How many of you hunt your competition horses?

I'd love to hunt again but round where I keep my horse it is either event or hunt for me, not both as the cost of hunting is prohibitively high....and eventing's not cheap either. I can afford one or the other, not both, so eventing wins!
 
We take quite a few of the show horses cubbing/hunting - not the ones where it would blow their brains (some of them don't really have much up top!) but we've already had four from the yard out a couple of times this year.

The trouble is that they go on their holidays in October after HOYS and don't start fittening work until the new year, so it can be tricky trying to fit it in.

Our ex show horses such as Robocob and Soldier Brave went into the hunting field once their retired from showing - Robo is still there with the Olivers but Soldier Brave found the whole thing a little too exciting!
 
I have a very very accident prone and spooky WB who I take out hunting over the winter (try to get out once a month - can't afford more!!) and he loves it.

He always lacked boldness xc and I struggled to get him to go forward but hunting has done him the world of good. He flies over the ditches and is always in front
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We went from 3 refusals and loads of time faults at Milton Keynes to double clear (with a handful of time faults) at Ely which I put down to him going hunting in between.

There was an interesting article a couple of months ago in H&H about "competition" horses going hunting - there were Grade A SJ'ers, Grand Prix dressage horses and even top show ponies/horses that went hunting - they said it made them bolder, better able to think for themselves and also gave them a release/break from all the hard schooling/competitions in the summer
 
I took my showjumper hunting once and only once, she was far to much of a twit and was a bit too accident prone for my liking. Plus it to me ages to settle her down again afterwards, I think if I had wanted to event her then I may have pursued it, but as I had already decided I wanted to affiliate her showjumping it wasn't worth it - and my instructor agreed that she didn't think it was a very good idea.
 
I have hunted mine in the past, but with the current two I've only just got back into it: one is a big girl
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and needs to be a bit more gung ho as he's got serious stuff to do next season; the other one is allowed to go just to keep him sweet, as he finds school work soooo boring!

However, I pick my days carefully, try to stay out of trouble and won't hesitate to come home if I think they're tired, losing the plot or if my brakes fail.
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My show cob hunted the monday before HOYS and the saturday after. Hunting turned him from an unmanageable unsaleable nutter to a 5* allrounder who shows very sucessfully, happily pops a 3'6" sj or xc course, stands like a rock holding a gate for the entire field to go through and he also now loads and travels perfectly!
Our young horse is about to start BSJA having learnt jumping out hunting and nothing fazes him.
The other 2 have shown at county level and hunted.
This season they are competing sucessful at dressage in between the hunt dates.

BUT it depends on the horse and your circumstances, hunting isnt the right thing for all horses to do (same as some dont SJ well or others wont do a decent dressage test). It is a great education for young horses if you pick the meets well and yes you have to keep your eyes open for hazards but you are just as likely to find a rabbit hole out on a bridleway as a hunt.

FWIW we were hacking down a local bridleway and my OH horse got caught in wire that had "fallen" accross the path. He stood like a rock while we freed him and thankfully my wirecutters were still on my saddle from hunting (never used them in 3 seasons)
 
I used to hunt my old boy to sweeten him up if his jumping had gone a little on the sour side - he used to love it, you could go from having problems at 1.05m to flying round 1.20m after a couple of weeks hunting! I'd be to scared to hunt my young one though - even hacking can be 'interesting' with him and he'd probably slat me at the meet... I've been out the past 4 Saturdays on 4 different point to point horses though, and they're all worth a heck of a lot more money than either of my jumping horses! It's good to do something different with your competition horses, we've taken up dressage as a sideline to the showjumping - no matter what you're doing that's a change of scenery for them they always seem to appreciate it
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It breaks my heart that my good mare (as i call her although it all potential at the mo) is to mental to hunt.Ive tried numerous times with her but when we nearly ended up on a car i though it might be safer for everyone if I left her at home. She hates it if she has to stand still but can see someone else doing something. Luckily shes bold clever and scopey so doesnt need to hunt just is annoying as shed be a fantastic hunter if she had the brain for it. My young horse had its first day last week and loved it. I think it a great education and fun way to teach them all sorts of things without them relising. Certainly would never not hunt a horse because it was worth to much money.
 
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