The Way We Were

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the state of the hunters. When we published Julie Winkel's USHJA editorial on December 30th, ProEquest readers immediately shared it, commented on it, and truly sent it viral, making it our all time most read post within a span of a few days, and making it clear that you really are "Ready for a Hunter Revolution."

When did the hunters evolve into this, a sport where sharps containers are regularly hung down barn aisles at horse shows, where medicine chests containing mobile pharmacies are de rigueur, where some people see nothing at all wrong with numbing a horse’s tail, where ear plugs and draw reins are the least of it in the never ending search for quieter, quieter, quieter.

Before we seek out what's next, it wouldn't hurt to re-examine what once was.

It’s no secret that the look of the hunter ring, both environmental and equine, have changed dramatically through the last 10, 20, 30 years.

Things sure were different back then, and some old styles have evolved for the better. You wouldn’t see anyone wearing a velvet hunt cap with no chin strap today. In fact, rules have changed and that’s simply not allowed now. It's funny how rules can do that.

Now, with our governing body’s annual meeting just a few weeks away, I wonder if rules will evolve to help the industry once more. Until then, take a minute to remind yourself of what a winner used to look like:

Charlie Weaver and Super Flash

The Thoroughbred gelding Super Flash won the Regular Working Hunters at Devon, Upperville, Keswick, Warrenton and Traders Point with Show Hunter Hall of Fame member Charlie Weaver. For more than 30 years Charlie ruled the hunter divisions. This photo was taken in the late 70s at the Devon Horse Show.

Buddy Brown and Sandsablaze

Buddy Brown won the AHSA Medal Finals with Sandsablaze in 1975. And then he did something that wouldn’t be possible today – he moved up to the grand prix level with the same horse, and in 1976 made the U.S. Show Jumping Team for the Montreal Olympics with Sandsablaze, competing in the Individual competition with him. Think about that for a minute! Sandsablaze was a Thoroughbred gelding.

Hap Hansen and Best of Luck

Best of Luck was imported to the U.S. in 1982, and was ridden to Adult Owner and Open Hunter championships by his owner Tish Quirk, and trainer Hap Hansen. This 1973 Dutch Warmblood went on to be a foundation stallion for a storied line of hunter champions bred in the United States. Tish still runs her breeding program from Rancho Santa Fe, California, and stands two Best of Luck offspring. 

Nancy Swett Lyon and Well Set

Well Set was a Virginia-bred Thoroughbred mare that was PCHJ and SHA First Year Green Conformation Champion in 1968. Nancy owned and showed her in Junior Hunter, Junior Jumper and Open classes on the West Coast A circuit through 1971, riding and training with Jimmy Williams. The photo is from a Second Year Green Conformation class with fences set at 3’9”. Nancy and Well set won the Second Year Green championship that year, and in 1971, she jumped 5’1” in a Junior Jumper class with Well Set.

Bernie Traurig and Circuit Breaker

A picture tells a thousand words, but a video really lets you step back in time! The pace of the horse, the size of the jumps, and the openness of the field are light years removed from our hunter landscape of today. Bernie Traurig now has a very successful website called EquestrianCoach.com, and he unearthed this video of himself winning the Working Hunter Classic in Chagrin Valley, Ohio in the late '70s with Circuit Breaker.