The Glossary

The hobby's language, explained honestly

Every hobby has a dialect, and ours is older than the internet. None of it is meant to keep you out — it's just faster to say LSQ than “good enough to place at a live show.” Here is what collectors and showers actually mean, term by term. Link to any entry directly — every definition has its own anchor.

Finishes & kinds of models

OF — Original Finish#: A model exactly as it left the factory, factory paint intact. The opposite of a custom. For OF collectors condition is nearly everything — rubs, scratches, and breaks all count against a model in the ring and on the market.
CM — Custom (customized)#: A model an artist has deliberately changed — repainted, resculpted, rehaired, or all three. A custom is one of a kind, and it competes against other customs, never against factory-finish models.
AR — Artist Resin#: A model cast in resin from an artist's original sculpture, usually in a small run, then painted — often by a second artist. The fine-art end of the hobby: resins are sold both unpainted (for someone else to finish) and finished.
Mold vs. release#: The mold is the sculpted shape; a release is a production run of that mold in one color and finish. One mold can carry dozens of releases across decades — which is why collectors talk about “the mold” and “the release” as two different facts about the same horse.
Scale#: The hobby's size classes. Traditional is roughly 1:9 (about a foot long), Classic about 1:12, Stablemate about 1:32, Micro Mini smaller still. Shows split classes by scale so a Stablemate is never judged against a Traditional.
Chalky#: A 1970s Breyer variation: models cast in opaque white plastic, or painted over a white basecoat, when the oil crisis changed plastic supplies. An accident of history that became a collecting specialty — “chalkies” are sought after today.
Body / body-box#: A well-loved model destined to become a custom: bought cheap as raw material, not preserved as a collectible. The “body box” is the box of them under an artist's desk. One collector's rough horse is another's canvas — the hobby is honest about this.

Ways of showing

Photo show#: A show where the entry is a photograph of your model, judged remotely. The hobby's original distance format — mail-in photo shows ran on stamps and patience decades before the internet. Online shows on Model Horse Hub are this tradition, minus the postage.
Live show#: An in-person show: models on tables, a judge walking the ring, a full day of classes, callbacks, and champions. Showers pack their horses in padded cases and drive surprising distances for this.
Halter#: The conformation class family, named for the real-horse classes where horses are shown standing, in hand. A halter class asks: how correct and convincing is this model as a horse — and, in breed halter, as the breed it has been assigned?
Performance#: Classes where the model is presented doing a job — western trail, jumping, driving — with miniature tack, props, and usually documentation. Judged on the realism and accuracy of the whole scene, not just the horse.
Breed assignment#: You decide what breed your model represents; nothing is printed on the horse. Judges weigh how well the sculpture's build and the finish's color fit that breed's real-world standard — a thoughtful assignment beats a glamorous one.
Documentation#: Reference material presented with an entry — a breed description, photos of real horses, an explanation of a performance setup — supporting your breed assignment or showing a performance scene is plausible. Optional in easy classes, decisive in hard ones.
LSQ — Live Show Quality#: Shorthand for “condition and finish good enough to be competitive at a live show.” Also used for photos: an “LSQ photo set” shows a model clearly from every angle. It's a judgment call, not a certification — but the hobby uses it constantly.
PSQ — Photo Show Quality#: A step below LSQ: presentable in photographs, where tiny flaws may not read. Honest sellers and showers use these grades carefully — the difference is real money and real placings.
Proxy showing#: Having someone else show your model for you at a live show — you ship it or hand it off, they enter and handle it ringside. On Model Horse Hub an entry's handler can be a different member than its owner for exactly this reason.
Blind judging#: Judging entries without knowing who owns them — numbers on the table instead of names — so results ride on the model, not the reputation. Online, the same idea hides owner names until results are out.

In the ring

Division / section / class#: The classlist's ladder. A division groups entries by finish and discipline (“OF Plastic Halter”); sections group by type or breed family (“Stock breeds”); the class is the judged unit your model actually stands in.
Split / combine#: Classlist surgery on show day. A class with too many entries gets split — by breed, age, or gender — so judging stays fair; under-filled classes get combined so nobody stands alone. Completely normal, not a scandal.
Leg tag#: The small numbered band or sticker identifying an entry on the table. Your horse shows as a number (see blind judging) and keeps that number across all its classes at one show.
Callback#: After classes are placed, the judge calls the top placings back to compete for section or division champion. Being “called back” means you're in the championship conversation.
Champion / Reserve#: First and second in a championship, chosen from called-back winners. “Reserve” is the horse world's word for runner-up, and the model world kept it.
Rosette#: The layered, ruffled ribbon award. Flat ribbons usually mark class placings; rosettes usually mean champion and reserve. Yes, we hang them on walls. Yes, walls fill up.
Show string#: The set of models a shower campaigns in a season — borrowed from real-horse showing, where a trainer's “string” is the horses they bring. Building a string is half the fun.

Organizations

NAMHSA — North American Model Horse Shows Association#: The volunteer nonprofit that approves live shows across North America and puts on NAN, the hobby's national championship. Shows sanctioned by NAMHSA can hand out NAN qualification cards.
NAN — North American Nationals#: The hobby's championship live show, run by NAMHSA. Models qualify by placing at NAMHSA-approved shows beforehand. (Model Horse Hub's qualification cards are our platform's own system — they are not NAN cards.)
MEPSA — Model Equine Photo Showers Association#: A long-running organization devoted to photo showing, with its own circuit and championship — living proof the mail-in photo show tradition never died, it organized.

On Model Horse Hub

Show year#: On Model Horse Hub the qualifying year runs May 1 to April 30 — the hobby season's natural rhythm. A card marked show year 2026–27 was earned between May 2026 and April 2027.
MHH Qualification Card#: Earned automatically when a horse places 1st or 2nd in a qualifying class at a qualifying Model Horse Hub show. Each card is a permanent record with a short code anyone can verify — and it transfers with the horse when the horse is sold. These are platform qualifications, not NAMHSA/NAN cards.
Hoofprint#: This site's provenance record: a horse's ownership chain, show results, and history, traveling with the horse between owners. It's the reason a buyer can trust a show record they never witnessed.

Ready to use the vocabulary?

The gentlest way into showing is an online photo show — no travel, no packing boxes, and every term above starts making sense the first time you enter.

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