BreyerFest was three weeks ago now and I finally have a bit of mental energy to write a post about it! There's a ton I could say, and I might do a couple of other blog posts (maybe even a vlog) about it. For now though, here's my Special Runs story.
Anne (my friend from The Netherlands who was in Kentucky for her very first BF!) and I decided that we would go get all of our horses on Friday. We stood in lines, in the sun, for what felt like hours and I was struggling for my life, haha. Me and heat/humidity/the angry ball in the sky aren't good friends. So I don't really have any pictures from my struggle for survival, except one picture I took of one of the tote bags everyone was getting.
And a quick picture of my two (initial... more on that later) SRs, right after I got them.
We had gone out to breakfast before going to the Horse Park, and while we were there, Anne learned that the Surprise mold was Emerson. We started to see pictures pop up on Facebook of the different colors people were getting. I had briefly thought to myself, "uh oh...?", before being glad I had picked a Surprise for one of my SRs. But which one would I get? And which one did I even want?
But first, a quick look back. My first BreyerFest, and only one (in person) before this year, was in 2019. I went through the SR line on a mission, to get Rocket. He was my first on the Emerson mold and he is a solid favorite of mine.
Another really neat connection: Anne helped me name him at The Jennifer Show in 2019. His name is Falcon Light, a play on the Falcon Heavy rocket, from SpaceX.
Based on the pictures we'd seen before getting our own SRs, I decided my top three, in order, were: chestnut sabino, appaloosa, cremello.
As we stood in line to get our bags out of the tent where you had to check all of your bags, Anne decided to peek at her Surprise horses. She had two tickets, and had picked two Surprises. I was so hot and tired, I said I didn't even care yet and would see what I had gotten later, haha.
But... Anne pulled a cremello out of one of her bags and when I saw it shining in the sun, I was captivated. She started looking around, wanting to trade it, and I said, "Wait! let me see what I have.." I had decided right then and there that my first choice was actually the cremello.
I looked in my bag and found a cremello. It was the coolest thing.
After we got back to the hotel, we compared our SRs and I realized mine was a glossy, hers was a matte. I thought about trading for hers, because usually I am Team Matte. But I saw in the sun that the glossy just GLITTERS. I couldn't decide (big surprise, haha).
At some point, we decided to do the second chance sale on Sunday. I decided to go for 2 more Surprise horses, if possible, and see what I could get. Anne did the same. As we stood in that line for a couple of hours, we pondered what we might pick if they were out of Surprises once we get there. I decided my backup would be Sorry Not Sorry, the appaloosa Salinero - who had been my close 3rd choice for an SR in the first place.
There ended up being plenty of Surprise models when it was our turn. My second two Surprise horses were the bay overo and the regular bay, both matte. Darn. I was still hoping for a chestnut sabino and an appaloosa. Anne wanted a glossy sabino the most, she had found good trades for what she wanted and she offered to help me. We split up, she took my overo, I took the bay and we wandered around the area by the SR sales area.
I was striking out, until I ended up having someone offer to trade me a matte cremello for the bay and I went for it, liking that color more.
Then Anne returned to our temporary base camp, from her outing with the overo, and handed me this one. Trade secured, cool!
Sunday night, we were both packing up. Anne had a matte appaloosa she was planning to sell later and I asked to look at it... "I really shouldn't..." I thought, but... "when in Rome"... I asked how much she wanted, sighed at myself, picked up my phone and opened PayPal. (ha!)
So, in the end, I did get my top three, in a different order, plus a "spare" cremello. I thought I might end up selling the glossy - maybe I will sometime, but for now she is hanging out in my lineup of Emerson/Winx models, that now numbers 7.
(But I don't collect OFs and I don't really do congas... Riiiiight)
"But wait, there's more!"
After the 2nd chance sale and follow up stock market trading, Anne and I got separated at one point. She was looking for another trade, and I was hanging out with a group of hobbyists. A couple of them decided to go back through the second chance line again. There was no line at that point, you could just walk in and buy two more of whatever was left.
I asked them who was left. They listed off a few SRs, including Sorry Not Sorry. I said that was another one I had initially wanted... and joked that maybe I should go for it. Of course, they said "do it!" (enablers, all of us, haha) I thought, again "when in Rome", shrugged, and figured I might as well. Since I was there and the horse(s) I wanted were there... I told myself they'd probably never be cheaper, especially adding shipping, and so on... So I did it.
Ran through the tents again and grabbed two of Sorry Not Sorry - because of the matte glossy split. I was hoping for a matte. I got two glossies. Laughing at my weird luck I thought, oh well, maybe I can find a trade later.
I checked back with the group, grabbed all my stuff, then ran to go to the bathroom and find Anne just in time for the Sunday Raffle. Someone in the group I had been in outside gave my name to another hobbyist who got two mattes and wanted a glossy, haha. So my very last activity at BreyerFest proper was to stagger into the Visitors Center at the horse park and trade a glossy for a matte.
Once again, the working plan is to sell the glossy, but we'll see!
You might have realized that I got two SRs on Friday, but only talked about the Surprise saga.
Well, this is the second SR that I chose with my ticket. Before I opened him, I saw on Facebook that there was a tail variation (no stand). I was hoping for that one and I got him! I have Adonis, from the Premiere Club and I thought it would be fun to have two flashy, spotty guys.
And THAT is my meandering story about how I went to BreyerFest 2024 intending to get two SRs and, um, got a lot more.
I also brought home some other horses, but that's another story!
Wow, you did fantastic! Those cremellos are gorgeous...really all the surprise colors this year are quite handsome.
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