In the pursuit of perfection, how far is too far? In competition, is there such a thing?
Many top performance showers do intense preparation before shows, in particular NAN and Breyerfest. What does "intense preparation" really encompass? It actually can be as simple as doing a lot of research on you entry's subject matter, or it can mean researching the judge you are showing under's likes, biases and knowledge base in order to cater to them. Some showers practice setting up their entries multiple times before a big shows. Tack and dolls and props and so on are traded or loaned out beforehand among friends to get the edge in a class(es). A horse's name, coat color, breed, accessory and prop colors can all be chosen in order to appeal more to the judge. They have the newest or nicest of everything, current molds, dolls, tack, etc. Music, video, professionally designed documentation...painstaking work goes into every single detail for many tops showers.
Some say this is cheating or at the very least not fair to showers who can't or don't want to prep so intently. What are your thoughts, MIBers? Sound off in comments!