Cick here for the 2008 show results (Word format)

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all who supported SouthCon this year- from our wonderful donors Jennifer Pomerance, Lindy Pinkham and Deb and Randy Buckler, to our devoted showers, to my dedicated assistants "The Lisas" Lisa Warner and Lisa Bock Holec. There would be no SouthCon without all of you!

The show was small in numbers this year due largely to the economy and concerns over the gas shortage in the SE, but the weather was bright and sunny and spirits were high! And the smaller turnout did not affect the usual high quality of competition in the slightest!

Here are some photos from this year's show. Enjoy them- and we'd love to see YOU in next year's photos! If you have pictures that you took at the show, I would love to see them, and share them here (with your permission, of course). Email them to me at morgans@mindspring.com. Hope to see you all here again next year!! -Laura Behning


On Friday night folks have a chance to ride a Morgan, my gelding Pat, if they wish. Here is Roberto Garcia up on Pat. Please forgive the belly on "Patso"- I've been very diligent about his weight and he looked GREAT back in May, but he has had one medical problem after another this summer (first a tooth concern we had to haul him to UGA to have checked, then a viral eye infection which took almost 2 months to get cleared up) and as a result I have not been able to ride him until very recently. His abs need some work!


We had a peanut gallery while we rode Pat. In all of almost 4 acres of pasture, the one place uber-friendly love sponges Coral and our yearling silver filly Charli wanted to hang out was with us. After watching awhile, a scratchfest began. It was getting pretty dark but I had to try to get a shot of this any way. It came out ok. I love it when horses mutual groom and these two are so bonded it is touching.


Mandy Triebel traveled the furthest to come to SouthCon- all the way from Germany! In 1997 she was a foreign exchange student with a family in Alabama. She has stayed in touch and every few years, she visits them. This year she decided to see if there were any model shows in the area while she would be in the States, and that is how she found SouthCon. Mandy had never seen a Morgan before. Coral gave her a proper introduction!


On Saturday morning, during a break in the show, a group of folks went out into the pasture to get better pictures of the Morgans without the fence in the way. Charli was following everyone around and seemed particularly attracted to the long lens on Kim Abott's camera. Kim decided to show her how to take a picture. After all, Morgans ARE smart, right? (Heaven knows how often I have been grateful that they don't have opposable thumbs!)


A view of the "show hall" and some of the 2008 SouthCon entrants. Left to right is Lisa Warner, Sandy Weirman, Maggie Blackburn, Mandy Triebel, and Jeanne Farnsley.


I think this is a custom rather than a resin but I am not sure. Any way his name is Dash for the Cash and he won the Other Western Performance class and later, the CM Appaloosa class and was CM Stock Horse Breeds Champion as well! Owned by Sandy Wierman.


One of the most wonderful things about SouthCon is its camaraderie. Mandy Triebel had picked up a beautiful Arabian costume while she was here in the States, but didn't have a model to show it on. Jeanne Farnsley graciously loaned her Shamas Gray Ghost, her PS Arabian, and the team effort netted them first place in the costume class and Champion Other Performance!


Shiprah's Sugar Sprite is a young gray Connemara mare who won the CM ponies class. Owned by Lisa Warner.


BAT Chesterfield Chesney, a CM glaze Pour Horse/Lucas-Francis "Hadrian" by Lesli Kathman. Winner of CM Other Breed/Mixed and Champion of the CM Other Breed division. Owned by Kim Abott.


From the Ashes, Kristina Lucas Francis sculpture, a custom ceramic. 2nd in CM App and Reserve Champion CM Stock Breeds. Owned by Sandy Weirman.


This stunning foal is Patriot Princess, a Saddlebred filly owned by Jeanne Farnsley. I think this is a Bogucki piece but I am not sure. Princess won the CM light breeds foals class and went on to be the Custom Foals Champion.


June Bug, a ceramic drafter sculpted by Karen Gerhardt (her Boreas piece), won the CM Draft class (section B, traditional scale/larger pieces) and was Reserve Champion of the CM Draft and Pony division. Owned by Sandy Wierman.


Karen Gerhardt must be a busy woman. She took her Boreas drafter and shrunk it down and "flipped" it (made it facing the other direction) using CAD scanning and the stereolithography process. Here is a bay sabino/splash "flipped" Boreas shown as Am I Blue- for obvious reasons :-) Another from Sandy Wierman's collection. "Blue" won the Section b CM Drafter (for smaller pieces) class and was Champion of the CM Pony/Draft division.


There were a LOT of nice Appaloosas being shown. This is A Scenic World (a CM on a Breyer I forget the name of) and he was 4th in the CM App class. It wasn't only the winners that were top notch- the competition was deep! Owned by Sandy Weirman.


This is Merry Boy's Moon and he is an amber champagne Tennessee Walker resin by Sarah Rose. Very detailed right down to the mottled skin! He won the CM American Gaited Breeds class and was Reserve Champion of the CM Other Breeds division. Owned by Sandy Weirman.


Here is our youngest competitor, Jenny McClanahan, age 10. Jenny is relatively new to the model horse hobby. She and her Mom Johanna also attended Breyerfest this year, where Jenny did pretty well in the youth show, winning the scene class. She had a very successful SouthCon, winning champion OF plastic foal with her Breyer Clydesdale foal Blazing Bay, a championship in the OF plastic Other Breeds division with her PS Walking horse Blue Belle and a reserve championship in the OF Plastic Draft/pony division with her Breyer Irish Draft, Tippy Canoe.