There are many events that you can show a model in. But if you are making a model for a specific event, you can not just Google the event and pick up the first horse picture you see. Remember, and I can not stress this enough, for performance research separates the good performance showers from great ones (there are other factors, but this is a biggie).  Before making the custom, go to International Federation for Equestrian Sports website to see the rules for events. Knowing what the faults are will help you narrow down and figure out what is and what isn’t acceptable when looking for reference pictures. If an event isn’t there, go and look up rules for open shows, or breed association rules. A big example for researching before hacking, is western pleasure. A big no-no is peanut rolling.

 So you’ll want to steer away from such a position  The same goes for Dressage. Rolkur is not seen favorably and is also banned by the FEI. So making a horse way behind the vertical and looking distressed is not the way to win dressage. Picking the events really boils down to research.. research..and even more research. You want to find the perfect movement and reference picture, depicting a winning picture of a horse doing what it’s supposed to do.

For making a horse that spans over a single type of seat, ex. English, you could either take a model and make it on the bit with happy ears or Google general pictures of English horses and wait until you find a horse that’s in a versatile pose that you’re looking for. 

So for events remember 1) research 2)research and 3) Make what you like

Even if the model does not win, remember that if the model you’ve made is something you love, then you’ll like it at the end of the day. You won’t become angry with it and toss it into the trashcan, or snap off all of it’s legs and then throw it into the trashcan. (Can you guess that I’ve heard stories like this? Yup I have. Even though such behavior could be added to the list of a sore looser :) ).

Breeds

When deciding on the breed of a model, remember that some horses can not *easily* show or not show period in some  classes. For example, a Peruvian Paso horse performing the paso llano can not show in Olympic level jumping. Why? A horse performing such a gait isn’t doing something that would depict such an event well. It’s the same thing as a Mini horse being put into a trotting harness and being set against Standardbreds in the Hambletonian. Doesn’t work, right? Specific events are only for specific breeds. Remember that when researching and deciding on your model breed. If you want a horse performing a special gait, remember that the amount of classes that it can show in will be cut down.

Pic Source

Another important thing that I will expand on more later is conformation. Look up the breed info and find the horse that is a great depiction of the breed. Sources that are great are champions. Original foundation horses can show the deep first roots of the breed.

Also, do not follow fads. Fads are called fads for a reason. They don’t last. So when making a model, find a sturdy specimen that is parallel to the breed standard. Do not follow little things that are big today, but will be gone tomorrow.