Judging Hunters and Hunter Seat Equitation

Your key to success in the hunter and equitation ring, from one of the sport’s classic judges and competitors, completely revised for today’s rider.

Revised and updated with the most current USEF rules and tests, Judging Hunters and Hunter Seat Equitation is the world’s favorite book on how to judge hunter show competitions, and understand exactly how they are judged. This must-have resource gives anyone competing in or judging hunter or equitation classes the edge, with professionally reviewed and approved sections that examine:

• Conformation: structural composition; physical defects versus blemishes.
• Hunters Under Saddle and Over Fences: length of stride, frame, and straightness; rhythm, transitions, impulsion, and bending; locomotion and form faults; honest and dishonest horses.
• Equitation on the Flat and Over Fences: rider position; cadence, collection, and lengthening; approaching fences and in the air; USEF tests.

Written with both the aspiring judge and the avid competitor in mind, the book offers invaluable explanations of what judges look for as well as the training methods necessary to accomplish the desired results. More than 100 color photographs with top equestrians in the tack demonstrate correct and incorrect positions in both horses and riders, sharpening the reader’s eyes while also providing an unparalleled foundation of knowledge that makes self-correction in the saddle possible. In addition, readers will find a primer on both understanding and completing the Judge’s Card, with explanations of numerical scoring, terminology, abbreviations, symbols, comments, and general impressions. This remarkably complete two-in-one reference can be the difference in your success, whether in the ring or in the judge’s box.

Anna Jane White-Mullin began riding when she was five years old, and was ＂discovered＂ by George Morris when she was eleven years old. Competing in major horse shows on the East Coast, Ms. White-Mullin won junior hunter and equitation championships at many noteworthy shows, including Ox Ridge, Fairfield, Harrisburg, Washington, Madison Square Garden, and the Florida Circuit shows. In 1971, coached by Ronnie Mutch, she won the Alfred B. Maclay Finals on her horse, Rivet, and was awarded a gold medal for winning twenty USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Classes.

After graduating from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Ms. White-Mullin continued her equestrian activities as a Registered (Big ＂R＂) judge in the hunter, hunter seat equitation, and jumper divisions. In 1986, she was a panelist at U.S. Equestrian’s Hunter Seat Equitation Judges Clinic in San Francisco, presenting a slide show based on her book, Judging Hunters and Hunter Seat Equitation. Subsequently, these slides were added to the permanent files of U.S. Equestrian. She is also the author of Winning: A Training and Showing Guide for Hunter Seat Riders and The Complete Guide to Hunter Seat Training, Showing, and Judging.