BreyerFest Friday, part one

On Friday, Tiffany and I got up before dawn and drove to the Kentucky Horse Park's Alltech Arena...

for the BreyerFest Open Show.

I helped Tiffany carry in her horses, tack, dolls, props and bases. Then I checked in with a few friends...

and looked at all the beautiful models!

I stayed long enough to watch the first few performance classes.

I'm pretty sure that harness is one of mine.

I took some pictures, but not many. The early morning light in this show hall is brutal. My camera is on its last legs anyway, and it didn't seem worth the hassle.

Fortunately, the light was a little better on the side of the hall where the Collector's Class entries were displayed. 

I really love the elaborate set-ups. It's like performance showing for halter people.

I stayed until the winners were announced.

Then I made the long leisurely walk to the BreyerFest side of the park.

It wasn't hot yet, and I stopped several times to soak in the views. The Kentucky Horse Park is really beautiful.

As I passed by the Hall of Champions, I saw my favorite resident, Point Given, getting a bath.

I love his hoofies!

I stayed with him until he went back in the stall. Then I walked on.

I arrived at the Covered Arena just before the main gates opened. It was weird to see it so deserted.

Of course, I went straight to Maggie Jenner-Bennett's booth.

The traditional scale versions of Motor and Terora were on display. They are absolutely amazing.

Then, since Maggie's help had not yet arrived, I assumed assistant duties as BreyerFest attendees started to arrive. Mostly, this amounted to wrapping sold models in bubble wrap.

After the real help arrived, I went to the Breyer booth and picked up my volunteer model. Isn't she beautiful?

At this point, Tara Reich and I decided to go to the barns and look at the guest horses.

This is one of the BreyerFest things I hadn't done perviously. I don't know why. It was really fun.

Then we decided to do another thing I hadn't done: Stand in the lines and take pictures with Benelli...

and Sporður frá Bergi.

Standing in line made us hot and thirsty, so we decided to check out the Beer Garden. Along the way, we found Kenzie Williamson and a camel.

The camel was pretty awesome.

He liked lemonade...

and he really liked Kenzie.

We made it to the Beer Garden, got out wristbands and made our selections.

The band was aggressively loud...

so instead of drinking in the tent, we found a patch of shade on the grass and plotted our next move.

To be continued.