Sport Horse Handling

[Dramapony_misty]

I just listened to the USDF podcast on their Youth Sport Horse Handling clinic that was held at Devon this year. They mentioned that there are fewer and fewer handlers now which is why they are making the effort for youth programs.

Is sport horse handling a lucrative career (relative to other hands-on equestrian careers, that is)? Would one have to be hired by a farm or could one go freelance?

This is pure curiosity on my part. I’m about 10 years too old for any youth training program, but might be interested in attending an adult clinic. I don’t have specific experience handling sport horses, though I grew up doing western showmanship so I’m comfortable with in-hand stuff to that extent. I’m also 5’3" and pretty petite so I might be able to make the horses look even bigger

When I was in my teens, I was offered the opportunity to handle TBs at the Keenland sale due to my experience and short stature (I was REALLY a peanut back then!) but unfortunately, I couldn’t take the time off of school to go.

[Personal_Champ]

In the Sport Horse stuff I’ve been to or seen, your short stature might hinder you in that you have to really RUN to get the horses to look and move their best. I know that is the main reason that it is suggested you have a pro handler at inspections and shows - because amateurs don’t realize/aren’t able to go as fast as necessary. Especially with horses getting bigger and bigger - that’s a lot of leg to keep up with!

[Dramapony_misty]

That is a good point. With TB yearlings, I think you just stand them up and maybe walk them around.

[Kadenz]

OP, it would be a good idea to watch the in-hand classes at a dressage or hunter breeding show to get an idea of what is required. Sport-horse handling has some elements in common with showmanship: you obviously need to have a good eye for standing the horse up, for instance. However, there’s a pretty big running element in showing sport horses in-hand. You show them on a triangle at a walk and trot, and it’s usually a pretty forward trot. You’d be showing anything from foals to adult horses, too, so the running component is pretty serious.

I can think of a handful of professional sport-horse handlers off the top of my head, and they’re all in fantastic shape.

It can definitely be a career, but at least a few of the pro handlers I can think of also ride and train.

[Edgewood]

[QUOTE=Kadenz;8339260]
OP, it would be a good idea to watch the in-hand classes at a dressage or hunter breeding show to get an idea of what is required. Sport-horse handling has some elements in common with showmanship: you obviously need to have a good eye for standing the horse up, for instance. However, there’s a pretty big running element in showing sport horses in-hand. You show them on a triangle at a walk and trot, and it’s usually a pretty forward trot. You’d be showing anything from foals to adult horses, too, so the running component is pretty serious.

I can think of a handful of professional sport-horse handlers off the top of my head, and they’re all in fantastic shape.

It can definitely be a career, but at least a few of the pro handlers I can think of also ride and train.[/QUOTE]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCJZ0gWIJds

Here’s an example from the premier sport horse show in the US, Dressage at Devon. This mare was competing in the final Championship class, so they are not using the traditional triangle at this stage (they do for the preliminary classes).

As noted above, most runners are very fit and quite tall. Most are men who are all about 5’11’’ and above (only a few shorter). And there’s only 2 women handlers that do handle at this show (as pros) and generally they do not get to the finals ring (FWIW).

[Kadenz]

One of the female handlers at Devon this past week handles many of my friend’s horses. She’s very successful but I notice in pics that she is HUSTLING to show these young warmbloods at their best. She’s not tall but she is in incredible shape.

[Edgewood]

[QUOTE=Kadenz;8340302]
One of the female handlers at Devon this past week handles many of my friend’s horses. She’s very successful but I notice in pics that she is HUSTLING to show these young warmbloods at their best. She’s not tall but she is in incredible shape.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I know exactly who you mean and she does well. But generally it’s rare that one ends up in the final championship ring (the final 4 so to speak).

[CrotchetyDQ]

Having been to more DAD breed shows than I care to recount, I have to say that video, though beautiful, is not a good representation of how most sport horse classes are run as far as the running style. Standing at the rail IRL, this Iron Spring mare was handled in such a way to show a more passage like movement than is standard.

This is Michael Bragdell, head trainer at Hilltop Farm, doing a lovely job showing a 3 year old on the triangle. In his spare time, Michael runs marathons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhXZwUKLcZc

Brendan Curtis was scheduled to run around 45 horses in multiple classes at Devon this week, but a wrong time/wrong place kick from a broodmare put him in the hospital overnight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=279Y9GnkuPw

Sport horse handling is hard, grueling work. These three men are some of the top handlers on the east coast, and the gentleman in the Andorra ISF video is brought in from Europe by the farms owner to run exclusively for her.

We absoloutely need more professional handlers in this country, but you also need to know what it entails. These were all uneventful runs. You can expect to be drug around, kicked, stepped on, knocked over, and exhausted beyond belief at the end of a show like Dressage at Devon.

[Dramapony_misty]

Holy hell! Beautiful, but yeah…I think I will have to cross “sport horse handler” off of my list of potential future careers. Mad props to handlers everywhere.