BREYERWEST 2002

Once again Mom and I made our trek down south for BreyerWest at Spruce Meadows. When I was a child, living in Edmonton, I used to wear out the ATCO admission coupons that came with our gas bill. One day I would go to that magical place set against blue mountains.

That day came many years later when we moved to Calgary. My dad had promised us that we would go to the mountains every weekend. It was two years before we even went to Banff :-D Happily, I made it to Spruce Meadows even before that.

So much has changed, even in the past year. The LRT (Light Rail Transit) system now extends two stops down to Fish Creek Park. New communities have sprung up around Spruce Meadows, such as Cranston and the fancifully named Bridlewood.

During the 15 minute taxi ride, that idyllic image I had kept so long was gone - and will almost be gone - if the waves of white and tan and pink ticky tacky houses keeps up.

Enough of this lamenting, however :-)

BreyerWest 2002 was another year of fun. The show was held in the Milton Room of the British House again, a basement room with a view of the International Ring. It's the ultimate model horse show - with real horses just a few feet away and snobby elite equestrians upstairs (for some reason, they don't like you tromping around the British House ;-D). It is a great location because of all the stuff going on - the food fair, the Chrysler cars artfully arranged around the ground, the barns, the fresh air, tons of birds and greenery. You can never be bored for long at Spruce Meadows.

The judges were local artist and hobbyist Twyla Brower Wehnes and Liz Bouras. A lot of people were excited to have Liz, especially me :-) She is a fabulous person and great to chat with.

Over on the plaza, at the Breyer tent, Kathleen Fallon entertained with Stablemate painting. I think Breyer is very lucky to have such an enthusiastic employee! We oohed and aahed at the special runs on display such as Nosferatu, Shalimar and Bold Impression. I was surprised to see the QVC horse, Jade. This is the running stallion in green. I didn't think too much of him when I saw his picture online, but in person he was just stunning! High winds made the tent wobble and shake, and for a few hours we were worried about the Collector's Class display. There were about 8 displays - three for other animals and five for horses, if I recall. This year I took my first stab at a Collector's Class - Special Runs of 2001.

I refrained from buying too much :-D I believe I bought an Arab halter and a few Stablemates from Linnea Cameron.

Competition this year was pretty familiar and smaller than last year - it wasn't a matter of who was there, but who wasn't :-D. One noticeable new face was Annette Kittleson from Montana. She had some lovely models, including the new Classic Shire and Equinox.

My horses did well this year - I think I took about six firsts. My minis, which did so well last year, did not do too well this year. I skipped showing performance this year as well - I still don't have enough good tack.

"Mirror, Mirror" my CM Andalusian-Morgan cross by Heather Tarr NAN-Qualified twice under Liz - I believe she took straight repaint and CM Mixed Breeds. My Bingo placed thirds and my Snapdragon - showing as a British Riding Pony - won in the pony class. My friend Laureen has a Snapdragon as well, and I was secretly hoping mine would win :-). Bingo Haze took a third in OF Appaloosas - a great accomplishment considering how many ISHes were in there. Laureen also has a Bingo and I accidentally took hers off the table - I was so bummed that he hadn't won anything, but surprise!

I couldn't wait for the CM WB class. This year I was determined to have one of my CM Big Bens by Heather Tarr NAN Qualify. Last year I was so close! The class limit is 3 models per halter class, and I had all three in there - Dungeon Hack, ES Zeus Lord and ES Draco. Dungeon Hack NAN-Qualified while ES Zeus Lord placed 5th. Yea!

Mom also took a stab at showing this year. Mostly it was me yelling "Mom, get over here!" or just placing her horses in the class. Sigh. Mom was too busy talking to other people's mothers to pay attention :-) Her Sicilian donkey placed fourth, IIRC.

Also new this year were classes for other wildlife. I had my Jester collie in there and he placed fifth. This was an interesting class that included Fiona Lagarde's pig as well as the cows and dogs.

Banat er Binh was handed out at the dinner on Sunday evening. After many years of enduring chicken, the meal this year was beef. Annette was quite thrilled because she said it was hard to get real Montana beef. Several models were given away at the dinner, including a glossy Seattle Slew that was won by Jaki Tatham. Jaki has won a model every year for the past 3 years, lucky gal! The winner of the matching PAS and PAF to Banat er Binh was won by Ivy Olensky, who was showing by proxy (Ivy says that she will make it one day to BreyerWest, but we are not holding our breath :-D) True to form, rain threatened after the dinner and we scurried to get our collector's classes out of the Breyer tent.

I can't wait until next year...it always seems like such a long wait for July to come around again. All I know is that I'm very thankful for Breyer and Spruce Meadows for sponsoring the show - it's the highlight of every local shower's year :-)

My pictures have been developed, just need to scan them :-)

More live shows...