That's Racing

My brother is a professional race car mechanic. No kidding. He's worked in NASCAR, and for an American LeMans Series team. This weekend, he worked a race called the 24 hours of Daytona. Apparently there was a great shot of him sleeping standing up on Speed in the wee hours. I followed the race on FaceBook. Early on, the car had some issues with the gearbox, but they thought they resolved the problem. They were running well. And in hour 23, the gear box failed and the race, for them, was over.

Sucks, right? As my brother puts it "That's racing."

Yeah. There's hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, in building the car, and prepping it for the day of the race. I don't know what it costs to actually enter the race, or pay the team that cares for that car. And despite all the money and all that work...they can't even place, they are Did Not Finish.

That's Racing.

I swear it will make sense in a moment.

So. If you took a moment to actually read the NAN packet when you enter, you'd see that there's a note that classes that have fewer than 20 horses entered in a given class (or if less than 20 actually show up on the table--a lot of times not all the horses who are entered show) then half the class is pinned, and its not a Top Ten, its a Top Seven, or whatever. Its been like that since 1995. Some of its economic--prizes are about $60 per class, and if you have 20 horses entered, the class breaks even. Some if it is in the spirit of competition--to earn that rosette, you have to beat someone, not just show up.

You don't get a prize just for showing up.

I know, right?

NAN is not a member show. Its our National Championship show. Those awards should mean *something* that isn't "I paid my entry fee and got up on time."

And no, we don't track horses who qualify. So you have to compete against what actually shows up that day, not what is hypothetically qualified to be there, but isn't for some reason. Using that logic, its possible that the True Best Horse Ever never gets to a show, because not everyone who collects stuff--even resins, even CMs, even tack--shows it. I realize that seems like a waste to those of us who do, but its true. So you have to be judged against what shows up to compete, not what is hypothetically going to compete.

And while I agree that a good, consistant sponsorship program is something NAN and NAMHSA desperately need...I don't think its ethical to be able to just create a class to sponsor. You get to pick what the NAN committee offers. If you get to create a class--say Traditional scale CM Glaze Walkaloosa, bay base color, then you sure as hell don't get to show in it. Its cheaper to just make your own trophy.

Should we just give out "PARTICIPATION" ribbons with the NAN packet? Or maybe just forget the show and let people order trophies on demand? That would save the org money and a lot of aggravation, certainly. It would also make your cookie worthless.

It would be awesome if we could all count on winning a championship at every show we go to, but that doesn't happen. Sometimes all you get to show for an effort is the experience. I spent a lot of time and money on the 1999 NAN and I think I got one Top Ten to show for it. I've been just nudged out of champs at local shows and missed a National Reserve by a point. I suppose I could waste time being furious about how I'd been cheated out of a prize...but that's showing.

If actual professionals can have this attitude about competition, why on earth don't we, who are doing it, in theory, because we enjoy it? Do we enjoy just having the prizes?

The NAN Webcam Calamity

OK, since this has been posted on a public list, I feel like I can discuss it. And I also think I am done posting on N-D for now. Its become an echo chamber for about half a dozen people who are apparently ill informed about the show, and just enjoy hearing themselves. No one disagrees with them because the discussion is actually going on in other places, just not the official venue. Shocking, I know.

Anyway, when the webcam idea was developed and announced by Jim West and Andy Faraci last year, I was skeptical about it. Let's face it, model horse showing is sort of boring if you're not actually showing. Its not a spectator sport. When the jumpers come out, they don't jump. And at NAN you have to keep your distance, you can't go up and gawk at the entries and admire the detail and care that go into them. I thought a static camera shot was going to be kind of dull. But a lot of others were excited with the idea, so I kept my Debby Downer crap to myself.

And I was totally wrong. The webcam ended up being a freaking hit, especially after someone mounted it to a rolling dolly and pushed it around the hall. Laura Pervier eventually ended up doing most of the dolly rolling and commentary on the thing. I am not sure how that happened, I guess she got bored when she didn't have enough to do judging. It happens.

And hey, kudos to Laura for then writing an organized proposal that was submitted to the BOD. We were in the middle of another discussion, and per our long established protocol, discussion of the web cam was temporarily tabled to be discussed later. Laura wasn't happy with that, as she stated on NAMHSA-Discussion, as she is trying to swing plane and hotel fare and her proposal included a clause for reimbursement of part of those expenses. Eventually she withdrew the proposal as it was becoming economically unfeasable for her to wait.

This does not mean that the webcam isn't happening, folks. It just means that Laura won't be running it. Laura was not behind getting the webcam set up last year, her equipment was not used. So there is no point in getting your panties in a wad over it because you'll still have it.

I am not personally sure that this should be a $300 paid position. I mean, the webcam is a nice addition to the show, but with out the NAN chair (who gets $525, increased for this year, unless there is a co-chair, in which case, the stipend is split), a registrar ($525, also increased for this year--both these posts were $450 before 2013) or judges ($100 per day, an increase in 2012) a head steward ($300, position created in 2010) and a vast army of volunteers who work for a $10 lunch and a T shirt. The other staff members I already mentioned also get lunch and a shirt, and there is breakfast and refreshments provided to judges each day.

Now--its possible that at some point in the future, the webcam does develop into a paid position. I have a hard time saying that the organization should be spending $300 plus whatever the parking pass, and special food request for what is, really, a non essential part of the show. Without a chair, a registrar, judges and the ring stewards, there is nothing for the webcam to stream. I'm glad Laura is so eager to shift to this position, but it might be smarter to work it up more slowly than what she's got outlined. Probably, this needs to be a team of people-two or three-because that schedule she has is a long one. I love the idea of some structured programming--interviewing folks, that sort of stuff, but man, that is a lot of work for a single person. Worth $300? Probably...if the show wasn't already so far in the red. Are you willing to raise the entry fee so your mom can watch the show? People are also clamoring for small classes to be pinned all the way to 10, which is another way to spend. And there will be more on that later in the week. At some point, we have to start trying to get the show to raise revenue. And it can't all be subsidized with sponsors and raffle tickets. We either need to cut stuff or raise the entry fee. We probably need to do both, but I can't imagine what else CAN be cut at this point--does it make sense to add in another expense that isn't vital?

I don't think anyone who works for NAN expects to get most of their expenses recouped. Some folks don't even pick up their stipends, they feel that its part of their hobby pay back (I'm not one of those people--any little bit helps!!)

For reference, here's the proposal:

NAN Webcam Walkabout Proposal

I would like to propose that NAMHSA hire me as the official webcam operator
(aka Walkabout) for NAN 2013 and NAN 2014. There was a significant amount
of positive feedback from those who had never attended a NAN or who were
unable to attend this past year, but were able to watch it live via the
internet. People checked in from all over the US, Canada and overseas, and
really appreciated the ability to see what was happening in real time and to
ask questions of me. Not only did I have an enjoyable time running the
camera all over the show hall, I believe the ability for many who have never
been to NAN is a great benefit to NAMHSA, NAN and the hobby at large.
Ideally I'd like to do this for all years of NAN going forward, depending on
where the Indy NANs will be held.

Many people feel NAN is very cutthroat, scary and intimidating. I would
like to change their perception with the walkabout. Show them that folks
are having a good time at NAN and they're busy congratulating those that did
win.

My goal for the walkabout is to show those at home how much work is put in
to NAN by the entrants and staff, as well as what exactly goes on during the
day. I will be showcasing all of the classes during NAN, as well as entrant
tables, the judge's corral, podium, championship photo area, whiteboard,
registrar's table and anything else related to NAN. In addition to
featuring the nuts and bolts of the show, I will be happy to again field
questions from those watching and to highlight areas as they request it.

What I would be providing with the walkabout:

Broadcasting via LiveStream (or something similar) during the entire 3 show
days, from beginning to end

Broadcasting on the day before NAN from the show hall, both as a test for
the system and to show those at home what goes on in getting the hall ready
for NAN

Interviews with various entrants, judges, stewards and other volunteers and
spectators

Lots of positive promotion for NAMHSA and NAN which will encourage those at
home to attend a future NAN

I will provide:

My own laptop with an extended time battery and a back up battery
A wireless router (if needed)
A portable, moveable platform for the computer, webcam and microphone
An account with Livestream (or similar)
Lots of great commentary during all days of NAN for those at home
A very loose time schedule of when pre-arranged people will be interviewed
so those at home can tune in to see their favorite artist or whomever - this
can be published on the NAMSHA site, N-D and other lists ahead of time

What NAMHSA/NAN will provide:

Access to the Comcast hard-wire connection via my (or Niki's) wireless
router
Paid parking pass for the 4 days of NAN (show and set up days); if parking
fees are applicable
A large fruit plate in the morning (I'm gluten-intolerant), each day of NAN
Compensation for 3 days of NAN at standard judges pay rate - including per
diem for lunch. Set up day will not need to be compensated as this is
strictly to test that the equipment is ready and working.
A printed seating chart and cross reference list of entrants by first and
last name (so I can find entrants at the show for those at home that would
like to "meet" them) or provide me with the files so I can print them myself
Judging assignment schedule
Class list, in order of when they'll be called
Name tag
Official NAMHSA staff shirts
NAN FAQ on the NAMHSA web site (further details on the FAQ available from
both Stacy Faraci and Niki Hertzog)

The year end wrap

I started inventorying my collection about 2 years ago. It's still a work in progress, but the bulk of the horses are described and photographed, as is the tack. The big project for 2013 is props, and then the valuable stuff should all be documented. The big plan is to put it on a flash drive. During the last 2 weeks of the year, I review stuff as I have time. Today was mostly reconstructing my "New Stuff" list that I was meticulous about until Breyerfest ended. Then I just fell off the wagon hard.

But, I did get it done, and, bonus, I also got most of the horse counts confirmed. I still need to do the unpainted resins since either I am missing a box, the inventory lists on the boxes are wrong, or the various lists I have are wrong. Anyway-should I get all these goodies painted, I will have some awesome future show horses.

I also learned that I apparently have not unpacked from TRXC. There are horses I did not see upstairs that I know I have, because I showed them at TRXC!

And need more shelving, but I have a plan.

Still need to photograph the new stuff, but it's not much...and match up certificates, awards and all that stuff. Maybe I should hope for a snowy winter so I won't feel bad pouring over paperwork and the pony room for hours on end.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Pint Size Plastic Live Recap

Its been a VERY busy month on the plastic horse front, and before October, I was very excited about having all sorts of things to blog about. I forgot that I would need, like, TIME, to write the posts! I started this post sheltering at home, in anticipation of Sandy, and I managed to be very good about prepping for the final show of this 5 week period yesterday (down to just packing halter horses, and work is likely closed tomorrow) so here I am, doing laundry and making soup and catching up on online things. We are now in the Sandy Aftermath period and while I have heat, power and the internet, work does not, so I seem to be on vacation this week. I think there is even going to be tack making tonight.

ANYWAY. Just pretend its October 7th.

Pint Sized Plastic was held in the Albany, NY area on October 6th, and I went for a couple reasons:

- I was off that weekend
- It had a small performance division, and I thought it would be a good place to give Polka Parr T, with his newly repaired leg, a spin. So to speak.
- It had a novice division, and I thought it would be super fun to bring along my nieces.

Sadly, whatever photos I took that weekend appear to have vanished. I have no idea what happened to them :( So all pictures in this post were taken by my sister in law, Kathy, who tagged along to keep the girls in line.

This show was on the small size, which I expected. I think it was a good First Show experience for MacKenzie and Riley, as it was not so large as to be overwhelming (see: me at Breyerfest vendor tent, 1995) and everyone was VERY nice, including and especially the two novice judges, Taylor Simpson and Emily Bailey. They moved classes at a leisurely pace, since the girls were the only showers, and gave thorough critiques after each class, making sure to tell the girls the things they'd done well before gently offering suggestions to make things better.

They also appreciated creativity (such as the horse caught in the explosion at the silly bands factory) and humor (MacKenzie showed a 3 legged model named after my own, late real horse, Trivia. The judges liked the "zombie horse")

Both girls did REALLY well, and took home armloads of rosettes, and happily they split the grand and reserve. I would like to point out that the reserve-the classic scale shire known as Champ-was one of the horses we cleaed up with toothpaste a few weeks earlier. He belongs to Riley. Nano, the Esprit owned by MacKenzie was grand.

They also won a ton of stuff in the raffle (including the Holy Grail of raffle prizes, MORE HORSES!!) and came away with amusingly different interests in the hobby. Riley likes performance. MacKenzie is more interested in collectibility--I think its more the radical colors of some of those.

They both want to do this again. They both have visions of NAN. Win.

Anyway, I have tubs of sticky wax for both of them come Christmas. Sticky wax fixes everything.

On the Open front, the performance division moved fairly slowly, as judge Karen Pajak was working and showing china, and as we know, Karen likes to fill classes singlehandedly. Karen did a great job judging, and the division DID end at lunch, which made me feel a lot better about getting home in a timely manner.

Oh, and Polka Parr T is qualified for Harrisburg, which was pretty much my goal for the show.

Not bad for an old, busted up horse!

Futurity

Saturday I traveled north to spend a few hours helping my nieces, MacKenzie and Riley, prepare for their first foray into model horse showing. The show is in a couple weeks, and its a novice division. I think its going to be small, which would be perfect. I brought a bunch of my own stuff to show them what performance showing was like, too.

And I may have created some monsters.

Kenz and Ri were both excited about the whole idea (Riley may yet explode before it happens) and I had a really great time working with them. We talked about halter showing a bit, and then performance stuff. I set up a couple performance entries so they could get an idea of what we do. I left behind my enormous fishing tackle box full of older tack I don't use anymore so they can play with it and try it out. We made tags for their horses.

And then we got to business. Kenz and Ri play with their horses, and I am glad that they do. Last time I was over, they had expressed a desire to try and go to Nationals in Harrisburg this year...which means played with horses will need some refurbishing. I brought along some paint for touch ups, but they first project they offered was a MUCH easier one--black scuffs on white markings. I can do that! Pretty soon we were all scrubbing toothpaste on the offending areas and those horses cleaned up well.

I had to continually stop myself for pushing my hobby prejudices onto them. I would love them to share my hobby, but it really needs to be what they want to do, if they are going to stick with it. So I kept my mouth shut when everyone grabbed a paintbrush and went to town touching up areas--I had to remember the point was not to perfectly restore OF models, and the girls were already thrilled with the toothpaste trick.

Eventually, Kenz asked where one got customs.

"Oh, we can make those!"

"WE CAN?!"

Oops. I had not thought about bringing stuff for a project like this! Fortunately, n=my brother had a couple cans of automotive primer and a decent outside work space. The girls brought over a few horses to give new faces to, and I primed away. My inner hobbyist did clutch her pearls and gasp a bit when the idea to paint at least one horse gloss black with pink flames was floated, but fortunately, another portion said "Oh, his. Why not?"

Why not? I'm interested in seeing what they come up with.

Kenz and Ri have actual ponies and horses in their life, something I didn't when I was their age. My carpet herd was mostly stallions. Theirs are mostly mares and geldings--I think I registered about 25 horses between the 2 of them for this show, and there are 3 stallions. That's it. There are also 3 grade horses--a concept that is a hard sell for hobbyists. We like to have some sort of explanation behind why our models look the way they do, so we invent all sorts of crazy combos, rather than just accepting a horse for how it is. I find how they are entering this thing--what breed your horses is sort of mattering less, NAMHSA already in place and entrenched, the level the competition, a mentor, family support--really interesting. I hope they have as much fun with it as I do.

Polka Parr T

He's been so very much on my mind of late, and I love to talk about him. He's been a sight at shows in Region 10 since 2000, though he was foaled in my head in the summer of 1999.

He is Polka Parr T. The mighty Polka Parr T.

If I have a favorite, this is it.

In 1999, I had just discovered that not only was Weird Al Yankovic still around, he'd just released a new album, AND, HELLO, he toured. I had to go see him once, right? That was like 72 shows ago. On the 1999 album, there was a parody song called "Its All About the Pentiums" and I loved driving around in my Pontiac LeMans with the windows down and that blowing out of my speakers.



In 1999, I had also been introduced to freestyle reining, and as someone used to the very formal dressage musical kur, this event was just outrageous to me. Not only were routines set to pop songs, riders *and horses* could wear costumes. The model horse implications were endless.

One night, these two things got married in my head. MODEL HORSE FREESTYLE REINING SET UP TO ALL ABOUT THE PENTIUMS. Yes. I needed to go get me a reining horse. Doing a dramatic sliding stop. There were options for this, and I settled on a Black Horse Ranch reiner that I turned from a very yellow palomino into a dark bay with only a thin, Y shaped stripe on his head. His name was a joke, as well--the Parr echos the Zan Parr Bar family of Quarter Horses, while Polka Party! is the name of a somewhat obscure Yankovic album (it fits in between Dare to be Stupid and Even Worse)

Polka Parr T. I thought I was hilarious.

Polka got his first run at a CT show where he managed to come home with a trophy. I think he won reining and his halter class. This only encouraged me, and I spent the winter dreaming up an entire freestyle ride--with all the compulsory moves!--to Its All About the Pentiums. Part of my set up including placing the song's lyrics with the choreography written out. There was also a CD player with the song cued up, should a judge want to hear this (many did) I made a doll, and metallic silver boots for Polka. He was so blinged out, it was ridiculous.

Being the type of performance shower that I am, though, I could not leave him a single class horse. I'd also been exposed to marathon driving in person in 1999, and part of what I saw were single horse entries, going down steep hills. So Polka got a harness, and a hill, and he went on to win more harness classes than I can name--certainly enough to earn him a Superior Event Horse award (so that would be 12) and gain entry to NAN twice as a harness entry. The first time he went, in 2001, he was National Harness Champ. I love that.

Polka went on to win performance championships all over the place. He picked up champs in harness and western, and was Versatility champ at NESE at least once. He got a second National Champ in 2001 in trail, and was Top Ten in all his performance classes. I had so much fun showing him, and never seemed to run out of things to show him in. He roped, he did working cow horse, trail, games. He earned a Superior in Roping, and had ROMs in games and working cow. There was no end to him.

Sadly, the second time he showed harness in NAN--2006 (there was a large gap due to both issues with NAMHSA and my serving on the BOD that prevented my entering again until then) he had a tragic acident. I had to re-engineer his hill from 2001, and I apparently did not do it right. I used it several times without incident, but when I set him up at NAN, he rolled off the hill about 15 minutes later, and hit the concrete floor and he shattered. He broke 3 legs, his tail and his ears. I really was devastated, and my day of showing at that NAN was over--my heart went out of it. Everyone around me from Region 10 felt my pain, and offered condolences. And super glue. I did eventually cobble him together and showed him in another class that day, but I decided he was done. It was just too painful to even look at him.

A few months later, Liesl Dalpe came to me and asked if she could repair him. At first I turned her down. It was still hard to think about him. But she asked again, and I agreed, and turned him over to her several weeks later. I forget what Spencer show I was at when she returned him, and I honestly was not expecting a lot. But when I opened his box, I could not tell where he'd been broken. It was an amazing restoration, and I am so thankful that Liesl put him back together for me.

Of course, he could not STAY retired. He went to NAN in 2008 and came home Reining champion. Not bad.

He broke again enroute to a show in summer 2011. I remember stopping short and cussing out someone who cut me off on I-95, but I did not realize that in doing so, Polka sheared off his (I think) one good leg. This was the one time I did not pack him in his own box, and I'll never do that again. I sighed when I saw him at the show and brought him home. Really retired now. Really.

Then NAN made plans to come to Harrisburg. So close. And I looked at Polka's break and said "I can fix that."

He's back under saddle in a few weeks. I have hopes.

Baystate Live 2012

This weekend saw Anne Field's Baystate Live--in Spencer. Anne is probably passing this show to someone else, as it is a huge undertaking. Its an all halter format, and it has something for everyone, OF Plastic, OF China, CM china, and split Artist Resin and Custom divisions. EVERYTHING was very competitive, and getting one of the 1-6 ribbons was an accomplishment Saturday. This was a tough show.

It mostly moved quickly--OF plastic halter slowed a little, and Anne asked for volunteer judges to help get out on time (a success) In its defense, OF Plastic did have a larger class list, and still had very full classes. I think it had 4 rings to the other divisions' two, but OF Plastic is just the largest division at ANY show. Its kinda just how it is.

Interestingly, I think the Custom classes were, on average, larger than the Artist Resin classes. I know I pull out older CMs that I would not pull out for combined AR/CM shows (and har, har, perhaps I should leave them home ANYWAY!) but I think I am in the minority on that. I think there are just more customs, and I think people are rolling a lot more of their own.

I did not take many pictures because I was far too busy being social. I did show a ton of stuff (like 75 horses?) but I managed to be a bit more organized than I have been. I have been using spreadsheets for a long time, but at NAN this year, my bestie Heather introduced me to an iPad app called Numbers, and I have been using that. It does not ned the internet to work, and it takes up less space than my old spreadsheets did. It works better for me than what I was doing, so if you have an Apple iOs device, consider it. I am pretty sure Numbers is made by Apple, so it is probably not available for other operating systems.

The only down side was the whole tornado watch thing on the way home. I sat tight in Spencer for a while (I was done showing by 3 or so, but I wanted to go eat with friends, and then did not leave until like, 9) Sort of a drag, and I was exhausted yesterday, but I am back on track today.

Next up....Pint Size Plastic in the Albany area! And a warm up session with the nieces before hand!