My BreyerFest History: NAN 1997's Paper Ephemera

Third (!) Post of the Day

When your mom is a historian, you learn the importance of keeping certain items. (Note, I did not say EVERY item. Hah!) That's why I was not surprised to find not only the paper ephemera from the first NAN, but its counterpart from the 1997 NAN, too.

The official show program.

This year it was a two day show and much, much bigger than 1995 NAN.

And that is reflected in the number of volunteers and the types of jobs they were doing.

Entrants were not listed by state this time - I found that a little disappointing. But, the names are alphabetized so you could still find your friends.

The town you were coming from was listed, too.

174 entrants came (or proxied). This was actually the third NAN. In 1996 what became known as "traveling NAN" and happened every other year was held in Pomona, CA. (The last one was held in Palm Springs, California in 2015. For years there had been a variety of ongoing problems holding NANs away from Kentucky and the decision was finally made to keep the event coupled with BreyerFest.)

Apparently I did not complete taking photos of the 1997 brochure. Sorry, but it's all packed away now.

Kathy and I are back together for the 1997 NAN. Stay 'tooned!

My BreyerFest History: 1997

Second Post of the Day

Two years went by before I returned to BreyerFest. Why? All my children were now in school and, after volunteering in my kids' school and being hired to work as an aide, I had decided to go back to school and get my teaching license. But, even though my kids may have been in school, they also had busy lives outside of school be it sports, dance, riding lessons (huzzah!), scouts, music lessons, church activities...

The list goes on. I was probably the busiest I've ever been in my life.

Craig has always been good about parenting and husbanding (is that a word?) but even with his support, adding my own university work on top of that already heavy family and school load made it so that I did not go to BreyerFest 1996.

 BreyerFest 1997

But! 1997 was a NAN year and Kat and I were all in, heavy load or not! 

Breyer was still providing a dinner and the model given out was called The Dinner Model.

For 1997 it was Bold on the Stud Spider mold. That deep, dark palomino is still gorgeous nearly 30 years later. 3,850 were made of him and a mug with his likeness was included with the model. (As a teacher who received a lot of mugs as gifts, I ended up using my Bold mug to fill bird feeders. That way it wasn't stuck behind myriad other mugs in the cupboard and I got to see it often! Win-win!)

The real Bold was a police horse in Jacksonville, Florida where he served for 14 years, was in parades and TV commercials, and was Police Horse of the Year in 1995.

The very first BreyerFest Traditional Special Run, Excalibur (on the Hackney mold) was available with 200 having been produced and again four stablemate key chains of 500 each. (Once again, numbers were going up as the event grew.) However, only 45 auction lots were available that year.

1997 was the second year of Equilocity and the second NAN. Kathy and I attended both plus we spent an early morning at Keeneland.

Stay 'tooned!

Peaceful

Bonus Post - More to Come

I went out to the barn yesterday after church. I was wearing a dress and sandals, not conducive to hiking out to Abby's grave, but then, I wasn't going to her grave.

I'd asked Tim at church if the far northwest pasture had been grazed recently or if it was high and in need of horses to come and munch. As I'd expected with only three horses to graze the pastures now, he told me that the field was tall. And, as he pointed out, there was manure (which doesn't bother me) and very uneven ground (which does) in that particular pasture that I'd need to navigate my walker around.

"I honestly don't think you'd be able to get out to the graves without help right now," he said apologetically. 

I wasn't surprised. And you know what? It was okay.

As I said, I drove out directly from church.

As I drove past the north end of the northwest pasture, I could see what he meant - the grass was high and would be difficult to push my walker through.

I could see the spot where Abby and Two Socks were laid to rest even though I could not get out to it.

I continued past the barn's property and drove past the woods on the other side of the graves. I love that the woods shelter and protect them from the prevailing winds.

Turning my car around, I drove back and around, heading up the lane to the new barn and parking my car. I was able to walk out to the fence bordering the south pasture and the hayfield where I could look out to the graves.

I snapped some photos and as I stood there, a wash of peace came over me. Abby was gone, true, but her final resting place was familiar to her and she was at the home she had loved.  

I turned around and walked back to my car. The feeling of peacefulness remained, and I drove home quietly, feeling very grateful that she had been my girl.

I am gonna be okay. 

Yellow outlines the property; the red circle shows the three smallest trees on the property. Abby and Two Socks were standing under the one on the right when it was struck by lightning. The light blue dot is their grave site. 

It's Been a Year

It's been a year. A long year. A hard year. A year where often I felt adrift and horse-lonely. 

Originally I'd planned to commemorate today with a whole week of throwback posts and my favorite pictures. But I couldn't do it. When I'd try to write about her or look for pictures, the tears would start. Just as they have now. 

I simply can't.

So, here is my favorite photo of the two of us together, a gift from HorseyReader Trinity who embellished the photo with with silver metallic thread, framed it, and gave it to me just after Abby died. 

And my favorite video, one of Abby's pied piper moments. (Oh, how I miss those times when she would follow me all over the pasture!)

Rest well, sweet girl. I miss you terribly.

BreyerFest 2025 Program & Virtual Workshops

Second Post of the Day

In case you missed it, the official BreyerFest program has been posted. 

In the next day or two, I will be posting the 1999 and 2000 programs. Be sure to compare them to this year's program and you will see quite a difference. Stay 'tooned for those!

A preview of some of the auction horses is in the program. Not all are included, though. Usually one or more of the Mystery Surprise Horses is offered in the auction and no doubt Breyer does not want to reveal that model yet.

Then, yesterday the BreyerFest blog previewed what they called the final live auction reveals. Some beautiful models are available!

The Virtual BreyerFest activities are not in the program. However, on June 23 Breyer released some things about the virtual workshops on the BreyerFest blog. 

I assume that since Breyer has released information about the seminars, including mine, then I am free to share a little more about mine. (Sorry, I can't enlarge the screen shots any further.)

This year my seminar is about making a show drape. That's my horse in the photo and she won that ribbon at a GLC show, but the drape was not made by me. It was made by Judy Hall and is beautiful.

Breyer posted my supply list as well as instructions for making the frame that holds the show drape.

I have been writing about past and present BreyerFests for over month now and every time I sit down at my computer to write another post, I become more and more excited about the event. It's only two weeks away!

I can't wait. 

Stay 'tooned!

My BreyerFest History: the First NAN Show

First Post of the Day

Excitement and anticipation were through the roof on July 27, 1995. The first NAN drew 106 entrants from 29 states and thus was the biggest show ever held in the hobby to that date. 

Other shows may have had bigger class lists or been spread over two days, but since every model at NAN had to qualify to enter by winning a first or second in a NAN qualifier show, the models entered in this show were the best of the best in the hobby.

First a disqualifier about the photos. Due to the fragility of the album they are in, I decided to leave them in it as is and take photos of the photos. There is glare and there is distortion, but this was not the time to remove them. When I do it will need to be permanently because the photo album will not survive their removal.

Beth Dickinson, me, and Kathy, ready to show! (And nervous and hopeful, too!)

It was fun to see Beth's name along with Kathy's, mine, and other friends from Illinois and Indiana.

Top Tens for both Kathy and Beth in the OF China/Resins Other Light/Gaited class!

And Beth won Reserve National Champion for that class!

A Top Ten in one of the Spanish classes for my Favory Furioso.

I received a Top Ten for my circus horse entry. I made the doll, the tack, and the ring. 

My Windsong Sherif won a Top Ten in the Arabian class where foals were competing against adults but I don't have a photo of that for some reason.

So here he is in a pic used for photo showing.

More success for Beth - another Top Ten in the OF China/Resins Draft Breeds class.

A Top Ten for Andrea Morden-Moore in the OF Plastic Mustang/Mustang Cross class.

Laura Doll showing her National Champion plaque for a performance entry.

A photo of a performance class. (As you can tell, it was crowded in that ballroom.)

A harness class. (I would not have wanted to be the person who tacked up that team of eight horses! Wow!)

Arabian Costume class.

Someone preparing her entry for the class.

Another Arabian Costume.

Kathy's Bismarck with championship ribbons from this and past shows - NAN 1995, BreyerFest 95 Live, Halter Madness 1996, and an unknown rosette. 

More to come tomorrow, so stay 'tooned!

My BreyerFest History: 1995 & the First NAN Show's Paper Ephemera

Second Post of the Day

It was in 1995 that NAMHSA held the very first NAN (North American Nationals.) NAMHSA itself  began first as some chat on Haynet (the granddaddy of early internet groups) and then a meeting was held at BreyerFest (and later that summer, Jamboree) in 1994 where the formal organization of the North American Model Horse Showers Association was discussed and finalized. 

It is quite a testament to those early NAMHSA and NAN volunteers that they were able to hold the very first NAN the following summer! I can only imagine the hard work that went into it.

While going through the boxes in my closet, I came across a whole lot of information from that very first NAN.

The invitation letter to compete in the show.

Instead of giving out NAN qualifying cards at the shows back then, the show holders sent the NAN cards to NAMHSA for those who'd won them. Then, NAMHSA sent out invitation letters to those who had qualifying models.

NAN show tags for some of my models and my name tag (looks funny to see Illinois on there instead of Indiana!) 

The class schedule that was sent with that invitational letter. (The highlighting is mine as are the names of the models I was planning to enter.)

After confirming which horses I was bringing and sending back fees and the entry form, another letter arrived a few weeks before the show was to be held.

The cover letter from Kate Cabot, the NAN 95 Registrar. (Kate is still active in the hobby and is a very nice lady.)

A list of my horses and their classes. (My name has been put down by mistake in 3045; Windsong Sherif's name should be there.)

A benefit action for NAMHSA was also being held.

Auction Lot #1 - Kathy contributed a gorgeous western saddle and two headstalls. She's very modest about her tack making skills, but she is really, really good.

The final class list; circles are mine so I don't miss my classes.

The show's program that was given out on the day of the show to all entrants.

The names of those incredible volunteers who made that first show happen in such a short time. (If you were one of them, then thank you!)

The entrants were listed by state. Kathy and I came from Illinois and all those other Illinois ladies are still active in the hobby except maybe Andrea Morden-Moore. (She fulfilled a lifelong dream shortly afterward, went back to school at the University of Illinois, and became a veterinarian! Way to go, Andrea!)

Many, many familiar names of people, some from the past and many more who are still in the hobby. Beth Dickinson (Pennsylvania) and I have been hobby friends since 1971!

Next up? Photos from NAN 1995!

Stay 'tooned!