Look on my website (link below). There are lots of pics there.
[QUOTE=Calling Duck;5673659]
The average local foxhunting (or eventing) horse being ridden in that class can’t see a distance and can’t cope with being ridden under the lights.[/QUOTE]
I forget which team, but one of the horses was a steeplechaser, never shown in a hunter class, and I dare say the team fared better than many of the “show horses”. Distances and all. I think the animals that do something outside of the show ring are more apt to cope with all the chaos that is going on around the ring.
On the other hand, I have to agree that there were some scary rounds, and it was a mix of horror and humor. I give any of the participants a lot of credit for putting themselves out there. It is a very overwhelming experience.
I think it is a grand idea to have the Sunday (dead day so you say) be a real foxhunter competition too. Look how successful Warrenton is with VA. Hunt Night…It is a wonderful show, well attended, with foxhunters under lights, haha.
I have never competed my “show hunter” in VA Hunt Night due to the distance, but he was champion fieldhunter in the Aiken Hunt Night,as well as in the top ten Centennial Fieldhunters, and has hunted from Green Springs MD, to Orange County VA, to Hillsborough Hounds in TN, and leads the field at Live Oak.
I’ll also show a photo of him wininng the Talent Search in the Jacksonville A shows, he was 15-17 EQ champion at HITS, plus has numerous wins with me in Adult Amatuers and a few Amateur Owners…So, it can be done!!! A good Foxhunter can also be a good show horse…granted not as “preprogrammed” as some, but every bit as rideable and adjustable!
I pinned at Warrenton over 20 years ago on a steeplechaser. Now, mind you, he wasn’t keen on the concept of getting the ribbon placed on his bridle, but we worked around that.
His biggest issue was that the fences, 3 feet, were Just Too Small.
Won this class years ago, now foxhunt - what it’s about from a firsthand perspective!
I actually won the Devon Pony Hunt teams about 10 years ago, and am now a foxhunter (no longer showing). It isn’t literally a “hunt team” because what show horse actually hunts? Hunt horses can really take a beating, and when you’re showing almost every week, that’s really your entire focus. Your horse has to be sound, and is showing often. Shows are all about qualifying for indoors or for being ranked in the top 20 in the country. So that gives you really no time to ride your horse outside the show ring.
Hunt teams are supposed to mimic a hunt (just as the hunter classes do), but really, the entire point is for fun. Everybody looks forward to having a theme or dressing up, and jumping around a course with a few people.
I do have to say that on the hunts I’ve been on, it did feel a little like hunt teams in the sense that you’re jumping around a course with other people. You never get to jump with people in the ring, so hunt teams are a fun chance to do that.
