You’ve gotten great info already, but just wanted to add my experiences.
My fabulous AO hunter mare started life as an eventer (was purpose bred for it and did one year with a decent 3-day trainer before the breeder ran out of money and brought her home to sit in a field for a few years). I loved her as a hunter type, and she ended up doing well in the zone and Ch for the state in 3’3 hunters within 2 years. (she’s my profile picture)
It worked so well, I just did it again. Bought a nice little TBXWB mare with some LL eventing experience and a hunter brain. Brought her out last weekend (2 weeks after I bought her) to a local-level show and she bopped around the 2’3 like a nice hunter (though no lead change yet) and I think she’ll easily be competitive in the 3’ by next spring.
So what I’ve learned about turning an eventer into a hunter (based on my grand experience of 2, lol:
LEAD CHANGE. This was the hardest thing to install consistently on horse #1 and we’ve just started the foundational work with the new mare. They really don’t seem to care if they’re cantering around on the wrong lead or cross cantering.
Weight. We like our hunters to be roly-poly by 3-day standards.
Waiting to the jumps: both my girls are BRAVE to the fences, but it didn’t seem like they understood that I wanted them to just lope along until we got to the base, and then jump out of rhythm. They both wanted to pull me to jump a bit and jump long and flat. It took some work to teach them to just relax, go more slowly, and not change pace over the jumps.
Way of going: both mares tend to curl up with too much contact, and so it was a bit of a process to teach them to just stick their noses out a little while maintaining pace/rhythm without a lot of direction from the rider. It was like they were inconsistent becuase they were expecting me to direct them all the time. I’ve had the same issue with horses that were started as dressage horses. True all flatwork should be the same foundational principles, regardless of discipline, but it seems not all training programs do it that way, so when the horses came to me, there was some work to be done.
I LOVE an eventer to bring along as a hunter because mine have been so brave. They don’t care what the jump looks like, they don’t get bent out of shape if the footing isn’t perfect. They can take a joke and don’t hold a grudge if the rider is a little deep/long to the jump, or gets a little left behind. If they have the movement, the jump, and the mind, an eventer can make a nice hunter relatively quickly.
Have fun, and I hope your boy loves his new job!
