as heavyweights. The lightweights are horses capable 
of carrying a rider weighing 160 pounds across coun¬ 
try, while one which is able to carry 200 pounds is 
termed a heavyweight. 
The average sized horse of this type stands from 
15.2 to 16 hands and weighs around 1200 pounds. He 
is of powerful build and should have sloping shoulders 
with low points, as should all good riding horses. A 
characteristic of Hunters is that usually the hair on 
their legs is not clipped. This is to give protection 
against thickets and underbrush in a run across coun¬ 
try. Another reason is that as a horse does not sweat 
through the skin of his legs, there is no need to clip the 
hair. 
When a horse comes over a jump he does not land 
on both front feet, but on either one or the other. If 
the right fore foot touches first, it is followed by the 
left fore foot, then the right hind foot, followed by the 
left hind foot. 
Horses can jump high and far, the high jump rec¬ 
ord being 8 ft. $/i inches, while the longest jump on 
record is 39 ft. 
At a horse show the difference between a Hunter 
and a horse that is strictly a jumper is this: The 
Hunter is judged both on his conformation, or physical 
build, and on his manner of jumping and of going be¬ 
tween jumps, while the jumper is judged only on his 
ability to clear the obstacles. 
33 
