Monday, May 23, 2011

Showing 101: Green with Card Envy





If a class is particularly large, a show holder or judge may choose to further divide the class. This is often done in the interest of fairness. As a judge, I like classes to all have roughly the same number of entries. If the Paint class is twice the size of the Quarter Horse class, the ribbons and NAN cards won in each class don't mean the same thing.

If a class is split, NAMHSA puts no restrictions on how they are split. They can be split be breed (Stock Pony divided into Paint Pony and everything else,) or virtually any other factor. Splits by gender, scale, and color are common. I once split a Clydesdale class by Wintersong (the mold) and molds that weren't Wintersong. Hey, I ended up with equal-sized classes.

You will rarely, if ever, see classes combined. A published classlist is often treated as a promise by the show holder to their showers. If only one horse is entered in a class--oh well. The system isn't perfect and never could be (since no one could agree on what "perfect" means.)

As I’ve mentioned before, at this time shows do not have a nationally accepted standard and the judge must choose her own. Having said that, most of the time they judge on similar basic elements. The major elements in a breed class are Realism, Conformation, and Type (usually in that order.)

I could write a novel on these elements and what they mean, but I’ll save the nitty gritty for another day. Here’s the cliff notes version:

Realism: In a nutshell, is this horse even possible? Impossible horses usually means they have uneven measurements, impossible gaits, and cartoonish proportions. Or eye brows.

Conformation: A model horse can be a 100% realistic representation of a real horse--and still be considered ugly (conformationally speaking.) I will cover this topic in more detail in multiple future posts, but the most basic idea is this: balance, body angles, and straight legs.

Type: Think of type as measurement of how closely a horse matches the look of its assigned breed. Does a model Arabian have a dishy head and high set tail? Does a Shire have adequate feather? Does a stock horse have a large enough butt? Then they’re “typey.”

Generally, these elements are considered in this order, with major realism issues taking priority over subtleties of type.

Tune in next week when I unravel the mysteries of the yellow NAN cards!


Morgen said...

Hi Laura, I didn't know if you knew this but spied your blog post on FB and there are now NAMHSA guidelines. Specifically;
[quoting from but I seem to remember them being aroundf or a few years now]
Judging Guidelines
The following guidelines are to be followed in the judging of
classes at NAN.


‣ Correctness of anatomy, biomechanics, conformation

‣ Breed standards including color that represents current
(or historic with documentation) standards

‣ Overall appearance, finish, condition, workmanship

‣ Judge’s overall impression


‣ Rarity

‣ Age

‣ Condition

‣ Desirability

‣ Judge’s overall impression


‣ Quality and execution of finish work

‣ Accuracy/correctness/realism of customization (if applicable)

‣ Quality of prepping

‣ Accuracy and realism of color for realistic or creative
use of color for non-realistics


‣ Model is correctly and safely executing a maneuver that
is appropriate for the class (includes proper anatomy,
biomechanics and suitability of model for event)

‣ Tack fit and suitability/correctness for event

‣ Accuracy of documentation, props (including dolls,if
used) and horse in relation to event presented

‣ Condition of model

Something that could be fun for you to blog on later? :) Cheers! -M

Two Fishies said...

Thanks so much for sharing! :) Yes, NAMHSA has added these since I wrote the original blog. I would definitely love to expand on them in the future.