It's Friday, I'm a Guest Judge! Breed: Quarter Horse by Shannon Call

It's time for another guest judge on the blog! This month, I asked my friend Shannon to assess a Quarter Horse class. 

Quarter Horse

by Shannon Call

Greetings! I’m Shannon Call, and I’m so excited that Macie invited me onto her blog. I’ll be chatting about a class of Breyer Quarter Horse mares.

A little about me: I’ve been collecting OF Breyers for over 40 years—back when the hobby meant sending self‑addressed stamped envelopes to other hobbyists for price lists and mailing printed photos for photo shows. I didn’t attend my first live show until 2017, but once I did… that was it, I was completely hooked. These days I make it to about 3–6 live shows a year, including BreyerFest Live. I also judge photo shows for Great Lakes Congress (GLC). More recently I’ve started live show judging too, which I am really enjoying. I am the current NAMHSA Region 7 representative. BreyerFest is the best weekend of the year. 

On the real‑horse side of my life, I’m active in AQHA, competing in all‑around events and have shown at the All-American Quarter Horse Congress and AQHA World show. I serve as president of the Northern Ohio Quarter Horse Association which hosts three multiday AQHA shows each year. I also compete in western dressage and am trying out working equitation. My horse background goes back over 40 years and includes being a 4‑H kid (and later an advisor) growing up with my horses in my backyard, showing hunters and equitation with the Ohio Hunter Jumper Association, and riding on the Ohio University IHSA team for four years and two more as an alum in both hunt seat and western events.

Long story short: I love the competitive horse‑show world. I follow a lot of different breeds and disciplines, and the real‑world experience has helped me tremendously when it comes to showing model horses. 

Now let’s look at our quarter horse mare class, starting with some background on the breed.

The American Quarter Horse, with more than 6 million horses registered, is the world’s largest equine breed registry. They are characterized by their heavily muscled body, powerful shoulders and hindquarters, and strong, sturdy legs. Their heads are finely chiseled and of a flat profile with a wide forehead. 17 different colors are accepted by AQHA. Markings do not typically affect a Quarter Horse’s registration but any horse with excessive white will have a notation on its registration certificate as an undesirable trait and uncharacteristic of the breed. The only pinto pattern known to exist in American Quarter Horses is the overo pattern. This includes subpatterns splash and sabino.

Known for its versatility and depending on how the horse is bred for a specific discipline, quarter horses come in varying body types, but all maintain the general quarter horse characteristics.

General rules of balance in conformation regardless of type:

When viewed from the side, the length of the shoulder, back, and hip should all be equal. This is known as the rule of thirds.  The top of the neck should ideally be twice as long as the underside of the horse’s neck, or a 2-to-1 ratio. Ideally, the back of the horse should be shorter than its underline. The angle of the horse’s shoulder should be approximately 45°. When viewed from the side, the hip of the horse should appear square. The heart girth should equal the length from the underline to the ground.

As model horse judges we observe correctness of anatomy, biomechanics, and conformation, and may have to evaluate a model not standing square. We consider breed and gender characteristics.  Since we are judging model horses we are also going to evaluate model condition, finish and molding artifacts due to the sculpture and molding processes. 

For this clinic we have three quarter horse mares. All three models demonstrate strong quarter horse type.  Two are in action and one is standing square.  These three models are all in excellent condition and finish. Two models are matte and one is glossy.  The finish if it is clean and complementary to the model does not affect my opinion on placings. These three models are all strong contenders in a QH class and any of them could be the winner.

Also remember that a judging opinion is just that, an opinion. A judge should have a good understanding of correct breed conformation, but they may tend to gravitate towards a mold, type, finish or just have certain preferences; that is human nature and why there is always another show and the same model doesn’t win all the time.

Horse A: Kendall

Horse B: Wimpy's Little Chic

Horse C: Delia

Shannon's placings can be found under the jump. ↓

The BreyerFest Files: Collector's Class 2026

📂 The BreyerFest Files📂

I mentioned it last week in my Open Show report, but I once again entered the Collector's Class this year! This year, I used a theme that I've been waiting on for a while - Taylor Swift albums. At the BreyerFest Open Show, the Collector's Class has a maximum of twelve models, so I was waiting for Taylor to release album #12 before doing a Swiftie themed Collector's Class. Imagine my surprise when not only did she release her twelfth album last year, but that the colors of that album color were a dead on match for the micro run decorator variation of Shindig. It felt like kismet. It was time. 

My first order of business was tracking down the decorator Shindig. He was the linchpin for the class, and I was not fortunate enough to pull one from Breyer organically. Once I secured one on time payments, it was time to start thinking about who else would go in the class. I knew gold baby, Moon Pie, and my no stamp dapple gray G1 ASB were locks, but I spent months debating who else would go in the class, and asking friends what their opinions were. I actually finalized my list June 27! 

My goal with this was a roughly chronological timeline of the Stablemates line, each one assigned to a respective Taylor Swift album. My final list ended up as follows: 

1. Debut: No stamp ASB
2. Fearless: Mexico stamp G1 Quarter Horse Mare
3. Speak Now: BreyerFest 1998 Purple Clearware G1 Thoroughbred Lying Foal Keychain 
4. Red: 2004 JCP Parade of Breeds G1 Draft
5. 1989: Frankenstang
6. Reputation: Gold Baby
7. Lover: Moon Pie
8. Folklore: Mini Hermoso
9. Evermore: Vintage Club Misty
10. Midnights: Puget
11. TTPD: Gold Buggy
12. The Life of a Showgirl: Deco Shindig

With each model assigned an album, their information card of course had to match in theme! Not only did I put the album on each card, but I also pulled a relevant lyric from each album as well. Each horse also got a friendship bracelet made by me for the album they represented. The friendship bracelets may have been made the Friday before I left for BreyerFest, but that's okay! I additionally pulled some Taylor Swift merch from my merch collection, as well as a handful of bracelets I had traded for at various Taylor and model horse events for additional decoration. 

One thing about me is I've become a fan of using Canva, and I realized as I was setting up my class at home that I had forgotten to make a sign for the class. I realized - what if I recreated the vibes of the Eras Tour poster? And off I went with my iced coffee and a dream. Each model in the sign is the model in the class in their respective era! I was very proud of it.  

The sign all put together with the cowboy hat disco ball cup I found on sale at Michaels! 

My initial run through of the class - at this point I had not finished making the friendship bracelets or the sign, but I needed to have a rough idea of how the class would be arranged on show day!

My entry didn't place this year, but that's okay. The entries that won were all very deserving, and I'm happy with how my entry turned out. I spent most of this year tweaking it and second guessing myself on it, nearly up until the last second, but I did finish it, and it looked nice. I had people compliment me on it as I was setting it up, and it means more to me that people liked it! There's a show I'm attending later this year that has a Collector's Class, so it may even get a second chance to shine! (Or I'll do something new! Who knows!) 

Stablemate Sunday: Premier Club 2014-2018

Happy Sunday! It's the last Sunday of the month, and we're back for another edition of Stablemate Sunday. We've looked at the beginnings of the Vintage Club, the Stablemates Club, and the Deluxe Collector Club, so let's round off the Breyer Clubs with the Premier Club! (Yes, I do know about the Fairytale Friends Club, the post has been in my drafts for months, but for the life of me I cannot find one of the models in the disaster that is my horse room. We'll get there!)

Like the Vintage Club, the Premier Club debuted in 2012, advertised as Connoisseur-level finishwork on three brand new sculptures each year. Unlike the Vintage Club, a bonus Stablemate at the end of the year for members who had purchased all of the models that year was not present from the inception of the club. The Premier Club's first Stablemate was mini Falhofnir in 2014. 

Now, the Premier Club debuted around the time I was in high school and on a hobby break, so I can't say if there was controversy around one Club having a Stablemate, and one Club not. That being said, I don't think it's a coincidence that Breyer debuted the Stablemate Icelandic mold for BreyerFest 2013 to turn around and have the 2014 Premier Club include a traditional Icelandic sculpt. 

The Premier Club Stablemate is also distinct from the Vintage Club Stablemate. The Vintage Club Stablemates are all unique models, while the Premier Club Stablemate replicates one of the colorways from that year on a miniature version. While the Premier Club Stablemate started as a nearly 1:1 recreation from one of the releases (in color and body type), as it has progressed that is not always the case (but that's more of a story for the inevitable part two!)

And here he is - mini Falhofnir, the first Premier Club Stablemate! He's done in a delicious glossy silver bay pinto. As you would expect, he's a miniature version of Falhofnir from the Club that year, though with a few differences. For one, Breyer wasn't using the shrink ray yet in 2014, so the sculpts are different (trad Falhofnir being a Moody sculpt, and mini Falhofnir being a Lunger sculpt). The traditional version of Falhofnir was offered in matte and glossy finishes, while the mini was only ever offered in gloss. There were approximately 741 made of mini Falhofnir. 

I remember mini Falhofnir was my hardest Premier Club Stablemate to track down. He was one I had to find secondhand years after the fact. I want to say I tracked him down somewhere between 2018-2020? I'm pretty sure I bought him from someone on MH$P before it went defunct. He's definitely one of my favorite Stablemates, and he's shown well for me. His show name is All The Girls Say. 

Next, we have the 2015 set: mini Hermoso and Corazon. They utilize the finishwork of the Hermosa and Corazon set, although the adult is done on a stallion mold and thus has the masculine version of the name. To date, they are the only adult-foal set used for a Premier Club Stablemate. I'd love to see it happen again (especially if we get new Stablemate foal molds out of it!). They are done as glossy black tobianos with cat tracks. 

I'm fairly sure I picked my set up secondhand, and both are excellent show models for me, racking up several NAN cards each (and the adult just got a top ten in collectability at NAN!) Hermoso shows under the show name Fearless Leader, and the foal shows under the name Heartsick. 

In 2016, Breyer went a different route for the Premier Club Stablemate - a mostly new mold. The Running Mare mold originally appeared as a porcelain Esperanza as part of the Spirit Collection in 2002. She made her transition to plastic in 2016, being used twice - once as a BreyerFest Single Day Stablemate and once here, as mini Geronimo for the Premier Club. She's done as a matte grulla frame overo to match the traditional Geronimo. 2016 marked the first year Breyer stopped giving run numbers for the Premier Club, so we don't know exactly how many of her were made. 

I can't remember when exactly I picked her up - it was either direct from Breyer in a Black Friday sale or I snagged her from someone secondhand. I think I've photo shown her once, and I actually can't remember the name I showed her under. She has a nice color, but her mold doesn't have the best ABCs (she was meant as a cartoon character!), so she'll probably never go to a live show. 

Next up, we have mini True North! Released for the 2017 Premier Club, mini True North utilized the finishwork of True North - a lovely matte silver bay frame overo. Mini True North marked several departures from the established pattern - for the first time, the breed type didn't match up to the large version! True North is a warmblood, while mini True North is a fluffy cob type. Mini True North was the debut of the mini Vanner mold, originally released as a traditional sized sculpt for the 2012 Premier Club. This also makes him one of the earliest uses of the shrink ray on existing Breyer sculpts (I think just the Eberl Andalusian Stallion is earlier, with his gallery release being 2012 and his plastic introduction being 2013). 

Like mini Geronimo, this is one who doesn't get to show much for me, though he has photo shown for me in the past! His show name is Magnetic Pull. I definitely remember picking him up from the Breyer Black Friday sale in 2018. 

Rounding off the first years of the Premier Club, we have Darwin. Darwin marked a few firsts for the Premier Club Stablemate - he was a brand new sculpture (not a shrunken version of an existing traditional mold, not a porcelain that had been converted into plastic) and he had his own individual name rather than "Mini Dundee." Darwin takes his finishwork from Dundee, as a sabino dunalino. He's quite lovely in hand, and one of my favorite Premier Club releases! 

I am fairly certain I picked mine up secondhand from another collector, though like many of the earlier Premier Club Stablemates, it was long enough ago that I haven't retained the information! He's mostly photo shown for me, as I have too many other Spanish horses that usually throw him out of my show string. His show name is Devil Roll the Dice. 

Which early Premier Club Stablemate is your favorite? 

It's Friday, I'm a Judge! Breed: Arabian

Hello and happy Friday! We've got another mini breed class for you today.

As always, my personal judging history and credentials can be found on my About Me page. 

This week, I decided to make it harder for myself and you all - what do you do if there isn't a mold with great ABCs? How do you evaluate molds that are less accurate against each other? So, I'm once again looking at a mini Arabian class, but this time there are no Love molds or Eberls on the table. Let's refresh our memory on what we're looking for in an Arabian before looking at our class. 

According to the Arabian Horse Association, the breed standard is as follows:

• Comparatively small head with a straight or preferably concave profile, small muzzle, large nostrils, round expressive dark eyes set well apart, small thin and well-shaped ears
• Long arched neck set high, moderately high withers, short straight back, deep chest, comparatively horizontal croup, natural high tail carriage

Arabian mare

Horse A: G4 Arabian

Arabian mare

Horse B: G3 Arabian

Arabian stallion

Horse C: Galloping Arabian (Darley)

Evaluate each of these horses against the breed standard. What do they get right? Think about the ABCs - anatomy, biomechanics, and conformation/condition: who is the soundest option? When you're ready, my placings can be found under the jump. ↓

Show Report: BreyerFest Open Show 2026

🔵 BreyerFest Open Show 2026🟡

Welcome to the second show report from HorseFest, covering two days of the BreyerFest Open Show! Yes, I did five days of showing in a row. Yes, it was a lot. Yes, I might second guess myself before doing this again! 

I did put a little bit of strategizing in regards to my week when I was figuring out my show strings. I ultimately decided to take the least amount of horses on Thursday, which was Mini day. Yes, I know that's weird for me! But in my mind, I was doing a Collector's Class (which will have its own post next week!), and several of my best minis were showing NAN and I didn't want a ton of overlap for the strings (no one likes midweek repacking!), so it made the most sense to bring more trads. Plus, this way if I felt tired after three days of NAN, I wouldn't feel bad bailing if I only brought a small amount of horses. 

In total, I showed 28 minis - two in the new collectability division, and 26 in the regular run division. Probably half of what I brought for the regular run division had either only photo shown for me or never live shown at all! I came home on Thursday with eight placings and two NAN cards, which felt respectable, and a sore throat from cheering so loud for my friends who won sectional championships. 

It was also nice how smoothly Thursday ran - I think we were done by 3 at the latest? It was really nice to have a short and relaxing show day!  

My Mini Collectability Entries aka the "Named by Beth" pair

Friday was traditional and classic day, and my string was all over the place - some regular runs, some in both special run divisions, and some foals. I ended up with 13 placings and one NAN card. I was very close to getting the ribbon rainbow this year! I only missed out on the first. For a while on Friday the ninth was eluding me - I kept getting tenths! I swear I was more frustrated over not getting a ninth than not getting a first. I finally got my ninth in the RR Standardbred class, and it was the most exciting part of the day. 

I always go into the Open Show with no expectations - it's a huge show, with hundreds of entrants, and judges that you often don't know and haven't shown under. There are always some hiccups throughout the day. It's best to keep a good mindset - I'm there for the air conditioning and to hang out with my friends. The ribbons and NAN cards my horses bring home are a bonus. 

The NAN Qualifiers:

Stella - Mini RR Warmblood Breeds Solid

Depressed Damsel - Mini RR Foals Spanish Breeds and All Mustangs

Chocolate Drizzle - Special Run (non BreyerFest) Arabian Stallions & Geldings

Gay Prancer, second in the Mascots Fun Class! 

Show Report: NAN 2026

🟪🏆 NAN 2026 🏆🟪

Monday NAN

Hello from the other side of HorseFest week! This is going to be a Thursday post instead of my usual Wednesday because I think I've spent the majority of the past three days when I'm not at work sleeping. A week of model horse festivities really takes it out of you! Over the next month, my Wednesday posts are pretty much going to be BreyerFest content, and we're starting that off with show reports today and next week. I did two multi-day shows during HorseFest this year - NAN and the BreyerFest Open Show, for a total of five days showing in a row. Reader, I was not built for waking up at 5am for five days straight. 

Today we'll start by talking about NAN, or North American Nationals. NAN occurs in even-numbered years in Kentucky, and I've volunteered or shown at it since I first started live showing in 2022. I have a post planned to talk about my volunteering experience, so we'll reflect on my 2024 NAN experience here for a minute. I always tend to go into shows with zero expectations, the mindset of "if one horse places I'll be happy," and that's doubly true when I show at NAN and the Open Show. I think in NAN 2024 I can home with one gold cookie, two silver cookies, and twenty top tens and I was thrilled. I had an idle goal that I'd like to do better this year, but I in no way expected to do so. 

...and Wednesday NAN

And then I nearly accomplished that goal on Monday, with two gold cookies, one silver cookie, and seventeen top tens. Wednesday was collectability day, and while I've been concentrating more on expanding my mini collectability string, I still did not expect anything. Cue four gold cookies, two silver cookies and twenty top tens. My total across two days of NAN was six gold cookies, three silver cookies, and 37 top tens, from 131 horses entered. I did not imagine I'd do this well, and I'm so happy that my work curating my collection and show string has paid off. 

I'd like to shout out a few of my cookie winners in particular. DWS Mister Waternoose, my loose mane Shannondell I bought from my friend Kelly M. came home with not just a silver cookie in breed, but a gold cookie in collectability as well. What made it even better was Kelly being there to see it! 

My beloved Golden Child completed her redemption arc from last NAN, and took top honors in the regular run unrealistic class. She's one of my favorites in my collection, and I was thrilled to see her (deservedly) do so well this time around. The same goes for my no-stamp dapple gray ASB Psychotic Love Theme, who took a Reserve Champion in a very competitive, 79 entry Regular Run mini class. Both of these models were very lucky eBay lot finds. 

I can't talk about NAN without giving a special shoutout to my friends Sarah P. and Kelsey B., who ran my collectability horses for me on Wednesday while I volunteered. They did such a fabulous job, and even took photos of everyone in the photo booth for me! I'm very fortunate to have such fabulous friends.

I haven't quite decided yet how many horses I'll take to NAN in 2028. I may work on some merit awards, and I may volunteer more next time. I'll have to see how my horses show in the next two years - I'm too tired to think about it now! 

The Cookie Winners:

Peony - OFP Breyer LB/SM Foals - Stock/Sport National Champion

Voulez-Vous - OFP Breyer LB/SM Spanish (all other colors) National Champion

DWS Mister Waternoose - OFP Breyer Draft - Clydesdale/Shire National Reserve Champion

DWS Mister Waternoose - OFP Collectibility Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color - Draft/Pony/Other Type National Champion

Mist It By That Much - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Stock/Spanish Type

Golden Child - OFP Collectability Breyer Regular Run Unrealistic Color (post 1971) National Champion

Goldenlake - OFP Collectibility Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color - Light/Gaited/Sport Type National Champion

Psychotic Love Theme - OFP Collectibility Breyer Reg Run Realistic Color LB/SM National Reserve Champion

Belli - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color Foals LB/SM National Reserve Champion

The Top Tens (listed):

• Always a Wendy - OFP Breyer Foals Light/Gaited/Other Foals
• Riker Horse - OFP Breyer Gaited - ASB
• Shameful Sunday - OFP Breyer LB/SM Arabian/Part Arabian
• Ego Death - OFP Breyer LB/SM Morgan/Other Light
• Southport - OFP Breyer Sport - Thoroughbred/Standardbred
• I Don't Collect These - OFP Stone PB/CH Spanish
• Everyone's Type - OFP Breyer LB/SM Spanish (all other colors)
• Saludos al Sol - OFP Breyer LB/SM Spanish (all other colors)
• Total Eclipse - OFP Breyer LB/SM Other Stock (Incl. Mustang)
• Divine Rival - OFP Breyer LB/SM Other Stock (Incl. Mustang)
• Not Mine to Lose - OFP Breyer LB/SM European Draft
• Heavenmetal - OFP Breyer LB/SM Other Pure/Part (Incl. Donkey/Mule/Exotics)
• Join the Heist - OFP Breyer LB/SM Other Pure/Part (Incl. Donkey/Mule/Exotics)
• Goblin King - OFP Breyer LB/SM European Pony
• Goblin King - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Draft/Pony Type
• Heartbreak in Remission - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Draft/Pony Type
• Coincidence - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Draft/Pony Type
• Three Shots, Lemon Drops - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Draft/Pony Type
• Daytime Contender - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Light/Gaited/Other Type
• Gotta Goat - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Light/Gaited/Other Type
• Fearless Leader - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Stock/Spanish Type
• Greek Tragedy - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Stock/Spanish Type
• It Ain't Me - OFP Collectability Breyer SR 201+ Realistic Color LB/SM - Sport Type
• Say It Right - OFP Collectability Breyer SR Realistic Color Foals
• A Jazz Combo - OFP Collectibility Breyer Connoisseur Realistic Color
• Smol Gay Bean - OFP Collectibility Breyer LB/SM Fantasy Equid
• Lighting Strike - OFP Collectibility Breyer Reg Run Realistic Color LB/SM
• Friendship is Magic - OFP Collectibility Breyer SR 2 - 200 Realistic Color LB/SM

It's Friday, I'm a Judge! Traditional Collectability #6

Happy (official!!) first day of BreyerFest! As you might guess, this post was written and scheduled to post in advance, as I am a busy little bee this week. But, the blog show stops for no one, and we're in collectability land today. 

As always, my personal judging history and credentials can be found on my About Me page. 

This week, we're looking at a class of Connoisseur models. Connoisseurs were exclusive models for subscribers of Breyer's Just About Horses magazine. Much like the web special lotteries of today, subscribers would send an entry form to Breyer for a chance to win a special run of 350 pieces each issue (just through snail mail instead of digitally!) So, how do we evaluate runs of identical provenance and run size? Well, let's take a look at our class and try it together. 

Horse A: Hope-N-Glory - 2002 Connoisseur Series - 350 made

Horse B: Reverse Polarity - 2005 Connoisseur Series - 350 made

Horse C: Jazz Fusion - 2007 Connoisseur Series - 350 made

What are you thinking about when determine what makes one of these more collectible than another? Are you thinking about desirability? Condition? Age? When you're ready, my placings can be found under the jump. ↓