Breyerfest 101: The Ninja Pit Of Death

Hello again! Emma here! To celebrate 101 days until Breyerfest, we have a guest post by the amazing Rachel Alford-Salyers! Rachel runs the biggest Breyerfest group on Facebook,  Road To Breyerfest! If you are on Facebook and going to Breyerfest; or just want to keep up with the news, I highly recommend this group! :D

None of us have done the NPOD, but I've done the Saturday store. It's similar, but not as crazy by far.

Anyway, onto the post! 

The Ninja Pit Of Death or NPOD

The setting is Thursday evening at the Kentucky Horse Park. The scene before you is a line that is already forming at the Rolex gate and you have no idea why they are there. 

The line for the Breyer Store and the Pop Up tent is called the NPOD and is not for the faint of heart. It starts on Thursday afternoon, people start standing in line already. The line grows over the night and through the morning, more and more people gathering for the opening of Breyerfest on Friday morning.

The line in 2014.

Two years ago, Breyer tried to stop this and began handing out numbers, but this has not stopped the line forming. The numbers are 1-350 and are given to those for the Breyer Store and the Pop Up Tent, numbers for each store on color coded laminated pieces of paper. The line still forms and gets longer each year. 

An example of a number. Photo used with permission from Angela Dimmick.

Last year, Breyer tried to stop NPOD and said that they will put out the warehouse finds and extras throughout the day. But this has not stopped the liver from forming yet. Rumor has it that this year, the Horse Park is not allowing the line, but I will be checking into this closer to the event. 

Be prepared for pushing, shoving, and generally cranky people, if you do the NPOD. There has been fights, people being crushed, and theft. Mounted Police often patrol the line. But the experience is one of a kind. Black Friday has nothing on the NPOD, but you can get some amazing products!

Mounted police! Another photo from Angela Dimmick.

Now just for fun, let's look at some awesome finds from the NPOD!

Courtney Kinz found an awesome wedgwood Lady Phase!

Used with permission from Courtney Kinz.

Not all of this photo are from the NPOD, but these are... 

Isabella-possible test from Vintage Club
Buford Bull-Very nice! Possible Test or Sample
Athos-Possible Test or Sample, no stain! No box!  
Moon Pie-BEB SM
WidowMaker-Possible Test or Sample!

Used with permission from Chelsea Marie.

Thank you so much for the awesome post, Rachel, and thank you to the wonderful people on Facebook for allowing me to use your photos!

-Emma

Breyerfest 101: Food And Schedules

Hi everyone! It's Emma again! I can't believe it: Breyerfest is only about 100 days away! As it continues to get closer, I will be doing more and more or the Breyerfest 101 series. Today we'll be talking about food and making a schedule!

Tip One: Make a Schedule

Making a schedule is extremely important and helps you remember what you want to do. I personally make my schedule in 15 minute blocks. Shown below is one I made for an example.

Using a schedule can help you remember things that are going on and keep organized. If you don't pay attention, you could miss your Special Run time!

Tip Two: Food

Many people forget about what they are going to do to eat during Breyerfest. It's really something you should plan for. With this, you have a few options...

One is to buy food from the restaurant at the KHP. They serve burgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pasta, salad... Typical fast food stuff. The food is better then average and the prices are pretty good. The biggest tip I have is to either eat early or eat late. Last time I was there (2014) we arrived at the restaurant around noon and waited for our food for close to an hour.

Two is to go back to your hotel/campground or go to a restaurant  A friend of mine is staying at the KHP campground and plans to eat almost all her meals at the campground. 

Of course you can bring food in a cooler, but I do not recommend this! You cannot bring any type of large bag, wagon, or cooler into the Breyer Store and will have to drop it off at will call. This doesn't cost anything, but again, it's kinda a hassle!

Thanks for reading! Next time we will have a guest post about the Ninja Pit Of Death! :D 

Show pictures; Part 1 minis

Hey yall, Maddy here! I've been slacking on blog posts for, well, basically the whole time we're had this blog. :p But I am trying to get into the swing of things, so here is a collection of pictures from the last show (All The Pretty Ponies-Florida), I'm going to start with minis that caught my eye, hopefully you guys will enjoy the eye candy!

Custom by Kingston Studios

Custom by Emma VR

Custom by Kingston Studio

Etchie by Ashley Konichek

Etchie by Sarah White

Custom by Ashley Konichek

CUstom by Maddy

Custom by Kingston Studios

 

Custom by K Smith

If you know the artists of any of those horses feel free to drop a comment so I can give credit!

Hope yall enjoyed those, I'll have more show photos soon!

-Maddy



Hunters and Jumpers at PCHA

Hello! Today I'll be finishing up on the PCHA series with the hunters and jumpers! I didn't get many photos of these because I was pretty busy watching the flat classes and helping my trainer control her dog. :P Here they are!

Again, sorry about the poor photo quality!

I watched the pony jumpers for a bit, starting in the warmup ring. Isn't this pair cute? I wish I started riding when I was this little!

The ponies were judged both on time and equitation. Equipment was the same as any hunter class.

Trotting...

Scope goals?

Before I knew it, they were in the ring!

SO. MUCH. SCOPE. This pony is ready to go higher!

Landing...

And onto the next jump!

The course was actually really challenging, lots of lead changes and pretty tight turns!

Probably my favorite photo of the day!

Next pony!

This little roan was really cute as well!

His saddle doesn't match his bridle though, and that makes my OCD angry... 0.0

Over the brick wall...

And onto the text jump!

Good pony. :3

Hopefully you all enjoyed this little mini-series! I had a lot of fun taking the photos.

-Emma

English Leadline at PCHA

Last weekend I went to PCHA, which stands for Pinellas County Hunter Association. It's a group that holds horse shows in the Tampa, Florida area.  The barn I ride at took a few horses to show, so I tagged along to take some photos. This post will be all about the Leadline class, and the next post will be about the over fences classes. The weather was icky and I had to keep my flash off, so they aren't the best photos. Hopefully you enjoy them though, and feel free to use them in performance setups!

The first class I watched was lead-line. We had one horse in this class. Lead-line is for young riders, and they can focus on their equitation without worrying about steering as much. With kids this little, it might not also be safe for them to have full control.

As I was saying, we had one horse in this class. He is a sport pony (not sure of his exact breed), and his name is Tebow. He's very cute and looks great with his young rider! Also, as you can see, my trainer is VERY serious about showing.

Isn't Tebow cute?

For riders, the attire was like that of any Hunter class. Tan breeches with paddock boots and a navy jacket. All the riders had their hair in two braids with a bow on each.  For the 'leaders,' attire is casual.  Many were showing themselves later in the day so had show attire.

Such a little rider, start em' young I guess? And an adorable pony!

There wasn't a pattern, you just walked along the rail. They did one lap in each direction.

Those socks though.

Most of the horses were pretty small, but others were pretty good size horses!

The riders also had to two-point for about half a lap. You can also see here that the lead rope was connected to the bit.

The breeds also varied. Some horses looked like random crosses, but some were pretty clear. 

Methinks Welsh Pony...

After they finished their laps the horses lined up and the judge went to each rider and asked them a simple question about horses. For example, one was asked to point where the withers were.

As soon as the questions were finished, placings were called. However, each person received a blue ribbon.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the over fences classes!

-Emma

There's Draught Horses and then there's Draught Horses.

Today was pretty exciting for me, after 4 hours in the sun I was able to come home with some pretty cool shots from the parade today!

The Budweiser Clydesdales are in town for a parade this evening... I of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to go stalk their parade preparations ...could I?

Every part of the operation is smooth and everything is precisely organized... I really appreciate organization (as my friends probably know) so I really enjoyed watching this!

The eight horse hitch is made up of all geldings, each horse weighing approximately 2,000 lbs, and each horse measuring roughly 18hh. 

A harness and fittings for one horse is $100,000. That is NOT a typo. A single harness is roughly one hundred thousand dollars. The harnesses are manufactured by a master harness maker in Ohio and are adorned with brass Anheuser-Busc insignia.

Each harness is kept in its own locker in the air conditioned 18 wheeler trailer specifically designated for the wagon and tack. 

The geldings manes are festooned with the traditional red and white ribbons and roses.

The horses are lead out of the trailer in sets of two, corresponding to their positions in the hitch, and are clipped to a cross-tie hanging between the truck and trailer.

I was particularly taken by this beautiful dapple.

Everyone on the team clearly loved their job, it is a dream of mine to work on one of the hitch teams.

These horses were so full of charisma and were posing constantly.

I hope you enjoyed the post and the photos! (I sure had a fun time collecting them!)

-Becky