Would you say my horse was a hunter?

nog73

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Good morning all..I'm looking to do some ridden classes in the future with my new horse. I was thinking he would make a nice middleweight hunter? could you give me your thoughts on him please? he's Shire x Tb/Id he's currently 16 hands.

Many thanks

dave
 
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Interesting head and feather. To my [inexperienced] mind, I would expect a middleweight hunter to be a good strong TB type with a bit more bone., maybe more TB x partID. I think the Shire has made him a great type, but not a typical showing type.
You might put him in a driving type class or a youngster class and say he is destined for driving. To be critical, his feathers are neither one thing or the other, would he look smarter if they were trimmed, or have they been trimmed and would have been better left?
PS he is rather nice!!!
 
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At local level turned out correctly he would not look out of place in a hunter class, he will be the wrong type and too small for county level.
Other classes to try are working hunter, if he jumps, Riding Club horse is usually a mix of different types.
 
At 16hh he would have to be a maxi cob (max height for a cob is 155cm), and I'm not sure he is quite chunky enough for maxi's.... how old is he? Perhaps he has more filling out to do? He looks lovely anyway :)
 
He lookes lovely! Very nice face.

With his height he'd need to be entered in maxi cob classes and these tend to be quite heavy boned and well muscled up and often they are bigger than 16 hands so he may look small. How old is he and is he broken to ride? If he's got some growing and filling out to do, he might look more the part.

I'd take him in hand/ridden horse/hunter classes to some local shows and ask the judges what they think. Often hunter classes are full of 16.2hh plus horses and so if he's not growing much more, he might again look small but could catch the judge's eye if he's flashy.

My mare was shirexTB and 16.1hh but very unusually marked so always caught the judge's eye in hunter classes (not always a good thing when she was being naughty!)
 
To small to be a MWH.

To be successful in those classes you need an up height 16.2hh + at the very least.

Go along to a local show and see which classes have types similar to your horse. That way you will know what happens locally to you.
If it is local shows and not county level then there should be a few classes for him.
 
Nothing like a cob in my opinion. That picture, and the way his neck is shoved in, makes him look a bit cob I suppose, but next to a real cob he wouldn't look cobby at all. Not a great photo to help decisions really..

At local level he would do general hunter classes (not enough of a classic hunter for any particular weight - not really a county horse..). Another vote for Riding Club horse or working hunter too.
 
He is definitely not a cob. For his height he would have to be in the maxi cob class, and anything with under 10" bone that isn't built like a brick outhouse will look totally out of place.

A lot of local shows have part bred clydesdale classes - might be worth trying him in that, but TBH i don't think he is typey enough for that.

Your best bet would be the riding club horse type classes where it is about attitude rather than type.
 
Thank you all for your replies. He is a 4 yo and still has a , little growing to do. I have got another horse he is by Sombrero who is kwpn x a western light mare ( Pride of Shaunlara )
He is 17.2hh and ten inches of good flat bone. He is away for backing at the moment and then I was going to put him up for sale as I think he's too much competition horse for me.
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