I have never shown in the 3 year old hunters, and admittedly really never even watched. I grew up trained that horses really couldn’t /shouldn’t show over fences so young, and have been off doing other disciplines for a few decades, so was surprised to learn there is a 3 year old hunter division. Haven’t been involved in hunters for quite awhile, more just starting them and selling before they show! Or, eventing, etc. I have a 3 year old that may be ready this summer, we’ll just see how he comes along. He’s mellow, steady, goes to the little x’s and such that I point him out, no muss, no fuss. What are the expectations for the 3 year olds, do they already have changes, etc? I don’t need to push this kid so would only make an attempt if the class is pretty forgiving of greenies. Again, I have no experience with 3 year old hunters so would love to learn from those who have shown in this division.
The 3 yr olds are judged like any other hunter division (jump form, movement, striding, changes, etc). However, as the horses in it ARE young and quite green, you will see some bobbles from them occasionally. So a judge takes everything into consideration, and should pin them accordingly.
[QUOTE=SidesaddleRider;8069551]
The 3 yr olds are judged like any other hunter division (jump form, movement, striding, changes, etc). However, as the horses in it ARE young and quite green, you will see some bobbles from them occasionally. So a judge takes everything into consideration, and should pin them accordingly.[/QUOTE]
Can’t even imagine trying to address changes on my growthy 3 year old Oldenburg LOL! I’ll pass on the 3 year old hunters. Thanks for the info!
[QUOTE=SoCalGal;8071236]
Can’t even imagine trying to address changes on my growthy 3 year old Oldenburg LOL! I’ll pass on the 3 year old hunters. Thanks for the info![/QUOTE]
Smart decision. I think those young divisions are a little ridiculous. Most warmbloods aren’t started till they are 3+ years old.
It’s for the race horses who have already had a race career and retired onto hunters…they come with lead changes installed already…just gotta teach em to jump!
Just kidding…but yeah…an under saddle suitability Maybe but hard to find many 3 year olds (even January born ottbs!) That someone would want to campaign through a season over fences!
How high are the fences? I started my APHA gelding over teeny tiny cross rails and maybe 12" verticals when he was a long 3 year old, but I can’t imagine doing a course of sizeable jumps with a 3 year old… Plus paints develop a little earlier than WBs.
My 3 year old went out to a lot of shows for experience and did flat classes, confo/under saddle classes, and baby “dressage.” He didn’t really jump at home, maybe a cross rail here or there. He always had changes, never had to teach them (in fact he showed off at YHUS at Devon doing un-asked-for tempi changes down the rail-- thank you frisky baby horse!). Towards the end of the season, we entered him in a jumping class just to see what he’d do. This is what he did…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOutEjHAbBU
He never really jumped at home. Never jumped a line. Certainly never jumped a course. But he was a balanced (at that point, as a 4 year old he grew a bunch), well-started, naturally calm baby horse and since all the pieces were there- stringing it together wasn’t such a problem. Was it a perfect course, no… but it’s an example of what a green horse like that can do without drilling jumps if he has a good foundation.
I personally would never campaign a 3 year old o/f (I would personally never campaign anything, I really don’t get the allure of that generally) but I think getting a young horse out is key and that it can’t hurt to ocassionally put together a few fences IF the horse is mentally/physically able at that point. As I mentioned, that horse was pretty put together at 3. He grew a lot at 4 and boy was that year a mess, and then he became a big dude at 5 and suddenly grew up. Every horse is different. Some horses can handle things others can’t.
vxf111 - that was a lovely course for a baby! I have had much worse on much less green horses :lol:
My mare was kind of that way when we first started her. However, she was broke out at four western and then converted to hunters right after she turned 5. She was putting in lovely courses with changes after just one month of full training with my trainer. Of course, it took time for those courses and changes to be as lovely with me in the irons as they were with my trainer :lol:
[QUOTE=vxf111;8071840]
My 3 year old went out to a lot of shows for experience and did flat classes, confo/under saddle classes, and baby “dressage.” He didn’t really jump at home, maybe a cross rail here or there. He always had changes, never had to teach them (in fact he showed off at YHUS at Devon doing un-asked-for tempi changes down the rail-- thank you frisky baby horse!). Towards the end of the season, we entered him in a jumping class just to see what he’d do. This is what he did…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOutEjHAbBU
He never really jumped at home. Never jumped a line. Certainly never jumped a course. But he was a balanced (at that point, as a 4 year old he grew a bunch), well-started, naturally calm baby horse and since all the pieces were there- stringing it together wasn’t such a problem. Was it a perfect course, no… but it’s an example of what a green horse like that can do without drilling jumps if he has a good foundation.
I personally would never campaign a 3 year old o/f (I would personally never campaign anything, I really don’t get the allure of that generally) but I think getting a young horse out is key and that it can’t hurt to ocassionally put together a few fences IF the horse is mentally/physically able at that point. As I mentioned, that horse was pretty put together at 3. He grew a lot at 4 and boy was that year a mess, and then he became a big dude at 5 and suddenly grew up. Every horse is different. Some horses can handle things others can’t.[/QUOTE]
He looks awesome! Are those about 2’? The 3 year old hunters I believe show between 2’9 and 3’ which is a lot to me, for a 3 year old. My kid will be 3 in May, I started him in January. He is just starting to canter now and workouts are short, just to slowly build muscle and bone density and balance. He is coming along very nicely but I never push. He’s been on 2 trail rides, trailering out, and I hop him now and then over a 1’ cross rail no big deal…
I know, they DO change sooooo much. Mine was so ugly a few months ago, now he’s lovely, but who knows what is next LOL!
I have no real “campaigning” planned, neither the time nor inclination LOL
I’d say the jumps are 2’0 at most. That was not specifically a young horse class. It was just a 2’0 open hunter class at a schooling show. Some A-rated shows around here have a “Young Hunter” division at 2’3. He did some of those when he was 4.
I have seen the weird abundance of people showing 3/4 year olds in the pregreen sections that are 3’ and personally I think it’s ridiculous. Some horses haven’t even finished growing by then. 
I can’t advocate teaching changes and jumping that big on a 3 year old regularly. Maybe 2’-2’6" ocasionally just for fun or something to keep it interest but never a full course on a regular basis. If they offer changes naturally, awesome, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to teach it.
Well for starters, I think there’s a big difference between an early 3yo and a late 3/early 4yo (to hunterrider23’s point), and my guess is that most horses in the 3’ pregreen classes are technically in their 4yo year (which means late 3/early 4). Either way, 3’ is nothing to a reasonably scopey horse given an assumption that the rider aboard is a confident and relatively accurate rider. And some horses need zero drilling to jump and/or do changes. My last youngster (now 7) did beautiful changes from the first time I cantered him across the diagonal as an early 3yo. Never had to drill them or teach them at all. He would have been one who could have walked into a 3yo hunter class and looked (inaccurately) like a horse who had been drilled to death. He won several of his young jumper classes (which are judged as a hunter/jumper mix, 50% on style/form/impression, and 50% on faults and being under the time allowed) despite the fact that the only time he jumped was at shows.
More recently, and similar to vxf, I took my (now youngest under-saddle) baby out and about a bit as an early 3 year old, and ended her first 60 days with a clinic where we introduced single jumps (little crossrails and 2’6"-ish verticals). She then went out for the winter until the following spring. We went to her first show and she did her first ever courses (as in, first time ever doing more than 2 or 3 jumps in a row) in classes, and though she wasn’t a natural-flying-change horse, she loped around her young horse classes like a seasoned pro. Here she is on her maybe 3rd course ever and first time on grass, in the grand prix field, over those jumps, etc:
http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/PNWjumper/media/720p_zpsafd229c6.mp4.html?sort=3&o=19
She’s not as chill looking as vxf’s young one, but considering the environment (cold rainy day in the middle of summer, no schooling classes, and out on the spooky and windy grand prix field) over 0.85m-0.95m jumps she was a total and complete rock star IMO! She finished out the series as a just-turned-4yo doing a similar course at 1.0m where that course was the first time she’d ever jumped that height. No drilling, little to no jumping practice at home…just what she got to do at the shows.
My poing being that you can have young horses out at shows and showing that are not drilled into the ground at home…or drilled at all, ever. If I had a young one who wasn’t as game for the jumps at shows we’d back off and not show. I also realize that there are trainers who would and do take the prep to an extreme and drill, drill, drill. But if you watch most of the 3 and 4yo classes it’s readily apparent that the horses in those classes are still incredibly green. You can see the lack of “real” steering around many of the corners and catch many green moments regardless of how mellow they are.
To the OP, I think that the very young hunter and jumper classes are a lot more forgiving of minor errors and green horse moments than open classes. The change thing is kind of a relative-to-your-competitors thing. I’ve watched some young hunter classes where none of the horses had changes (and all did step changes) and others where it seemed like all of the young horses had changes. But my opinion is that if you’re showing your 3yo it’s for the experience, not for a win. So it shouldn’t matter if they have changes at that stage since it’s such a by-the-horse thing.
^agreed.
Since the 3/4 year old pre green classes are not USEF recognized, maybe they vary a bit from show to show but at WEF, this class is 2’9. I highly doubt any were just three year olds most were probably late 4 year olds. If you are not drilling at home, I don’t mind this class at all. I would be more inclined to go into the baby green at 2’6, which many horses basically canter over, assuming accuracy.
