Questions about attire in Hunters/Eq?

[gottagrey]

Relaxed attire can mean anything like wearing a vest or sweater in lieu of a jacket, wearing 1/2 chaps.

If you’re doing a 2’ class I’d forgo boots completely. I also would probably forego a 2’ jumper class unless you plan to ride it like a hunter trip.

one of my pet peeves = green horses in divisions meant for novice riders. Please read the division or class specs for each height. I don’t like to see lower divisions used as baby green hunter divisions. If it’s a 2’ schooling hunter class fine, but if it’s 2’ pleasure hunter or novice/long stirrup hunter - please don’t take your green bean in the U/S class (OF is fine) . Sometimes you get these green horses using a pleasure divisions as a “baby green” hunter and you’ve got novice or inexperienced riders and a green horse that may blow up sometimes its not a pretty sight.

You’ve gotten some great advice here. Enjoy hope you and your horse have a great experience.

[crookedpainting]

@gottagrey

Relaxed attire can mean anything like wearing a vest or sweater in lieu of a jacket, wearing 1/2 chaps.

If you’re doing a 2’ class I’d forgo boots completely. I also would probably forego a 2’ jumper class unless you plan to ride it like a hunter trip.

one of my pet peeves = green horses in divisions meant for novice riders. Please read the division or class specs for each height. I don’t like to see lower divisions used as baby green hunter divisions. If it’s a 2’ schooling hunter class fine, but if it’s 2’ pleasure hunter or novice/long stirrup hunter - please don’t take your green bean in the U/S class (OF is fine) . Sometimes you get these green horses using a pleasure divisions as a “baby green” hunter and you’ve got novice or inexperienced riders and a green horse that may blow up sometimes its not a pretty sight.

You’ve gotten some great advice here. Enjoy hope you and your horse have a great experience.

Oh absolutely. It’s a smaller schooling show, they aren’t doing baby greens, etc. unfortunately. We’ve schooled at the facility where the show is at before multiple times, and he’s pretty chill. They’re limiting flat class entries and o/f entries, so it won’t be a ton of people. One visitor per rider, etc.
They’re doing a 14 & under class for x-rails and then one for 2’ too, so that might filter out some novice riders.

As for boots in Eq, I just wanted them because he crossfires behind.

I think we’ll limit to just the hunters + eq too, the jumper class is much later in the day and it’s supposed to be hot.

Attire-wise I think I’ll stick to what I have planned out. Better safe then sorry, lol.

[gottagrey]

@Eclipsed

Oh absolutely. It’s a smaller schooling show, they aren’t doing baby greens, etc. unfortunately. We’ve schooled at the facility where the show is at before multiple times, and he’s pretty chill. They’re limiting flat class entries and o/f entries, so it won’t be a ton of people. One visitor per rider, etc.
They’re doing a 14 & under class for x-rails and then one for 2’ too, so that might filter out some novice riders.

As for boots in Eq, I just wanted them because he crossfires behind.

I think we’ll limit to just the hunters + eq too, the jumper class is much later in the day and it’s supposed to be hot.

Attire-wise I think I’ll stick to what I have planned out. Better safe then sorry, lol.

Cool. We’re getting fall weather and furry coats here. let us know how it goes.

[MrsFitzDarcy_amp_Feliks]

@Lucassb

I did not see anyone answer your question about circling - but in a hunter or eq round (unless in a handy hunter class) it is traditional to do both an opening and closing circle. If your horse is a good mover, the opening circle is a nice chance to show off a pretty trot and demonstrate how smoothly your horse picks up the canter, plus it gives you a bit of time to establish a nice forward rhythm before you head down to the first jump. (Conversely if your horse does not have a great trot, you can walk through the in gate, and smoothly pick up a canter - by the way you must WALK through the in gate; do not enter at a trot.) Likewise after finishing your round, you make a smooth transition back to the trot (or walk) by circling so you can again walk back out through the gate while patting your nice horse and enjoying the applause for your round :>

Also - just in case - when you look at the course diagrams for your classes, if you see a dotted line, it is there to indicate the area that is permitted for those circles. Don’t cross it, or you can be eliminated!

FWIW, forward flap saddles are not uncommon in H/J land. I am a bit surprised that you could not find a fitted pad. Although everyone here is correct that most schooling shows are more relaxed about turnout, a square pad is pretty unusual for a hunter. I have a bunch of Wilkers pads just sitting around, if you want me to send you one I’d be happy to!

I need a couple Wilker’s fitted hunter pad …

My input, is that even though it’s a schooling show, don’t do anything to get eliminated like: [LIST=1]

a gag or elevator bit in a hunter class

a drop, figure 8, or flash noseband in a hunter class

wraps/boots in a hunter class [/LIST] If you are thinking about fitting in beyond elimination, DO: [LIST=1]

Use a fleece fitted pad.

Put your hair up (hunter hair)

Don't let the empty flash attachment hang down

Use brown tack [/LIST] Does that help?

[Peggy]

My three concerns were the circling, pad, and breeches in that order and you seem to have all that covered.

Note that you likely wouldn’t circle if the first fence was coming towards the in-gate. Instead you’d figure out an attractive and efficient way to get to the other end of the ring while making sure to have a canter with an appropriate pace by the time you needed it.

At least on the west coast there is zero problem with loose rings. Note my photo—that was taken during WCHR week at a big A show and we placed decently.

[crookedpainting]

Idk if anyone’s checking this thread, but I thought I’d update because a few people asked me to post about how the show went

The first jumping class we were in (2’ hunters) didn’t go as planned but hey, that’s why we went to the show. We got a refusal for the first jump because he spooked at some of the flowers, which we have practiced at home so that was fun. I nearly came off but luckily I have freakishly long legs so we didn’t get DQd. We didn’t place, obviously, but in the hunter flat we got 6th which I found surprising considering that we had some ‘giraffe’ moments. In the eq classes we got 4th for flat and 2nd o/f, which was quite nice. Overall he was super good and we ended up showing in a white square but I guess that didn’t affect our placing. Did everything else though, courtesy circle and all My boot zipper did come undone at one point but it was the last canter of our flat so we were fine.

[Cinderella]

Thanks for the update. Flowers can be tricky. One horse in my old barn was terrified of flowers, but only purple ones😂. Any other color was fine. Glad your horse had a good experience.

[crookedpainting]

@Cinderella

Thanks for the update. Flowers can be tricky. One horse in my old barn was terrified of flowers, but only purple ones😂. Any other color was fine. Glad your horse had a good experience.

Thanks! Yeah, I think I remember seeing a photo of how horses see colors vs how humans see them and yellow was the brightest! Maybe the purple flowers sneak up on them :lol:
He was absolutely spoiled after, my neighbor gave me a bucket of carrots so he was quite happy, as were some other horses in the barn.

[Jenerationx]

Glad you had fun! Sounds like mission accomplished having a good experience for the most part. Flowers are always fun on a greenie.

[trubandloki]

It sounds like it was a successful day. You learned what your horse needs to work on and you had some fun. Good show day for sure.