Heather's BCC entry

There was a point in time, about fifteen years ago, when it seemed like everyone who was anyone had a blog. 

Not gonna lie, I miss those days.

One of the blogs I most enjoyed reading belonged to a customizer named Heather Puleo. In it, she shared progress photos of her work, including a drastic Lonesome Glory-to-jumper that was forever being disassembled and reassembled. Even in its rough early stages, you could tell this piece was going to be awesome, assuming it ever got finished. That seemed unlikely, however. The resculpt was so dynamic and so complicated and Heather is so discerning. I wasn't sure it would ever be complete.

Well, never have I been so happy to be wrong! Take a look at Heather's 2026 BreyerFest Best Customs Contest Most Extreme entry.

The Seventeen Year Horse

by Heather Puleo

Way back in the ancient times (cough 2009 or so) I saw a picture of a jumper that just screamed I WANT TO BE A CUSTOM.

The twisty hind end, the neck being used as a counter balance after having flung themselves over the fence from a difficult spot, that horse was all athleticism and stunning.

Quick quick! Who can I chop up into this??

Enter one very tortured, errr, well loved Seattle Slew model on the Lonesome Glory mold. Leggy, refined, this would surely be perfect and fast.

Or more like a series of chopping, grinding, sanding, sculpting and hmmmming every so often for the next 17 years. I would occasionally pick it up and try and figure out what wasn't quite working. Spoiler, there was *a lot* that wasn't working but my knowledge base had not yet caught up to the vision in my head and in my ref. 

This year in March I decided I would try and enter the BCC again and give myself more than three weeks to complete a drastic CM 🤣 But what was I going to do? I have a laundry list of ideas at any given time but I pulled out the poor slightly mangled LG and was like. YOU. I will *finally* make you what I always wanted you to be. 

I managed to scrounge up the two missing legs too! But the head is completely mia. Oops. Fine we will make a new one, even though my preference is to use as much of the original model as possible in the final piece. I mean, if you haven't fought with the base model through every. single. step. of resculpting, is it even a custom anymore? I dont know but that's my crazy logic and I'm sticking to it.

Now someone needs an intense dremel session to remove all the old and honestly no longer good epoxy. Plus she was almost hilariously too wide in the hips and shoulders especially. A few holes are fine right? 

And then finally, we sculpt!

Sculpt the head some. Ooo, yikes…keep going

Checking for symmetry.

Putting legs on!

Taking legs off...

Making notes for adjustments.

Eets a Pony on a Stick

Making more holes.

More notes.

More legs.

And then the vision is finally in sight. This might just be doable! 

…..After another decapitation

The first two weeks of June were an absolute blur or sanding, smoothing, shaping ears, adding veins, hair, details and then finally paint and assembling the jump and getting last minute photos and tossing in the email under wire.

SO, FINALLY, seventeen years in the making, my vision came to life. Twisty, athletic, so very *mare* and a horse my heart would love to ride though my body would almost certainly be left in the dust LOL

OH! Two last things! Even though she is pretty much completely resculpted from nose to tail, her hooves are still original plastic (minus the bottoms which I detailed out)! 

I made sure to match the scale and size of the original model to the point that I could leave them and it amuses me to no end.

And secondly, a beautiful model like this deserves a beautiful name, but in the past few months she has decided to keep her “work in progress” nickname. And thus, she is The Great Cornponio.

Congratulations, Heather. I can not believe you finally this one. She is my favorite horse of this year's BCC season and was more every minute of those seventeen years. Good luck at BreyerFest!

Jasmine's BCC entry

There are a lot of small but mighty entries in the BreyerFest Best Customs Contest Excellence in Finishwork category this year, including this little charmer from Jasmine Thompson. 

She writes: Here is my first ever entry for the BreyerFest Best Customs Contest! Twyla was hand painted with acrylics and colored pencil to a dark sooty buckskin, my favorite color.

I absolutely love the stablemate scale, so naturally my first piece had to be a stablemate!

Congratulations, Jasmine. I love that you chose to start your BCC career with your favorite color in your favorite scale. That's the way to do it! Good luck at BreyerFest!

Jenn's BCC entry

Jenn Constantine is one of the most singular talents working in the model horse hobby today. Her style, her vision, her choice of color and media... It's all very uniquely Jenn. The same can be said for her 2026 BreyerFest Best Customs Contest Fantasy entry. No one else could have made - or conceived - this. It's all Jenn!

The Making of Sleipnir

by Jenn Constantine

Some souls need more time to accept their fate.

Sleipnir honors this and also guards against those who may not be so patient, including the fierce "hvítabjörn" herself.

"Ísdís … eigi enna. Not yet, ice spirit."

My 2026 BCC Fantasy entry is a bit of a fractured fairy tail twist on Sleipnir. How could I resist a deep look at the mythology that aligns so well with this year's BreyerFest theme? While the original snippets we have about Sleipnir's appearance are clear that he has eight *legs/hooves*, I went in the direction of eight *limbs* because I can.

He's got one owl eye focused on the interloper, while one horse eye keeps watch on his eventual ethereal passenger. His right wing shields the soul, and his left wing lifts in a mantling threat.

Sleipnir began as an Adonis...

Hi, Heather Puleo, I loved taking your sculpture apart!

...and is now a rose gray beast of four horse legs, two owl legs and two owl wings, based on a mix of the great horned owl and the Eurasian eagle owl. He's packed with mohairing detail in his leg feathering, mohawk, mane, tail and wings. I'm curious to see if anyone spots the ansuz rune on him! 

No real bird parts were used!

His wings are an armature with handcut, wired and painted feathers. 

My vision required two beasts, and since I'd never even drawn a polar bear, my expectations for her were not high. However, I'm just as pleased with her as I am my monstrosity of a Norse legend. 

In some ways, this was more of a challenge than my skellies a few years ago. We know what horse bones look like... I didn't know how he would come together, but I don't regret following his hoof and talon prints in my mind. 

Congratulations, Jenn. This is such a wonderfully you creation, and I absolutely love those wings! Good luck at BreyerFest!

Eva's BCC entry

When it comes to the BreyerBest Customs Contest, Eva Mathews believes in going big. There are no single horse, single doll and single tack set entries for Eva. Every year, her set-ups get bigger, better and more involved. Take a look at this year's entry!

Eva writes: This display captures an moment in time of a real horse event taking place at Arlington National Cemetery. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment known as "The Old Guard, is taking a fallen soldier to his final resting place.

For over seven decades the Caisson Platoon has provided horse-drawn caisson funeral services for all five branches of the military.The caparison horse walks for Army and Marine funerals because they were the only units that had mounted cavalry, but they are also used for state funerals. 

The wagon is hitched with three horse teams: wheel, swing and lead team. The soldiers ride on McClellan saddles in a postilion position on the near horse (left) side. They go off at a 21 pace count behind the Chaplin at a funeral.

The Caisson Platoon horses have a very distinctive look with their army style "buzzed cut" manes, short tails and shiny black hooves. 

This black horse team was re-sculpted in a style similar to bronze western artist to give that distinctive army strong look and to show the serenity of the moment. 

One additional horse known as the section horse is ridden...

and the caparisoned horse follows the casket to symbolize the fallen leader who will never ride again.

Eva customized eight horses for this entry: the six horse caisson harness team, the ridden section horse and the caparisoned riderless horse. 

She also dressed seven dolls...

and made so much tack.

The wagon was built by another artist, but the base/display case is her work, as well.

Congratulations, Eva. Even by your standards, this is a remarkable achievement. I hope it finds its way to Arlington, but only after it goes to Kentucky. Good luck at BreyerFest!