Canadian hunter here who has shown at the Royal in the very division discussed in the article, the ammy owners. Here’s a round of mine for reference’s sake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOae7RkVBoQ
My horse had never been to indoors before and was pretty traumatized, having never really left the Canadian prairies up until that point. She wasn’t given anything prior to this round - no Perfect Prep, no Chill, and definitely nothing illegal. She went around a bit like a stiff wooden board, partly because she was scared to death and partly because, well, warming up at the Royal sucks. It’s worse than even Harrisburg or Kentucky.
So essentially, I am the person that the blogger is talking about in her article, and I have to disagree with her. The horses at the Royal aren’t more fresh because they aren’t on drugs. Here’s the same horse in the A/Os in a more familiar environment to her, not on drugs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkhNa3_mhgs She’s much more relaxed and calm, because she’s in a place that she knows, being piloted again by her amateur owner (me) who is the only person she’s ever known. She doesn’t get a training ride from a BNT hunter pro, doesn’t go to the entire indoor circuit and just is a bit green to that environment, like lots of the horses in Toronto are. It’s not a drugs vs. no drugs issue. I’ll elaborate:
Here’s what I think the difference(s) are:
Like CBoylen said, it can be a matter of quality. My horse is not and will never be Rumba, Jersey Boy, etc.
Also, Canada’s population is much smaller. We have three provinces that have an actual focus on producing quality hunters out of 10 (plus three territories) and the population of all of those combined is likely less than some US cities. Where I come from, there are no older ammy owners, small juniors, etc. etc.
We have the junior/amateur hunters. That’s the younger small juniors, younger large juniors, older small juniors, older large juniors, ammy owners 18-35, ammy owners 36-50 and ammy owners 50+ all combined. Would you like to know how many entrants were in the division the last time I entered it? 3.
Good luck campaigning and developing a nice hunter with that.
Back to the fact that my horse isn’t Rumba combined with Canada’s small population: We simply don’t have the quantity of wealthy people here that you guys do down there to back the sport at that level and buy those horses. Sure, we have quite a few millionaires and a few billionaires and some do have that level of quality up here, but the small population does not allow for so much money to flow through the horse economy like it does in say, California, Florida or NY/NJ/CT.
The one valid difference that I do believe exists between Canada and the US in its drugging rules is Dex. I still don’t understand why the USEF allows horses to be shown on it. BUT, I also don’t think Dex is a be-all end-all difference maker. If I gave my horse Dex at the Royal, she wouldn’t have magically turned into Inclusive. She probably would have relaxed a little, but it’s not going to have THAT big of an effect on the horse.
When it comes to Canadians being reluctant to bring hunters up here from the states, I’d say that’s partially true, at least in my neck of the woods (Alberta). That’s also where the person who made the comment in the article is from. Up here, every barn in the area is pretty jumper-focused, for the reason I mentioned above (3 people in the combined division of juniors and amateurs at 3’6). Do you think most of those barns have a program to maintain a good hunter like, say, California would? No. When we’re stuck inside all winter and most trainers are catering to their jumper clients first and foremost, someone bringing up a horse that’s been in a bona fide hunter program for its life until that point may not thrive up in Alberta. We don’t have the man power up here OR the culture to make it happen.
I don’t think it’s because the horses down there are all drugged up to their eyeballs and are going to bug out the minute they hit Alberta and see the light. The issue lies more in the foundations of our hunter divisions (or lack there of) than a debate between American and Canadian drugging.