In theory, riding hunters should be an easy proposition. The jumps are natural-looking and mostly inviting, the courses are straight-forward (line diagonal, line diagonal, maybe a single?), and if you’re riding an old school master, you know he basically counts the strides for you. Swap your lead in the corner, don’t forget the last jump, and maybe throw in a closing circle for good measure. Oh, and find a few distances if you can. Sounds simple, right? WRONG.

Because if the hunters truly are the “easy” jumping discipline, why does every hunter trainer you’ve ever met sound just like this?