The NAN 2013 Wrap Up

NAN Harrisburg is officially in the record books. And what an amazingly well run show this was. This was my best ever NAN experience as an entrant. I found the show very well paced--I never felt rushed, and I only rarely felt things were dragging without explanation. I did not miss a single class, despite over scheduling myself on Friday with performance (I had 4 horses in CM/AR English Trail. AAAAHHHHHHH!) The staff was professional, and things ran smoothly.

I thought that NAN 2010, when Eleanor Harvey and I ran it, was the best NAN ever-best organized, most fun, whatever. No longer true. We are second, and very solidly beaten. Not a photo finish at all. Chair Niki Hertzog and registrar Jim West were super organized and super professional. I thank you all for your hard work. You've set the bar high for 2013.

I also want to thank my husband David, who agreed to come along and help for the weekend. I am sure that by Friday night he was over hearing grown women talk about little plastic horses and the politics thereof, but he really did not let on. I am so very grateful he gave up his weekend to something he doesn't have any interest in at all, because I asked him to. I love you, David. You're awesome.

I took 33 horses to Harrisburg, and showed in 81 classes. I came home with 28 Top Tens, 5 Reserves and 6 Champions. And here they are, and these are the people who created them. All pictures will blow up if you click on them, so you can get a better look:

First off, here are my horses that didn't get noticed:

These are my resins, from left to right, the back row:

Elidar, a "Daffyd" resin sculpted by Sarah Minkiewicz-Bruenig and finished by Daphne Mazuz
Oscar Wilde, a "Showman" resin sculpted by Kathi Bogucki and finished by Carol Williams
Firefly, an "Elsie" sculpted by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig and finished by Stephen Michaud
Margo, a "Koko" resin sculpted by Lynn Fraley and finished by Tom Bainbridge
Valerian Steel, the Animal Artistry large Andalusian by Donna Chaney and finished by Ann Harris
Bruce, an "Otto" resin by Sarah Minkiewicz-Bruenig finished by Morgen Kilbourne

And in front, left to right:

Sundance, a "Taboo by Sarah Minkiewicz-Bruenig and finished by Mel Miller
Tyrion, an "Imp" by Sarah Minkiewicz-Bruenig finished by Jenn Danza (he fell over during his class or I think he would have been pinned!)
Shock Value, a "Nevada" by Sarah Rose finished by Mel Miller

And in customs land:

Khandan, a Breyer classic Arabian mare by Bev Manderfeld
Hot Zone, a Black Horse Ranch hunter by Ann Harris--Hot Zone arrived with a broken leg I found Friday morning. Happily, Jenn Danza put him back together and he did not miss a class!
Just Another Guy, a Stone Ideal Stock Horse by Kirsten Wellman
Armaan, a Breyer Stablemate G1 Arabian stallion by Kirsten Wellman

I managed to not get images of my horses in their performance classes (something had to give!) so for many I don't have pictures of them in set ups. Sorry. Also, in general, a lot of my older horses did very well this year, so please indulge me with some stories.

Top Tens

Harpo, a Mittens resin, sculpted and finished by Ann Harris, Top Ten in CM/AR English Trail. Tack by susan Doolittle, doll by Cari Chaney. I think Martina Vanelli took the performance picture. I have had Harpo for 10 years now.

Viva Las Vegas, a Matriarch sculpted and finished by Carol Williams. Dave gave me this horse early in our courtship. She took Top Tens in CM/AR Reining/Western Dressage, Trad/Classic/LB scale QH, and Tr/Cl Other Dilute. This horse's barn name is Priscilla--she got some tack damage repaired this weekend, so I think her performance career is over. Her saddle is by Janet Eddington, bridle by Sue Bensema Young and doll by Rosewood dolls

Polka Parr T is a customized Black Horse Ranch Reiner done by me. I have been showing Polka since 2000! He is a multiple past NAN champ and holds 3 separate Superior Event Horse awards (marathon driving, reining and roping) This year he got his Top Ten in Reining/Western Dressage. She was shown with a Terry Newberry saddle and bridle (which I purchased for Polka the night before NAN 2001 started!) and has a doll by Anne Field. I will show this horse forever.

Polka Bueno, an Okie Too sculpted and finished by Carol Williams. This foal is 12 years old, and still wins for me! He got his Top Ten in AR Stock Foals.

Snickerdoodle, a Loki resin by Lesli Kathman, finished and haired by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig. I am not his original owner, so I am not sure of his age, but I think the date on him is 2004. He is a resin that was a cast custom, something that is frowned upon now. His Top Ten is in Workmanship-Classic/Traditional Tobiano

Airline Amy and Waps Baby Doll. I think of these two as sisters, and that is why I show them together. Both are finished by Danielle Feldman (I own a third appaloosa by her as well!) They both earned Top Tens in Sport/Carriage/Draft Foals, Patterned. Amy is a Lets Fly resin by Tibbi Searcher, and Doll is a Gesche resin by Carlee Balling-that latter resin was released in 1997, though Doll is probably wearing a different paint job than the one she started out in.

Secret Weapon, a Valinor by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig and finished by Jennifer Scott. Secret had some repair work to her tail and scored third in her workmanship class, SM/LB scale Greys

Roxanne, a Working Girl resin by Sarah Rose and finished by Sommer Prosser. Roxy won her Top Ten in QH/solid colored stock horse SM scale.

Chakra, a Vixen by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig finished by Steph Michaud. Chakra is still new here, and I really love her. Her Top Ten was in workmanship, SM/LB scale Overo pinto

Reserve Champions

Dun in Pastels, a custom Black Horse Ranch Hunter by Lesli Kathman. He was owned by Paula Hecker who showed the heck out of him in the 90's, and she sold him to me about 18 months ago. Paula stalks him on my Facebook page, which makes me happy. I think he was done in 1996. I am honored to own him now, and clearly, he's still got it--he placed Top Ten in CM/AR Huntseat pleasure, Stock/pony and took reserve champ in CM/AR Other English. He used tack that was made for him by Jennifer Kistler and used dolls made by Cari Chaney and Anne Field.

Frasasti, a custom Breyer Weather Girl by Danelle Gatcombe. Danelle is a wonderful regional customizer, and it was great to tell her that Frasasti followed up her Top Ten from last year with a reserve in CM Grey, where she was judged on the technical work Danelle did on her.

Lasher, a custom Breyer Classic Swaps by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig. Lasher was made in 1992 and refurbished in 1996. He is older than NAN or NAMHSA! The fact that he took reserve in CM Other Sporthorses Classic/LB/SM scale speaks to how ahead of his time he was in 1992.

Josie Whiplash, a tiny Breyer Stablemate scale scratching foal finished by the late Judy Renee Pope. Josie took reserve in workmanship, LB/SM scale dilutes.

Champions

Skipper Dan is my lone OF horse this time-he's a Breyer Enchanted Forest, and was one of many versions of this pony on the table. He had three classes, and failed to place in 2 (he shouldn't have) but did manage to not only place but win OF Dressage with a Prix Caprilli entry. His tack is by Jana Skybova and his doll-an adorable kind with glasses and jodphurs-is by Anne Field.

Heidi, a Hazel resin by Morgen Kilbourne, finished by Sonya Johnson, had a great day--she is super fun to play with. She started the day winning the harness class (harness by me, cart by BillDuncan, dolls by Anne Field), then picked up Top Tens in Cross Country/Jumpers and dressage (tack by Corrine Ensor and Susan Doolittle, dolls by Anne Field) and then a Reserve in Poles/Barrels/Keyhole/Flag and Balloon Racing (tack by Pam Perkins, doll by Anne Field) I really enjoy showing this horse-she is just FUN.

Smoke N Satin is a customized Breyer Lonesome Glory by Pamela Hutton. This horse has been around since 2001, and she is a past champ at Breyerfest Live. This year she took a Top Ten in CM Thoroughbreds and then won her workmanship class, CM Greys--yes, I took both champ and reserve in that class!

Sadira, a Jezebel resin by Sarah Rose finished by Sommer Prosser. She went Top Ten in SM/LB Bay and then won the ARab mares class, beating horses of all scales!

All About Khemistry is a CM Breyer classic Man O War by Kirsten Wellman. He was created as a donation to help raise money for a mutual friend, and I won him at auction for about $100. He does well, and is consistent. This weekend he went and won the class Lasher was reserve in. He is Kirsten's first ever NAN champ that she created!

Chump Change is a Genoveva resin by Brigitte Eberl finished by Ann Harris. I adore this horse. Her color is perfect, and I love it. She does well locally, but has never placed at NAN. This year she won her workmanship class, Trad/Classic Bay Mare/Filly/Geldings

Finally, and you may skip this if you are easily grossed out, I want to present my favorite entry to set up. Friday morning brought us the Scene class where you can set up all sorts of non competitive horse type things, like a horse standing for the vet, or milling about at a check on a hunt, or....avoiding being eaten in the world of The Walking Dead. Photos by me, Marisa Evans and Martina Vanelli. I would appreciate any other photos people had of this set up. I absolutely LOVED watching the reactions to it (mostly along the lines of "Gross. But cool." And if there had been some sort of popular vote, this entry would have won. Alas, he was out of the ribbons by a single point. Still a win for me though!

That's my NAN wrap. See you at Breyerfest in about a month, yikes!!

Pint Size Plastic Live Recap

Its been a VERY busy month on the plastic horse front, and before October, I was very excited about having all sorts of things to blog about. I forgot that I would need, like, TIME, to write the posts! I started this post sheltering at home, in anticipation of Sandy, and I managed to be very good about prepping for the final show of this 5 week period yesterday (down to just packing halter horses, and work is likely closed tomorrow) so here I am, doing laundry and making soup and catching up on online things. We are now in the Sandy Aftermath period and while I have heat, power and the internet, work does not, so I seem to be on vacation this week. I think there is even going to be tack making tonight.

ANYWAY. Just pretend its October 7th.

Pint Sized Plastic was held in the Albany, NY area on October 6th, and I went for a couple reasons:

- I was off that weekend
- It had a small performance division, and I thought it would be a good place to give Polka Parr T, with his newly repaired leg, a spin. So to speak.
- It had a novice division, and I thought it would be super fun to bring along my nieces.

Sadly, whatever photos I took that weekend appear to have vanished. I have no idea what happened to them :( So all pictures in this post were taken by my sister in law, Kathy, who tagged along to keep the girls in line.

This show was on the small size, which I expected. I think it was a good First Show experience for MacKenzie and Riley, as it was not so large as to be overwhelming (see: me at Breyerfest vendor tent, 1995) and everyone was VERY nice, including and especially the two novice judges, Taylor Simpson and Emily Bailey. They moved classes at a leisurely pace, since the girls were the only showers, and gave thorough critiques after each class, making sure to tell the girls the things they'd done well before gently offering suggestions to make things better.

They also appreciated creativity (such as the horse caught in the explosion at the silly bands factory) and humor (MacKenzie showed a 3 legged model named after my own, late real horse, Trivia. The judges liked the "zombie horse")

Both girls did REALLY well, and took home armloads of rosettes, and happily they split the grand and reserve. I would like to point out that the reserve-the classic scale shire known as Champ-was one of the horses we cleaed up with toothpaste a few weeks earlier. He belongs to Riley. Nano, the Esprit owned by MacKenzie was grand.

They also won a ton of stuff in the raffle (including the Holy Grail of raffle prizes, MORE HORSES!!) and came away with amusingly different interests in the hobby. Riley likes performance. MacKenzie is more interested in collectibility--I think its more the radical colors of some of those.

They both want to do this again. They both have visions of NAN. Win.

Anyway, I have tubs of sticky wax for both of them come Christmas. Sticky wax fixes everything.

On the Open front, the performance division moved fairly slowly, as judge Karen Pajak was working and showing china, and as we know, Karen likes to fill classes singlehandedly. Karen did a great job judging, and the division DID end at lunch, which made me feel a lot better about getting home in a timely manner.

Oh, and Polka Parr T is qualified for Harrisburg, which was pretty much my goal for the show.

Not bad for an old, busted up horse!

Performance on the Porch

Yeah, I'm running a few weeks late, sorry!!

I managed to convince Dave to come to this, as there was also a pool party planned...and then it rained all day. I felt pretty bad, but Dave took it in stride. He hung out with John and Rob much of the day. And I think he is still willing to come to Harrisburg to help there. This is why I married him.

Performance on the Porch at Kate Cabot's home in Beverly MA was a huge amount of fun. The classes were small but brutal, with a 2 horse CM Cross Country class that was composed of the 2012 NAN champ and reserve. Not a bad place to try new things out though, as the pace was slow enough that you could experiment without penalties.

Lots of fun, and done by 5pm, even with an hour lunch break, and a slightly late start.

I know Kate is planning a few more of these small format shows over the next few months. If you can get to one, I recommend it. Its why we do this.

And yes, I am plotting out a sport horse show in my basement. Also small. Details to follow.

And photos:

Nancy Timm's Stone Pony rides on!

Kate Dwyer's fab marathon pony!

Robin Briscoe's "Stole Your Girlfriend"

What? This is totally normal.

I loved this Cross Country jump--its a scale model of one of the Olympic jumps.

Kate Dwyer's "Friendly Fire" makes it look easy.

Heidi in Working Cow Horse

I can't remember if this is Anne or Marisa's Leggs

Another one of Robin's entries

I'll have to get the OK to put up the photo of the world's oddest model horse class. 4 horses, all chestnut based. Not a pinto or an app among them!!

Digesting BOYCC 6 weeks later

BOYCC ended up being an inadvertent test for using my cell to make posts.  Looks like it worked!

In the 6 or so weeks since BOYCC, I've had a lot of time to think on my experiences there.  Yeah, there was the show, with all its attendant ooooh and aaaaah photos.  I brought my very best across the country in a plastic tool box, and got my butt kicked hard (I am so glad I did not risk my Hagens.  Even I would have pointed and laughed at them on the table) but it was a deserved kicking.  I could look at the table and pretty much predict where I was going to place, and I was right about 90% of the time.  There was just amazing, crazy rare things there.

However, it is NOT the show I keep coming back to.

The entire weekend was structured to be the very best of what my friends and I used to call a Hack Session, where we would meet up for a weekend afternoon and work on customs and props over snacks and maybe dinner.  Lots of socializing and brainstorming.  BOYCC had a ton of social time built right in, and lots of food.  This helped me meet folks I hadn't known before, and to rekindle friendships outside of the typical hustle and bustle of Breyerfest.

I also got to exercise my creative mojo in ways I have not in a very very long time.  My first workshop was overglaze painting with Karen Gerhardt.  I haven't painted in about forever, so that was fun, and while overglaze is a bit finicky, I had good results without too much frustration.  Next up was a medallion sculpting class.  This was more intimidating to me, as I had rarely worked in 3D when I was doing a lot of artsy stuff, and I had NO IDEA what to do.  Everyone was doing horses, so I decided to NOT do a horse head, and instead, sculpted a reclining cat from behind.  I've been drawing a lot of cats looking over their shoulders of late.  I was very pleased with how this medallion came out, so when it came time to create a 2 part plaster mold for it, I was scared.  The medallion was done in a non hardening wax clay, and I know it could be destroyed in the casting process.  And I know that it wasn't "precious" it was still hard to let it go enough to create that mold.

The mold making process was more technical, and sort of suited to how I generally do stuff-- methodical, making sure measurements are accurate.  Very conducive to how this vet sees the world and work.  My mold was a success, and my sculpture survived the process to go home with me.

Yesterday,  the dry plaster mold arrived from Southern California, and with it, a pair of bisques of the medallion and a finished art glazed version.  I am amazed that I made this thing.  Joan Berkwitz, who organized and ran BOYCC with Adalee Hude, posted her part of the process on her blog so I will direct you there for photos of the finished work.

I do think I will pursue slip casting more of these, and firing them in such a way I could china paint them and use them as gifts.  The power behind just this idea is staggering to me.  This is why I do this.  It is not about NAN trophies, or cards, or arguing about what the ultimate goal of NAMHSA should be.  It is this being able to spend time with like minded women in creative pursuits that are related but not necessarily the same (my friend Liz La Rose once described performance showing as collaborative work, and she's right).  The other stuff is just small and not truly that important--this stuff will go on even when NAMHSA fails.

Windrush Winter Warmup

Yesterday I attended the only model horse show I've ever been to in January. It was hosted at the home of Kate and John Cabot, who graciously welcomed Region 10 into their home for an old fashioned model horse show. Kate and John have a LARGE house, that accommodated about a dozen showers, four judges, and a few significant others for the day. Showers hung out on folding chairs and couches at card and coffee tables, and the two show rings were in the dining room which had lovely natural light for most of the show. We were limited to just artist resins and customs, but there were separate divisions for them, and the classlist was split in ways that allowed for fewer apples and oranges type classes than you might see at a typical show in this region. It was small...some might even say intimate. We had a hot lunch, there were snacks and drinks all day, and we got to spend the day in slippers.












And it was ROARING fun. Seriously. I did not feel like I was at a model horse show all day at the end of it. There was none of that midday after lunch OMG is this the Bataan Death March feel that I get some days. I think part of it was that the group was small enough that instead of everyone sitting in groups of 4 with their usual posse, we all interacted with each other all day long.



Steve even made a new friend.



Sharon Mossey showed off her new Eberl Grace, finished by Steph Michaud,and this was about the only model horse photo I took. I went with good intentions to take pictures, and got bored with it in a hurry. Perhaps I'll change my mind when I go back into albums and scan for hours at a time. Anyway, this mare was gorgeous.





It was not a performance show, but I did bring my new blingy tack by Sue Bensama Young. Viva Las Vegas got to show it off. This sapphire halter went nicely with her Stock Breed Champ rosette, hee hee!



One silly photo of Fraley draft horses. I think Al, the Punjabi, is going to get bitten.



We were also treated to a view of Kate's horse room, which she calls "The Vault." She has these gorgeous built in cabinets, with lighting, glass shelves, and glass doored fronts. It was like looking at a museum exhibit. Once the shelving for the chinas and various vehicles are up, I hope Kate does put up small descriptions of the horses with some of their history. Wouldn't it be fun to organize "farm tours" of our collections?

Skye and I had a great conversation at dinner on our way home about how much fun this show was, and how some of its innovations could be used in the Region to help keep showing accessible and fun while allowing it to continue to mature. I'm saving that for a post later in the week. Make sure you check the Facebook page for some more photos Linda took!