Live Shows
By now you know that Breyers are models of horses, so the term live show throws me off a bit. (actually it tends to make me snigger like a school girl.) Not knowing much about the model showing universe it surprised me how serious people take it all.
A live show is where the model is actually present at the show, as opposed to a photograph competition. The goal of these shows are to showcase the model in as lifelike a setting as they can acheive. Just like in real life the horses are shown in different classes such as halter or performance.
Top dollar is paid for quality models either original to an artist or a Breyer that has been altered or is in classic condition. A high premium is paid for quality painting and tack. In the end the prices being spent rival that of a real horse show for both animals and tack. Wow!
Collectors
The number of people participating is small (compared to that of an artshow that is) but they are very serious. These people would stand in line for hours just to get a good deal, or enter the swap meet.
The Holiday Inn West in Lexington, KY was completely taken over for 4 days. Most people who stayed at the hotel opened their rooms and sold their older models or whatever. You could walk up and down the hallways to find room after room full of Breyers and Breyer enthusiaists. They also plastered the walls with sales fliers showing the horses for sale and the room number. I would think this would do major damage to the wallpaper but apparently not, since the hotel hasn’t put a stop to it and the event has been held at the same place for many years.
I should mention that Stone has an event going at the same time at the same city. His event is called Equilocity. I didn’t run over there but that just goes to show how much interest there is in this stuff.
Competition
Carol is good as what she does. Her passion for her art and animals comes through in her work. She loves cows like I love horses. It’s just something in the gentics that is hard to explain. She used to do a lot of horses but over the past several years her work has focused more on the livestock side of things. And towards cattle in particular. Her business acronym is COWS. (Carol’s Original WorkS) Very clever!
Most of the people we met were great fun. The vendors and fest goers at the Kentucky Horse Park were all friendly. Our neighbor Nicolle at the artisans gallery was a hoot and made what would have been a rather stuffy experience a joy.
However, there was a select few people who held a rather high opinion of themselves and I think they tended to look down their noses at Carol. Mind you, some of these same people she helped get into the industry. Breyer uses a rather small stable of artists to create original work for new models. I believe having only a handfull of artists tends to increase the competitive edge for some. I mean seriously, had a few of them been any more Alpha Dog, they would have come over and pee’d on her table.
I did want to say not everyone gets cut throat when it comes to Breyer. Brigitte Eberl is the German sculptor who created the Alborozo model for this years event. She and her friend were a delight. Carol and Brigitte (Bri-gee-ta) are good friends and share much between them including information and a place to stay when one is visiting the others country.
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