Shows that don't set jumps as high as "advertised".

My mare is showing for the first time this year. She's 8, and I intended to start her showing last year but due to lameness, she was off for most of the season. This year she's doing better than ever, sound and happy and we're going!

We will be in the green horse division at a local show circuit. The first show we're just doing the flat class to give her the first experience without too much pressure, but I intend to start the over fences later. They're supposed to be 18" verticals...

I was under the impression we'd be doing a normal course of them. I found out that it's outside line to outside single and in the pictures from that circuit, they're not even 12" by the looks of it.

I'm only new to hunter jumpers...so this seems like a silly question...does anybody else show where they do this? Even the 2' and 2'3" classes don't look high as they should be. It's kind of disappointing!

I do believe most jumping shows advertise only "maximum" height. So if you're in a 2'6" class, that could mean only 2 jumps are actually 2'6" and the rest may be anywhere between 2' and 2'6".

In my experience the very first jump is set lower than the max..and then the rest will be at height or in between. With only a three jump course I would guess only one will actually be at the max height.

When I first started showing, bak in the early 80s, if a class was advertised at 2'6 then all the jumps were 2'6. As time has gone on I have seen more of these types of courses where there is a range of heights going to the max. Trainers I have spoken with have indicated the shows do this as a safety idea...allowing a horse to "warm-up" over the earlier parts of the course.

I understand the concept with the 2' and ups, but an 18" class? From what I heard from the girls at my barn, it's not just the first jump.

The judge determines the jumps. The horse will be judged on form with a nice arabasque, not height.

Unless you are showing the "AA"s you probably aren't going to come in contact with many "full sized" courses. When I show my pony I actually pick shows that DO set the jumps to max height because that's what I want to do, or DON'T set all the jumps to max height because we're working on showing a bigger level. There's only one "C" show in my area that I know of that sets their jumps at maximum all the way around (height and width) and it's about an hour away from me. Other than that you pretty much have to go to "A" and "AA" shows.

I think a lot of the time schooling shows do this because they're considering the fact that many people may not realize that you should be schooling higher at home than you're showing, so they just drop the height to make it "safe" for everyone.

As an active member in most of our local shows, if you want to make a difference in your circuit and make sure jumps are as should be be active in the club, help set jumps when you can, etc. We have to volunteer a certain number of hours, so each show daughter and I go to we help set jumps, measure and walk out courses, work gates etc. Even if they are schooling they need to be standard.
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Here, it depends on the professional course builders. Some of them make really easy, average sized courses. Others make some courses that have a difficult ride AND max sized jumps. It's not a 'let's make the jumps really small, or the course really easy' comity. For us, I know they get in professional builders, no matter the level of the show.

Interesting! Our trainer is the eventing chair for our local club and course designer for our local shows. Now mind you, I mean local local, we have tons of schooling and recognized shows within 20 miles of my house yearly.
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Huh. Where I show, the jumps are always waaay bigger than they're supposed to be. At least in the horse ring. I did a 2'6 division and most of the jumps had to be pushing 2'9.