70s pics when Hunters were Hunters

[Mayaty02]

[QUOTE=Sing Mia Song;2531328]
I remember as a kid in the late 70s doing the small/mediums or the larges. Two divisions, not three. This was in New England.

I also recall not being able to school in the ring until, gosh, after I was out of the juniors (1986). There was a warm-up class, sure, but the ring was closed to open schooling. I even got booted out of the jumper ring at Children’s Services when I was trying to hack in there on move-in day circa 1988. Of course, I only had the cajones to try that because I’d witnessed several BNTs actually schooling over the jumps about 30 minutes earlier and NOT getting kicked out. ;)[/QUOTE]

I agree, I remember the A shows in the 80s usually didn’t let you school over jumps. I had a particularly spooky horse and remember usually being able to walk around the ring, but not over fences, and probably not more than a walk. Have lots of memories of showing frightened horsey all the jumps in the ring. The only place I remember we just couldn’t even really spend anytime in the ring at all was at Devon. Frightened horsey had to go into the Dixon oval cold…boy that was ugly! Well who says you can use the AHSA Medal as a warm up class?
These are all awesme pictures - keep em coming!

[lauriep]

[QUOTE=Offset;2531377]

[QUOTE=sporthorsefilly;2531229]I totally agree with 2ndyrgal:

I would bet that Rodney Jenkins or Dave Kelly could have done a round over a '60’s outside course with Popeye K and made it look fabulous. You never saw them hanging off the side of a horse to make the bascule look good!

QUOTE]

I would certainly agree with your first point, but must respectfull disagree with your second. RJ almost always hung off the side of the hunters - course he could stand on his head and they still jumped great. But I think it’s safe to say he ‘invented’ the fad of ducking and everyone else tried to imitate it, pro’s and kids alike, not unlike what we see today.

I had to laugh - on the Phelps website today there are two wonderful pics of RJ: one on a hunter doing a CREST release with his butt way up in the air (a la today’s pictures so many people criticize), the other on a jumper using an auto release.

It has always been my personal opinion that RJ really invented the crest release - look at all his pics on the hunters, with a big loop in the reins, hands near the crest. Others tried to imitate it and GM coined the phrase.[/QUOTE]

Rodney was a natural talent and never had any formal training. He was unlike any other rider in the world, and anyone who thought they could/should copy him was nuts. He was a freak, but in the best way. But he shouldn’t be used as an equal example to what we see today, IMO.

Regarding the crest release origin, Gordon’s book, “Learning to Ride, Hunt and Show” describes the release in elementary and intermediate jumping, although he doesn’t name it. He says, for the approach, “…the hands move halfway up the horse’s crest or mane.” Sam Savitt’s illustrations show it clearly. Only in the advanced section does he describe the auto release. So yes, GM gave it a name, but Gordon certainly used it, in its proper place as a stepping stone to advanced technique. It is the modern trainers who have elected to stop at the crest release and make it the only release taught.

[RogersRides]

[QUOTE=Duffy;2513717]
We had one of those at Sweetbrier Farm - and you galloped down a hill to get to it. I used to be SO nervous at that one[/QUOTE]

That wall was still there when I was at SBC! I loved jumping it! Although we usually jumped it uphill, a little more friendly for the not so brave in my group.

[Madeline]

When I was active, small/medium were 13.0 and under. Larges were 14.2. At really big important shows they ran smalls ( 12.2 and under?) at 2’3.

[HiddenAcres]

Got the 404 on these

[Bristol_Bay]

[QUOTE=HiddenAcres;9026357]
Got the 404 on these[/QUOTE]

Perhaps because the thread is ten years old.

[ryansgirl]

It’s a ten-year old thread. Always good to see old photos though! Brings back memories when I started showing hunters/eq/jumpers in the mid-70’s.

[ivy62]

great thread even if it is 10 years old. Love the few old pics I could open.

[Mukluk]

Maybe we need to introduce a “retro” division to our shows!!!