Imagine you’re a professional hunter rider with an owner who invests in one or two young prospects every few years. This owner is an older amateur rider who has a career and a family. She enjoys the sport but isn’t in the barn 24/7.

One year you find several nice pre-green horses. One turns out to be a competent first year green horse, with above average jumping ability and an ideal temperament for an amateur. Although he could use more mileage, you don’t think he’ll have the scope to be successful in the second years. So you cross your fingers and hand the reins to your amateur rider because there’s no other rated division in which you can show him.

To make matters more difficult, this owner wants to have one more year with her veteran amateur-owner hunter, so now she won’t be able to show her green horse in the adult amateurs at the same show because of zone restrictions. She’ll have no choice but to move right to 3’6″.

Wouldn’t it be useful to have an A-rated open 3’6″ division for professionals or a 3’3″ “low” amateur-owner division so the transition might go more smoothly?

Well, now there’s hope.

During the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Convention (p. 8) the Open Hunter Task Force received the thumbs-up in the Hunter Rule Change Forum to reconsider changing the hunter sections from the current divisions to levels, similar to the switch the jumpers made a few years ago.

For at least the past few decades the professional hunter divisions have been waning. Even at the country’s best shows the divisions often draw just a handful of horses. Fewer owners are willing to fund a horse for a professional to show through the four-foot divisions. But switching to levels—with separate open and restricted sections for green horses—will help to increase the number of hunters showing at 3’6″ and higher because it opens up many more opportunities and options to professionals. It’s certainly one alternative to selling a horse that requires a professional ride in the 3’6″ for more than one year.

In addition, a new 3’3″ amateur-owner hunter section was proposed by the USHJA Owners Committee and approved by the USHJA Board of Directors. This is a welcome change for many riders, especially those who wish to move up. Let’s face it. The leap from the adult amateurs at 3′ to the amateur-owners at 3’6″ is daunting for many people. And as one older amateur said during the convention, “We’d love more of a challenge, but we’re just not as brave as we used to be!”

In reality, it’s indeed a brave new world for the hunters. This year’s convention, the fourth for the fledgling association, felt different from previous meetings. Although there were heated discussions between opposing sides, almost everyone agreed to disagree and work toward solving problems instead of building impenetrable roadblocks. Even the 3’3″ amateur-owner rule change proposal had several tweaks in various committees before final approval. At this convention it was obvious that compromise resulted in progress.

The above changes are just two of the many ideas formulated and programs created by the staff and volunteers of the USHJA, from the grassroots on up. And with the addition of the USHJA International Hunter Derby program for our elite show hunters—which is quickly gaining in popularity—there’s no telling how high or far our hunters will take us in the future. It’s up to us to continue increasing the momentum.

Tricia Booker