Friday, July 31, 2009

Hunter over fences?

I have to judge an open pleasure show. I have much experience with western riding but english.not so much. What can anyone tell me about Hunter Over Fences?
Answers:
Well, you'll just need Hunter over Fences 101! Try to find back issues of Practical Horsemen - or go and find the current one. In every issue is a segment with one of the top hunter/jumper trainers out there, George Morris. There are three pictures of riders which he points out the flaws and good points.
Basically, the most important part is the appearance of horse and rider. The horses coat should be clean and shinning. The mane should be well braided and the tail should be braided - if not, then it should be combed through, clean, and basically flow gracefully behind the horse. The rider should be in clean tan or beige breeches, tall boots, white undershirt with collar, and a riding jacket (oh yes, and black velvet helmet). The tack should be clean.
As for the actual jumping, the horse should basically be gliding. The pace should be consistent. The horse should not be racing around, it should be slow and rolling. The horse cannot chip in to jumps (going too close to the jump before taking off which you will notice in the abrupt straight up way it jumps, normally a rail will fall from the legs hitting it) nor should the horse take off too early. The strides should be even. It's hard to see when actually jumping, but the front legs should come up tight over the jump.
If the horse knocks a rail down - well, that's basically h/j suicide and you're out of the ribbons unless the class is extremely small or everyone is horrible and knocks down rails.
For a bit better visual, here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joepkfzlh...
Horse and rider are both clean and well presented. Notice the braids on both mane and tail along with the even strides - notice when it doesn't race to the jumps, but everything stays fairly smooth. If you count the jumps though, on the fourth jump you'll see that the smoothness falls - the rider misjudged the strides, so the horse took two short strides - you'll see how the horse goes down on the forehand instead of staying up as it had before the previous jumps - the horse is trying to slow itself down and calculate how to take the jump properly, something the rider should have already done. So, that would be a no-no. The way the horse took the jump after that was basically perfect - no rushing and perfect striding. The second to last jump was rushed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qboiqonfo...
This is actually show jumping, but it's a pretty amazing round minus the two rubs on the jumps you'll hear. Notice that the horse and rider are spick and span. The striding is even throughout the whole thing. There is a three jump combination where the rider is almost coming toward you - try to pause it when the horse is mid-air. You will see what I mean by tight legs in the front. The horses legs are up toward the chest, the knees are tight (notice how they are basically square), and tucked under. That is what you want you to see in the hunter ring as the horse jumps.
http://www.sunflowerphoto.com/images/jum...
This is a nice horse - both rider and horse are clean, plus the braids (at least the mane). Notice that the top of the leg is straight horizontal and both legs are even - very imporant. Below that, the leg is a little loose - notice that the hoof is at a downward angle. It should be up. It is hard to find a horse with tight knees though, so this is actually what you should look for. It's near perfection.
http://www.sunflowerphoto.com/julyaugsho...
Now, this is bad. Yes, the top of the leg is horizontal, but notice that the legs are not symmetrical. Notice how the leg closer to you is tigher up than the one farther from you - you do not want that. You basically want the legs to be mirror images of eachother, perfectly lined up together. Not only are these not lined up, but the horse also has a leg that is dragging, which can cause a rail.
Anyway, I hope this helped a bit. Good luck!
Wow... I wouldn't want to be in your position right now.
Judging a HUS class with a western eye will likely make for some unhappy exhibitors. You might be able to pull it off if it's just a fun show or schooling show.
The best thing you could do is search online for HUS videos. You will need to see proper movement that no text-written explanation on there will be able to help you enough to judge a class. Photos will help, but only to an extent. You need to see it in action. Show season is getting underway, perhaps you can attend a nearby show before your own.
Good luck!
In general, hunters are judged on their manners, way of going, and soundness. The trip should be smooth and at an even pace. The horse should leave the ground a distance in front of the jump equal to the height of the fence, and land the same (making a smooth arc). The horse should be on the correct lead, and incomplete lead changes should count against.
If it is a big enough show the mane should be braided, but check the prize list to see if braiding has been required or not recommended.
With hunter over fences, you are looking for a pretty horse (not an ugly one) that has a good rythem throughout the course, its clean, it doesnt miss any leads (or it has FULL lead changes. It also depends what level you are judging at. If you are doing local shows, than the horses doesnt have to be the prettiest. The rider isn't really judged. Their job is to make the horse look good. But the horses are also judged on their form over fences, manners, and their movement. If they buck or rear or stop at a fence, they should automatically be out of the ribbons. That is very bad manners. If a horse has horrible form, they are probably going to knock a rail down. And if they knock a rail down, they are out too. And it is very hard to judge the flat class so be prepared! You can see my video that talks about hunters at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6b-3grj2...
P.S.: It is my video! lol
I gotta say, that's a bad place to be in.
Hunter is one of those things that sort of needs an experienced eye to judge accurately, but here are the basics.
The horse should be in good weight, well-groomed, with the proper tack and equipment (you'll have to look up the specifics on that part). The rider should be appropriately dressed, also with the appropriate equipment.
The horse's gaits should be above all rhythmic and smooth. They should get all of their leads. If they do a flying change, it should be smooth and correctly executed. The horse should get the correct distances to every fence. The horse should not balk or wiggle when approaching a fence.
The horse's jumping form should be correct; knees up and even, hind legs pulled up over the fence instead of trailing, a good alert expression, etc.
I recommend that you watch some hunter rounds (you can probably see some online) just to get a better idea.

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