Showing 101: Breed Documentation

Today's guest blogger is Amy Widman, owner of this Smarty Jones along with many, many, many National and overall championships:

As has been hinted at in prior posts, assigning accurate breeds to your models can make or break your shot at a pretty blue ribbon. And providing accurate, easy to read/understand documentation about those breed assignments can only help your horses in the ring. So…..

Showing 101: Green with Card Envy

Green NAN cards (aka “breed cards”) are the most common type of NAN card, and likely the first you will encounter. They are given to the first and second place winners of breed classes in halter divisions. OF Breyers, Stones, resins, customs--they all win identical blank cards (on which you fill out your name, your horse's name, and the name of the class it was won in.)

Individual shows have a fair amount of flexibility to create their own classlists. But if they are giving out green cards, it means that each class is formed around a specific breed or breed group. Typical breed classes include Appaloosa, Morgan, and Arabian, while typical breed groups are Carriage, European Warmblood, and Stock Pony.**

**These groups all tend to contain the same collection of breeds from show to show (with some variation.) Stock Pony generally includes Paint Pony, Quarter Pony, Pony of the Americas, etc. European Warmblood covers a long list of breeds including but not limited to Hanoverian, Trakehner, Dutch Warmblood, German Warmblood, Selle Français, etc. Carriage…deserves its own entry.

Winner of a "European Warmblood" class (shown as a German Warmblood)