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Hobby Scene

article kindly provided by Mariah Hjerppe

Since the early 1970s Sweden has had active model horse enthusiasts and today we number around 90.
Just about all hobbyists in Sweden are members of Svenska Modellhäst Föreningen (The Swedish Model Horse Society). The Society is not solely for Swedish citizens - at the present thera are also members from Norway, Denmark and Finland.
The hobby in Sweden is unique in many ways; just about every hobbyist is involved in pedigree assignment and there are many breed registries around.
Approximately 4-6 live shows are held per year, the largest being the Water Festival Show in early August (always held in Sweden's capital city, Stockholm). The majority of shows use a judging system unique to Sweden. Three judges individually assign scores to each model in three categories - breed type, conformation and charisma. The scores are tallied and the model with the highest total is the winner.
Another very unique aspect of live show judging in Sweden is that the judges actually handle the models! Naturally it is done with extreme care, and to my knowledge, to this day not a single model has been damaged in any way while handled during judging - and we've judged this way for decades!
Unfortunately there's not a lot of performance showing in Sweden, hopefully that will change in the future as the hobby continues to grow. There are also no "true" OF collectors and there are no OF/CM divisions - all are shown together.
Swedish hobbyists do tend to be very creative and there are several top-notch customizers around; at least one of them has had her work win Top tens at NAN. Overall the quality of CMs shown in the open division is very high and can - and does - successfully compete in other countries where the hobby is much more widespread.
Overall the hobby community is a close-knit group and after a while you know just about everyone. Live shows are quite laid-back with no signs of "cut-throat, win-at-any-cost" mentality.
Swedes are very proficient in English so don't be afraid to contact us! Thanks to the Internet we're no longer a whole world away.

Clubs, Mags

SMHFS - Swedish Model Horse Society
SMHF - Mailing List of the Swedish Model Horse Society - in Swedish (also Norwegian and Danish) only, no English