Artist resins were not separated from
customs until 2001—six years after the
first Nationals. The increased number of
divisions is one of the many challenges
for those organizing the show.
Veronka sculpted by Carol Williams
and painted by Tammi Palmarchuk
PALMARCHUK
Until we are open to accepting the limits we have created for ourselves, and allow our own experts within
our own field—and yes, we do have those—to light the
way we are always going to have random “crapshoot”
judging. Our nationals should be more than a crapshoot.
Entrants deserve an informed and thoughtful opinion on
what we have brought to show that day. For now, that
needs to be a single judge’s opinion.
we could pay individual judges a bit more, and perhaps
be able to entice qualified people who cannot afford to
pay their own travel expenses. We would be able to run
more classes at a time, and get the day done quicker,
possibly even bring back the Top Ten Tables that entrants
have said they would like to see return. If you want to
judge at the national level, you should willing to be responsible for what you place. We have already proven
that judges are fine with having names associated with
placings. It is hard to tell after the fact what those placings mean since we cannot see the horses. It is time to
take that next step and show what the judges are pinning.
The three-judge system allows a less-than-transparent
view of championship placings. As a judge, I get very
frustrated when I pin a class and feel good about it, and
then see that my champ ended up mid-pack, and some
horse I would not consider takes the trophy. I am sure
other judges feel the same.
I feel we are very much at a crossroads with showing
in our hobby. A lot of participants have come up in the
system and still want it to work the way it did twenty
years ago. However, if we cannot explain what we are really looking for when we judge models to ourselves, then
imagine how bewildering it is to a newcomer. We have
built our show into something outwardly professional,
but failed to grow the staff required to support it at the
same level. While the real answer is that we need to start
training people to do the job we want them to do, this
isn’t something that can be done quickly or easily, given
the different and conflicting schools of thought on judging the model horse.
28
three
judges
by Sue Stewart
Why should the North American Model Horse Show Association retain the three-judge
system for the North American
National (NAN) show?
Because it is a national show.
The international standard—not just in major horse breeds,
but in every other kind of competition at the highest level, from juried art exhibitions to literary competitions to
ice skating to every judged competition in the Olympic
games—all use judging panels, not a single judge.
And there is a reason for that: it is widely accepted that a
single person’s opinion—and that is what judging is, an
opinion—is not sufficient to select a Pulitzer Prize winner,
or an Olympic Gold Medalist, or a National Champion.
No matter how educated, informed, and respected that
single opinion is, it is not sufficient at this level.
Each of us has opinions. In fact, the one characteristic required for judging is an opinion. Multiple opinions tend
to push the best to the top.
Because there is no “right answer”
If judges don’t always agree, something is wrong.
Some think that if all three judges are “good”, then all
classes should have unanimous results. This is completely
contrary to logic. There are no absolutes in judging horses,
real or model, because there is no such thing as perfection. There is no hard and fast hierarchy ranking faults or
Equine Collectibles – Winter 2015