Youth and Children's Model Horse Show

Back in January, we talked about the Youth and Children's Model Horse Show, being held at the Alltech Arena on Saturday, July 14th from 7am to 3pm.

For those of you that may have missed the post, a model horse show is very similar to a live horse show except models are shown instead of live horses. And this is the largest model horse show for kids! For kids three-day ticket holders, there is a Children's show, and the Youth Show is open to adult 3-day ticket holders ages 13 to 16.

Read below to learn all about Breyer Intern Meghan's experience!

There is still space available in both age groups and these shows are geared towards a fun and educational experience, and are perfect for you if you've never shown your models before. You can view the breed guide and class lists for the show here. New to showing? Or need more information? Take a peek at the Model Horse Shows pages in our Community section for lots of information!

As well, on Friday morning, Liz Cory will be offering a workshop on How to Show Model Horses and Kim Bjorgo-Thorne, one of our Youth and Children's Show Managers, will be hosting the Intro to Model Horse Showing seminar. You can register for Liz's workshop here!

Hello, my name is Meghan. I am the new summer intern at Breyer. I have been an avid collector of model horses for 15 years but only started showing about 10 years ago. A good friend at the time went to BreyerFest 2009 and told our group of Breyer crazy friends how much fun she had. When she found a local show she invited my friend and I to tag along. At this point I had maybe 20 Breyers in my collection. I had brought my models along but my main purpose was to go and see what a Breyer show is like. My friends convinced me to put in several of the models I brought, since I was already there anyway. One of my models made it to the championship round but did not make it any further. From then on I thought showing models was the coolest thing.

Flash forward a year later and I convinced my mom to take me to BreyerFest. All Glory was the Celebration model that year and I was very excited. I think part of the reason she said we could go was so we could possibly meet William Shatner. When we got to the Kentucky Horse Park I was like a kid in a candy store. I wanted to buy everything I saw. Luckily my mom was in charge of my money on that trip, so I didn't buy nearly as much as I had wanted.

The youth show at BreyerFest was an eye opening experience for sure. I was used to showing against 30 kids but this was the real deal. The entire room was filled with kids waiting to show Breyers. Since I had only been collecting seriously for about a year I did not expect my horses to win. I did go home with several ribbons and was very proud of my little collection.

After BreyerFest I showed seriously up until I went off to college. In the years after BreyerFest I have had several horses be Overall Reserve Novice Champion and Overall Novice Champion. I also expanded my collection from 20 to about 200. Each show I participated in I learned something new and was able to use that knowledge towards the next show.

My advice to any kids showing for the first time would be, have fun and ask questions and have an open mind. Don't stress about your horses go to the show and have fun, talk to people and look around to see what other people show. I had the most fun looking around to see what all the open exhibitors would bring. Next don't be afraid to ask questions. The judges are there for you to learn from, so if you have a question, go up and ask. You also could go around and ask other exhibitors. In my experience most people at the shows like to answer your questions.

If you are interested in learning more about shows in your area you can check the Breyer Events page and a list of shows in your area should pop up. Or you could come and show at BreyerFest in the Youth Show. For more information check out the Model Horse Shows tab on the BreyerFest section of the website.