this is something that always stresses me if I’m doing “too may” but who makes the rules, I wish the horses did lol since they are the ones jumping there legs off…
there is a trainer in the area who in the last show had a young horse do the Confirmations (to help fill it) and the 3’6" greens, a warm up, the incentive stake, the hunter derby, (not done yet) another warm up, the 3’3" aos and the classic…
i know thats not normail but what is???
Every horse is different and their fitness is a big factor. As well, how long they are on show grounds for, number of consecutive show days, and their age all play a part. I would worry about more than 4 O/F classes per day. But I am also conservative.
We are putting an animal under unusual circumstances (variable footing, high stress, limited/no turnout) and also subjecting them to human nerves and sometimes weather elements (rain or extreme heat) that we would not normally ride in.
After a certain number of times performing to our demands, they will become sour to it. I think our end of the bargain is to stop before that point.
I agree that normally 4 would be my top. There have been times when my horse was at her top fitness when I’d do 5 to have a warmup or full a class. When we were doing hunters I normally did 2 jumping classes and 5 or so flat classes with a couple times adding one of each to fill an eq class for my trainer. My rule was to only show every other weekend though I know people who showed almost every weekend. But I set myself rules for my horse and stuck with them for my horse and myself to stay happy.
However I saw some horses compete in a dozen classes a day, sometimes changing riders. I know people who showed every day at week long shows. I once even saw a horse dragging it’s hind hoof still getting shown. It’s truly up to everyone what they feel they can do and they also know their horses better then we do.
I’ll also say I tend to be more willing to add a class in the spring and fall. When it’s too hot or too cold I don’t want to push my horse for more.
Where I live the schooling shows restrict each horseti 5 entries per day and our bigger shows restrict you to two classes but we don’t have flat classes and jumping classes, it’s dressage or jumping.
I agree with everything that is being said. A lot of times, it is horse dependent and fitness dependent. When I am showing, I will often have a few more classes on my plate, and once I feel my horse getting tired, I will pull them from the rest of their classes that day. It not only prevents them from getting ring sour, but also helps increase the longevity of their show career. I honestly think 5 or 6 classes a day is a lot for most horses.
Agreed with the above posters above it being very horse dependent… I think it’s also extremely dependent on the show schedule and demands. For a horse who doesn’t often get out to horse show, and doesn’t have a show scheduled for a few weeks, you may be able to “get away” with more than you usually would and vice versa.
In general, my horse would do a small warm up division during the week (~2 o/f, 1 flat?) and then the division/equitation on the weekend (~2-3 o/f, 1-2 flat per day). That was for the hunters/equitation. When I was doing the jumpers, I would maybe do 3-4 classes the whole weekend.
I just get worried about 1) the pounding on their legs week after week, and 2) the emotional stress. I’ve seen plenty of horses go ring/work sour from being pushed too hard.
For the above horse, that seems like a lot… but then again, maybe the horse doesn’t get out much so they’re trying to make the most of the weekend, or maybe it has some training holes and just needs time in the ring.
Where I am from (Europe) no horse is allowed to do more than 2 classes in any official competition. Are there no restrictions in the US regarding this?
In addition to what has been said above, I think the amount of prep a horse (and rider) needs comes into play. If they have to jump, jump, jump in the schooling ring and between classes then the fewer classes the better.
I also think fence height is a factor. I think a horse doing 2’6" pre childrens can probably handle a couple more o/f classes than a horse doing the division heights assuming both horses are fit and suitable for their jobs.
So if the horse is doing walk trot over ground poles it can only do two classes for the whole multi-day show?
That seems kind of silly.
There has to be more that rule than just ‘only two classes per competition’.
I agree with all the above posters. Too much is determined by the horse and what they are doing. A very fit horse whose warm up consists of a few laps around the ring in each direction and one leap over a cross rail can do more in the ring than the horse whose warm up requires an hour of WTC and then a whole lesson worth of jumping.
That is a whole lot of classes. Certainly, more than I would ever think of doing.
But, your wish for letting the horses make the rules actually happens. When a horse cannot do it because he is sore or exhausted, he will have rails, stop, chip in, etc. A rider cannot make a tired or sore horse jump around clean and pretty.
The horse knows better than all his people when they are asking more than he has to give. If the people are smart, they will listen. Even if they are not smart, they will be forced to listen.
All that said, hopefully, it will never get that far.
ETA: lol. I just saw that I am agreeing with the posters above. Great minds, and all.
Except that horses are often extraordinarily generous and honest, and personally I don’t think working them until they are physically too exhausted to continue competing (and then presumably pumping them full of bute or banamine or robaxin) is a great solution.
Hunters show in Divisions which means 2-3 classes over fences & 1 under saddle.
Jumpers compete in single classes (basing this on memory - Jumper riders pls correct me). No limit on #, based on fence height.
Dressage riders show in as many as 3 Tests - up to 4th Level & 2 beyond 4th.
@Velleda Do you mean a horse can be shown in only 2 single classes - whether over fences or under saddle?
@Alter my egoo As others have said, your horse will tell you how many classes is too much.
If I have a green hunter at a schooling show doing 2’6" courses, I am usually happy doing 4 to 5 classes, usually classes in a row, so only one warm up (15 minutes). If I have a horse in the bigger jumper divisions, 2 classes, presuming you are going to be doing a jump off round as well as a first round. Smaller jumpers, perhaps 3 classes total. It’s always dependent on the horse, and on what is offered at the show, and why you are there. One show I go to annually, I do 2 jumper classes in the morning, and two more at night.
Our local riding club (which I no longer belong to) at the time I was a director, insisted on offering an entry option for their shows where they offered a “day rate” for entries… $40 would allow you to go in as many classes as you liked. I protested against this option, as it is SO BAD for horses, who usually have green riders with no coaching, paying $40 to show in 20 classes in a day, then everyone wonders why those horses are so sour, sore and miserable? And the club doesn’t get the entry fees for most of these classes, it is just such a BAD option to even offer this to riders. I maintained that if someone wants to torture and ruin their horse, they should be paying for this in every class, so that at least the club profits from their horse’s torture. To charge for every class may help to rescue horses from being abused this way. But nothing changed, the club wanted the horses to fill the classes, even without collecting the entry fee.
it’s confOrmation, not confIrmation.
Generally speaking, depends on the age, soundness, and use of the horse, with about 1000 other factors worked in. More then 2/3 hunter divisions, too much. more then 3-5 jumper classes over a 5 day show, depending on the height…too much
There’s also a big difference in jump efforts per hunter/eq class vs. jumper class. You can usually have one warmup for 2-3 OF rounds in a hunter/eq division, but each jumper class usually gets its own warmup due to timing- so between the warmup and the class, each jumper class often includes as many jumping efforts as a full hunter/eq division.
In the jumpers, I tend to limit my classes to 2 per day. I was more likely to do 3-4 when we were doing lower heights since that was much lower impact and less energy-intensive, but my horse has told me pretty clearly that he only really likes to do 2 per day now!
We are mostly talking Hunters here, top out at 1m, most divisions lower then that down to .5m . 8 fences per class, all related distances. Judged on style and manners, not timed. Flat classes judged on manners and style. Equitation on the rider. Much easier then Jumpers.
4 over fences and 1 flat probably is the limit for rated classes, 3’ - .75m (approx) or higher. That’s assuming the horse is fit and properly trained up for it. Meaning it only needs a few minutes on the flat and 3-4 schooling fences to warm up. Lower height divisions, the 2’6" particularly, you can probably safely add another. Below that the horse doesn’t actually jump so they can do a few more.
Some horses show a lot and/or are veterans, they don’t really jump often at home or need a bunch of jumps once at the show to practice. Other are less experienced and need more. That effects what’s a reasonable number if jumps to ask it for. So does rider ability to get prepared.
You can see example A) a seasoned pair at 3’ doing 2 classes over fences with only 20 min of flatting and 2 warm up jumps before the first class. Then putting the horse back in it’s stall for several hours then a quick warm up with 2 schooling fences and 2 more classes for a total of 4 schooling fences and 32 show jumps. Horse will not jump a course during the next week at home or on the show grounds.
Compare that to example B) a less experienced pair doing 2.6" that flats for an hour and jumps 3 rounds over a warm up course in the AM for 24 fences Needs 10 warm up fences later before first class so up to 34 fences. Then does 3 rounds for another 24 fences. 58 fences. At home rider will be doing 2 lessons a week adding another 30 jumps to whatever it dies over the weekend at the show.
So which horse jumped more? The one doing 4 classes or the one doing 3?
Thars why you cannot make assumptions about pounding based only on seeing a few show classes. You also have no idea what it did the day before or will do the day after.
As others have said, there are lots of variables. Obviously these numbers change depending on horse fitness, age, show plan etc.
At a week long show, we usually do 2 O/F, 1-2 flat classes per day for hunters (all with one warm up outside of the ring) or 2 O/F for low jumpers (1m and below) and 1 for higher jumpers (1.10m+). Our barn usually takes a lighter day in the middle, schedule permitting.
At a one day show, I remember doing one hunter division and one eq division (total of 4 O/F and 2 flat classes). With jumpers I believe it was 3 classes to a division, but I could be wrong. I think generally for a one day event where the horse can have a few days off after jumping, a couple of extra classes isn’t a big deal. There were horses that did two hunter divisions (so 6 O/F and 2 flat) and I didn’t think it was a big deal since they were 2’6-2’9 ish jumps.
I’ve seen barns where lesson horses do multiple jumping lessons a day which involve a lot more jumps than either of these cases. I have a much bigger issue with that personally.
The Trillium circuit in Ontario limits horses to “two hunter or jumper divisions plus appropriate medal and equitation classes.” Sounds good until you figure out what that actually means for a horse.
Most Trillium shows are run over 2-3 days max. So nothing stops a horse from doing ALL their classes in one day, and it happens quite often as people try to cut costs by not having the horse stay at the show or have to ship over two days in a row.
Depending on the Zone, a hunter division is either 2 or 3 o/f and 1 flat. PLUS schooling trips. Some Zones allow 2 schooling trips, so a horse could theoretically do 5 o/f just for 1 division. Plus their hunter medal (another trip) plus their eq trip. So 7 trips total, with potentially 3 flats (hack, flat portion of medal, equitation). And that is just one division. The horse could have to repeat it all again for a different rider (or the same rider) if they do another hunter division. If they do a jumper division, they just have 3 over fences rounds (plus a clear round warm up if the rider opts for it), but jumper courses are more technical and have more fences in them than hunter rounds, so they are pretty comparable.
None of this takes into consideration what the horse does in the warm up ring or their schedule at home. This is way too much for one horse in my opinion. When I was showing Trillium I did one division per day, and I showed in a Zone with only 2 o/f, so I did 1 schooling and 2 o/f for a total of 3 o/f and 1 flat. Sometimes I would double division and do the same thing the day before, but most of the time I wouldn’t. I only did the hunter medal twice in my whole showing career as I felt it was too much o/f for my horse in one day without a break between classes (a lot of shows would run your trips back to back in groups, so you do all 4 o/f rounds in a row with only a couple of horses between you). Now, my horse is older, so I didn’t want to stress her or push her as hard as you could with a younger horse. But even if the horse can physically handle the situation I described above, I think MENTALLY it is bound to sour them pretty damn quick.
Our official competitions start at 95cm generally. In a show that has low height (55-80cm) and walk trot classes the horse has a limit of 5 entries. The shows aren’t multi day shows because they are low level shows.
I’m pretty conservative with mine, as I want them to last a long time. I don’t like them doing more than 3 over fences a day, and I usually do only two myself. And I do minimal warm-ups. Last week we literally jumped one vertical in the warm-up, then walked into the ring.
A typical schedule for mine would be 2-3 pro classes each day Wednesday and Thursday, maybe a derby on Friday (or a hack, or a brief lesson), then 2 per day with me on the weekends with the occasional classic.
When I was a kid (100 years ago), people used to say that horses were born with a certain number of jumps in them - so you could use them up early, or space them out. I think I still believe this on some level.
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