BreyerFest Sneak Peak

 Here is the latest Breyer sneak peak, what do you think it could be?

The pattern on the first one doesn't seem that horse like, to me it feels almost like a cow. But it has been pointed out that it could be a blanket appaloosa pattern. The mare and foal special run set has not been revealed so it does make sense for this to be the mare and foal set, the Clydesdale Mare and Foal set seems like an obvious choice.

Evaluating Your Collection

 It's a new year and with a new year comes a bit of a stock take. I do think it's important at times to go over what you own and start to think about where there are gaps and where your focus should be for the next year. This is particularly true if, like me, you're a regular shower who doesn't really have any specialism and just likes to have all the pretty things!

The main focus of this post is going to be evaluating your collection with regards to having a well balanced show string, but this can be used in lots of other ways too :)

So here is my guide to start evaluating your collection.

Step 1: Cataloguing

If you haven't catalogued your collection then this is your cue to start. You need to catalogue your collection from day one. On a very basic level if your house burns down and you don't know what you have you won't be able to claim on the insurance, so please catalogue!

There are tonnes of different ways you can go about doing this (and I've already written loads of tutorials on it) but here are the three main ways:

1. Paper catalogue
2. Spreadsheet
3. Specialist software

Some people do still like to do a paper catalogue, either in a binder, notebook or one of the specialist model horse cataloguing planners. This is a lovely way to do it and looks beautiful but it can be time consuming, it is also not much help if it burns with your house (you should have a fire proof box in your house where you can keep important documents, if you are paper cataloguing and don't have one, get one).

A spreadsheet (either excel, sheets or similar) is probably the most popular option. I've done a tutorial on it here. 

Finally you can use specialist software. There are a variety of different programmes out there designed to do this. The two I've used are MyModelHorse Database and OMHPS (this is a photoshowing database but can also be used for cataloguing if you have less than 2,000 models). I did also use one years ago that came on an actual disk (so vintage) but I cannot remember the name of it!

Once you have your models catalogued you can move on to data collection.

Step 2: Know what you've got

Now you need to know what you've got. There are various ways to do this but this is my super duper not technical simple method.

I use a blank excel spreadsheet. Along the bottom are tabs for different finishes. On each sheet is a column for the different show classes like so:

Underneath each one is a list of all the horses that go into that class. That way I can clearly see who I have for each class. I also use this to help pick horses for showing. You can also use filters on your actual catalogue to help with this.

As an aside the green squares are BMECS qualified horses for 23/24/25.

Step 3: Where are the gaps?

Now the next question is, where are the gaps. Above is an extract from my OF sheet. Not many gaps there. Now take a look at ARC:

Immediately you'll note that some columns aren't even there. I don't own a single ARC Paint Horse for example. You can also see some have WAY MORE horses than others. It is really no surprise that I own thousands of fantasy/decorators and then hardly any realistic models.

Seeing where I have gaps can help me to think about what I might want to focus on creating for the next year. This is especially useful if you have like 100 blank resins *maybe more cough*. So in terms of my painting for this year I am definitely going to increase my stock horses and I could also do with a few more British Native. I should probably not paint anymore fantasy or decorator models for a while!

Step 4: Where can you make cuts (if you want to)?

This step is totally optional. But if you do want to cut down your collection you could start by making cuts where you simply have too many horses to realistically ever show. Using this spreadsheet I can see that I have 156 OF Fantasy/Decorator horses. The reality is it would take years for me to show them all so most never go out. If I want to make cuts this is probably the best place to do it (I won't though, you can prise my decorators out of my cold dead hands).

Step 5: Where could you introduce new blood

The final step is to think about where new blood could be introduced. It may be that yes you have ten very nice CM Arabians, but actually they are all 10 years old and don't really do much anymore. Maybe, looking at that, a focus for this year could be adding some new ones. If you also cross reference with your workmanship tab you could focus down even more by trying to fill gaps in colour as well as breed.

So there we go! Collecting evaluated and stock take done. Now to start planning some shopping for the new year :D

You Don't Have to Have it All Figured Out

 In the last week I've seen several posts on Facebook along the lines of "How do I start collecting X?" "I want to collect X, what should I buy?" which always seems so strange to me because surely collecting is just buying stuff you like until you have a lot of it? The idea that you'd need someone else's opinion on what to buy is just bizarre, if you like the thing, you can afford the thing, then buy the thing.

Which is why I'm here today to say this very important message

You don't have to have it all figured out

Your collection doesn't need a goal or a plan. It doesn't need to be perfect, or the right thing or 100% show stopping pieces. It doesn't even have to be all horses, you can just own things with no purpose and that's OK.

The harsh reality is that a large proportion of what you buy is probably not going to keep its value. Generally speaking a regular run Breyer will not fetch as much as retail price on the second hand market (there are some exceptions). All models will get damaged, particularly if you show. You can try to avoid it as much as possible but rubs, marks and breaks are inevitable when you are shifting models back and forth every weekend. At some point your Springer Spaniel will eat a horse and a cat will knock one off the shelf. One day you are going to smash one of your best show horses putting it back in the cabinet. Some things will increase in value and some will be a decent investment but a lot of what you own won't. And that's OK. The point of collecting isn't to get rich at some mysterious point in the future at which you sell the items, the point is to buy beautiful things, that you love and fill your life with richness. 

So if you're not sure where to start, or want to start collecting something different, here is my advice. Just buy a thing. Anything. There. You started.

I shall leave you with a picture of the beautiful Plum, who one day will hopefully be able to go off to a repair artist and be made whole again.

Three New Arrivals

 These little guys arrived last Tuesday but I didn't get around to photographing them until today.

They are the final international release from the 2023 Stablemate Collectors Club. This includes the Gambler's Choice model.

First up we have Jameson aka CRS Satanic Verses

This beautiful glossy black pinto is just darling. I love his little pink nose.

Second we have the Gambler's Choice Atli aka CRS Rowena

I was a little disappointed with this one as every year except the first year of the Stablemate Club I have received the decorator and I feel it has become somewhat of a tradition. However, the colour on this little guy is lovely and he has some very sweet dapples.

Finally we have the new sculpt, this is Kit aka CRS Rights of Man

The colour on this model looks so nice. The beautiful clipped pattern is so unusual! Although those eye whites are a bit much!

This Better Be a Moose

 I swear if Breyer don't do a moose for BreyerFest this year I am going to be moostly upset.

So the question is, is this a moose? Or even a mousse?

I definitely think with all that texture it is the other animal. Although it has been pointed out that it could be Brighty and I definitely don't think that's a bad suggestion. It better be a moose though.

Let me know what you think this Special Run sneak peak is in the comments below.

Via Lattea and Araba

 I've got two new BreyerFest 2023 models to share with you today!

First up is Via Lattea the first of the Limited Edition models to be announced

And second we have Araba the second special run to be released

I really like Via Lattea. I wasn't a massive fan of the colour that this mould was originally released in but for some reason I really like the white. She looks absolutely beautiful.

Araba is a pass from me, the colour is stunning but the mould itself is a huge no from me, having seen it in person I just cannot tolerate those front legs and shoulders, but the colour is absolutely stunning so I wouldn't be completely disappointed if I got him!

Show String Rankings: How To

 When you've been showing for years it often becomes hard to identify which are your best and worst models. Sometimes you probably feel like you take the same models to every show and although you feel like they are your best they aren't actually doing as well as you would like.

So today I'm going to share with you a quick and easy way to rank your horses and get a good picture of who is still succeeding and who is falling short. All you will need is MS Excel (or similar) and a bit of time and patience.

Scoring System

The first step is to create your own scoring system. You will need to allocate a number of points to each of the different awards your models can win. How many points you award is up to you but it needs to be consistent.

My points system is below: 

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

Top 10 = 25

Champion = 20
Reserve Champion = 15
Reserve To Reserve Champion = 10

Best of Breed/Group Winner = 8

1st Place = 6
2nd Place = 5
3rd Place = 4
4th Place = 3
5th Place = 2
6th Place = 1

I also double my points for BMECS/NAN placings.

Now you have a scoring system in place you are ready to start your spreadsheet and start ranking.

Setting Up Your Spreadsheet

Set up a spreadsheet with columns as follows:

1. Horse's Name

2. Points

3. Show's Attended

4. Average

To work out the average points you will need to enter the following formula into D2

Now you can go about populating your spreadsheet. This is going to be extremely time consuming if you have been showing for years and just starting out so maybe try to aim for a year a week or something similar!

Start by recording the total points for every horses in Column B

Next go back over your show lists and record the total numbers of shows each horse has attended in Column C

Important Note: Even if a horse has zero points if they have attended a show you will still need to make a note of this.

You should notice that column D automatically populates with the average points.

You should end up with something like this:

I have applied filters to make organising easier! You can do this under the 'Data' tab.

Sorting Your Horses

You can now sort your horses by two main methods either their total points or their average points. To illustrate the difference between the two look at the list of my top OF horses. The first is sorted by total points:

And the second is sorted by average points:

You will see the two lists are very different. One of the reasons you want to use average points over total points to see your top horses is that if you have a model that you have been showing for years (like Bushka for example) they will have a LOT of points and it will be hard for newer models (like Sultan for example) to make their way onto the list. Look at how many shows Bushka has attended compared to Sultan! Using average points therefore allows you to ensure that new horses that are doing well fit into your show string and old horses that maybe did well in the past but haven't placed in years drop out.

Final Tips

The final thing I would say is try to split by finish, that way you know your best horses for each finish:

I have also started linking these into my Massive Horse Spreadsheet. This means that I can sort by things such as make, scale and breed to tell you who my best OF Arabian or best CM Thoroughbred is. This is really helpful when it comes to specialist shows.