Horse Crazy
An exposé of the fringe culture that is model horse showing
NOVEMBER 2014
A grey horse was trotting toward a short white jump. Her tail flowed out behind
her and her ears were pricked forward in anticipation. She prepared to push herself
off from the ground and sail over the single white pole and long bed of bright red
and yellow flowers below.
But she never reached the jump. In fact she was frozen in motion. She was not
trotting over grass, kicking up clods of dirt, but in fact was positioned on a long table
in the middle of a Knights of Columbus hall in Spencer, Mass. The horse was only
about eight inches tall and made of resin.
The 50 feet by 30 feet hall was full of long tables covered with model horses, all
poised in different scenes. The owners of these model horses, who sat at their own
tables around the perimeter of the room, were competing in the New England
Performance Challenge, a model horse show held Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014.
Although the show saw only 21 entrants, the model horse showing hobby is
widespread, with enthusiasts of all ages. What started out as a few collectors getting
together in their homes to talk about model horses in the late 1960s, morphed into a
worldwide hobby. Breyer Animal Creations, an American-based company that
specializes in manufacturing model horses, produces and ships approximately 5
million models each year to 15 countries, according to the company’s website. In
2014 alone, Breyer earned $17.5 million in revenue, according to Zoom Information
Inc.
Model shows attract horse lovers, especially those who can’t have real horses due to
financial reasons or being psychically unable to care for horses. Anything they might
do with a real horse (rodeos, show jumping, racing, etc.), they replicate in miniature.
Yet the competitors love more about the hobby than just the horses. They love the
camaraderie. Even though they are competing against each other, they maintain
friendly relationships and cherish being part of a close-knit community full of
individuals who share their interest.
Thirty-one-year-old Laura Bernardi, the owner of the trotting grey model horse –
which she named Lavender Sky – sat at her personal table on the right side of the
hall, a tattoo on her left wrist peeking out from underneath her long-sleeved shirt.
Like many competitors, she finds it difficult to explain to outsiders why she would
want to collect so many “toys” or why she would want to go through all the trouble
of setting up the scenes or driving hours away to attend shows. The entrance fee for
the New England Performance Challenge cost Bernardi $40, though fees vary across
shows and levels. Why again would she choose to spend her hard-earned money to
buy models and enter shows?
“Unless you’re in the hobby,” Bernardi said, “you don’t get it.”
Competitor Niki Hertzog finds that making comparisons is often necessary in order
to eliminate peoples’ confusion.
“If people don’t understand, it helps to equate it to doll houses or model trains,
because for some reason, people get that!” Hertzog said emphatically, throwing her
arms up.
Model horse showing is hardly different from any other niche culture, whether the
interest is in collecting baseball cards, stamps or comic books. Enthusiasts pride
themselves in their often vast collections that may have cost them thousands of
dollars. Model horse shows, like comic book conventions, are a way in which
enthusiasts can show off their collections with a community of other people who
understand their passion.
Although a handful of spectators (who were most likely relatives of competitors)
milled around the long room, most “spectators” to model horse shows are in fact the
competitors themselves. Because they understand how much hard work and
passion goes into making beautiful, lifelike scenes, they can appreciate a good entry
in a deeper sense than someone visiting a show for the first time.
This lapse in understanding between model horse enthusiasts and outsiders has
even caused Bernardi to create a second Facebook page where she only friends
people who are involved in the hobby. One of them, named Stephanie, she met when
they were both in high school and Bernardi bought a model from her. Although they
lost touch for a while, they reconnected again in the same manner – when Bernardi
bought a second model from Stephanie. Although the two have never met in real life,
Bernardi said she texts Stephanie pretty much all day, every day. Bernardi explained
that she meets a lot of really nice people because of the hobby, people who
understand.
“We’re like a whole family,” said organizer Nancy Timm. The 63-year-old woman
with glasses and short, light blonde hair, has organized the New England
Performance Challenge for at least 15 years. “It’s very friendly competition,” she
said.
Timm participates alternately as an organizer and a competitor apart from her daily
job as an Application Counselor with UMass Memorial Health Care, where she helps
patients apply for health insurance. She started showing in 1994, after her then 15-
year-old daughter Jen got her interested in the hobby. Since then she has amassed
500 horses which she has on display in her house in Holden, Mass.
Timm’s enthusiasm for the hobby influenced her to travel throughout the country.
Since 1990, she and her daughter have made over a dozen trips to Kentucky to
experience an annual event called Breyerfest, the world’s largest model horse
collector and equine festival named after Breyer, the most popular brand of model
horse. She has attended shows as far away as Nevada.
The United States, Mexico and Canada are divided up into 11 regions by the North
American Model Horse Shows Association (NAMHSA). Massachusetts, New York,
Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and Rhode Island make up Region 10,
which local model horse enthusiasts more affectionately call Region X. This year
there were 14 shows in Region X. Competitors who do particularly well during the
year will be eligible to compete at the national competition, called the North
American Nationals (NAN). NAN is held at the Breyerfest on even years. On odd
years, enthusiasts put in bids to NAMHSA with suggestions on where NAN should be
held. NAMHSA chooses a location based on the cost and size of the hall and how far
it is from the airport, since many competitors and spectators take planes to get to
the event.
Timm described her experience at the 2005 NAN. The event was held in Las Vegas
that year, and naturally, many competitors were from California. Timm recalled how
competitive the Californians were. Many would say, “’I can’t believe I didn’t win that
class, I had the best entry!’”
“Here people congratulate each other,” Timm said. “It’s not cutthroat.” She explained
that competitors will also lend each other props if someone forgets to bring theirs.
Depending on the class, competitors utilize different props. Saddles, bridles and
other riding equipment (collectively known as tack) are necessary in performance
classes, where the goal is to create the most realistic scene of something you would
see happening in the live horse world. Real horse show rules apply for appropriate
classes. Tack must fit the horse well and be positioned in a way that assures the
imaginary rider would have maximum control of his or her mount. Some
competitors do extra work and include a doll riding the horse, however judge Robin
Briscoe explained that they are not required and can often cause problems.
“Dolls can be a friend or a foe,” 46-year-old Briscoe said. “If you do well with a doll,
you get extra credit…But you won’t get penalized if you don’t have one.” She
explained that dolls can cause competitors to lose points if they are positioned
incorrectly. Dolls don’t bend like real people, so it can be difficult to make them
replicate real life events.
In addition, competitors use miniature traffic cones, wagons, bridges, trees, pebbles,
logs, flower pots, fences, barrels, buckets, whips, jumps and even other model
animals to make their scenes look utterly realistic. An entrant in a trail riding class
will add vegetation and woodland critters to bring the scene of a relaxing ride
through the woods to life. An entrant in a gaming class would have her horse
navigating an obstacle course, weaving around barrels and cones. And a competitor
who positions her horse running along the beach might even bring a container full
of real sand to put him in.
Often, enthusiasts will make their own props and customize their own models. At
RioRondo.com, it is possible to purchase pre-made kits full of metal and leather
pieces that allow enthusiasts to build their own saddles. With some silky fabric and
an abundance of tassels or beads, they can sew together intricate costumes for their
models. Or, using paint, miniature wooden pots and plastic flowers that are easily
found at craft stores, enthusiasts can make colorful, realistic-looking flower pots.
According to Briscoe, there is something that people outside of the model horse
showing community seem to respect about the competitors’ craftsmanship.
“Once people realize you build things for these horses, they understand they aren’t
just toys,” Briscoe said.
Briscoe moseyed around the long tables, bending and twisting to peer at every
model up close, taking in every detail. She took notes on her clipboard, jotting down
information about the entries in the class she was judging. She could easily find the
models’ names, the names of their owners and other identifying information on
small white ID tags which were tied to the models’ legs.
After coming to a conclusion on the placing, Briscoe carefully laid a ribbon down
next to each entry, always pinning from last to first – the same order in which she
wrote the placing on her clipboard. Eager competitors rose from their seats to
collect their horses and ribbons. Those who didn’t win asked Briscoe for advice on
how they could improve their entries; the encouraging judge was always willing to
share her expertise.
Briscoe herself is not just a judge – although she did stand out as one because of the
green Region X t-shirt she wore, decorated by four horses on the front and her last
name and a number printed boldly in white on the back, rather like a sports jersey.
A blonde with a round face, she is also an avid collector and model horse show
competitor, having started competing in 1990 and judging competitions in 1991.
She even brought one horse with her to the New England Performance Challenge, an
Arabian breed named Skaska. Briscoe dressed her horse in an elaborate costume
covered in red tassels and entered her in a class that she wasn’t judging, where she
won second place out of three entrants.
When asked how many models she owns, Briscoe initially responded jokingly, “You
don’t want to know.” That’s because the number is astonishing: 3,000. Briscoe owns
over 3,000 models. In addition to having models at her own house in Epping, N.H.,
she keeps some in her parents’ barn and in the basement of her parents’ house. She
doesn’t have enough shelving space to display all of them, so many are “languishing
in cardboard.”
Briscoe’s collection has become so vast that she and her husband Rick are putting an
addition on their house. Her models have begun to spew over into the basement as
well, where Rick often works on his motorcycles with his friends. Briscoe said that
once the motorcycles are displaced to the garage, she will have more room for the
models she currently has in storage.
Like many other competitors, Briscoe’s love for horses – the real kind – is what led
her to take up model horse showing. After a tragic riding accident that resulted in
her horse being hit by a car, Briscoe was left severely injured.
“The horse broke my pelvis,” Briscoe said. “I was in bed for about eight weeks.”
Once she had recovered, she learned that Breyer was putting on a model horse show
and was instantly attracted to the hobby.
“These horses don’t leave a mark,” she said.
This is a sentiment shared by Bernardi, who is from Bridgewater, Conn. and works
at B & B Mason Supply in New Milford, Conn. during her daily life. When she got up
from her table to retrieve Lavender Sky, who won reserve champion in her division,
Bernardi walked slowly, with a visible limp. She explained that she used to show
real horses until she broke her hip, an unfortunate result of her autoimmune
disease, which attacks the joints. Although she still owns three real horses and there
is a possibility that she will be able to ride again, Bernardi said that she will continue
to participate in model shows just because they’re fun.
Bernardi believes the hobby “probably attracts a lot of people who can’t actually
own a horse… Sure, the cost of tack is expensive, but you don’t have the cost of
upkeep, for feed [or for] riding lessons.”
As Bernardi indicated, the hobby can get pricey. It is possible to purchase a Breyer
model horse in a store for around $50, but limited edition models can sell for
thousands. This may be because Breyer’s artists hand paint each and every horse.
The same is true of the tack; because it is custom made, by hand, customers pay for
the craftsmanship. Sixty-nine-year-old competitor Terry Heath put a basket full of
saddles she made on the end of her table and was asking $65 apiece for them, a
conservative price at that.
It is a fairly common site to see competitors put models and props on the ends of
their tables with “For Sale” signs next to them. Heath and Briscoe bought a couple of
saddles from an older woman on the other side of the hall. Another woman, a couple
tables down from Heath, was selling unpainted model horse parts that customizers
can use to craft their own models. Near the end of the day, everyone in the hall
shared a laugh when she called out, “Does anyone want a head?” holding up a resin
horse head in each hand.
Without the hard work of these artists and craftswomen, the replicated scenes
would not look anywhere near as realistic. The competitors use these pricey props
to their advantage, along with their own skill and eye for the particulars, to make
awe-inspiring scenes.
“You might think [the hobby is] just for little kids,” Bernardi said. “But you’d be
surprised how much goes into it, the attention to detail.”
Terry Heath, on the other hand, is proof that the model horse hobby isn’t just for
little kids. Remarkably, she didn’t buy her first Breyer until she was 58-years-old. It
all started because Heath had a friend whose 12-year-old granddaughter took an
interest in horses, but was allergic to them. Heath and her friend took the girl to a
model show as an alternative.
“We were all hooked [after that first show],” Heath said.
Since then, Heath has amassed a collection of “only” 500 horses, which take up
seven china cabinets – her husband’s limit – in her Middlefield, Conn. home. This is
in addition to her 11 Miniature Horses – real ones. In the past she also owned and
rode larger horses, which she feels has improved the authenticity of her scenes at
model shows.
Heath, like Nancy Timm, appreciates the camaraderie amongst model horse
enthusiasts.
“Everybody here is soooo nice,” Heath said. “They’re competing against you, but
they’re telling you what to do to make [your entry] better.” This good
sportsmanship can even involve sharing props.
“If I hadn’t been able to find a whip and she had one,” Heath said, pointing across the
table to fellow competitor Kelly Martin, “she would have loaned me the whip. She
needed a cone earlier and I loaned her a cone.”
Twenty-nine-year-old Martin, a short brunette with an inviting face, also likes the
“social aspects” of the model horse showing hobby. “What keeps me here is coming
out and hanging with my friends,” Martin said. “You don’t meet the same kind of
people other places.”
Martin has been showing since 2001, but started collecting models at the young age
of six. “I got my first Breyer from a neighbor in 1991,” Martin said, going on to
describe her neighbor, a retired Navy veteran who didn’t have any children of his
own but was like a grandfather to her. “My grandmother followed with the second
and the third shortly thereafter and I’ve been collecting ever since.”
Martin even goes so far as to say that model horses changed her life, explaining that
when she was in the seventh grade, her family moved and she was very upset about
being torn away from her friends. Then, on the second day of the school year, Martin
met a girl who owned 200 Breyers, which completely changed her mind set about
being in a new school.
Martin now keeps around 250 models at her mother’s house in Groton, Mass. In her
daily life, she works as a nurse at the rehabilitation center within Emerson Hospital
in Concord, Mass. She said that her boyfriend, Arthur, isn’t as affected by her hobby
as perhaps Rick Briscoe, in part because she hasn’t “completely taken over his
house” with model horses. Yet.
“I assume everyone thinks it is a weird hobby, but he seems to handle it pretty well,”
Martin said. “I think he’d be horrified to know what I’ve spent, but at the same time
he spends a ton on motorcycles, so we’re pretty even.”
Like Robin Briscoe, she is a show judge as well as a competitor. She has judged for
five or six years, competing at about half the shows she attends. However, she and
Briscoe judge classes at different levels.
Martin explained that show organizers like Timm “do a general shout out,” looking
for judges to volunteer. If they don’t receive enough volunteers, they will actively
recruit judges.
“Judges are always in demand,” Martin said. “While judges aren’t well paid, usually
they are paid something. Usually judges get lunch and like $50 to go towards gas to
get to wherever the show is.”
That is the case for smaller shows during the year, like the New England
Performance Challenge. According to the NAMHSA website, NAN judges are paid
“$100 per day, plus $10 lunch allowance.”
Typically, there are three levels at model horse shows: novice, intermediate and
open. What level competitors show at depends on their experience in the hobby,
with novices being the least experienced and open level competitors being the most
experienced. The New England Performance Challenge only offered open and novice
divisions, with the novice division attracting two competitors: 13-year-old Hailie
Brown and 38-year-old Kristine Gardner.
Gardner, a thin, wide-eyed brunette, has shown since 1994 but is competing in the
novice division because she is unfamiliar with performance classes. She usually
competes in halter classes, where judges focus only on the horse, assessing whether
the model seems to be a good representation of his or her breed. Halter class judges
also consider how collectible a particular model is, or, if the model has been
customized, they consider the quality of the artist’s work.
Gardner started collecting for similar reasons as Briscoe and Bernardi: because she
could not be around real horses for medical reasons.
“When I was little I was deathly allergic to horses,” Gardner said. Model horses “are
a good substitute if you’re a horseless person.”
Although she has since outgrown her allergies and was able to get a real horse,
Gardner hasn’t shifted her attention away from models. During the 25 years she has
been collecting, she has amassed an impressive collection that is displayed on floorto-ceiling shelves all the way around a spare bedroom.
“The last time I counted I had over 2,000,” Gardner said. “Right now I don’t really
know.”
The age difference between Gardner and Brown, her only competitor, is obvious.
One might think that putting a 13-year-old girl in the same division as a grown
woman is unfair. But even though Brown is young, she’s not new to the world of
model horses, nor is she any less serious about collecting or showing than Gardner.
Brown has been collecting for ten years, since her cousin gave her two old Breyer
horses when she was three. She keeps her estimated collection of 300 horses in a
spare bedroom at her house in Worcester, Mass. and even makes her own props in
her spare time.
“I usually make my stuff from scratch or I buy Breyer stuff and customize it to make
it more realistic,” Brown said. “I want to get better tack eventually to show at the
open level.”
Despite it only being her third show, Brown, who has curly brown hair dyed a faded
green at the bottom, held her own at the New England Performance Challenge. Of
the two out of three divisions where both competitors had entries – with each
division showcasing a different riding discipline – both Brown and Gardner won a
championship. Brown had named her champion horse Heza Spotted Legacy;
Gardner’s was named Banat Er Rih.
Of model horse show enthusiasts, Brown said simply, “I guess you have to be a really
horsey person to want to collect or show.”
I am one of those horsey people. I started competing in model horse shows as a
12-year-old girl living in St. Albans, Vt. In such a rural, loosely populated state, only
one show was held each year in Burlington, Vt. I would return home from the
Vermont Live Model Horse Show in late October, return my models to their shelves
in my room, hang up my ribbons and immediately start planning for next year’s
show.
Although the number drastically decreased when my family went through financial
problems, I estimate I have over 200 models carefully packed away in bubble wrap
envelopes within plastic totes in my grandmother’s closet and my father’s attic. My
hope is that one day, when I’m no longer a college student confined to dorms and
hole-in-the-wall apartments, I’ll be able to return them to shelves where I can
appreciate them.
My infatuation with models didn’t arise because I couldn’t have real horses, like
Gardner or Briscoe. I had my own Shetland pony named Luc. When you truly love
horses, you admire their beauty – whether they be furry and tall or short and made
of resin. You admire the skill of the craftsman who created the beauty of a horse in
an eight-inch replica and you admire your fellow model horse show enthusiasts for
seemingly bringing models to life within their entries.
Although it’s always thrilling to bring home a blue ribbon, to model horse
enthusiasts, competition is secondary to the admiration of the horse. It is this
common ground, a love of horses, which brings the model horse showing
community together. For many, their passion for horses is not a childhood phase,
but a lifelong devotion.