Randy Roy is a senior international judge, course designer and author. He answers a variety of competitors’ questions in his column.

When a hunter division is combined, do you give bonus points to a horse that has to jump the higher height?

No, not really, but if I have equal performances I might be inclined to reward the horse having to jump the higher height.

A rider starts the hunter course with a grand tour of the ring at a trot, and then picks up the wrong lead, breaks back to trot, does a circle, and then departs at the canter. How do you score that?

This is a false start that I would consider a major fault. The rider should have fixed the lead, then gone on to the jump. No more circles.

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