Kat's travels and adventures

Yesterday I attended my first liveshow this year. For me, liveshows belong to collecting model horses. Others might disagree, or simply don't have any in their surroundings that they could attend. There are quite a lot of shows in Germany, we have about 20 a year. Most of them are further up north.   Liveshows are a good opportunity to meet other collectors, and the bigger ones even have visitors from other countries! In Reken, we had a large group of collectors from the Netherlands and Austria. I've seen collectors from Italy,Switzerland and even Russia on other shows. The main event is to show your models, they are judged in different categories and classes. To have better chances at placing, a model horse should have a good conformation and no flaws (i.e. paint chips, broken or bent ears). Modified horses are also judged on the quality of their paint job or resculpt work. There's also a tack and a performance category at most shows. Tack is horse and tack o

Namo...what? You've probably never heard of this.  NaMoPaiMo stands for National Model Painting Month, and takes place during the month of February. You basically dedicate this month to paint one model horse and achieve a goal you always wanted but never reached. While some people just sign up because they might win a prize and choose a model that doesn't challenge them, most pick a challenge. Some use this as an opportunity to finally try painting their own models, others to learn new painting technics or new paint mediums or a new scale that they haven't painted yet. One may note that this isn't a contest or a competition, everyone who finishes their model in February is basically a winner. There a prizes for a few people that outdid themselves with their pieces. Most of this happens via Facebook where people post their progress and give tips to those who need help or struggle a little, but you can also participate without it. I know a lot of people that are