hunter classes explained please

Where can you find descriptions for the various hunter classes? Like, for example, “restricted hunter”. This is an A show.

One class calls itself NonPro. How is that different than AA?

Is the Derby judged only on the horse?

Why are they called “warm-up” classes if they are judged? Someone told me they are judged. :confused:

usually in the prizelist you can find explanations of the classes.

usually warm up classes are judged but they don’t count towards champion for the division.

Hunter derby is just on the horse.

Not sure about non-pro, my guess is it includes AA and juniors–but again, the prizelist should help.

Non-Pro is an open division, so horses, ponies, juniors, adults.

Warm-Up classes are judged, but don’t count towards the division. Often, the warm up course is the same as one of the division courses. It a way for 1)you to get in the ring 2)get a feel for the lines 3)the horse show to charge you a class fee :wink:
Also, a lot of times, the warm-up might span a few divisions ‘open card’- meaning you will do the warm up right before your division, but you may be judged against those in the Children’s, or anyone else wanting to do a 3’ hunter warm up during the day. (So there might be 10 people in your division, but 80 people in the warm up, but those trips are sprinkled throughout the day)

Restricted hunter means something different everywhere, the prize list will give you the show-specific specs.

I find this is said a lot on this board. And in my personal experience - the prizelist does NOT state what each class is or how its judged. It just gives the name of the class, maybe the height, and the cost and prizemoney (if any).

If you didn’t know that Pre/Child Adult was a 2’6 class, the prizelist wouldn’t help you with that. If you didn’t know that an Open/Regular Hunter class was 4’, the prizelist doesn’t help you with that.

When I was still figuring that stuff out when I was new to showing, honestly NightFlights blog showringready.blogspot.com was the most informative. Even better than Equine Canada’s website. You have to dig a bit on the website to find the rulebook. The rulebook does explain all the divisions. But I find prizelists do not do this consistently.

[QUOTE=luvdogz72;8391520]
Where can you find descriptions for the various hunter classes? Like, for example, “restricted hunter”. This is an A show.

One class calls itself NonPro. How is that different than AA?

Is the Derby judged only on the horse?

Why are they called “warm-up” classes if they are judged? Someone told me they are judged. :confused:[/QUOTE]

Despite being an ‘A’ show, there will be many un-rated divisions that are not governed by USEF/USHJA. Consult the prize list (not the schedule) for class definitions and restrictions.

Restricted hunter often means that the horse may not jump higher in another division at that show than the fence height in the restricted division. If there’s a 2’6" restricted division, you might not be able to show the horse in the 3’6" Amateur Owners. (Check the prizelist.)

Non Pro would be anyone who isn’t a pro - including children. AA would be amateur adults, and would exclude children.

A hunter derby is judged as a hunter class - on the horse.

Yes, warm-up classes are judged. Personally, I think it’s because people like to get ribbons if they’re paying for the class. :slight_smile: Warm-ups are typically not restricted. Don’t be surprised if you see a pro do the warm-up trip, followed by the ammy doing their division trips.

[QUOTE=Rescuer;8391568]
I find this is said a lot on this board. And in my personal experience - the prizelist does NOT state what each class is or how its judged. It just gives the name of the class, maybe the height, and the cost and prizemoney (if any).

If you didn’t know that Pre/Child Adult was a 2’6 class, the prizelist wouldn’t help you with that. If you didn’t know that an Open/Regular Hunter class was 4’, the prizelist doesn’t help you with that.

When I was still figuring that stuff out when I was new to showing, honestly NightFlights blog showringready.blogspot.com was the most informative. Even better than Equine Canada’s website. You have to dig a bit on the website to find the rulebook. The rulebook does explain all the divisions. But I find prizelists do not do this consistently.[/QUOTE]

Most prizelists for rated shows that I’ve seen include the specs for unrated divisions (like the Pre-Adult/Pre-Child). See page 38 of this example from Tryon, page 7 of this one from Blenheim, or page 6 of this one from Team NW. RATED divisions have the specs published in the governing body’s rulebook. So C rated classes are run under the zone’s specs, while A rated divisions have national specs.

We can’t answer what a Pre-Adult or the Non-Pro or the Restricted Hunter division’s specs are because it varies from show to show. It’s up to the manager to set the specs, so either they publish it in the prize list or they field a lot of calls and emails lol.

[QUOTE=541hunter;8391585]
Most prizelists for rated shows that I’ve seen include the specs for unrated divisions (like the Pre-Adult/Pre-Child). See page 38 of this example from Tryon or page 6 of this one from Team NW. RATED divisions have the specs published in the governing body’s rulebook. So C rated classes are run under the zone’s specs, while A rated divisions have national specs.

We can’t answer what a Pre-Adult or the Non-Pro or the Restricted Hunter division’s specs are because it varies from show to show. It’s up to the manager to set the specs, so either they publish it in the prize list or they field a lot of calls and emails lol.[/QUOTE]

Maybe I’m just spoiled in having prizelists that 541 works on! :slight_smile:

[QUOTE=BITSA;8391588]
Maybe I’m just spoiled in having prizelists that 541 works on! :)[/QUOTE]

Haha you’re too sweet!! :cool:

[QUOTE=snaffle635;8391577]
A hunter derby is judged as a hunter class - on the horse.[/QUOTE]

so, if the class is not a “medal” class or called a “hunter” class, it is not judged on the rider at all? How do judges separate that?

[QUOTE=Rescuer;8391568]

[QUOTE=luvdogz72;8391614]
so, if the class is not a “medal” class or called a “hunter” class, it is not judged on the rider at all? How do judges separate that?[/QUOTE]

Medals are eq (rider)
Anything hunter is hunter (horse)
what do you mean by how to the judges separate that?

[QUOTE=luvdogz72;8391614]
so, if the class is not a “medal” class or called a “hunter” class, it is not judged on the rider at all? How do judges separate that?[/QUOTE]

Medals and equitation are both judged on the rider. Hunter classes are judged on the horse.

There’s not necessarily a clear demarcation – if I pull to the single oxer and have a massive pop chip (not that THAT’s ever happened…), it doesn’t matter how well my horse goes everywhere else. The mistake is mine but my round still gets moved down to the bottom of the judge’s card (or not, if everyone else sucked too! :winkgrin:). Same thing in the eq – if my horse spazzes out and takes off bucking in my round, the judge has to mark it down.

[QUOTE=Rescuer;8391568]

When I was still figuring that stuff out when I was new to showing, honestly NightFlights blog showringready.blogspot.com was the most informative. Even better than Equine Canada’s website. You have to dig a bit on the website to find the rulebook. The rulebook does explain all the divisions. But I find prizelists do not do this consistently.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for the compliment, Rescuer!

Divisions are a really tough thing to comprehensively explain because there’s so much regionality to them, especially when you go beyond the rated ones (and even with the rated divisions not every show will offer every possibility, such as Non-Pro classes, so they can be confusing when they do pop up).

Here are a few posts that might help you understand things, OP:
http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2012/07/hunter-derbies.html
http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2010/12/schooling-classes.html
http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2010/07/handy-hunter.html
http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2010/02/hunter-divisions.html
http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2015/03/what-is-medal-class.html
http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2010/02/equitation-divisions.html
http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2010/02/jumper-divisions.html
http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2010/02/how-jumpers-are-scored.html
(warning, the older posts have much more Canadian content, and content can get outdated over time!)

Things may be different in Canada, but in the US, I have never seen a prizelist for a rated show (from big stuff like Upperville/HITS/Cap Challenge to small B/C rated stuff) that didn’t have both a schedule list (usually with heights and prizemoney listed on it) and many many pages of descriptions of each of the classes and what the specs are. Sure, for something unrated like “Schooling Hunter” it might just be "Open to all, judged on performance, manners, way of going. Fences X’ " but for specific things like Adults or Greens where there might be cross entry concerns, it’s usually very clearly spelled out, along with whether or not one might expect to jog. Plus, if it’s a rated division, there is an entire USEF rule book that lays all the specs out, from which those prizelist division descriptions are copied and pasted :wink:

Most warmup classes around here tend to be run as red/blue, so you’re “judged” in that the round is given a numeric score, and you might get a ribbon for it depending on what the cutoff is for red/blue ribbons. Last show I went to they were giving out little streamer ribbons like you’d win at a science fair for warmup, I don’t think I even saw anyone take one.

[QUOTE=541hunter;8391585]
Most prizelists for rated shows that I’ve seen include the specs for unrated divisions (like the Pre-Adult/Pre-Child). See page 38 of this example from Tryon, page 7 of this one from Blenheim, or page 6 of this one from Team NW. RATED divisions have the specs published in the governing body’s rulebook. So C rated classes are run under the zone’s specs, while A rated divisions have national specs.

We can’t answer what a Pre-Adult or the Non-Pro or the Restricted Hunter division’s specs are because it varies from show to show. It’s up to the manager to set the specs, so either they publish it in the prize list or they field a lot of calls and emails lol.[/QUOTE]

Me too. I have never seen a rated show prize list that didn’t define classes adequately, including heights.

Canadian prize lists often stick to division name, height, entry fee and prize money. It makes for nice brief prize lists, but they’re not always very informative.