Do you accept an odd stop from a good hunter?

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Or if they had the odd stop, would you not consider them "a good hunter"?

I personally do, but we hunt in very trappy country and think it's better for them to stop than crash, but I guess it depends on the country..

Thoughts?
 
If you put a horse on a crap stride, and they think its a no go, then he is probably saving your neck lol!

If its stopping because its doggy, then thats a different matter.
 
Everyone has a [****] day every now and then. Don't expect perfection.

If it's a good hunter, then the odd stop pales into insignificance.

If they odd stops matter, then maybe it's not that good.
 
My boss who has hunted all of his life says he doesn't mind them stopping once but they have to go the second time.
Of course if it is rider error then you can't blame the horse.
 
I'm another one who'd say that the occasional stop but going the second time is acceptable. I'm a great believer that the horse usually knows his limits better than we do.

I know Ron will jump pretty much anything other than hedges with less than 2 strides notice, but he sometimes wants to look over a wall before he jumps it, and who can say fairer than that? I've jumped a five bar gate with 3 strides notice and he's made light work of it - and hes far from a big scopey jumper really!
 
I think the odd stop is perfectly acceptable- isn't the reason daddy Buck sold Bertha because she wouldn't stop at anything and he was getting a bit power mad!?
Rockwood do have trappy country, and a lot of the Oxlea/Holmfirth way that they do after xmas is very boggy and uneven, I can remember that horrible wall that both of ours stopped at down near the Bay horse- they were really just saving us all a big crash because the line was horrible.
 
He had a point though, she was still jumping the wings with me in her twenties, and she was bored in the field when the snow was here, so casually popped the dry stone wall and put herself away in her stable :smirk:
I know, that was a horrible sticky, crappy day. I think forward going hunters stop when they know it will end badly. i know sometimes when my adrenalin takes over I think my horse is invincible...
 
I still think he's strange.. He sold Berth because she was brill and safe and jumped everything/won lots of stuff (which made her boring, apparently!) but kept morris because he was naughty and dangerous (so more entertaining.. apparently!!).

I bet he wishes he had a Bertha now! :p
 
Mine will always jump, but stop if I've put him on a dodgy approach and he can't make it. Hunting or otherwise. I value that in him like gold.

Sat on a really fun looking SJer recently. Interfered with her on the approach to a fence (she would see a fence and go off like a bloody gunshot!) and put her at it all wrong. She still jumped. Pair of us crashed through it (only sj fence) and I jumped a few more, handed her back and said a silent and heartfelt prayer of thanks for mine! :)
 
If a"good hunter" stopped once for no good reason then I wouldn't suddenly think he/she was no longer a good hunter, but if it became a habit then I would change my view. It is important that they understand that they must jump if presented correctly and or they will be disciplined.
 
Actually I'm surprised noone has mentioned - if a horse that doesn't stop, begins to, then something may be up. Wasn't there a lady on here (not hunting but CR I think) who realised when her horse stopped that something must be up, he was checked out and subsequently retired?

Just a thought.
 
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