Need help with my model!

Hey everyone, I have a question. I have a model I bought at a thrift store so I don’t have the box or anything and I was hoping to enter a performance western class, long story short what do I do with the reference box on the entry form? What should I put? This would be my first performance class ever and I don’t want to get disqualified.

I've never shown performance but I use a website called Chestnut Ridge regularly and they have a whole article on performance showing on there so I'd check that out :) I don't know if I'm allowed to put the link in here but just search up 'Chestnut Ridge' on Google and it should come up with the website. Then go to 'showing' then 'undertanding sections' then 'performance'

The reference box you see when you're making a performance entry is a space where you can put a link to a photo of a real horse doing the same sport/activity. Premium members can upload up to three photos directly onto the horse's performance entry, so they're right there for the judge to see. Free memberships don't have that feature, so you just paste a URL link in the text box and then the judge can click through to see your chosen picture.
It can an exact reference, if you copied your tack/rider/props from one particular photograph, or it can just be an example of the kind of scene you're recreating.
You don't have to have one at all, so you wouldn't get disqualified (unless the show you're entering specifically says there must be a reference in the class rules, and this hardly ever happens!) But they are very helpful, making it very easy for the judge to see what you were aiming for, especially if your performance is a bit of a niche or obscure one, but also because there are so so many differences in the turnout rules and fashions across all the different equestrian sports. A show cob would need a different bridle to a show hack, a western pleasure horse's rider wouldn't wear the same clothes as a working cowboy, a horse out hunting in Ireland would make a very different shape over a jump than one doing the 'hunter' discipline in the USA, and so on. A well-matching reference is a great way to prove what a good and accurate job you've done, in the research of your tack and choice of model, like a little helpful extra to show that your photo really does match every aspect of some sport or show or activity which goes on in the real life equestrian world.

It doesn't have to be a picture you've taken yourself, and you don't even have to save and upload it if you don't have anywhere to host images - it's fine to use a link to a photo on a news article, a horse breed website, a photo archive like Getty or Alamy, or a photo from Wikipedia, so you can just google the exact sort of scene your performance entry is showing, and choose the picture which matches best.

Last edited by HarecroftHorses, Thursday, January 1, 2026 4:54 AM

Thank you for responding, and I think that will help me a lot 😀