Showing.......erm what type is he????? Hunter? not sure!

[unicornystar]

Hi there

Sorry this has been done to death and I did ask some time ago but he has changed so much in over a year! I am hoping to go Wales in a few weeks and want to try something different with him, a bit of the ole' shine and polish and showing!!

Some friends have said ridden hunter? some have said Riding horse (he looks a bit of a chunk for that to me lol) some have come up with other suggestions but I just cant work out what he would do best as?

Excuse crappy photo but it is within the last few days!!

He works in a lovely outline, tracks up beautifully and is a safe steady type of guy (most of the time!).

TIA xxx

 

[Pearlsasinger]

If he jumps, he looks more like a worker than anything else to me. But as you are presumably talking about local shows he would probably fit into hunter or Riding horse classes, there are usually all shapes and sizes in all classes at local shows.

 

[minesadouble]

I agree with the above. Looks a worker to me, defnitley not a riding horse but as above you might get away with it at local level.

 

[Aspire]

Depends what level. Local level it can be a bit of a lottery. I have known horses be riding horses and hunters on the same day! At County level he is definitely not a riding horse, too much bone. You don't say how big he is, but he looks middleweight to me, perhaps even borderline heavyweight but will need careful bridling to refine his head. Right width leather makes a big difference to appearance. Workers are a safe bet as it's not just about being pretty, they have to perform too. I used to show a pure bred ID at County. We invariably got a decent pull, were usually congratulated on his ride (I did dressage on him too) but were usually told that being pure bred he lacked the refinement of the sort who would get tickets to HOYS etc. Still won more money on that horse than any other I competed.

 

[unicornystar]

Thank you for all your replies. It is very interesting, although I confess we are dressage and SJ fans at heart, we dabble in xc but he still needs work on some demons!!

Showing I have done lots at unaffiliated with previous horses, but I am liking the working hunter label, he adores jumping and it certainly interests me more! The showing we are thinking of is unaffiliated at broomies so decent judges and competition and to be honest I don't take it too seriously as long as he behaves. Standing still is still a bit of an issue...we are working on that!

I want to buy a sidesaddle one day as a friend introduced us to it and I rode him s/s and he was amazing for me as went from the voice and stick, however, that's a pipedream right now!

I think we will aim at the hunter type classes, he's 16.3hh with a lovely way of going and to be honest out of the ring it is probably what he would be best at other than ditches........