As a judge, I sometimes find myself wondering what color the shower intends the horse to be. That’s usually because the rendering of the color is a little “off” for a valid color for the breed, and slightly closer to something that isn’t. However, it’s not something I weigh heavily. Real colors have a surprising amount of overlap between them - more than many “online color experts” allow - so I give the benefit of the doubt whenever I can.
I also don’t count against entries that have a color misidentified unless it renders the horse unrealistic for its designated breed. If I have them handy, I have been known to put post-its on documentation correcting common misunderstandings, but as long as the model is a reasonably believable version of a legitimate color for the breed it isn’t something that factors in my placings. When it comes down to it, misidentifying your horse’s color is about as real-to-life as it gets. ;)
Unless a host requires something different, I don’t DQ entries unless they are ineligible for the class - wrong breed, wrong scale, etc. Unless the model belongs in another class, nothing is so wrong that I can’t assess the model against what else is on the table.
Thank you for setting this up, Elaine! I was thinking about how you connected me to Haynet back when it was just a mailing list. It’s hard to believe that was more than 32 years ago now!