Getting Started

Open Add to Stable and start with the model you'd grab first in a fire. The form asks for photos, then a reference match — search the Registry by name, mold or maker and it fills in mold, manufacturer, scale and year for you. If your model isn't listed, skip that step and enter it by hand, or suggest it for the catalog.

Then the horse's identity — name, finish type, condition grade — and, if you want it, what you paid. Purchase prices, values and insurance notes are yours alone. No other member can see them, they never travel with a horse when it sells, and the database enforces that with row-level security rather than a promise.

Photos: five standard angles on every account — near side, off side, front, hindquarters, and identifying marks and logos — plus five flaw photos for rubs and chips, also free on every tier. Documenting damage honestly is the whole point, so it is never something you have to pay for. Pro adds up to thirty extra detail shots.

Already keeping a spreadsheet? Import it — each row is matched against the catalog and you confirm the matches before anything is saved. In a hurry? Quick Add gets a horse in with the bare minimum; you can fill in the rest later.

Shows is open to everyone, account or not. Shows are shelved by stage — the Open now shelf is taking entries right this minute. Photo shows are judged from your photographs; live shows happen on tables in a hall somewhere.

Two things to do before you enter: set the horse to public (judges and entrants have to be able to see what placed), and give it a breed, gender and age on its edit page. That breed assignment is what a breed-halter judge weighs the model against. If something isn't eligible for a class, the entry form tells you why — there is nothing to memorize.

A show marked 🏅 MHH Sanctioned runs to the Championship Series rulebook: placings pay season points, first place is worth the size of the class, and a 1st or 2nd in a class with real competition mints a qualification card stamped with the field it beat. Cards and career points earn CH, ROM and SUP — titles the horse keeps for the rest of its life, whoever owns it next.

Never shown anything before? Read Your First Photo Show first — it covers finding a show, taking a photo that can win, and what happens after results publish.

The Paddock is the community room: one feed carrying posts, comments on public horses, barn chatter, and show results as they publish. It's members only — a room, not a shop window.

Barns are the clubs inside it: breed circles, regional groups, trading circles, or whatever a few people decided to start. Some are open, some are private and take a join request. Join one or two that match how you collect; that is where the site stops feeling like a database.

Also down that hallway: Events, a board for live shows, meetups and swap meets happening off-site; Help ID, for when you have a body in hand and no idea what it is; Members, to find collectors worth following; and the Show Ring, where you can browse every public horse on the site.

A listing in the Market is the horse's passport rather than a photo and a paragraph: what it has won, what condition it's in, who has owned it, next to the asking price. Every qualification card has a public verification page, so you can check a claim yourself before you commit to anything.

Wondering what something is worth? The Blue Book gives average, median and range from completed sales on the site, model by model. It is free for everyone and it always will be.

Hunting one specific model? Put it on your Want List and Matchmaker tells you when a collector lists one, instead of you refreshing this page every morning. Pick the model out of the Registry when you add it — that's the link Matchmaker searches on. Your Want List is private.

Sell out of your stable. Open a horse, choose Edit, and set its trade status to For Sale or Open to Offers. Its passport becomes the listing — record, condition, ownership history and all. Offers and negotiation happen in the Deal Room: one thread per deal, with the agreed terms and payments written down rather than scrolled past. We take no cut and hold no money; you and the buyer settle payment between yourselves.

Host a show. Hosting is free and any member can do it. Open a show, pick live or online, and a one-click template builds the classlist. Live shows run from a phone at the table: record placings, run champion callbacks, publish when you're done. Online shows take photo entries during a window and you judge them at your kitchen table.

Commission something, or take commissions. The Art Studio is the directory of customizers, finishwork artists, china painters and tack makers — rates by scale, written terms, and whether each one is open right now. Browsing it takes no account. If you make horses for other people, you can open a studio of your own in there.

• Add an avatar and a line of bio so people know who they're talking to.
• Set your notification preferences before show results start landing.
• Export your collection to CSV any time you like — your data is never trapped here.
• Turn on Simple Mode for high-contrast, large text. It's in the account menu when you're signed in, and it is genuinely useful for judging photo shows.

Open Settings →