VIP ticket book is here!

 Good news, readers! My VIP ticket book has arrived! Behold: 

I like this design - it makes me think of old-school decorations in people's houses, i.e. blue gingham, porcelain geese wearing straw hats, etc.

My special runs and Limited Editions - I wanted to be sure I could get Nemea and Speos since they seem like they'll be high-demand items, and I had to be sure I'd get a FVA's Grand Design because Othello, and Via Lattea because, white trotter? Yes please. Interesting to see they kept the half-moon punchout thing in the center, considering those didn't really get used last year. 

The design of the tickets is top-notch, as usual. I love them! 

Also included was my 3-day parking pass, which made me realize in horror that I'd forgotten that was included with the VIP ticket and bought another one when I bought the rest of my Breyerfest tickets. Gah! And of course they won't give me a refund for it, because they aren't doing any Breyerfest-related refunds. So uh, if anyone wants to buy a 3-day parking pass for like, $12 (I paid $13), let me know! 

I did save my ticket book from last year as well, so I'll have to make sure I keep this one as well and start another collection. 

We have a 2023 Celebration Horse!

 Greetings, readers! Exciting news today - the 2023 Breyerfest Celebration Horse (and Model) have been announced! Say hello to Bravour 54! 

From the blog:

The Celebration Horse for 2023’s BreyerFest celebration of Driving Forward is a true leader and the perfect combination of beauty and intelligence, with just enough fiery temperament to make him a standout driving horse!

The triathlon of the driving world, Combined Driving tests the control, agility, obedience, and endurance of horses and drivers over three phases of competition – Dressage, Marathon, and Cones. International driver Misdee Wrigley Miller ended up finding the perfect addition to her four-in-hand team in KWPN gelding Bravour 54.

 

He's definitely a looker! When it comes to the choice of mold, though...well, all I'm really going to say is there are going to be a LOT of people reselling them next year. But the owners are happy with it, and that's all that really matters, right? I wouldn't have picked the Trakehner myself (my choice probably would be Troubadour, though he isn't quite the best match for the horse), but them's the breaks, I guess. I hope we get to see more Breyerfest stuff soon! 

Breyerfest Day 3: Back to Confusingly Pleasant

 Well, Breyerfest is officially over for another year. I knew this moment had to come, but it always happens too fast - I wish Breyerfest could last for a week. Of course, it's easy to say that now, but if Breyerfest actually was a week long I'm sure I'd be tired of it by day 5, if not sooner. The insanity can be overwhelming! I do really like room sales, though - maybe if we'd been able to get to Lexington and start selling earlier, I'd be more prepared for the whole thing to be over.

Anyways, Breyerfest is over. We had a leisurely day strolling through the Horse Park in the reasonably pleasant weather - it was cloudy and threatening to rain all day, though the rain didn't really start until shortly before the Sunday raffle. No luck there, either - I was really hoping that this would be my year, but it wasn't to be. Maybe next year.

I did make a few more sales from our room after we got back from the Horse Park, but as always, I was wishing we had sold more, if only because I didn't want to take any of it back home. I suppose I should be happy we sold as much as we did, considering the inflation and gas price woes that have been plaguing us lately. 

Excitingly, the theme for next year's Breyerfest was announced - Driving Forward! Presumably this means a carriage/driving horse theme, which I am all for. I'm wondering what the Celebration Horse will be - will they go all in on the driving theme and have the Celebration Horse be a Standardbred on the new Standardbred mold? Or will they pick a draft horse and save the Standardbred for a special run? Hmm, maybe the Celebration Horse will be on Vermeer and we'll finally get a black Friesian release on him. Depends on whether 9 years is enough separation from the last (purebred) Friesian Celebration Horse, I guess. 

At any rate, the theme is promising - hopefully we won't have too many people complaining when the releases inevitably don't really fit the theme. I hope they announce more about it soon! 

That's all I have for today - it's about time to head to bed so we can finish packing and head for home tomorrow. Happy Breyerfest, everyone! It was great to be back in Lexington in person, and I hope to return again next year.