🌉Steel City Live 2025🌉

This Saturday I attended my final live show of the year - Steel City Live in Mars, PA. I attended this show last year, which was also the first year it was held. The show hosts are lovely, and it's a short drive for me, so I of course attended again! This year I was also judging, so I brought roughly 35 trads and about the same number of minis, along with a tiny Stone mini string.

The string crushed it. The majority of the trads had some sort of placing, and over half of the minis did as well, in a very competitive OF Breyer Mini ring. I had three sectional champs in OF Breyer, and overall collectability reserve. OF Breyer Mini was a smaller division, with no sectional prizes. In a shock to me, I swept all four overalls of the Breyer Mini division. It was definitely not expected!

This show, like Rainbow Rave, gave out awards for good documentation. I received one early in the day from the show host (who was judging OF Breyer), and was absolutely thrilled. The pens were so fun and swishy and if I didn't have a horse in my hands at the show I was playing with the pen. Imagine my surprise when I received a second documentation award from the Breyer Mini judge! I ended up wearing both in my apron while I judged Custom Mini.

My funniest placing all day was my Child Star. This horse has never once gone to a show before this weekend, not even a photo show, since I bought him at least five years ago. I usually bring one of my other Gilens. I decided to bring him for fun, threw a breed on him as I was packing, and called it a day. Imagine my surprise when he not only wins his class, but takes breed champion of the entire foal section! I guess he'll have to show more often!

All in all, it was a wonderful day filled with friends, laughs, and plastic ponies. I think those are the best kinds of days. I'm both happy and sad shows are over for the season - I definitely need the break from running myself ragged with show prep and travel and the physicality of the show itself. I'm still catching up on recording my results from last year and this year (a healing broken arm really throws a wrench in that sort of thing!), so I'm looking forward to having all of the winter months to concentrate on that. But time spent with my model horse friends is so valuable to me - it makes all the blood, sweat and tears that go into shows that much more worthwhile, more than any ribbon. I do have a few swap meets coming up, so I'll still get my hobby friend fix, and of course I'll see them online, but it's not the same.

The Champions: