Hunters tack

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archiesmum

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I am looking to enter my ISH into some ISH/hunter classes this season at some county shows. I am under no illusion that he will win but would like to go for a nice day out and a pretty picture. However it has just occurred to me - he has a brown hunter bridle but his saddle is a black wow GP. Would it be better for him to have a black bridle as well or try and borrow a brown saddle? He is dapple grey in case that makes a difference... :-)
 
You'll find it massively easier to borrow a bridle than a saddle that fits! Ideally he would have matching tack - but if you are only showing at a local / unaffiliated level then they probably won't mind too much.
 
If your doing county level the judge will probably ride so having a wow gp will not be the normal type of saddle in the ring at that level so you may stand out for that reason, at lower level it's not so important as judges don't ride so I would probably buy a black bridle so it matched the saddle.
 
Definitely try and get a different saddle, at county level most judges will not find a wow suitable to ride in although if I were you and unable to find another saddle I would use a brown bridle and not worry about it matching, you are sitting on the saddle so it will not stand out too much on the go round but a black bridle will look out of place from the moment you enter the ring, possibly more than the wow does.
 
Pinkvboots said:
If your doing county level the judge will probably ride so having a wow gp will not be the normal type of saddle in the ring at that level so you may stand out for that reason, at lower level it's not so important as judges don't ride so I would probably buy a black bridle so it matched the saddle.
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Many lower level shows do ride the hunters, cobs and riding horses.
 
Oh dear I was hoping it might be a bit more clear cut! Any more opinions on what to do for the best? I could possibly borrow a brown saddle from a friend but I am pretty sure that they will be no more than 17" in seat size - would this be acceptable for a ride judge?
 
At County level, a WOW GP isn't appropriate. Show saddles should be straight cut to show off the horse's shoulder and as discrete as possible. Judges come in all shapes and sizes and can often be male, so a 17" will most likely be too small. You also need to make sure that your stirrup leathers are quickly and easily adjusted for the ride judge, and that your irons can accommodate a larger boot.

Saddles and bridles should be brown, reins if rubbered, should be slim enough to be subtle, with no martingale stops on them. Plain flat cavesson noseband of any appropriate thickness for your horse's head. ....

You can get away with a lot at unaffiliated and local shows but there are rules at County level - they are in the rule book of your affiliated body.
 
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Don't get too tied up in knots yet, see how you get on in local shows first - riding club, small local shows. Since your horse is grey you might be better to borrow a black bridle for now. Sometimes judges do ride at local level and riding club but in my experience they ask you first (well they always asked me in the classes I did). Some judges like to have a ride, others prefer to keep on the ground.

Should your horse do well and gets nice comments from the judge and you feel like entering a bigger show, that would be the time to get equipped with brown tack. Some of my local, long established one day shows are a very high standard and at that sort correct tack and turnout would be essential.
 
spacefaer said:
At County level, a WOW GP isn't appropriate. Show saddles should be straight cut to show off the horse's shoulder and as discrete as possible. Judges come in all shapes and sizes and can often be male, so a 17" will most likely be too small. You also need to make sure that your stirrup leathers are quickly and easily adjusted for the ride judge, and that your irons can accommodate a larger boot.

Saddles and bridles should be brown, reins if rubbered, should be slim enough to be subtle, with no martingale stops on them. Plain flat cavesson noseband of any appropriate thickness for your horse's head. ....

You can get away with a lot at unaffiliated and local shows but there are rules at County level - they are in the rule book of your affiliated body.
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Agree with this, at local shows you can get away with looking neat and tidy but at county shows if you don't have the right kit you will stick out like a sore thumb. Borrow a brown showing saddle and look for discrete padding/ numnahs that really fit the saddle. Showing saddles are much smaller and lighter so fit is less of a problem than GPs. They are more like polo or racing saddles in terms of fit. They are also cheaper if you do end up buying!
 
I would disagree that a WOW is unsuitable - there are ways round it and I have seen grey hunters at county level shows in black tack and they've been placed. Yes, a WOW set up as a GP is not ideal long term, but don't rule it out for the first couple of shows. A horse that goes well in black tack is preferable than one getting crabby as it's in an ill fitting brown one.

Have a look at your saddle first - if you have a flat(ish) seat that that's one hurdle sorted as whoever rides won't have to shoehorn their ass into it (although I guess I have been luck in that I've never had a ride judge that needed a bigger saddle than me). The saddle flap might also be able to be fixed further back as some of them have different fixing points to alter the shape slightly so it won't appear so GPish. This will be dependent on the type of saddle (Club v Competitor) though. Remove the blocks (if on Velcro) so that the knee rolls are flat and so easier to take up a longer leg if needed.

Find a black double (or show Pelham with headslip, lip strap) bridle, get yourself kitted out and have fun.

If the comments come back positive, then look to invest in a brown saddle that is suitable :)
 
Nugget La Poneh said:
Have a look at your saddle first - if you have a flat(ish) seat that that's one hurdle sorted as whoever rides won't have to shoehorn their ass into it (although I guess I have been luck in that I've never had a ride judge that needed a bigger saddle than me). The saddle flap might also be able to be fixed further back as some of them have different fixing points to alter the shape slightly so it won't appear so GPish. This will be dependent on the type of saddle (Club v Competitor) though. Remove the blocks (if on Velcro) so that the knee rolls are flat and so easier to take up a longer leg if needed.
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absolutely by NO means a showing expert (:D) but this is what I did with my Wow for Millie's first show. I have moveable block GP flaps which I angled back, took the blocks out and found the neatest numnah I could. Link to pic below. I have since found a super cheap rather old very straight cut WH saddle which we will use from now on but I hope this wasn't too ugly a picture to start out.

https://scontent.flhr2-1.fna.fbcdn....=369bdc89f8b3e5710b11739f098b46bc&oe=595B64D1
 
milliepops said:
absolutely by NO means a showing expert (:D) but this is what I did with my Wow for Millie's first show. I have moveable block GP flaps which I angled back, took the blocks out and found the neatest numnah I could. Link to pic below. I have since found a super cheap rather old very straight cut WH saddle which we will use from now on but I hope this wasn't too ugly a picture to start out.

https://scontent.flhr2-1.fna.fbcdn....=369bdc89f8b3e5710b11739f098b46bc&oe=595B64D1
Click to expand...

acceptable at local level, at a county show the judge will ride and a lot of judges HATE riding in GP saddles as most of the time the GP saddles wont fit the judge and therefore will make them feel insecure or force thier leg into an uncomfortable position.
Given that 50% of the marks at a county show are for ride, if the judge is uncomfortable in the saddle then you are never going to score well.
Most show saddles are designed such that nothing will interfere with the position of the rider.
 
yep quite understand that, I was just responding to agree with NlP that some Wow GPs can be made quite neat and with a flat seat it feels very much like the saddle I have now bought :) there is nothing beneath these flaps in the way of knee rolls etc, they are literally flat against the horse's side :) With a Wow the concept of GP is somewhat fluid because you can have an extra deep seat & massive blocky flaps or as I have, a flat seat (that actually came from an xc saddle set up) and really plain flaps ;) no idea what the OP has.
 
milliepops said:
yep quite understand that, I was just responding to agree with NlP that some Wow GPs can be made quite neat and with a flat seat it feels very much like the saddle I have now bought :) there is nothing beneath these flaps in the way of knee rolls etc, they are literally flat against the horse's side :) With a Wow the concept of GP is somewhat fluid because you can have an extra deep seat & massive blocky flaps or as I have, a flat seat (that actually came from an xc saddle set up) and really plain flaps ;) no idea what the OP has.
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you also need to look at where the stirrup bars are positioned as a lot of GP's have them quite far forwards.
 
yep. it's the thing that drew me to Wows in the first place as they have 2 stirrup bars, one for jumping and one for flat. Proper all purpose saddles IMO :) though accept not the done thing in the showring :wink3:
(sorry for the diversion OP but probably slightly relevant anyway! :lol:)
 
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