Hunters for Dummies

[luckycricket123]

I didn’t ride as a kid, and as an adult I’ve fallen in with trail riders, eventers and dressage riders. I’m familiar with jumpers and actual fox hunting, but I really don’t know much about hunters. I understand you jump around a course and you’re judged on the horses way of going, but I feel like I’m missing some of the lingo and culture.

Can someone give me an intro for dummies on what classes there are at a hunter show, how they’re judged, and the biggest difference between other disciplines?

As an outsider, hunter riders seem incredibly well turned out with super neat braids and last minute grooming of horse and rider before they go in the ring that I don’t see as often in other disciplines.

I’m not really sure my motivation for asking. I don’t plan to show any of my horses in the hunters, but I guess I want to understand the memes about hunter hair or circling in a class and what does a short stirrup class mean? How many rounds do you jump per class?

If there’s any articles or videos out there explaining this please link them. I feel silly asking but I’d like to know more!

[blondewithchrome]

There are a ton of great resources online!
https://www.ushja.org/about-us-and-news/hunterjumper-101

Introduction to Show Hunters

John French Teaches What an Ideal Hunter Horse Looks Like.

Basically, beyond the intro videos above (which I’m sure there are plenty more!) the divisions and types of classes can get very complex. There are classes restricted by size of horse or pony, by age of rider, by experience of rider (most common in junior classes), by amateur vs professional, and also classes that vary in size of jump. Often times you’ll see beginner classes or 18”-2’ called short stirrup, and class heights typically increase by 3”-6” all the way up to High Performance, which is 3’9-4’.

There are some experienced hunter judges on this BB who I know have chimed in on older threads about judging hunters. Search something like “hunter judging” and see what comes up!

[OnDeck]

Hunters are judged on the horse. Your horse should ideally move with very little knee action but more importantly, jump with knees up and legs tight. Look up “international hunter derby” to get an idea.

A “class” is one course or a flat class. A division is usually 3 - 4 courses and the flat class. There’s a million divisions divided by age of rider, age/experience of the horse, jump height, etc. It starts at 2’ and goes up to 4’. Courses are almost always outside, diagonal, outside, diagonal with lines set on a 12’+ stride. A hunter derby is the “grand prix” of hunters and is a little more complicated but the premise is the same.

Rider is not technically judged. However, anything less than 8 perfect distances, clean lead changes, and a steady, even pace will be a deduction. Hunters can be intimidating for some because in certain divisions (pro divisions and 3’6" junior and amateur divisions) it can feel like the baseline is perfection. Your horse should be turnout out perfectly, you should be spotless, your distances should be perfect, your pace should never change, and you should be straight as an arrow. Only then can the judge really decide which horse is the nicer horse.

“Hunter hair” is simply how we all get our hair in our helmet. It involves a hairnet and hiding your ears with your hair. I think we all agree it’s horrendously unattractive and yet we all still do it.

[callyhan]

I’m similar in that I’ve never done hunter showing and I’ve always been intimidated by the warm-up, class scheduling, and order of go stuff. It’s super confusing. Why isn’t there set times like dressage and eventing?

[NancyM]

LOL ROTFLMAO! (not at you). Because they could not show up “on time”.

[CBoylen]

Because at most Hunter shows there are many rings going on at one time, and most people are showing multiple horses.
For instance today at WEF there are over 1,700 trips spread out between the rings. At Global dressage there are 36 horses showing today.

[callyhan]

So how do you know when to warm up, or be queued up ready to go in the ring? Or even get to the show grounds? And when there’s 3 classes in a division do you do them all in a row, or each list of participants runs through for each class? What’s the difference between classes in a division? Sorry for all the questions but seems sooo confusing and no wonder you are all waiting around for each other because no one knows when anything is supposed to happen.

[ThreeWishes]

Sounds like you would really benefit from a good coach who could wade you into showing if that’s your goal. There are so many moving parts and nuances into preparing time wise and choosing the right divisions, when to insert yourself into the order of go etc. There are good coaches out there. I’d start there.

[CBoylen]

So you’re about to get a really complicated answer to this question!
Basically when you look at the number of trips for each division and in that ring that day you can guesstimate the time your division will start. Generally the starter of the ring will also have an estimate because he might know of conflicts that will make things run slower or other issues. So you can go to the ring or look online and there’s usually some kind of estimated start time like adult hunters will go around 2 PM. There may be a posted order for your division meaning you all go in that order once the division starts, or it may be check in, meaning you go to the ingate starter in the morning and say something like “I don’t care when I go, where do you want me”, or “I want to go last”. If you have a large barn your trainer or barn manager is going to check in at every ingate in the morning to straighten out conflicts and be told which ring has priority, such as “I have a horse in the 1.50m which should go at the same time as my client’s adult hunter; hunter ring has priority, so can we put Jane first in the order so I can leave quickly?”.

Then, someone keeps track of what is going on, either by stopping by the ring or looking online or listening to announcements. Maybe Bob fell off in the a/o so the ring got held up for 20 minutes while they picked him up and then Jane made the jump off in the jumper classic so they waited 15 minutes for her and now the adults go at 2:35. You’re paying attention or your trainer is for you, so you know to wait before getting fully dressed or tacking up.
When you get on to warm up depends on how many trips= the time your particular horse needs to school/chill/primp/change tack whatever. So your basic horse needs about 5 trips or 10 minutes to warmup. You get on 6 trips out. You signed up for 8th in the order, but there are two over fences for your division that day. These are different patterns over the same set course. Each person will do one trip, come out and review with their trainer on what they need to do to improve for the next trip, and then go back in and do that second trip after one or two other people have gone. So you signed up for the 8th horse in the order which means you will be about the 15th trip. The ingate guy is announcing as each horse goes in how many trips out the immediate group is, so say “Jill is in the ring, then Becky on deck for her second trip, and Cally is one trip out”. If you fall off in the schooling area or spring a shoe, then you run up and tell them so they can drop you as far down in the order as possible so you can sort yourself out.

[callyhan]

This sounds like chaos I will stay away

[fivestrideline]

Lol it’s chaos but also… not really? Most hunter barns go as a group and have a system down. The hurry up and wait is the only thing that is certainly annoying compared to other disciplines, but there’s a reason for it. Definitely not a discipline to try for the first time on your own with no prior exposure to behind the scenes though.

Honestly reading this has me all nostalgic and wanting to go show again - most recently I’ve been the assistant running around making sure kids are on ponies and at the ring with their courses memorized and it’s SO fun. No tired like horse show tired.

[OnDeck]

@callyhan

This sounds like chaos I will stay away

You have to do at least your first couple HJ shows with a trainer. Then you just get on when your trainer tells you. Much easier.

[Spudsmyguy]

I participated in one A show and swore I’d never do it again. It was “hurry up and wait” all day long. I wanted to go in and do my first course when there was a lull in the action and get it over and done but oh, no, I had to wait until Susie’s trainer was there to hold her hand and I had to wait for their whole barn to go first even though no one was there.

[CBoylen]

It really perplexes me when people say that the trainer is there to hold the client’s hand. Like they are superfluous. The trainer is there to do the job that they are paid for. You don’t see the football coach sitting at home watching the game on his couch right?

[MHM]

@CBoylen

It really perplexes me when people say that the trainer is there to hold the client’s hand. Like they are superfluous. The trainer is there to do the job that they are paid for. You don’t see the football coach sitting at home watching the game on his couch right?

Right? If you have a trainer who helps you at home, why wouldn’t you want them there to help you at the show, which is presumably a more challenging situation for you??

[luckycricket123]

I think this is because in other disciplines you can’t be coached while you’re on course/riding your test. Don’t get me wrong, it would be helpful to me if you could but it’s just different

[CBoylen]

You can’t really be coached while you are in the ring here either, other than a quick word as you go by the gate, but there are a whole lot of things that can be done in the warmup to set the rider and/or horse up for success, many points going over the course that your average amateur is not going to think about, and generally a lot to unpack from the first trip that has bearing on how the second is going to go. There aren’t many professionals (any?) that go to the ring without another trainer groundperson.

[Spudsmyguy]

I heard one rider who said “I can’t go yet, my trainer isn’t here.”

[CBoylen]

Right. Because she’s paying the trainer to help her at the show. If she goes without her trainer, she has wasted a good deal of money, not to mention the fact that she might not do as well as she could have at the very expensive show she is attending, where it is presumably important to her that she does as well as possible?

[ThreeWishes]

Exactly. Why wouldn’t you want the person who you have ridden/trained/who perhaps helped you find and buy your horse present when you take your trips around? The show ring is supposed to be a gauge of all your hard work and time invested into riding. When you have a flat class, a warm up and 2 trips …. There’s a lot of advice that can be given to ease jitters or help you smooth out a round. I loved that my hunter trainer insisted on being present. Bonus points for my fellow riders/barn mates standing on the rail for encouragement.