Canadian Hunters vs American Hunters

[Thoroughbred1201]

I found this article interesting. Essentially because the Canadian show scene here on the west coast is absolutely fantastic. The H/J barn I rode at for many, many years has bought the majority of their horses out of Canada. As a matter of fact, our retired mare was bred in Canada (by stallion Glencoe), and purchased from Milner Downs. As was probably half the horses in our barn at that time. The quality was amazing in the BC area, and still is.

I don’t know about other parts of the country, but the show scene in BC is as good as anywhere. The top Canadian trainers on the West coast win up and down the coast from Thermal, CA to Langley, BC. They’ve produced several Medal Final winners, and lovely hunters. ‘Overdressed’ comes immediately to mind.

As for drugging - I’ve seen enough to know it happens, and has been back going on through the decades. From the era of OTTBs and tranquilizers, to today, where the slow off the ground, and the slow, big jump is required for weeks on end. It’s not new. It’s been going on forever. And it’s certainly not just the US. Canada is as guilty as anyone else when they show in the US. And, of course, it isn’t everyone. However, it’s hard to prove, but most people aren’t stupid. And if you keep your eyes open, it’s pretty clear which barn’s have horses with a shelf-life, and which don’t.

I don’t know about other parts of the country, but here, the quality of the Canadians are incredible, and more than equal to the US.

[PNWjumper]

I don’t think freezing the feet is the same as blocking. I think it usually refers to using chemicals to temporarily alleviate pain/sensation. I’m assuming it can be overdone to the point of making a horse’s feet feel numb(ish) for at least a short period of time. Googling it brought up one product:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9EKrIEqgfs
I’m assuming there are many variations on it, and I seem to remember one of my farriers suggesting that I could try freezing my gelding’s feet when we pulled him out of pads for the winter (it was a tough transition and he was pretty sore in the beginning). But IIRC, it was kind of a “this is how it was done in the old days” type suggestion, and I’m not sure what would have been involved.

[PNWjumper]

[QUOTE=Thoroughbred1201;7265719]
I found this article interesting. Essentially because the Canadian show scene here on the west coast is absolutely fantastic. The H/J barn I rode at for many, many years has bought the majority of their horses out of Canada. As a matter of fact, our retired mare was bred in Canada (by stallion Glencoe), and purchased from Milner Downs. As was probably half the horses in our barn at that time. The quality was amazing in the BC area, and still is.

I don’t know about other parts of the country, but the show scene in BC is as good as anywhere. The top Canadian trainers on the West coast win up and down the coast from Thermal, CA to Langley, BC. They’ve produced several Medal Final winners, and lovely hunters. ‘Overdressed’ comes immediately to mind.[/QUOTE]

I’ve seen some really nice hunters up in BC too, but I don’t think the show scene even remotely compares to just south of the border.

I spent all of last season up at Thunderbird and was always surprised by the low hunter numbers compared to the jumpers. Tons of jumpers in the 1.20m, 1.30m, and 1.40m classes and only a handful in the 3’6" hunter ring with many classes struggling to get 3 in the division. Go 100 miles south to Seattle and the numbers flipped…a million hunters and few jumpers with a tough time finding entries to fill the bigger classes.

I’ve always thought of the Canadian jumper scene being much, much robust than the Canadian hunter scene. I don’t mean to say anything about quality and I think the top hunters are competitive anywhere, but the average hunter in BC is not the same as the average hunter south of the border. And I would comment the opposite way for jumpers in the other direction…the average jumper in WA/OR is not as competitive as the average jumper in BC (where again the top jumpers are competitive anywhere)

[Thoroughbred1201]

[QUOTE=PNWjumper;7265760]
I’ve seen some really nice hunters up in BC too, but I don’t think the show scene even remotely compares to just south of the border.

I spent all of last season up at Thunderbird and was always surprised by the low hunter numbers compared to the jumpers. Tons of jumpers in the 1.20m, 1.30m, and 1.40m classes and only a handful in the 3’6" hunter ring with many classes struggling to get 3 in the division. Go 100 miles south to Seattle and the numbers flipped…a million hunters and few jumpers with a tough time finding entries to fill the bigger classes.

I’ve always thought of the Canadian jumper scene being much, much robust than the Canadian hunter scene. I don’t mean to say anything about quality and I think the top hunters are competitive anywhere, but the average hunter in BC is not the same as the average hunter south of the border. And I would comment the opposite way for jumpers in the other direction…the average jumper in WA/OR is not as competitive as the average jumper in BC (where again the top jumpers are competitive anywhere)[/QUOTE]

Hum. I don’t follow jumpers particularly, but I do know that the jumper divisions are packed at Thunderbird. Hunter numbers are down everywhere in Canada and Washington.

I guess when I think of Canadian hunters I think of the big barns with really incredibly horses. Lindy Townley, the Baliskys, and Bobbie Reber. They always have really competitive horses and are competitive up and down the coast. A couple of the Canadian riders are competing nationally in the hunters, and one rides out of California now. It may be a case of those that are good are really, really good, and just pop to mind.

I’d have to concede to your wisdom on this, PNWJumper - I haven’t been going to the shows that much in the last few years, so I could well be out of date, and I know you are actively showing!

[Mozart]

I don’t think you can pin the difference on Cdn v US hunters on drug rules…at least not exclusively.

It strikes me that a lot more money is involved in the ad/am hunter scene than jumper. A jumper just has to leave the jumps up, a hunter has to do it in a certain way. Add ammy rideability to that and you are talking about a much rarer animal. Rarer animal = more expensive. Bigger US population = more money flowing into that discipline. Simple economics, I think.

Way bigger jumper scene in Canada than hunter, at least these days. Used to be you would go to a show and the hunter classes were huge, the jumper classes were small. Now it is the opposite. I think (good or bad) we can thank the newer lower heights for that.

Author also bases her observations on one show, the Royal, were the warm up is practically nonexistent and the ring is notoriously electric.

Just my personal observations, fwiw.

[eclipse]

What Mozart said! Hunters around here (Calgary) are almost non-existant, especially since Spruce no longer holds any hunter classes. Used to be that 3ft6 hunters filled with no problems, now you’re lucky if there’s 3 in the class…sad really! Our jumper divisions though, are huge…I mean huge…think at least 60+ people in heights upto 1.10m and then at heights like 1.40m you will still see 30 or so people. Jumper horses also go for a good price up here, hunters do not…you really need to be able to campaign them down in the USA to get a decent amount of money for one but not many people can afford to do that.

I thought the article was, well, crap! There’s still people in Canada who will drug their horses and the author is stupidly naive if she doesn’t think it happens. We all pretty much know which people aren’t “to be trusted” and which ones watch carefully for the “testers” when they’re on the show grounds. It happens up here just like it happens down in the States, but when your entries are that much smaller you will be less likely to see things as much.