A hunter pace is a trail ride that is typically 6 to 8 miles. Competitive participants who want to win must pace their ride to in an attempt to hit an “optimal time” set by ride organizers.
Often ride organizers will set a few different “optimal pace times” – a fast pace, medium, and slow.
- “Fast” – minimal walk, mostly trot and canter, and some hand gallop. Commonly called “field hunter” pace.
- “Medium” – lots of trotting and cantering, this level is great for gaited horses. Usually not much walking or hand galloping.
- “Slow” – lots of walking and trotting. Maybe a tiny bit of cantering but no hand gallop. Commonly called “Hilltoppers” pace.
The hunter pace originated from foxhunting. That’s where the “field hunter” and “hilltopper” names came from. In foxhunting a field hunter follows the hounds as they chase the prey while a hilltopper enjoys riding, but at a slower pace and usually the hilltoppers do a fair amount of socializing as they ride from hilltop to hilltop in an attempt to view the prey.
Optimal Pace time – What is it? AKA How do we “WIN”?
The pace time is the ideal time to safely but quickly ride the set trail.
To be competitive, you must get as close to that ideal or optimal pace time as possible, but not too fast. The trick is that the ride organizers DON’T TELL YOU what the optimal time is for each level.
Competitors go out in pairs or groups up to 4 – Each group or pair of riders is timed. The first checkpoint at the trail head/end will record your time of departure and arrival. There will be checkpoints along way to ensure that riders are staying on course and aren’t overworking their horses. Riders are penalized for either riding too fast and beating the pace time, or too slow and taking longer than the pace time. The group or pair to come closest to the ideal pace time wins the competition, whether over or under the “pace” time.