Wistful Dreams Studio

NAN Qualified Work

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The North American Nationals (or NAN in all future references) is a Live Model Horse Show held annually in various parts of the United States. It is a highly prestigious event, with upwards of 200 plus entrants per year. NAN Cards are given to the top two placing horses in each class at a NAN qualified show, and only horses with a NAN card are eligible to enter The North American Nationals Live Show. Local Live Show Holders must qualify their shows to be able to award NAN Cards. The NAN Show and NAN events are organized by a group of people, The North American Model Horse Shows Association, or NAMHSA. NAMSHA approves the shows for awarding NAN cards, and also help promote the model horse world! It is an honor and a claim to fame if you have a NAN winner, and the more entrants in the class, the more prestige you get! Showing Model horses in a Live show is supposed to reflect a show in the real world, so the classes are run just like a real live horse show would be held. Depending on the show, there may be Breed classes where the horse is judged on how well it represents it's breed; or Gender classes, where a horse will be judged on how much that mare looks like a mare as opposed to a stallion; there can be color classes as well. There are also different divisions, such as Original Finish for those people that are fortunate enough to buy a model horse with no rubs right out of the box, as opposed to Repaints and Customs; and even, sometimes, there will be Simple Custom and Drastic Custom classes. In the Custom field, sometimes you will see Workmanship classes as well. Some shows will even break it down further, and have mini's, classics and traditional sizes of each division too! Another popular class is Performance, where the horse is tacked up in miniature tack, sometimes with elaborate setups, dolls, props, etc, and shown in English or Western, or even just fun classes like Trail riding, or Western Games! In any case, NAN is a great way to get exposure for your work. I am dedicating a page just for my NAN winners, in both MY work, as well as the work of my Favorite Customizers. I hope you enjoy it! Janice