Soul Renewal Time aka NAN 2010

Reserve Champion of the Very Tough Original Finish Arabian Costume Class owned by my friend Karen J. Bridle Setup by me, Saddle by Lisa Salamandick

One of the halters That I made for Last Year's NAN Auction donation.

My buddy, Karen J's entry in Showmanship. Halter by me!

Above set is the "mother hubbard II" set owned by Robin Smith

Above set was donated a few years ago to a show. I don't know who owns it now. So if it's yours please speak up! :-)

A few things..

First NAN stands for North American Model Horse Nationals. I do not know why its not NAMHN instead of just NAN but it wasn't my call :0)

Secondly, "Breyerfest" is not just for kids, or just model horse people or just for Breyer Horses. I don't know why it's not called "Model Horse Fest" but again, not my call ;o)

The NAN show is held the days leading up to Breyerfest. Usually Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the same week that Breyerfest is held. It is held in Kentucky Every OTHER year instead of every year so that the west coast or western half of the united states doesn't have to drive 20 hours to get to NAN every year. Next year it'll be in Tucson Arizona, which is very tempting because I love all things western. (or at least I think I do without ever having been in the western States like Arizona. I was in TX a couple of times.. does that count?)

Model horse Showing is like Model Train Showing, only with horses and size restrictions for the amount of room a display can take up.

LSQ stands for "Live Show Quality" means that the tack, or dolls or paint job on the horse would compete well at a live show. (and that statement is very dicey so I'll leave it as is)

When at a "regular" live show, the first and second place finishing set up or horses (in the case of just "Halter")are given NAN cards which means that the horse and setup are eligible for entering that Year and the next year's NAN show.

And before you ask, Yes, the Judging is HIGHLY subjective. (That'll be for another post sometime.. maybe.. if I'm brave)There are no real specific standards other than "breed" standards in the case of halter and "safety" and "realism" standards in the case of "peformance".

Ok, now that the above is out of the way, onto the happy parts about how wonderful the show was this year!!

I "Forgot" to go to a live model horse show over the past two years. Last year I didn't have a job and I didn't feel right about traveling and staying in a hotel without having a job to pay for it so I stayed home. The year before, I was pregnant. And I know that a lot of women travel when they're pregnant but not me. I'm a wuss... I was sick most of the time anyway..

Because of this, I didn't have any horses qualified for this year's show. Luckily I have the worlds greatest friends because My Buddy, Karen J, paid the "Helper" fee and I was able to go hang out with her and everyone else at the show :-) I saw and met a lot of wonderful people in person and they were were all warm and friendly.. It was nice to put actual faces to online names :-)

I took a metric ton of pictures. it's going to take me at least a week to go through all of them and properly tweak them. Above are just a few "Highlights" with some horses using DNC (Desert Night Creations aka me) tack. As I go through and post my NAN photos, I'll be putting a few up.

All of the entries were really, really, competitive and I can see from those entries that I need to step up my game quite a bit with the tackmaking. I have been slow and haven't spent enough time in the studio to further my silversmithing skills and I'm really regretting that now. The whole show was so inspiring in so many ways and I'm so glad that I was able to go!!

I'm happy to say that My and Sue's collaboration bridle brought $335 at the NAN donation Auction and we couldn't be happier! Even though sue wasn't at NAN this year, I called her right after the auction to tell her the great news! She seemed as happy as me about it so I hope that it made her day!

Well thats it for now.. more in the near future after I recover..