show in, it is as broad as possible without being too broad.

The top 5 finishes are:

Artist Resin (82)

Custom (31)

Original Finish (20)

CTF (19)

Animal Artistry (8)

Performance Type

29 of the live shows had performance champions. From this data I have created a graph to show which performance type is most popular. Again this is quite general, but specific enough to produce good data:

The Top 5 performance types are:

Scene (6)

Driven (5); Western Trail (5)

Show Jumping (4)

Cross Country (3); Western Pleasure (3)

Costume (2)

Type

The final graph shows a comparison between in hand and performance winners. Again it is worth noting that many shows either don't have a performance section or don't let performance in the supreme, so take this final one with a pinch of salt!

The green is in hand, the yellow performance.

The Perfect Entry

So *if* we are to trust the data our perfect entry would be:

Finish: Artist Resin

Colour: Grey

Breed: Warmblood

Type: In Hand

Brand: Artist Resin

It is finally worth noting that AR Warmblood is probably one of the most competitive classes to win. I judge it. A Lot. And it is tough, it is often full of really nice entries. That said I'm pretty sure the last time I judged it I placed a Grey Warmblood as first!

I hope you found this interesting. To end, I say it at the beginning and I say it again here, there are lots of flaws with this data collection, it is just a bit of fun, so please don't shout at me for the problems with my research!

Enjoy :)

Congratulations to March's Champion!

March's theme for Popular Votes Photoshows was 'Schleich'.

I'm not entirely sure what it says about the Schleich horses that the winner of the entire show was a rabbit, but it is a very very cute rabbit and a lovely photo so we'll leave it at that!

A very well done to Abbie and her adorable rabbit FTF Patches, your rosette will be with you at some undisclosed future time when all this has blown over and I can leave my house once more.

Seriously though how cute is this rabbit? It has a little house!!!

The theme for April's show is 'Traditional' which will include all makes and models as long as they are approximately Traditional (vaguely 1:9) scale. If you don't already take part in Popular Votes Photoshows then you can join the Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493893527541574/

Latest BreyerFest Sneak Peak

Breyer have released another BF sneak peak. It is of the next special run.

So it's obviously pinto, but what mould? I'm thinking maybe the Cleveland Bay?



Let me know your guesses in the comments section below!

Five Bad Model Horse Habits we all Need to STOP!

We are all bad hobbyists and we know it. Here are five bad model horse habits we know we all do but need to STOP NOW!

1. Un-named

Unnamed is not a name. You cannot call your horse that. Seriously, take them out of those boxes, give them names and love them! You wanted them when you bought them, so appreciate them.

What is this? Just one of the massive piles of unboxed model horses I appear to own. Who is in there? Who knows. I certainly don't.

2. Savings? What are savings?

I'm going to save up and get that model I've always wanted you say in a positive state of mind. Two weeks later you're at a live show and somehow all those savings went on something else. Stop it people. Impulse buying is bad.

Just one of my many impulse buys, I very much had to raid my savings for this guy!

3. UFOs

ONE PROJECT AT A TIME! I know I know, you are working on a thing then you see another thing and another and another and another and then ooo that's a fun looking new skill. And before you know it nothing is finished and everything is started.

*shouts* ONE PROJECT AT A TIME

Just one of my body shelves. I really need to show some self-control.

4. Dusting? Nope not heard of that one either

I am so so guilty of this one. They never get dusted. Ever. But then I get moaned at by show judges and then I'm like "I KNOW" as I criticise someone for exactly the same thing. At least dust them before shows people.

This isn't as bad as I thought it would be! Do you know how hard it is to stand on a chair and take a photo of a top shelf? It's not easy!

5. I'll definitely organise that

We all have dreams of beautifully organised records, breed cards and props. But the reality? Yea we are tired, we have so much to do, it's so much easier to throw it in a pile.

Sorry for the slightly NSFW photo but this pretty much sums up my approach to tack and props right now. Note the carefully labelled boxes on the left that everything should be stored in.

If you are currently in isolation why not take some time to undo some of those bad habits? Finish those projects, catalogue those models and organise your tack and props! You can do it people!

Three New Ponies

This feels so weird writing about now, it seems like another world!

Less than two weeks ago I was at South Downs Shenanigans Live. Although I was good and didn't purchase anything (good me) I did come home with three new ponies courtesy of the raffle!

So first up is the rather inevitably named: CRS Covid-19 or 'Cov' to his friends:

A beautiful custom Breyer G2 Warmblood that has been painted to a black blanket appaloosa by Liz Hibberd.

Next up we have two horses from the Deluxe Horse Collection a Breyer 2020 release. First is the G5 Mirado in bay:

He has been named CRS Gamalama (Gama)

And secondly is the G4 Paradressage in grey:

She has been named CRS Karangetang (Karan), I really like this mould but I think this horse looks really sad :(

Hope you enjoy! Probably the last for a while :( Although Starlight is on her way from the USA!

Feis

Well I was wrong! As were many others, it wasn't a Salinero it was a Friesian!

Feis is the BreyerFest diorama contest prize, isn't he adorable? This colour suits him so much:

BreyerFest Updates

So whilst desperately running through every possible scenario in my head and how that affects travel insurance and plans and God only knows what else I thought I would do a more cheerful Blog post and update on the BreyerFest special runs.

I know I haven't really been blogging much, life is just really busy right now, but with life being less busy for the foreseeable future I'm afraid you are going to have to put up with me once more!

So let's start with a run down on the 2020 BF special runs that we already know about:

Celebration Model



The celebration model this year is Ballynoe Castle RM, 'Reggie' is a now retired three day eventer. I love this mould and am really looking forward to having one of these! His colour looks really lush.

Early Bird Raffle

The Early Bird Raffle model this year is a black Esprit. Not a massive Esprit fan (despite having a tonne of them) and solid black is very meh. But for some he will definitely be the ticket (see what I did there...ha ha ha...I'm so funny)



Special Runs!

Now onto the fun bit, I must say I've been a bit disappointed in the special runs so far. But you never know, things could improve!

First up, Epona:



Secondly Oak:



Third (and my favourite so far), Hamish:



Fourth is Ash:



And fifth is Lugh (who is the only horse I actually want)!



Store Specials

Again I'm not 100% on any of these, the Clydesdale is nice, but sooo many big horses! You do realise suitcases are small don't you Breyer?

This is Benelli:



And Faugh-a-Ballagh



Sneak Peaks

The current sneak peak is this:



I'm pretty sure that is a Salinero, but happy to be proved wrong! The neck just seems about right to me.

Surprise Model Speculation

So my thoughts are:

Newsworthy
Connemara Mare (Croi)
Fell Pony (but as a set of two maybe, I think it's too small to be just one)
OR
The new Welsh mare and foal as a set

My money is on one of the first two though. Obvious choices for a celtic themed event!

I hope you are all enjoying staring at the sun from inside your horses. More BF related content coming soon and hopefully, in July, there will be a wonderful Blog post about how great it was and how wonderful my holiday to the USA was. We can but hope...