I’ve lived in the US on and off for decades and shown and even won in the hunters here. I don’t know how it’s judged.
My theory is that it’s judged quite similarly to Dutch dressage, i.e. by the friends of the people who sell the expensive horses 
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My biggest takeaway from the comments is that hunter riders on both sides of the pond spend an excessive amount of time thinking about the horse’s tail.
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I had one passing thought about the tails, that the trend seemed to be moving in a more reasonable-looking direction and I didn’t think about them again until my stepmother asked if they annoyed the horses.
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The funniest thing I ever saw with the fake tails was one time in the junior hunters, part way around the round the tail fell off! Horse continued on and rider didn’t notice. What a laugh!
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Do you lose points for that? 
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There was a funny incident with Nick Haness and a fake tail but I can’t find it.
Truly could not roll my eyes harder that he won.
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The list of who’s already received them is long and distinguished.
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My eye muscles have been hurting for sure from all the eye rolling.
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If I’m following this correctly, this is beyond disturbing to me. How could anyone ever let someone do something like to their horse??? What is missing in someone’s soul to think this is acceptable???!
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No.
But somebody on your team has to do the walk of shame to go pick up the tail in the ring. Lol.
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As I posted upthread, I believe they did have a very good judge lined up to do the commentary, so maybe there was a last-minute substitution.
To be fair, I believe Dani did win a fair amount in the junior hunters. I think she had a very nice bay horse who won a lot, although I don’t recall his name off the top of my head. But that was a while ago by now.
I am a fan of Boyd Martin, but I don’t know how he got dragged into this particular circus. Lol.
Edited to add: Wow. The people on that thread are not holding back their thoughts, either. Even when maybe they should.
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I do think USEF should consider renaming the o/f portion of the division the hunter jump though. That’s certainly what I plan to call it going forward.
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I really want to watch the jumper riders riding hunters. I wish they would put the videos online.
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The Winning Edge
Yes, that’s right. Very, very nice horse. They won a ton together.
Including champion at either Harrisburg or Washington, I believe. Or possibly both.
For those of you who have no clue about how American hunters are judged, I suggest Julie Winkel’s book:
She will help you understand the process and criteria. I did not watch the Baran at all. But boy, folks sure pontificate on that which they are unfamiliar or ignorant of with abandon, here and everywhere.
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True, this!
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their working hunter and other “hunter” type classes are pretty interesting and divided up by lightweight, midweight and heavyweight.
