And Dream of Spots: (very first) Live Show!

In France, live show are as rare as unicorns.
On the very few that we had in the past, I wasn't able to attend. But this time there was one organized by Snowy & Lennox (two french collectors) with the AMEC and... I was available to go. I choose, of course, to have a table and to show my model horses as well as my drawings..

Reading the program, I planned to first show my horses in breed and color, and then to tack them for a class called "depiction" (wich is supposed to be close to performance).

So my table was just showing the horses "loose" first, with the goal to have all my performance horses ready on it by the end of the day!

Also, I wasn't alone as I shared a hotel room with 3 of my best hobby friends, and they got some georgeous table too!

@Kelly_Breyerhorse

@Manghorse_Modelhorse

And @AGrassStory that you know already if you've read that blog!

As it was my first show ever, I also met a lot of hobby people I already knew from the internet (or didn't knew at all) and the day was all about showing and chatting. I didn't saw the rush coming so in fact, I planned to do plenty of pictures and in the end couldn't. I apologize to all the other pretty tables and horses that I cannot show here.

Following the program, the first competition was the breed class, and I had 7 horses entering.
I snatched a picture of the show tables while the judges were doing their job...

Then the results came...
My ambition was to be able to took each of my horses with their winning cards and whole class... I was able to do it for breeds but it was the first and last time I could.

Applause Me got a first place and a finished Champion of his table for "other breeds" as tiger horse.

Aventin got a second place for "Iberian : other pure breed and crossbred" as a spanish jennet.

Wintery Glen got a fourth place in the "Asian/African breed" section as a karabair.

Lady Bee got a first place and Reserve Champion of her table, as well as Dark Side of the Moon got a third place, both in the "Warmblood : other pure breed and crossbred" table and both as wielkopolski.

Poltergeist got a first place in the "Draft horses: other pure breed and crossbred" section as a noriker X gypsy.

And Silver Lining got a second place in the "Stock: Appaloosa" section as a modern appaloosa.

Then the day just got... wild. Things accelerated, I was able to put my horses in the color classes, ended up judging the "mini" classes and didn't followed what was happening elsewhere.

Picture by @Ecurie_de_la_pie_noire
(Here's a picture I found of me judging for the first time, not following my own program of the day)

While judging that huge mini class, we runned out of cards and had to make some new ones... I remember how hot the day was and how I just runned from a side of the room to another.

So well... sorry no pictures of my horses in color classes, I got the 6 horses I showed and their winning cards back at my table only and because my friends are awesome and cared about them for me. They also helped me tack my horses in a rush for the tack class wich was coming next and a part of them was able/ready to show in time.
No pictures again, but I found this one... where you can see some of my tacked horses in the back :')

Picture by @Surimixeurinator

After that class, I lined my horses back again in my own table for the "depiction" class, but it was mixed with the diorama class as a last minute change so I got no chances. My sceneries where thinked as performance and not as diorama... lack of props on my end, no winnings.

I did took the time to snatch a few pictures of my planned entries, just for the record.

A cutting scene, with Silver Lining, Anne and my cows.

A native scene, with How Beautiful Delilah, Coahoma and a foal.

A side saddle scene, with Lady Bee and Aisling. (And that's when you see that carrying bag not fully attached that you feel the rush... sorry).

Well it was... a try! Here's a closer look to my table, thoses pictures where all taken right before I pack everything to leave.

And a clearer picture of my obstacle and english set that showed in the tack class ;)

I shared the candies that I used as deco for that obstacle at the end of the day (and lost the walnut).

It was a good day. I'm really glad I could attend a show at least once in my life!

Once back at home, I took the time to have a closer look to my other winnings, so here's all my horses with their cards (and the additional results then).

Applause Me got a second place in "Appaloosa color: Blanket".

Aventin got a first place in "Appaloosa color: near, few & snow".

Chess Game got a third place in "Appaloosa color: Pintaloosa" and a first place with it's obstacle prop.

Dark Side of the Moon got a first place in "other tack" with the Japanese (Samouraï) tack that finished as the Overall Champion of all the tack class.