Hunter horse frame?

Question

Is it possible for hunter horses to be carrying themselves the "proper dressage way"? I know what the hunter headset is suppose to look like, but can somebody explain the rest of the hunter look to me?

Answer 1

Ideally a hunter, which gets it's name from horses on the hunt field, go in a very correct frame, smooth, collected somewhat, totally under control, not all rounded up in the bridle. But must move excellent, with big ground covering stride.

Answer 2

A hunter horse's head position is usually even with the withers (or shoulders) with the horse. not necessarily rounded ontop of the bit. a hunter horse is shown with a fairly simple course with a set amount of strides inbetween the lines. hunters are judged off of consistancy of the pace and how well its ground manners and jumping is. the rider is judges too.

in dressage, you usually want the horses head resting upon the hand, or bit, to where they're head is tucked up. dressage is based upon a routine and is all ground work, no jumping.

two totally different styles of riding

Answer 3

I did a Google Images search under show jumper and found this pic.

I think this is the type of Dressage Headset you are talking about.

It's called being on the bit, not above or below, but on. The horse's nose is vertical, 90 degrees to the ground!!

This position causes the horse to engage its hinde quaters and helps build them up, as well as creates suppleness. It's called the Topline!

Answer 4

Training level or first level dressage head carriage should translate nicely to hunter rings.  At lower level dressage, the horse is to be on the bit, but not hyper collected and ultra round in the neck.  A low level dressage horse and a hunter should both go on the bit, but not be heavy, carry a level to ever so slightly elevated poll, and be moving quietly but with impulsion from the back to the front creating the feel of moving up hill.  

Yes, these are different disciplines and the upper levels look very different.  But there are similarities, and each can learn from the other.

Very often you see sawhorse straight hunters with their noses stuck out and their bodies trailing behind.  They can navigate a course of simple jumps this way, but to be able to do harder courses they need to be more correct in the bridle and more uphill.  This leads to nicer, rounder jumps.