Over the last few weeks I've been sharing lots of updates as I prepared for Celebration of Breyer Live 2025. Well it's finally over and I thought I would share you with you a little report of how the day went.
The day started in a slightly stressful manner as, when packing the car, we realised that one of the bottles of Kombucha in the goody bags had smashed! I had to do an emergency print of discount vouchers and a clean up and then we were finally ready to go!
We then arrived at the hall and realised that the microwave wasn't usable! I had bought special popcorn containers and was going to give everyone a little thing of popcorn, I was rather annoyed that we couldn't do that! So disaster two over we got ready to set up.
I always like to make sure the hall is properly set up before people arrive. I am eternally grateful for the help of Brendon and Laura in setting up shows. We got all the tables out and I arranged the prizes and rosettes.
The rosettes were made by Crowsettes and they looked absolutely amazing! There was so much yellow which is exactly what I asked for. I think everyone had the opportunity to leave with one of these amazing rosettes which I was so happy about.
You can also see the surprise bags, Breyers, customs, trophies and fun class prizes that we provided. The Frutella were for voting in the fun classes.
Once everyone had arrived and unpacked (and sampled the insane amount of food we brought) we got started with the first three sections of the day. We started with OF Traditional Breyer, OF Stablemate Breyer and OF Other Scale Breyer. It's probably not unsurprising that the OF Traditional section was the largest! Lots of people had brought their new BreyerFest horses which was amazing to see. I got to see several variations of the Surprise Model and lots of other models that I hadn't had the chance to see in the flesh. I also got to see Cosimo in the flesh for the first time, I had gone off him a bit looking at pictures on eBay but actually judging at him and looking at him in more detail he is actually rather lovely. I had thought the head was too large but it very much isn't. I didn't get many photos on the day as I was so busy but as you can see I made a point to photograph the Cosimos!
I actually think I prefer the matte which is very strange for me! It was soon time for the first section championship of the day which was the OF Other Scale championship. At this show I had divisions of five classes and only the division champions went forward to the section championship. This made judging of the section championships much easier and it wasn't long before we had some winners!
Other scale champion went to the gorgeous Haflinger Foal. This is one of my favourite moulds and no shock that he won the section. He took home the black sabino MFT stablemate. Section reserve went to my own Game Day Surprise (CRS Idomeneus) and section Reserve to Reserve went to my own Best of British Shire (CRS The Italian Girl). That's Italy's second section reserve to reserve this year! He is feeling a bit smug now though.
We then moved on to the OF Breyer Stablemate championship. Again judging is made so much easier by the divisions, although with such a strong field of Stablemates I can't imagine it was easy to do! We soon had a set of gorgeous winners though.
It was definitely a day for glossies in this championship! Champion went to the lovely bay Kit who took home the silver dapple G3 Paint Horse. Reserve went to the grey Django and reserve to reserve went to my own Prosecco (CRS Mionetto). I was really shocked by this as I'm not sure out of all my Stablemates he's the one I would have picked but he is really growing on me as a mould. This colour definitely suits him so much. I did adore the 'Wheeler' though who won first place, an absolutely stunning model.
Now it was time for the big guns, the OF Traditional Breyer championship. This had been the most competitive section with some seriously tough classes to judge. Again because of the divisional champions it wasn't a huge field to choose from but they were all stunning models so I cannot imagine that it was very easy!
Section champion went to the Atlanta. There's a bit of a story behind this girl, she came from Chestnut Ridge and her owner asked if I could send her photos of all the ones we had so she could pick her favourite. Well it was definitely worth it as she has done exceptionally well at shows! She took home the bay splash ASB. Reserve was the Clydesdale Gelding (another glossy) and reserve to reserve was the brilliant Mangoky. This is my first time seeing this model in person and it is incredible! It actually looks like a lemur! A brilliant model, I definitely want to add one to my herd.
It was now time for lunch and a bit of forced fun. We started with the feel the bag contest. This was won in an incredible 4 seconds! She was like a ninja! It was hilarious to watch and so much fun to observe. The winner got to pick one of the unbagged models to take home.
My filming was awful but I did film the contest and you can see it on Facebook page (probably tomorrow by the time it uploads)! The winning horse was guessed in just 4 seconds!!!
We then had three fun classes. These were My First Breyer, Best Yellow Horse and Breyer Plush. These were voted on using the patented sweet method. There were some amazing models, I was delighted to win Best Yellow Horse with my Breyer Classics Zodiac Gemini (she's very yellow). The first Breyer model winner was a Brighty and even came with a picture of the owner opening it at Christmas as a child! I'm not sure the winner of the Breyer Plush was an official Breyer release, but he was definitely very plush!
The winners all got rosettes and a prize and everyone got to take home all the sweets they got in votes. We were then able to have a nice long lunch break before the raffle. I am delighted to say that the raffle raised £114 for Aching Arms, a charity so close to my heart. There were also several afternoon buy-ins. I need to add these up but I know at least £20 has been added to that total, which is absolutely amazing.
After lunch we started on the last three sections of the day which were Collectability, Custom and CTF Breyer. I was really excited to see what everyone brought out for collectability and I was not disappointed. There were some amazing models on show. Here are a few of my favourites:
The collectability section wasn't huge but was really well supported which was amazing to see. It was soon time for the collectability championship and I must say I was happy not to have to judge it! The classes I did judge were hard enough!
Champion went to the incredible blue ribbon Man O' War. He took home the black and pink unicorn. Reserve went to the amazing near-complete Latigo conga, there were some gorgeous pieces in this including a glossy Spinaway which I adore! Reserve to Reserve went to my own decorator Shindig (CRS Technicolour Turncoat) who not only brought me home some ribbons but I also ended up with the chase model from the surprise bag!
It was now time for the CTF Breyer Championship. CTF Breyer was basically a new section I made up for this show. Basically I created a Mini Whinnie and other stuff section. I was quite happy with my creation, although a bit stressed when I decided to show hundreds of Mini Whinnies and was running back and forth to the furthest ring from my own table for the whole afternoon with handfuls of Mini Whinnies! I did bring one non-Mini Whinnie as well, you know, just to keep up appearances!
I was absolutely delighted to have done so well in this section (although in all fairness most people seem to have decided to leave their minis at home), but still, my little guys make me very proud! Section champion went to my own Cyclone (CRS Fiery Rose), who took his second CTF champion home. He won me the gorgeous G2 Standardbred as well as a beautiful glass trophy, I was so happy with him. Section reserve then went to the infamous Dog Food! This guy used to be a bit of a fan favourite in the show ring so I'm sure everyone will be happy he's out winning again. He also won me another chase piece! This time a Stablemate one (I swear I did just pick the bags randomly & put them down randomly)! Reserve to Reserve went to this gorgeous unicorn. The colours on this model are just stunning. His owner had received him in their goody bag for the show! What an amazing win!
The final section of the day to finish was custom. This custom section was only for custom Breyers but as always there were some amazing pieces on show. I just have to highlight this incredible decorator custom for you.
Isn't he insane? What a creative idea and a stunning piece of workmanship. I especially love the drool! It was soon time for the custom championship. Again a smaller selection of horses to pick from but with so many high quality pieces I can't imagine it was an easy choice.
Section champion went to the gorgeous custom Weathergirl. A beautiful resculpt and a lovely paint job on this model. She took home the final custom of the day, the bay blanket spotted G4 Paradressage. Reserve champion went to this super adorable Stablemate Shetland with a super fluffy mane and tail! Reserve to Reserve went to my own custom Bobby Jo, CRS Lobelia.
Which meant it was now time for the Supreme. All section champions and reserves stayed out for the supreme which meant there was a really tough line up. Who would you have chosen? Thankfully I had horses in the supreme so could sit back and watch other people suffer as they attempted to pick just three models from such an incredible bunch.
Supreme Champion went to the gorgeous Man O' War. He took home a stunning acrylic trophy, massive rosette and a Breyer Traditional Apres Ski model. This was the collectability champion.
Supreme Reserve Champion went to the custom champion. This is a gorgeous bay pinto Weathergirl. She also took home an acrylic trophy, huge rosette and a Breyer Party at the Barn Classic set.
Supreme Reserve to Reserve Champion went to the gorgeous bay glossy Kit. This stunning model was Stablemate champion and took home an acrylic trophy, massive rosette and a Stablemate Unicorn Truck and Trailer set.
Wow! What a day, it took a while for me to get packed up (especially as I ran out of bubblewrap/pouches)! But we were eventually away just past 6pm (after a fight with the door) and back home. A nice chinese for dinner and a fairly early night were on the table. I definitely felt it the next day! I did over 14,000 steps around that hall and burned over 3,000 calories according to my FitBit. Maybe I should open a model horse fitness camp? Come, run a live show, burn some calories!
Now onto the post-show admin. Thankfully moving to Google Sheets back in 2023 has meant that I no longer have to write up results (an absolute blessing). But I do need to unpack my own horses and write up their results! I also have several new models to catalogue as well as some new sales pieces to photograph and add to the website. Phew, it's going to be a busy week.
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