The Field Hunter Vs. The Show Hunter
Unlike the field hunter, the horse known in the US as a show hunter and in the UK as a working hunter performs in a ring, usually over a course of 8-10 fences. The judging of the American show hunter is based on the requirements of a horse in the hunt field, focusing on the horse's manners, movement, jumping form, rhythm, and smoothness around the course. Show hunters in the US are usually warmblood or Thoroughbred types. They do not have to have the bravery required of the field hunter, nor do they travel over the same type of terrain, as the field or arena is usually fairly level. Although the fences in a show hunter course are usually "natural" poles and standards, as opposed to the brightly colored fences seen in show jumping, the show hunter course does not include rock walls, ditches, or banks that might be seen in the hunt field.
The British working hunter is not required to jump obstacles exactly like those met in the hunting field, although a water tray is sometimes used to simulate a ditch, and natural dips in the ground, banks etc. are often incorporated into the course in order to make it more challenging.
In some ways, the field hunter is more similar to a good cross-country horse seen in eventing than a show-ring hunter, as it must gallop and jump over varied terrain, jump ditches, coops, up and down banks, and occasionally go through water.
|
Read more about this topic: Field Hunter
Famous quotes containing the words field, hunter and/or show:
“Last night I watched my brothers play,
The gentle and the reckless one,
In a field two yards away.
For half a century they were gone
Beyond the other side of care
To be among the peaceful dead.”
—Edwin Muir (1887–1959)
“The skylines lit up at dead of night, the air- conditioning systems cooling empty hotels in the desert and artificial light in the middle of the day all have something both demented and admirable about them. The mindless luxury of a rich civilization, and yet of a civilization perhaps as scared to see the lights go out as was the hunter in his primitive night.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else available. Western civilization not only provides a bit of life, a pinch of liberty and the occasional pursuance of happiness, it’s also the only thing that’s ever tried to. Our civilization is the first in history to show even the slightest concern for average, undistinguished, none-too-commendable people like us.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)