I love color…times are a’ changin’. 
My jacket is navy blue; but will be ordering one in a different color due to am no hunter rider. One perfect jumping effort after another is an art form I suck at. Will be in the jumpers. So…if anyone has to sell their current jacket because it doesn’t conform… I’d be interested. Besides…if I am going to do badly, I am going to LOOK GOOD doing badly.
4 Likes
So ridiculous that I struggle to believe it is true. I have never heard of a judge radioing the gate to explain placings, especially prior to the end of the class. Or explaining how to improve their placings.
1 Like
I wear this coat in the AA Hunters and have won plenty of classes wearing it. Not sure if new rule will affect whether it will be “legal”? I have a gray horse and always get compliments. Can’t we focus on really important things like drugs, excessive lunging, etc.
5 Likes
I call BS on that story, as well. Though it’s a good one to rally the masses or an excuse why you didn’t place, I suppose.
Really? Because I have had it happen, or been there while it happened, more then once, few times over the years. Judges have some wacky ideas sometimes of what is important. Like if your hairnet is too low on your forehead and exposed below the brim of your helmet, it will affect your equitation placings. Sigh. The sport is too subjective and judges are given entirely too much freedom and therefore power, in my opinion. Yeah, you should fix your hairnet but the fact that it’s placement could be more important then your actual ride, to me, is absurd. For example, is all.
6 Likes
I’m a starter. I’ve had a couple of occasions where the judge has asked me to relay a message to an exhibitor explaining that that exhibitor will not be pinned. On one occasion, it was a stick over regulation length; a second time, it was unconventional tack; and on two occasions I’ve been asked first to call the steward to be on hand for the conversation and second to tell an exhibitor that the horse was unsound and that if the entry came back in the ring she would be eliminated. If it’s a matter of equipment and it’s within the rider’s control to change it before they show their second class, I consider it a kindness for the judge to say something.
6 Likes
After reading all the comments, the words “judges disgression” stand out to me.
never mind
In October, I overheard a judge radio the ring steward to let a competitor know that she wouldn’t be used due to wearing a sparkly Charles Owen helmet in a hunter O/F class . This was at a schooling show. In like 18" hunters or something similarly low. And probably an 8 year old kiddo. I was livid on behalf of the poor child. IMO, @Classic is right. “Judge’s opinion” is what needs to be stricken. Colors and adornment are trivial matters and if a judge cannot look past an outfit to assess a round, that’s the fault of the judge.
8 Likes
I have one coat - my black Hunt coat with colours. Never considered it would be a problem. … but perhaps at some top shows it would be, don’t know and not likely to find out, ha ha.
Just a funny story for you, about a judge calling on me about my (future) placings in a class… not riding coat related.
My green horse’s first show over fences, and first show of any sort, first time off the farm. He was a complete professional guy, straight down his lines, and brave. He is extremely rhythmic, always. I have been riding in hunter classes at various level horse shows for over 50 years, but just show low level these days, and not often. There was a good entry for a schooling show, about 25 in the class. The judge was “young” (IMO), and nobody I had heard of before. We placed second in the first class. We entered the ring to do the round for the second class. I was called over to the judges stand, she stood up, called and beckoned me over. We approached, curious. She said, “Your horse is really cute, and I really like him. But I can’t continue to place you when you are making such a horrible and dangerous mistake”.
I was confused because I thought the first round had gone pretty well, so asked what that mistake might be. She said, “You are taking this six stride line in five, you are taking out a stride. I can’t place that sort of dangerous riding.”
I was still confused, because I was not taking out a stride, my horse’s pace was steady throughout the course, and he was on a perfect 12 foot stride. She said, “If you continue to take out this stride and go down this line in 5, I will not place you again.”
I said, “It’s a five stride line, I like the five, sorry”. I was not going to add a stride to win a ribbon. I rode the course, and rode it again in 5, steady and rhythmic. I came back to the judges stand, and said, “It’s a five”. And left the ring.
A few minutes later, the course designer was called to the judges stand, and a measuring tape was produced. It was a five. Turns out that these days, measured distances on hunter courses are published on the course diagram. And this course designer has posted it on the course diagram as a six stride line, then set a five without changing the diagram. I’m so old that I don’t even look at what might be posted, other than the route, and would have done the five anyway because I just ride on a rhythm, and woulda got there in five even if I knew it was posted as a six.
Moral of the story is… “Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.”
8 Likes
@NancyM Ha! I have a similar story, although not judging related. The side line was a five. I jumped in thinking the second jump looked far away, so I pressed up. I pressed up again and thought, “there is no way I am getting there in five”, so I steadied for the six, utterly confused. Before my next trip, I went back to the course sheet and saw that it was a six. It had only been a five on Friday and Saturday, not Sunday.:uhoh:
The person who doesn’t realize how much better burgundy would have looked…
But, d’oh! Can’t wear that better color.
1 Like
Agreed, it is destroying the “sport”.
1 Like
Or to have a judge not notice that the rhythmic behemoth you were riding was leaving a stride out of every line. I placed in the first class because the round was so smooth the judge didn’t notice his gargantuan stride. She noticed in the second round and I did not place. I have never been sure why a 12 foot stride matters so much if the horse’s round is even and smooth. ETA: chipping in and weird long spots notwithstanding.
5 Likes
After going back and reading this thread again, it sounds like someone at a USEF show on the East Coast (in Ocala) was eliminated for a burgundy coat, while someone at a USEF show on the West Coast (at Thermal) was not eliminated for wearing a burgundy coat. If those two things happened under the same rule, then it sounds like the rule needs to be clarified.
Whether the wording in the current rule change proposal actually clarifies the rule is a different question.
1 Like
Yes, that is where the look comes from.
And a lot of the stuff that people mention above (madras jackets, linen jackets, new market boots, etc) come out of hunting tradition. Madras, linen, and New Market are all traditional “cubbing”/informal hunt attire–worn to hunt during the hotter months.
Even field boots come out of hunting tradition–though technically only approved attire for informal season as well.
The concept of Hunters is a direct spin-off of hunting–it’s what fox hunters did in the off season. Of course, the sport has evolved and, in many ways, moved away from the fashion and functionality of the hunt field and both riders and horses are now more specialist in nature.
I was just looking at these pictures the other day, and thinking that the tack on many of the field hunters would not be within the rules in the show ring. The two activities have diverged so much that comparisons are almost a moot point by this time. But as long as everyone is having fun, it’s all good in my book.
Funny how the much more detailed-laden and blingy dressage jackets don’t distract dressage judges from having to score on many more details and movements…
6 Likes
Well dressage judges have scribes and have to account for their placings in writing and in witness of a third party, and those accounts are signed and submitted to each rider upon completion of the class. Hunter judges have no accountability at all.
2 Likes
