Quiet for Hunting means...what?

I spoke with a wonderful lady who has a horse for sale that I am interested in. The majority of her experience with him has been as a foxhunter. She says he is quiet, stands at checkpoints, is not lazy (goes first flight), but if she wants to hilltop she can check him easily and he will stay with the hilltoppers. He doesn’t spook or do anything silly, but he can pull a bit in a plain snaffle (so she upped the ante on him). Hunts without preparation or “medicinals”, comes right off the trailer and jumps a coop without blinking an eye.

He sounds like an absolutely fabulous horse to hunt on, but I have no experience with hunting beyond longing to do so and living quite far from any hunts. What does quiet as a hunter really mean?

I ask that question because quiet to a show hunter and quiet to an eventer are two totally different things, so I don’t really understand how quiet to a foxhunter works :slight_smile:

Hope it’s not an entirely silly question!

Well it can also mean different things from hunter to foxhunter. Though, usually a foxhunter that is quiet is just that, overall quiet. I did have one horse though that was quiet as possible out hunting, but was a bit hot in the ring, so I always put him in the jumper ring. He was still quiet, as in no spook and would sit around all day long, but I wouldn’t call him the steady strided show hunter.

All my others though that I consider quiet foxhunters adjust to new surroundings well, can hop off the trailer just about anywhere and go around like a saint. One that I consider quiet in the hunt field, is even MORE so in the ring. Meaning…crop, spurs and all my power to keep him moving around an 8 fence hunter course!

I have actually found that most “quiet” show hunters DO NOT do well out hunting, but most hunt horses remain fairly quiet in other environments.

Ah yes, I misspoke in my first post - this horse is a foxhunter.

Thank you so much for your reply - she says he’s quiet in the ring too - but again, quiet is relative, isn’t it? :slight_smile:

I would love to have a horse who had that possibility, as I do have friends that hunt that have invited me, but I’d have to travel to do so, so it wouldn’t be his number one job.

For the most part it means he won’t loose the plot when in a throng of flying hoofs and mud clods!

laughing So he’ll likely be fine with ring-birds and “barn dogs” as well then :slight_smile:

It’s my hope to just have a calm, sane horse that can do a little of everything - including hunt eventually if I can make it to one!

My horse that hunts quietly is asleep everywhere else…:)…

Quiet for a foxhunter is probably dead to a showhunter or an eventer. My horse events asleep, goes cross country and stadium on a loopy rein with lots of leg and still cannot be described as quiet in the hunt field.

Sounds like a dream come true - hope he is just that. Hard to find.

My first few hunts I rode my friends 6 yr old QH that had a season of 1st flight down in MD.

I took him in hilltoppers…he literally would snooze during the checks and when the field took off at a brisk canter in a field I had to actually give him a kick to get him to catch up. I’ve never had the pleasure of riding a horse that when a field of 10 + horses takes off for a run in a field would prefer to stay back and WALK until asked to go. That to me is quiet for hunting. The entire hunt I trotted and cantered with a loop in my reins and the horse could careless whether I was right behind the master or at the very back of the field.

The strange thing is the horse wasn’t dead in eventing or dressage and he was perfectly lively to ridefor the most part. Didn’t require a ton of leg in or out of the ring. When out trail riding he did like to keep up with my horse but I think that was because he had some bonding issues, they lived together.

Hunting was just very uneventful to him. I don’t think that is the norm for most horses.

It means sensible and remains controllable and well mannered when there’s a high energy environement. Not hyper manic when it gets first sight of a pack of hounds on a trail and not bonkers when you’ve a good long gallop with a load of others.

What I call a perfect hunter.

If you can, hunt the horse and see if that is the sort of quiet he really is and the sort of quiet you really want. :slight_smile: I bought a “hunts on the buckle” and my mistake was not trying her first out hunting. No idea whose buckle she hunts on! But I am still working on her, trying to get her to that point. I have a very quiet foxhunter who is fab–definitely classify him as a quiet hunter. :slight_smile:

That is a good question and I suppose we might all interpret what defines quiet differently. I would call the horse I am hunting quiet but sometimes I wonder if my version of quiet is different than others. I like a horse with a big engine but in order for me to classify them as quiet they need to have sense in high energy situations.

For me quiet when hunting means stands at checks, doesn’t get panicked when staff comes by, can go on a big gallop run and then check quietly, can behave when other horses are acting out around him, no bucking/rearing/spooking and no jiggy behavior and gets off the trailer w/o a care in the world. Can handle the open fields and the woods without worrying where they are in the group. Jumps smoothly without need of encouragment and no playing around before or after the jumps. I would not say they need to be ridden in a snaffle to be “quiet” but a snaffle ride typically means the horse has a soft mouth and is rateable.

The horse I hunt is quiet in the ring but not kick along quiet and not kick along quiet in the hunt field. He is a tb so he has a big stride and lots of get up and go but I can ask him to tone it down and he will. His brain is top notch and he has no bad behavior. I would call that quiet and the fact that I might not ride all week (um…this weather is awful!) and can show up at the hunt and not worry about him acting silly:lol:

He is one of the horses I have been bringing along for CANTER MA and we always thought he would be the ultimate fox hunter. He is also super on trails and loves to event.

That is very much how this person described this horse to me - that he has an engine, can keep up easily with the pack in first flight and is light and responsive off the leg in the ring (doesn’t know a whole lot in the ring, but figures it out quickly) but that he does stand quietly at checks, doesn’t mind when the field passes him if he is to hilltop that day, doesn’t do anything goofy or stupid and though he pulls a bit on a good run, he doesn’t jig/spook/attempt to pass the field etc. In the ring or on trails ordinarily he is ridden in a plain snaffle. I did expect that he would hunt in something stronger (I do have friends that hunt and I’ve done my homework :slight_smile: ) so that doesn’t bother me.

We’re trying to work out some details so that I can try him, to me he sounds perfect! That is a scary thought (as in the past I have always had the dysfunctional and/or green horses - and I’m ready for something sane!) - me, having a sane and quiet horse!! (In a very very good way - if he truly is the way as described, I’m in love! My husband may not get me back!)

One of mine will hop off the trailer…go anywhere in the field, stand quietly, jump anything, let the hounds roam around under his legs…but get him in a ring…and he’s a totally different animal ( we do jumpers)

Your new prospect sounds awesome.

Tell ya what, if the horse is ‘quiet’ as described as the seller, just send him to me.:slight_smile:

That description fits my neat old qh that I just put down before Xmas due to infirmities of old age. When I got him at age 12, my then-3rd grade son had a blast hunting him- he would pack the inexperienced- or I could get on him, and go whip in, and gallop on down to as trappy as a fence as I’ve ever jumped, no problem. Quiet = not ‘dead,’ but so mellow and sensible as to stand still on loose rein while hounds curl up and nap under his belly.

Quiet is definitely a sliding scale. B will stand perfectly still at a check. When he is in the field he runs hard to make sure he keeps up. No gaps allowed. When I whipped off of him and we were standing in a sunny spot, he fell asleep. So, quiet depends.

In the ring, he is a slug. I did some lessons on him this summer and he trotted up to a small vertical, hoisted himself over and landed in a heap on the other side. This is the same horse that will effortlessly clear a 3’ 6" coup.

On the trail you have to constantly kick to keep him forward.

Yet my wife will complain how much he’s pulling on her when we hack out together.

I suspect that most field hunters would seem extremely forward to someone that shows.

Hahaha, GB, I thought that you were looking at Jlee’s CANTER horse to buy for Hunting!

Good luck trying him out. It’s a good time of the year to check out a horse that Hunts, as they are pretty fit (if hunted weekly) and ready to rock n’ roll. The quiet ones are still standing quietly, the insane ones are getting more silly as the fitness level increases.

[QUOTE=Equibrit;3789942]
For the most part it means he won’t loose the plot when in a throng of flying hoofs and mud clods![/QUOTE]

Was that “lose the plot”, “lose the pilot”, or both? :slight_smile:

Part of the problem with the term quiet is that alot of people (including seasoned horse dealers/sellers) take that term to mean lazy, dead to the leg and nearly half dead.

A friend of mine when recently horse shopping had a heck of time (and some interesting reactions) when she described her ideal horse as “Forward but Quiet.”
One of the sellers told her …there is no such thing!:slight_smile:

When I hear the term quiet; I always want to know quiet in what sense? I know plenty of dead to leg, lazy as heck horses that will spook if a leaf blows the wrong way…to me that’s not quiet…it’s just lazy:)

Her saying quiet but forward; makes perfect sense to me and to her because that is exactly what my old TB was like that she leased for awhile. Very forward moving, but light on the aids, incredibly easy to rate and could be galloped in a group with literally a halter on. However, the horse was no slow poke and he did like to keep up. But if you told him NO and held him back he would do so, and do so calmly. He was also bombproof and unreactive in situations that other horses would be jigging, blowing their tops, rearing,tossing their heads etc… He would be alert and alive but never did any of the above antics. He would have been the perfect hunt horse! Can keep up with the field but 100% controllable and sane in all situations.

That is indeed what I am looking for - I don’t mind going faster, but I’d like it to be on my terms thankyouverymuch and not accompanied by sideways ducking, spooking at “horseeatinginvisibletomanghosts” etc. I’d like to be able to hack out without dying…that sort of thing. laughing