Hacking Nuff Nuff Questions!

I have a couple of hack shows lined up on the 22nd and 29th November... the one on the 29th is fine, think I know what I am entering there, but the one on the 22nd is confusing me!

I am doing open rider, open hack and novice hack. Then there are 4 more classes being Lightweight hack, Heavyweight hack, Show Hunter Hack and Pleasure Hack. I understand Pleaseure... still undecided whether to go there or not, but the other 3???

I assume you do one or the other - either lightweight or heavyweight....? but is Show Hunter seperate? if you do Show Hunter can you still do Open hack? Can she be Open, Heavyweight and a Show Hunter?

Also, most of you have seen Dash... Is she lightweight or heavyweight? I would think heavy... is she a Show Hunter type though? It's only a little encourage show so if they'll let me I will just do it for experience anyways.

Any advice appreciated!

Ok...

The weight classes are supposedly what the horse is able to carry. A horse with big thick legs are able carry heavier riders then ones with pin legs, which therefore makes them heavyweight. It has nothing to do with how fat the horse is, unlike what a lot of people think (me included.. i have a ottb who i got classified at a show just for the hell of it.. personally i thought he was lightweight because he has such a small frame, but because of how thick his legs are, he is heavy). So just look at her legs and decide whether or not you think she has heavy set legs or not.. and if worst comes to worst, at the show approach the judge at the start of the weight classes, say im sorry but i would like your opinion on what weight class my horse should be in, and usually they are happy to help..

With the hunter, there is a specific type which is hunter. They are generally heavy set horses with good amount of bone, and the major requirements to them is that they have a gallop and have manners. They are meant to look as if they would be pleasureable to be able to hunt on all day. Some shows have it in the rules that you can only do hunters or open classes (height, weight and open), so you just have to read them. Heck even at this years royal i know of at least one lady that did the open classes and the hunter class on her hack..

Hopefully i helped...

Oh and open is... open... any height or weight...

And everytime the Judge calls for the Heavyweight Class,- I just think,- "is that the horse or the rider"........!

open is open weight depending on the wording. Could also be open age etc.

There is a horse at my agistment who recently won a Hunter Champion class. He's an Arab hack and I don't see how he is heavy enough to be classed as a hunter.

I was talking to someone the other day and they joked that anything not pretty enough to be a hack is being turned into a hunter. So true! It was good at Strath to see Nicki win on a big grey very very nice horse and exactly the sort of type I think of.

Nicki Bruggerman (not sure on spelling there)?? She has a lovely grey hunter, it has been doing well. If you want to see a nice hunter, look up Charlie Hunt's hunter *droooooools* Gryffindor.. not sure on spelling again (im just out of an exam, im brain dead ).

And hey... i ride heavyweight horsies.... heheheheh

Usually open is just open... as in any... any height, any weight, any age, any experience.. its just open

Yep that's the one..


mmmm love Griffindor

Griffindor is like the ultimate hunter, hes just breath taking!!

oooh now I always wondered about the heavy/light weight thing too! I had no idea, so looking at the legs - well thats an interesting one

Thanks guys.... well Dash does carry me around pretty effortlessly so i guess heavyweight it is.

I asked one of the hackies I agist with, he reckons I can do open, heavyweight and show hunter too. Dash probably isn't your classic "ultimate" show hunter but I am there for experience so the more the better and it is an encourage show.

Dressage Diva wrote:but I am there for experience so the more the better and it is an encourage show.

We used that theory when we took Manny to one of the local ag shows - his first outing off the track. After he had "performed" in the maiden/height/weight classes etc I told Mia to take him in the pleasure hack.

Was assisting the judge at the time (she had no penciller) and she just looked at me and said "I don't think there is anything pleasurable about your horse!"

She did go on to say that he was probably the only there she would have liked to take homev - and had already given him a ribbon in one of the previous classes.

Judge also went on to say that he DID improve as the day went on, and was probably his best behaved in the pleasure class, but still not pleasurable enough to merit a ribbon!

It is all in the experience, and the only way for them to get that is to go to shows.

We took Dom to Whyalla (a very large and busy show) for his first show. He was wonderful but after three classes was getting stirred up by other, less well behaved horses, so decided to call it a day. Didn't want him to have a bad first up experience.

So go out and have fun - everything else is a bonus.

another thing with the show hunter classes though, ive always been led to believe the horse needs to have a plain browband (flat leather, no bling) and possibley a tweed jacket. i could be wrong and would love to have this clarified if so!

this may not be vital anymore, just recall it being mandatory when they first introduced the classes

pics ive seen of dash, id say she's a heavyweight. she doesnt appear to have the spindly riding pony type legs and bones

two consecutive weekends of hacking?! WOW- you are keen

Hi!

It always annoys me when people think that if they have an "ugly" horse that they can just call it a Hunter!!!
Hunters have their own special qualities,- and ugliness should NOT be one of them!!!

Dash isn't ugly, she's unique

Good point about the attire though PP, I will check up on that... certainly not buying a new jacket for the occasion cos I doubt I will hack again for at least another 12 months.

Mainly doing it cos with Spring Dash has turned itno a right little spook.... very edgy - and being in season quite clingy... so throwing lots at her in an attempt to "train" her out of it.

When we went hacking in UK it just meant that we were going out on a trail ride (often spending a great deal of the time riding along narrow verges with trucks and buses hurtling past our shoulders).

I really didn't care how pretty the horse was (and none of them had patterns on their arses), but I did need to trust it and be able to ride it so that we were both safe.