The reckoning

 Last month a lot of people painted a lot of model horses. 

But how many is that really?

This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer, but as far as the number of official models painted by registered painters, this year's number is three hundred seventy nine. 

That's a fifty five percent completion rate, which is on the low end of average for this event.

Interestingly, the completion rate for American painters was also fifty five percent. Of all the countries with at least ten registered painters, the United Kingdom was most successful, with twenty of twenty nine participants making it across the finish line. 

In regards to age, older is definitely better, or at least, more productive. Fifty nine percent of the over forty group finished their models, as compared to fifty four percent for the twenty one to forty crowd and just twenty three percent of those under twenty.

Finally, it's the showdown of the skill levels. The advanced amateurs won this one, with a completion rate of sixty six percent. The intermediates were next (fifty eight percent), followed by the professionals (fifty two percent) and the beginners (forty nine percent). Only thirty seven percent of our first time painters finished, a statistic that makes me sad. We need to try harder to help our newbies.

But that's a problem for next year. For now, I am content to sit back and enjoy the three hundred seventy nine (give or take) beautiful new models created by my friends.

Thank you to everyone who painted with me this year. Regardless of completion status, you're all winners in my book!