I saw that Kristen Vanderveen had crossed over into the hunter ring a week or so ago at Tryon. The thing that caught my eye was that her horse wasn’t braided. And it was AA level.
I was wondering if anyone else had seen riders skipping braiding in AA or A rated hunter shows. I know during the height of the pandemic some barns did to try to limit staff and with recent outbreaks of horse diseases at horse shows there’s been some concern about that braiders are in contact with multiple barns each night.
Edit: I mean the bigger classes, not outreach or similar.
It depends a bit on the division.
Some of the classes like the USHJA hunters and the performance hunters are used mostly as a schooling opportunity for some people. So they might not bother to braid for those classes, depending on the circumstances.
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Braiding is not required. It sometimes can be a tiebreaker for horses with equal performances
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It depends on the division. If you’re just in a schooling type division, even at a big rated show, you won’t see everyone braided. It may be the tiebreaker in two identical rounds, but if you’re just in the ring to school for something bigger later on it’s not always worth the $
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Sorry, I should have clarified. This was a 3’6 class that as far I can tell everyone else had braided for.
It was probably the 3’6 performance hunter division. We usually do not braid for the performance hunters, unless its a really big horse show (like Capital Challenge) where it seems weird not too. Some certainly braid consistently or always in the performance.
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The performance hunters can have a lot of variation in them. Some people will do the whole division and really try to win.
Other people might just do one class and figure that’s enough to get the horse in the ring before the horse’s primary division. So those people might be less likely to braid.
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I feel like I need a list of acceptable classes to not braid in 
It’s a good thing I’m mostly in the jumper ring now so I don’t need to worry about it.
I thought not braiding in anything but outreach classes was considered rude to the judge. I guess that’s changed?
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There are plenty that aren’t braiding on earlier days in the week. The ones where they require formal attire is typically where braiding is required or “preferred”.
FWIW, I didn’t braid at a AA show for the equitation and still got reserve?
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It honestly depends… a lot won’t braid for the USHJA or Performance hunters… but if it’s a horse doing the 3’6 greeens or green incentives, then those will mostly braid.
I think Kristin is probably going for the ClipMyHorse $200K qualifier or some of the International Derby stuff. She’s a prize hunter, so she follows the big $$$. Love seeing it.
She’s been doing it with the big grey that jumps adorable.
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It’s been that way at least since post-covid, I can’t even remember pre-covid anymore LOL! As others have mentioned, the majority don’t braid for USHJA or the Performance divisions, unless they are aiming for champion, need a good sales video, or are at the biggest of shows. That was true at WEC this winter circuit, too, because I showed in the USHJA classes pretty regularly and you saw very few that were braided. Those divisions are to prep the horses for the derbies or their weekend divisions, most of the time, and you’ll notice that the numbers can be as much as doubled on the second day because a lot of people only do half of the division for schooling classes. And ironically, I still see a lot of people braid for the outreach classes, even though they don’t have to!
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WEC runs a “schooling” show series where braiding is discouraged. I have not seen a single horse braided, even during derby night when the riders were in shads.
Sigh… wish that was the case in the Florida location. I’d love to save the $125+ per day on braiding.
Venice has a relaxed summer series that is A-rated and discourages braiding… I just don’t know if you tradeoff not braiding for showing on the surface of the sun? At least you get AC at WEC.
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Really just depends on who the judge is
WEC Ohio?? Because at WEC Ocala it seemed like a majority were braided for USHJA classes/performance. Thank god I’m a jumper is all I’ll say.
I don’t know about that, the two big hunter rings and the jumper ring are outside and run non stop all day long!
WEC Ohio H/J schooling show. Not a braid in sight. It was glorious 
(and I love a good hunter braid)
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Not this summer. The opened up a few more indoors so hunters 1 & 2 aren’t being used unless it’s for ticketed. So basically it’s all inside except for FEI and this week they’re using the stadium for derbies but they’re going today instead of tmw bc of the regional derby nonsense happening and FEI even has the additional option of the Indoor 3 as a warmup along with GP warmup.
I think Jumper 1 or Annex or whatever is also being added, but honestly, the numbers so far have been pretty low, so it’s not taking as God-awful long as it had in summers past.
They have something like 5 or 6 indoors going this summer. I’d love to see their AC bill! LOL
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I did the hunter schooling show at WEC Ohio last year and it says right in the prize list “braiding is strongly discouraged”. Who am I to argue ha ha! My pony has a crazy thick mane that goes everywhere! I actually prefer to have him braided for tidiness and it feels so silly to be dressed in a shadbelly and the mane is flowing in the wind. I had to keep my guys mane braided on the right when I wasn’t showing and kept a slinky on him every night to tame his wild mane. It worked for that short time which was nice.
At our local AA shows and B shows (In Ontario) I see some braided and some not. Depends if the rider is just using the division as schooling or is their actual class that they are going for points for. My coach is a stickler and my guy has his mane and tail done for every class we enter, but its really trainer dependent (I’m doing B shows with my young pony - I even did a jumper class fully braided and was told I was in the wrong ring by several trainers 
).
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I’m not sure which WEC you’re talking about, I was just at WEC Ohio last weekend and hunter 1 and 2 and the jumper ring ran outside all three days. There was some hunters in Sanctuary for an Arabian HJ show and then they moved jumpers in there, but had a pro hunter class Sunday morning. The only other indoor hunter ring was Roberts which had a lot of the beginner type classes.
