A lot has happened in the past month, as Funnee and I continue to plug away at our training and prepare for the Thoroughbred Makeover. All of this year’s Makeover trainers were required to lock in their discipline choices in early August. For those unfamiliar with the competition, all trainers are able to choose a primary discipline to focus on with their horses. Riders may add a second discipline if they so choose.

The author and Funnee. (Kim McGann photo)

There are approximately 10 disciplines to select from, and trainers may choose a discipline that they are familiar with or a discipline where they think their horse will shine. Or, they can completely wing it! Options range from show hunters to polo, from dressage to competitive trail, from show jumpers to barrel racing. There is something for every rider at the Makeover.

Funnee and I have selected dressage and field hunters as our focused disciplines. Since the mare is only 3, I didn’t want to put a ton of pressure on her to jump full 2’6” courses (yet). We have been working on getting her flat work solid and going on many off-property adventures. We recently had a lovely dressage lesson with trainer Susan Gilson, and have been slowly ramping up our hunting schedule. I am a member of the Genesee Valley Hunt and have enjoyed three seasons of hunting to the hounds. There is nothing quite like waking up on a Saturday morning, joining the hounds and field to hunt, and watching the sunrise and the mist roll off the country hills.

At the writing of this blog, Funnee has been out hunting during our informal/cubbing season a total of six times. We have predominantly ridden in the back, in second or third flight. She has been very good about working alongside the hounds, standing for checks and crossing ditches/roads/streams. She is happy to follow the field over any small obstacles in our path, although we haven’t jumped any large coops (yet).

Funnee has had a few more “exciting” hunting experiences:

• A friend of ours separated from her horse and broke her ankle. Funnee had to be patient and to help the small group of us pony her out of the woods and back to our horse trailers.
• About an hour into one of our hunts, Funnee pulled a shoe. Luckily, we were close enough to home that we were able to hack back – but we had to leave the group and venture home all by ourselves.
• One of our fixtures involves crossing railroad tracks. Because the tracks are older/have wooden rail ties, when our group crossed we were attacked by ground bees!

Hunting offers something different (and exciting) every day. There have been hunts where we have ended up behind a golf course, in a local residential neighborhood, or on a coyote run for 10+ miles.

Kim McGann photo

Sometimes, I feel like field hunters is an underrated discipline. Many riders aren’t necessarily familiar with the skills that make a horse successful out hunting. A good field hunter must be bold and brave enough to gallop and jump through the countryside, but level-headed enough to come back and stand for checks, and not to get rattled by distractions in the field. A good hunter is generally unphased by chaos and needs to show the characteristics of horses from many disciplines. They must navigate gates and other competitive trail-type tests. They must be bold and brave over coops and logs like an eventer. And they must be handy to a fence on a short sight line, like a jumper.

The field hunter format at the Thoroughbred Makeover involves three phases. There is an under-saddle portion, which is judged similarly to the under-saddle/flat class at a hunter show. Then, there is an individual test. This is similar to a hunt master’s test. The horse/rider combination may be asked to jump a short course, open and close a gate, mount and dismount quietly, drop a rail to a fence and trot the obstacle and cross ditches, water, etc. Finally, there is a mock hunt, complete with staff and hounds. These three phases do a good job of evaluating a horse to determine if he/she will be a well-rounded field hunter.

As the Makeover draws closer, I am becoming both excited and nervous for the event. Travel arrangements have been made, our Airbnb is booked and our disciplines have been selected. Now, we have a little less than two months to focus on the details and bring everything together. We are turning toward the homestretch!