USHJA On Course Episode 38

USHJA: Welcome back to USHJA On Course! We’re wrapping up our Rider to Rider series with a special conversation connecting the next generation with one of the sport’s top professionals.

In this episode, Jasper Bloomberg sits down with Hunt Tosh. Jasper, the son of Grand Prix rider Georgina Bloomberg, has already made a name for himself in the Pony divisions and is now building his Jumper career. He recently won the Style Award while placing eighth individually at the 2025 Pony Jumper National Championships at USEF Pony Finals. Joining him is Hunt Tosh, one of the country’s top Hunter riders and a four-time winner of the Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championships. Hunt is also a two-time USEF National Equestrian of the Year and has earned numerous USEF Horse of the Year titles.

Tune in as Jasper and Hunt share their experiences, insights, and the lessons that come from growing up and riding at every level.

Jasper Bloomberg: Hello, my name is Jasper Bloomberg, and today I'll be interviewing Hunt Tosh.

Hunt Tosh: Super. Thanks, buddy.

Jasper Bloomberg: Welcome. What was your biggest achievement as a rider in your life?

Hunt Tosh: I've been lucky to have a lot of nice rounds and good, good horses, but Derby [Championships] for sure. I've been lucky enough to win it four times, So that was probably my highlight so far.

Jasper Bloomberg: If you could give any piece of advice, or let's say your most important piece of advice, to a young rider like me, what would it be?

Hunt Tosh: Be as prepared as you can when you get to the horse show, but also when you get here, I think have the confidence when you go in the ring to believe that you can achieve your goals. Stick with your plans and try to pull it off.

Jasper Bloomberg: What has been, so far, your favorite horse or pony to ride?

Hunt Tosh: I've been lucky to have some really fun ones. I would say Cold Harbor was a conformation horse of mine. He was probably my favorite so far.

Jasper Bloomberg: Mm-hmm. Do you have any lucky charms or lucky anything that you keep on you when you ride?

Hunt Tosh: I do. Maddie, my daughter, many years ago, gave me a couple little rocks, little small pebbles, I keep them in my pocket for good luck. She told me they were sparkly stone rocks. When she was about 6 years old, and I've kept them ever since. So I carry them every day with me.

Jasper Bloomberg: What has been the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you in the show ring?

Hunt Tosh: You know, with as many mistakes that I've made, there've been a lot of embarrassing things, but probably the most embarrassing moment at Capital Challenge was in the professional class. The class they have there Wednesday night. I, for some reason, thought speed was better, so I turned the corner going to the single oxer on the left leg going across the diagonal, and I chipped so bad that I probably landed trotting. And Sue Ashe was judging and I remember when I landed after the jump, I could hear her behind me laughing at me as I departed away from it. So as I cantered back by her, she had tears coming down her face. I chipped so bad.

Jasper Bloomberg: Yeah, sometimes if I mess up really bad, it would be like too bad to be disappointed, so you just start laughing.

Hunt Tosh: It was terrible. It was the worst. I thought I could see a nice hand gallop and turn the corner and keep going, and it was tragic. So all my friends bring it up or show me a picture of it or a video of it, it was pretty bad.

Jasper Bloomberg: Do you have any hidden talents we don't know about?

Hunt Tosh: You know, nothing really good. I guess riding's about the only thing I know how to do that I can pull off well, but no, nothing special.

How about you, do you have any hidden talents?

Jasper Bloomberg: My eye, according to Morgan, is really good. I can see my distance from like a mile out.

Hunt Tosh: Yeah.

Jasper Bloomberg: But sometimes that's a disadvantage to me. Because if I see a steady distance or something, I'll pull on the reins, but it would be too early. So I'll accidentally over steady and then…

Hunt Tosh: Fit too many in. Yeah, we've all done that for sure.

Jasper Bloomberg: Yeah. Especially with a pony that like really brings back…

Hunt Tosh: Yeah. Gets some riding nice sometimes and then they slow down too much. Right?

Jasper Bloomberg: Yeah. If  you weren't introduced to riding or you never liked riding, what would you be doing right now?

Hunt Tosh: Probably a landscape architect. I'm really big into trees and flowers in my farm. I like plants. Yeah. So probably something with that. Something outside for sure. I don't know if I could do an office building. How about you? What do you like to do? What are your other hobbies?

Jasper Bloomberg: I mean, I'm really into golf, kind of.

Hunt Tosh: Yeah. Are you good?

Jasper Bloomberg: I played a lot of golf. But I also play on a soccer team.

Hunt Tosh: Excellent. Very good.

Jasper Bloomberg: Now that you're old…

Hunt Tosh: Okay, yeah.

Jasper Bloomberg: I don't know if you'll be able to remember, but what was it like when you were my age? What shows were you going to and what were you doing?

Hunt Tosh: I mean, it was a really long time ago. But I definitely wasn't the level you are now. I did a lot of local shows. I did some bad ponies. You talk about your story falling off at Devon. Yeah, I fell off pretty much every day. A lot of chipping, a lot of missed lead changing. But I did local horse shows and I definitely wasn't the level you're doing now. So I did a lot of chipping, try to get all that out over with early in my career, so I don't do as much now.

Jasper Bloomberg: Yep.

Hunt Tosh: But you know, trial and error, if you make enough mistakes early on, you figure out how to not do that anymore. So it worked out for me.

Jasper Bloomberg: Yeah.

USHJA: That concludes our Rider to Rider series! Thank you to all our guests and to everyone who joined us. To watch the full conversation with Jasper and Hunt, visit ushja.org/RiderToRider, and be sure to check out the feature in the latest issue of In Stride magazine.