Judging Hunters And Hunter Seat Equitation

Still the only book on how to judge hunt-seat show classes! Experienced instructor and United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) registered judge Anna Jane White-Mullin provides the definitive resource for aspiring judges and competitors alike. Judging Hunters includes: 100 photographs of correct and incorrect positions of horses and riders; explanations of how to develop an eye for conformation classes, score hunters, and equitation riders on the flat and over fences; and a complete discussion of 2006 USEF rules and tests. This new, revised edition continues to be a valuable asset to those preparing for a career as a trainer or judge, or just moving up through the ranks of hunter/jumper competition. Anna Jane White-Mullin serves as a judge, clinician, and lecturer throughout North and South America.

Written with both the aspiring judge and the avid competitor in mind, the book offers invaluable explanations of what judges look for as well as the training methods necessary to accomplish top results in the sport of hunter seat riding.

The USEF and USPC have both listed The Complete Guide to Hunter Seat Training, Showing, and Judging by Anna-Jane White-Mullin as recommended reading. Never before has such a complete text on the American hunt seat and equitation disciplines been compiled! Based on Anna Jane White-Mullin's now out-of-print bestseller Winning and chock full of gorgeous, full-color photographs taken at Beacon Hill Show Stables owned by Stacia Madden, The Complete Guide to Hunter Seat Training, Showing, and Judging provides every aspiring equestrian the means for achieving greatness in the show ring. Beginning with a comprehensive overview of the basic principles of horsemanship—recently re-emphasized as compulsory by such luminaries of the sport as George Morris—and progressing through essential schooling exercises in the development of the hunter or equitation mount, as well as advanced concepts applicable to upper-level competition, Part One lays the amateur's riding and training foundation. You'll find: • Discussion of collection and lengthening—long, medium, and short frames • Flatwork for improving the basic gaits—cadence, pace, and transitions • Training and showing tips for USEF Tests 1-19—patterns and how to prepare for them • Introduction to hunter and equitation jump courses—basic, intermediate, and advanced As an added bonus, the education of the rider is made complete with the inclusion of White-Mullin's famous text on judging hunters and equitation. Offering a complete discussion of the USEF rules, requirements, and tests, the second part of the book explains what judges look for and the training methods necessary to achieve the desired results.

"This isn't just a book about how to ride, it's a book about how to enjoy, appreciate and maximize your every experience with your horse." —Chronicle of the Horse

Judging Hunters and Equitation demystifies the subjective process of judging hunters and hunter seat equitation. It is the definitive book on the subject written for riders, trainers, parents and other officials. The book delves into the history of the sport, and how the rules and regulations evolved based on fox hunting. The authors explain how and why faults are scored, the process judges use to mark their cards, score, and place horses in their respective classes. They identify the ideals judges seek in the hunter and equitation rings, strategies to help riders improve their performances, and analyze how major competitions are judged.

A classic by a world-renowned teacher and master equestrian--the definitive work on the art of teaching and riding the hunter seat, now updated to include refinements in Morris's insightful program of riding instruction. B & W photographs throughout

An exciting follow-up from the bestselling author of How Good Riders Get Good and Know Better to Do Better. We all start somewhere with horses. As a toddler on a pony. As a teenager with friends who ride. As an adult who always loved horses, but life just got in the way…until now. Some of us start over. We sell our horses to go to school, to have careers or babies (or both). We decide to quit dressage and start reining. We fall off…and get back on. There are all sorts of beginning places, and they can be for the first time or after a “gap.” They can mean you are beginning, or your horse is. They can mean you barely got started, or you started badly. Renowned horseman Denny Emerson knows all about the importance of these beginnings. Through an impressive career in the saddle that spans decades, he has worked with all different breeds, competed at the top international levels of eventing and endurance, lost horses and found new ones, taught young riders and adult amateurs, traded Western tack for English and back again, been injured…only to rehab, climb back in the saddle, and start over. In his third book, Emerson once again masterfully intertwines his entertaining reflections from a life embedded in the equestrian world with serious philosophical questions faced by the industry today and practical advice honed by his immense experience. Readers will discover: How to make your beginning with horses easier…and how to make it harder. How having the right horse versus having the wrong horse can affect a beginning…or mean you should begin again. The importance of a team (family, friends, trainers, coaches) you trust and rely upon. Ways to identify how you learn, see, hear, and feel, and how to apply that knowledge with horses. The need for knowing how far you want to go and how much are you willing to give up to go there. With inspirational stories of beginning and beginning again from top equestrians, as well as personal reflections from “regular” horse people around the world, these pages promise to inspire a start or a change, and provide a roadmap we all can follow, whatever our ambitions. Emerson reassures us that it doesn’t matter where your beginning point is—start where you are. And, even better, there is a do-over button—you just have to decide to push it. This book is for every horse person who continues to dream of something else or something more, and just needs someone to say: “Begin.”

Originally published in hardcover in 1995 by Doubleday.