How do you select fences and courses for Working Hunter schooling sessions?

Selecting appropriate fences and course configurations for Working Hunter schooling is important for developing the specific skills the class requires without creating problems through inappropriate difficulty or repetition. Working Hunter fences should look natural and solid, and schooling should include regular exposure to the types of fences the horse will encounter in competition — brush, logs, gates, and other natural-looking obstacles. Schooling exclusively over colored show jumping poles does not prepare the horse for the visual experience of natural fences in competition, and horses that have only seen poles will frequently hesitate or jump awkwardly the first time they encounter brush or logs at a competitive setting. Course configurations for Working Hunter schooling should reflect the bending lines, long approaches, and related distances typical of Working Hunter courses. Long approaches to single fences develop the horse's ability to maintain pace and rhythm over a distance before a fence. Bending lines between fences develop the horse's adjustability and the rider's ability to find correct distances on a curve. Related distances — two fences set a specific number of strides apart — develop the horse's ability to maintain rhythm and adjust stride within a line. Schooling sessions should vary between gridwork, which develops technique and rhythm, and course work, which develops the ability to string multiple fences together correctly. Keeping jumping sessions to a manageable number of efforts per session — rather than jumping everything in the arena repeatedly — maintains the horse's enthusiasm and protects its physical condition. Ending each jumping session after a particularly good effort reinforces the horse's positive association with the work and preserves the boldness and confidence that Working Hunter rewards.