Oh how horrifying. Running martingales, while occasionally necessary, add a whole new level of “DONT MOVE” to my riding. I will get every fly, I will scratch every itch… to try and avoid a problem. I don’t use them often, but when they’re on I’m hyper aware.
Matter of fact, none of my horses are allowed to itch their face on their legs (or fence, or anything) while mounted, for any reason, ever. If they persist on a REALLY itchy itch, I will get off to allow them to satiate.
I have one that goes in a standing, no martingale or loose draw reins (during spring sillies) only for a similar reason. Bit at a fly, caught the running strap across his mouth, I felt the withers start to lift as he panicked and I flung for his face to grab the strap. God love him, he put his feet back down to let me fix it. Scared me white as a sheet.
Back to OP - I recall back when I showed hunters, bell boots were allowed in the case of wet/muddy footing. It this might be the case where you are showing, it can be a good idea to have a pair of bells that match your horse’s legs just in case.
Most good show rings (in my area) put down sand on top of the dirt, so there is more traction than just a grass field.
Well, at any rate it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Wow, they really jump high!”
DUUUUUUUUDE!!! Oxer, man.
Feels like we’re cantering in slow motion, man! (Cue Trainer in the background howling for "more forward:)
We are cantering in slow motion, dude! Look at the shadow. Oh, this is soooooooo awesome. Oh, better turn here for that jumpy thing over there.
I am picturing any fence with faux grass or hay bales leading to many stops as the munchies strike.
Omg. Especially all those rails covered with the green astroturf carpet these days.
I’m still trying to figure out where you’re finding grass in Colorado? Most of the places I’ve been have had little to none… and it’s dry as a bone.
I’m not sure if you are being sarcastic, but uh… wrong kind of grass 
HAHAHA… ohhhhh… sorry, it’s early out here and my mind was totally in a different place.
why would you need front studs for showing on grass? Horses have shown for ages on grass and I’m sure many did fine without studs at all or just rear studs. I’m talking footing that has not been drenched with rain or dry as a bone as that could change dynamics.
That was a pretty interesting article!
It was in the Head of the Lake water this year I believe
…And then there’s those of us who ride on grass day in and day out and have never once thought to put a set of studs on our horses unless we’re out going cross country 
I have barefoot, front shod, and full shod horses jumping up to 1.15 m at home solely on grass. Now, I’ll say that we do have phenomenal drainage, but we were out riding within 10 minutes of a monsoon and everyone was just fine. Would’ve I jumped on that grass? Likely not as I’d prefer to wait another hour, but there wouldn’t have been a set of studs in sight! I agree that they serve their purpose…but that purpose definitely isn’t hunters on well-maintained grass IMHO.
Skip the studs and the stud girth (particularly if your horse isn’t accustomed to going in either; some do not care for one or both at all) and you’ll be just fine!
Thanks for this- I was saying to one of my friends that in the 80s we showed a lot in the field and never used studs in the hunters.
I rode my big WB (1400-1500lb) with great big feet, in our pasture for many years, including galloping and for a while, some smaller jumps before I had my ring built and moved the jumps into there.
There are sections of the pasture that were always drier and harder than the rest, and more than a couple of times he slipped a bit, until I decided to just not do certain things in those areas, like canter or make smaller turns.
Great drainage is one thing. Here, it’s red clay, and it’s either slick as snot 10 minutes after a hard rain, or it’s hard as a brick without any rain, with a short span of perfect in between.
Not every Hunter venue has perfectly maintained grass on ideal soil
Agree with Punkle and Baybear. Evented my horse up to training in only rear studs and some event trainers don’t recommend studs until training - novice is 2’11 and they’re going at a faster pace XC. We did side saddle with him at upperville one year. Very soggy so trainer put in front studs for jumping and it affected his leaving the ground IMO. He didn’t wear them again. We did XC and SJ in many grass rings and never front stud after upperville. OP would prob be ok w/ rear stud
Current horse is eventing beg novice barefoot
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