I’ve only seen the Juniors split small and large. I’ve never seen the Regular Working, the Confo Working or the Greens split by small and large.
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Midwest - can’t recall any small or large other than junior divisions either.
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Didn’t fly around here either (zone 5), they did have SWH on tne prize lists for awhile, they built it but nobody came. Hate to say it but the ones most vocal about adding it were MIA when it came time to show up in support. A few, certainly not all, who were really pushing for it on here actually do not show at the rated levels or at all
Think some misunderstanding of what Small Junior Hunter here in the states is…its a 3’ 6" course with 3’6" width set at about 13’ with a combination required. Most there are 15.3 to 15.3 7/8ths. The style is judged and no way a 15.3h horse is going to look the same as a 17.3 horse…just not going to look the same in that 3-2-2 combination.
There are many lower classes for “juniors” meaning riders under 18 as of Dec 1 when the show season starts. But Junior Hunters refers only to that 3’6" division which is split into Large Juniors and Small Juniors at 16h. The 3’ division set at 12’ is called 'Children’s for under 18 riders.
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PNWJumper summed it all up nicely. Smaller horses are not the norm, some can do it, and they are hard to sell.
Oh, and 16h is considered small. 
My mare is 16h at the end of her shoeing cycle (or when she’s scared. ) and people think she’s tiny. Then I take her to some QH thing and people’s think she’s enormous. HA!
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I showed a 14.3 Connie/TB in the adult amateurs, granted not at the big A show level. We won or placed well when we deserved it, but I did feel that we had to prove ourselves when we stepped into the ring (in comparison to the mare I have now, who walks in looking the part until I have the opportunity to miss a distance wildly 
). I feel like my little guy walked into the ring with a starting score of 70, while my bigger, more conventional horse comes in with a starting spot in the 80’s, if that makes sense.
I was very lucky that the little guy had a huge step, was one fancy little mover and jumper, and that he was an adorable grey. I think it would have been an even harder sell to try to compete with him if he had been only average in any of those areas.
I wish I had better pictures of him, but this one shows off his cuteness pretty well - Peanut
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Funny, the regional differences! We have both Small and Large Working Hunters at shows here in the PNW.
And it’s not a split of the Regular, Confo, or Greens. It’s a separate division - Small and Large Working Hunters. Usually 20-ish in the larges compared to 5-ish in the smalls, but both run. Or I assume they do. I have to admit that I don’t watch the hunters at all (except for the few people around me when I’m forced into the hunter ring), and I’m the furthest thing from a “hunter expert” there is!
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^ Huh. Interesting!
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@PNWjumper are they 3’6" divisions? No criteria except under 16H and 16H and over? Do you also have Performance hunter divisions at 3’3" and 3’6" with no age or experience constraints? Interesting indeed.
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It’s a 3’ division. We still have all of the other divisions too.
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This is a particularly relevant topic for me, as I’m looking for my next hunter and want something smaller. I don’t show 3’, but still need something that can get down the lines (the series I show at sets 2’6" divisions on the 12’ stride). I just feel so much more comfortable on something under 16h and I’m not that short (5’4")!
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Just try different sizes out. I consider myself short at 5’3. I used to always stick to horses around 15.3h because it was comfortable to me - height to ground wise at least My old 15.3 with shoes on TB could get the lines just fine. I never thought big was my cup of tea… but here I am leasing a moose of a 17.3h amazing guy. It took me a while to get my bearings being so high up, but we mesh well together for some reason. It isn’t just how tall a horse is that can make a rider look too big or too small – barrel depth is a big thing and personally I have trouble with narrow barrels. Plus, unless the difference is crazy distracting (exaggerated example: 5’10 on a 14h), you’ll be fine. Try them all out and maybe you’ll be surprised what you end up liking and meshing with!
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I watched small conformation hunters as a kid, back in the 1970s, at the big Del Mar show in San Diego. I recall some fairly large classes – but that was in the days before giant WBs were the norm, and a lot of the horses were TBs who are not always that big…So it was definitely a “thing” back then.
It may even have been a thing in the late 1980s/early 1990s … The horse I rode the most when I was first getting back into riding was a lovely 15.1 hand unraced TB mare foaled around 1981, whose owners had been hoping to get her into that division, but she badly injured herself as a just-started 4 year old and was too blemished/not quite sound enough when she healed. They were ammies, but with good pro connections. I don’t think they would have been aiming her for that division if the classes didn’t fill. This was in New Jersey.
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One reason the USEF Small Hunter division doesn’t really fill most places is it’s a max horse height of 15.2 1/2. Leaves out all the 15.3 and change types that might cross enter from Juniors or even Ch/Ad. Inch doesn’t sound like much but there’s a lot of horses out there in that 1 1/2 " above 15.2 1/2 but below 16h.
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I know you are more concerned with size, but just a quick note, that if you are looking for resale value at all, having Arab in them, even if they are 16.2 and don’t look arab, will deter buyers on the circuit. I think ponies can be more forgiving because a little arab can make them super typey. With any rated hunters, small, and part Arabian, will def turn off many buyers even they look more warmbloodish. I think with non-rated shows you would have much better luck! If it’s just for you, and you aren’t as worried about resale then I just second what everyone else has already input.
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If they don’t look Arab and don’t have the typical characteristics of most Arabs, including the tail flagging, AND they can do the job, there are ways to market a sale horse that won’t raise red flags. It’s why you see all those WB crosses. Are there really that many people that only know that one parent was WB or are they just not telling you something you may not want to hear?
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Where is that stated? Here the small working hunter is 16h and under and large working hunter is >16h. Because you’re right, missing out on that 15.2 1/2 - 16h sure would kill the division!
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I don’t think we’re all talking about the same thing?!
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That made me laugh. I was watching a very nice hunter going around at a show in Virginia and I said “What a beautiful canter! Reminds me of my old TBs canter” and the owner said yes it’s a beautiful thoroughbred canter which is why we call it an Oldenburg.
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About twenty years ago, a friend of mine had a lovely horse who won a ton. He was one who could go either way based on his looks. A warmblood fan could think he looked like a warmblood, and a thoroughbred fan could think he looked like a thoroughbred. Worked for him! :lol:
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Hey, happy turkey day. But we are not talking about the same thing. Got bored waiting for a flight yesterday and looked up the USE(f) rule for Small Hunters, quite revealing…
HU 106.5e
“…over 14.2 not to exceed 15.2 1/2 inches.” Note it is called Small Hunter, not Small Working Hunter…no rated divisions use “Working” anymore. So if you are seeing " Working" in the class title, likely not nationally rated.
Interestingly There is NO LARGE HUNTER division listed in the USE(f) rulebook so if you are seeing Small and Large (Working) Hunter divisions at a show with the split at 16h…it’s not a nationally rated division which would explain why everybody is seeing and saying something different. Remember not all division and classes running at USE rated shows are USE rated or governed by USE national standards. They are locally governed by local organization definitions and rules offering points in those local orgs.
Remember this has NOTHING to do with the 3’6" Juniors and the 16h split in that division which is USE nationally governed and rated.
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