Keeping up

[FitToBeTied]

When I first started hunting it was drilled into me that it was the riders responsibility to keep up. If you didn’t it meant the field master or hunt staff had to go search for you. Unfortunately as a field master I’ve had to do that on occasion. At that point, barring an injury to horse or rider, someone got a piece of my mind.

The other version of keeping up is within a field. We’ve all been there where someone riding in the middle of the field keeps falling behind and then they trot to catch up. Of course, this causes a great slinky effect to all of the people behind them which eventually leads to horses jigging. To me it is very inconsiderate to be a person who won’t keep their horse in the proper line of march. If you have a horse who is just slow, whether you have colors or not, your proper position is at the back of the field.

[SLW]

Hilltop Field Master chiming in. If someone starts lagging 1/4 mile behind I’d ask them what is wrong, ask them to keep up or help them return to the kennel. Being reasonably spread out in a field isn’t a bother to me. As we approach a gate that must be closed once we pass through I send word back “PACK UP!”

[NeedsAdvil]

100% feel the same as the OP. I usually ride at the back of the field because I just prefer it, but I have taught my horse how to “walk on” and it’s extremely rare that we need to trot to catch up. However, being stuck behind horse/riders that constantly get 10 yards behind and then trot 3 steps to catch up (a friend and I call it the “trot-squish”) is frustrating to both me and my horse. My horse knows not to trot just because the horse in front of him does, which helps, but after the 50th time, he definitely starts showing his impatience with that game.

[FitToBeTied]

I have a young hunt horse who is coming along. We are always last in the field and work with him to ignore the field and pay attention to me. Even when the field trots off I make him walk until I tell him otherwise but as you have noted when the “trot-squish” or the slinky happens continually its hard. The trot-squish eventually induces p\other horses to start jigging and jigging is a highly contagious disease.

I don’t know if people are oblivious to the problem they are causing by not keeping up or just don’t care/

[xeroxchick]

Oh, good topic. That is a good name for it: “Slinky Effect.” Hate it! Sometimes QHs have that slow trot and that can cause it too. I think slower horses should stay in the back. It drives my mare crazy when she is behind another horse that has twenty or more feet behind the horse in front of it. She can do it, but she pulls.there are a lot of things riders can be unaware of, like their horse moving to block another horse riding beside it. Or letting their horse nose another horse.

[FitToBeTied]

Of course we also have the special needs horses in the hunt field. They are in all hunts and are easily identified by the rider who is always telling everyone what their horse likes or doesn’t like and expects the field to bend to their horses “needs”.