Hunters: new format here to stay
“it’s a great crowd pleaser”
“LAST year the crowd loved it,” says show director David Ingle of the new hunter-judging system that received universal praise when introduced at the RIHS last year.
“The hunter championship is arguably the premier championship of the show,” adds David, “so [late showing director] Roger Stack and I thought the discussion and debate between judges would be well worth the extra time.”
The judging format for the weight categories remains the same this time too. There will be one conformation judge for the light, middle and heavyweight divisions, but each category will have its own ride judge for the individual class places.
Then the top two horses from each division will come forward to the international arena for the championship on Thursday 27 July at 3pm. The new system means each judge will then ride the four horses they have not already ridden, before going into a collective huddle to decide the champion and reserve.
Libby Cooke, who judged the lightweights last year, says the change in format is “more exciting. Horses tend to go differently in the international arena so it takes the predictability out of the result.”
This year, four-star event rider Beanie Sturgis will judge the lightweights, with Jo Bates on the middleweights and Paul Cook taking the heavyweights.
“The format is a great crowd pleaser and that can only be good for showing,” says Jo. “I have seen how well it works at Dublin Show and it’s great that judges have the opportunity of riding every horse before joining the final discussion.”
According to David Ingle, it was the sheer weight of numbers for one ride judge to cope with and a wish to improve spectator engagement that prompted the change.
“Roger and I have both judged at Dublin and we saw how well the format worked there,” explains David.
Jayne Ross, hunter champion and overall supreme horse on the winning lightweight Time 2 Reflect for the past two years, agrees.
“The crowd at Hickstead tends to be very knowledgeable and this format gives them something more to watch and understand better how horses are placed.”