One of the things I just love about performance is the planning! I mean when you look at a your model horse and try to see it's potential and what you want it to do. Then when you have a plan you'll search for reference material and when you start making things you constantly come up with new details that will make the set up more complete.
I have a very structured way of planing my performance set ups from scratch and I'll list it here if anyone wants to have some tips on how to go about it in the beginning.
I love lists so I'll make a simple list with explanations :)
1. Analyze your horse.
Take a good look at you horse. The breed, gait and pose of your model can be very important for the performance set up. For example it might not be very likely to see a Shetland pony in a high level dressage competition or a Warmblood performing a piaffe in a reining class.
2. Find some ideas and/or inspiration.
The "answers" from the first paragraph may help you in your search. Otherwise real horse events or even liveshow pictures are great inspiration.
3. Search for reference material.
When you have chosen your discipline, do some more research. What kind of tack do you need? Riders? Equipment for the riders? Props?
4. Make a list!
List everything you need, tack items and such to make it easier to not forget anything.
5. Start making/looking.
Then we come to the really funny part! Start making things or if you can't make'em by yourself, find someone who can :)
As an example I'll use Chester VS (Eberl Caitano rep. Sophie Nordström)
1. Analysis: Chester is a warmblood gelding in a standing pose. He's got a loose, pulled mane, a neatly kept tail and an overall groomed look.
2. Ideas and inspiration: some might think that a standing horse might not be as fun to show in performance as a horse in action, but I disagree. A standing horse can be very versatile. The thing that I feel limits Chester a bit is his loose mane. The standing position could be used in a 3-year.old test for Swedish Warmbloods. His leg position is quite good but to be perfect he would've had to keep his head a little more straight forward. This is one of the disciplines where I think that his loose mane is s limit for although I haven't found any rule that says that it has to be braided it is a tradition and I've never seen a horse with a loose mane being shown. I also feel like dressage is out of question, because of the mane as well.
In jumping and cross country it's more common with loose manes on horses (than in dressage) so that's a good start. Because of his standing position you wont really need a jump for him and that might make him less competitive in a jumping or cross country class so why not make it a scene. Chester, to me depicts a calm gelding, curious on his whereabouts so I think he would make a great horse in a just-arrived-at-the-venue scene or standing at the field waiting for his rider to mount.
In this example I'll go for the mounting idea. I'll set the scene at a small show jumping competition.
3. References: my reference picture below might not be the best since it's not a from a small competition and it's a jumping horse, but I didn't have better ones on this computer and I am to lazy to go find my external hard drive at the moment ;-P But beside this picture I've made a google search for images and looked through friends photos from when they've been out on competitions.
4. List:
Horse tack:
Rider equipment:
Props:
I never consider a list complete so leave some room because you might come up with something you've forgotten earlier.
5. Start to make or collect the things you need! Good luck and have lots of fun :-)
