Polo ponies are sometimes shod like this, with a single stud.
Event horses do dressage with studs and no boots pretty routinely, even at the ULs.
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It’s not just the tippy top hunter world, which is indeed in its own element, I agree! Every time I showed in hunters (ponies, children’s and juniors) in the 1990s and early 2000s was on a grass field in road studs. That was all there was in my area, grass rings of varying qualities. It is a normal thing. Put boots on the jumpers with bigger studies in back.
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I’ve seen horses completely wipe out on a grass course without studs. In the hunters.
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I’ve seen wipe outs WITH studs (and boots) even at low levels of eventing. That’s why I don’t quite understand the studs and no boots part - anything can happen. Yes, they aren’t doing any hard turns, but neither are the low levels of eventing.
Just seems like quite a hazard.
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I don’t know of any grass-field hunters around here. Jumpers, yes, many. But not hunters.
Many of them also SJ without boots too!
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I meannnn… we showed locally all winter with snow/ice studs and no boots in the early 2000’s. Maybe we warmed up with boots on, but definitely a big no-no for the rounds themselves. I can’t recall once having a horse that clipped or cut himself and mine were all very correct through their shoulders and loved to jump from the gap.
I’d absolutely use studs on grass, but wouldn’t worry about the girth or the boots… just check them after rounds and treat if they clip themselves… much like you would do for a hard rub/rail or if you had one that loves to outreach and chunk their fetlocks/pasterns.
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Yep. My young hunter years ago was cantering around a jump field with me and we took a wide turn under some shade… and completely wiped out on a patch of slippery, not fully dry grass/mud. It happens. We were both ok, but don’t discount the traction factor.
Also know a performance/working hunter that lost it’s footing at the Hampton after a particularly rainy night the evening prior, and studs didn’t help him from losing traction at push-off. It happens and it’s scary, and thankfully pro and horse were ok, but you equip them with as much ammo as possible to keep it from happening.
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Yep. This. Lived to tell.
And people foxhunt with studs without boots all winter long.
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Get out of here with your facts and evidence!
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A dressage test and jumping are two totally different hazards.
I do agree that a horse can be a horse in either case though, and “stuff” happens.
I know a lot of hunters that would be much happier and mellow on grass. And it is legal in Colorado.
Or is this about horses?
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Also, after watching a BUNCH of hunter horses and ponies on a grass warm up without studs? Yes please to studs with grass in the dry season. Mine had composite shoes with built in tread and still wasn’t thrilled. Barefoot or shoes with studs seem to keep mine happiest on grass. I find they are more likely to hit themselves in a slip without studs than moving predictably with studs
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That poster may be coming from the perspective of an eventer; they have a lot of experience with studs and it is considered inadvisable to put a horse in studs and run them without boots. So this custom may seem strange to eventers even though it is a norm in H/J land.
Those teeny road studs can kill a horse too, which I know from personal experience having lost a horse to “teeny road studs”. The amount of damage they can do on a leg is incredible, and it only takes one bad slip for a horse to sever something in their lower leg or slice open their chest or belly. One bad experience will make you hyperaware of what can go wrong and how badly it can go wrong. That’s really horses for you.
None of that detracts from the main answer which is yes, hunters routinely run on studs and no, you do not show in boots regularly. One assumes if they are good and jump in correct form their risks of getting caught on the belly are minimal. There is probably no black/white answer here besides “this is how it’s done in Hunterland”. It doesn’t mean it’s correct, or incorrect, or safe/unsafe. It’s just how it is in Hunterland.
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This statement applies to so many things that happen around horses. If you’ve never seen it, it would never occur to you. But if you’ve seen it once, you never want to see it happen again.
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When I showed 3’ hunters on the grass fields at the Oaks we used road studs behind and nothing up front. That was this trainer’s standard.
Back in the day I did stadium at 1 m without any studs. I made the decision not to attempt any silly turns. Horse was very confident and catty.
I have friends who have shown unshod horses on grass in both hunters and jumpers without any sort of added traction device.
On the other hand my mom’s dressage horse slipped, fell, and skidded a number of feet on his side while warming up on wet (from dew) grass. This was not a catty, agile horse.
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I’m coming from both backgrounds, which has some perspective. There was a really interesting Eventing Symposium in the UK in 2016 that looked at the effects of studs. There was a strong suggestion that a single stud in each foot gave a better balance of slip/traction than 2+. I changed my stud use to single outer stud only on grass, and 2 ice studs in winter if shoes are required. The single outside heel stud minimized the chance of injury to the opposing leg and let the foot slip slightly on landing/take off/turns in a way that protects the tendons and ligaments. That’s a win/win in my book.
Link below for anyone interested in reading. I love this kind of information regardless of discipline.
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Amen to that!
Been there on a number of fronts and its why I will never again turn out horses together with back shoes.
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