Only aging horses will be allowed, and all horses *must* be realistically bred.  If there are real parents, they *must* be alive when your horse was born (or whenever their "model" progeny were born.  They must also have been of producing age...not too young, or having lots of babies while on the racetrack (there are rare exceptions for colts).  Foals from real mares should also not be born in years where real foals were born or other hobby foals were.  At this point we don't have a real mare registry, but if it seems to start to be a problem, we will.  If you have an already established horse out of a real mare that is foaled the same as another established hobby horse, and you don't wish to find another year, it's fine, but for newly created horses you should check.  If you don't know, do ask :-)

You may *not* make up pedigrees!  There are plenty of people who have realistic pedigrees in all sorts of different breeds (particularly within the Express and IPABRA organizations), who will be more than happy to help you either from their own sire and dam lists or in helping you find something suitable.

Color rules must also be followed.  Not all breeds come in all colors or patterns.  If you have an unusual color for your horse (many of us have an interest in unusual colors or patterns in our "specialty" breeds), please be able to produce documenations of it if asked.  People doing the registering don't know everything about every breed and may miss something.  However, if you include documentation (such as a web site covering the unusual color in that breed, or stating that your breed has that coloration) when you register, then it can be checked and noted then. 

What breeds are acceptable?  Any, all, even mixes and grades can be shown here!

We will be basing our rules for the show mostly from the American Horse Showers Association rule book, a copy of which is posted online at their site.  I'm not sure what they charge, if anything for a text copy.

Not every judge will know everything about every breed, or even everything about their specialty breed...just like in real life.  It would be helpful, especially while there are only a few of us, to take the time to learn about a breed and/or performance division that you aren't particularly interested in, but someone else is so hopefully more people can get showing sooner, since you are also not allowed to enter a show you are holding.

Other things that are important than the horse are the handler/rider and breeder/training notes, and some family notes.  It will take some research perhaps, though most things are put forth in the AHSA handbook about the turnout of both the horse and handler/rider.  Some short notes on family (performance talents, etc.) can be helpful to a judge (and thus to your horse!).  However, don't give judges pages to read, use as few words as you can to say as much as you can!

Remember that while horses can show in more than one discipline at a time, it does take time for a horse to learn.  Most horses will (and should) specialize.  Our horses, like real life ones, will also have strengths and weaknesses.  If you show a horse in a class that takes a close look at a weakness, then don't expect it to do well consistently.

Another advantage to the points system is that you will be able to look at other scored horses and compare their strengths and "weaknesses" (we simply work on the presumption that all horses scored are of quality capable of competing at high level "professional" shows, so the low scores are not bad by any means!), and at your own horse's and breed to strengthen the weaknesses.  Scores for foals who have parents that have scores are based on the parent(s)' scores.  There is no guarantee that a foal will have a better score in all category, but it certainly increases the chances over a random scoring.  In photo or live showing, that a stallion or mare or sibling is a champion (or hasn't shown at all) ultimately has little bearing on how well a foal will do...which is mostly up to the care and skill of the photographer and/or remake/repainter.  (Though it sure is nice to have the pedigree there!)  In this system, the family will have some bearing on the points a judge can give a horse, though most of the score will be from the points and "presentation".

The system has a lot of promise for those of us that like to work with our horses and learn about the real horse world!  Of course, it's also good for those of us who have not only limited money for good models and tack, but limited "safe space" on shelves for our loved models!

At the moment we will only be operating online.  Once we get established and our showing system in place, we will be expanding to allow off line members as well.  Exciting things are to come!