Is my pony classed as a horse or a pony in unaff comps?

[marmalade76]

What would you do?

My new pony has a height cert for 148cm (have a feeling he could be bigger, what with all the stories you hear about folks trying to get animals to measure what they want them to measure! ) and although this is the max height for ponies in BSJA, most unaff shows split classes in hands, eg classes for ponies 14.2 and under / horses over 14.2.

Now, 148cm is half a cm over 14.2, so if, in a schedule, it states that a class is for ponies 14.2 and over, should I enter that or a class for over 14.2's?

I ask this because I entered a PC pony class at a show at the weekend, and although the schedule did not state a height, I felt out of place in the class because the other entries were all kids and I thought I would have been better off in the RC horse class.

Opinions please!

 

[Katie]

I would enter pony unless all the other ponies are really small, then horse!

 

[RuthnMeg]

be interesting to hear views on this as Iam in a similar situation. Meg is unofficially measured at 151.5 cm. (I think she is smaller). Against the horses we are almost too small, but almost too big to be a pony! I never know what is best.

 

[DuckToller]

It depends on your age too - if you are a young teenager, then go for pony classes, if you are older, then you might feel more comfortable competing against horses.

I have a 14.3, and our local show classed him as a horse, which worked in our favour as there were so few horses in the show jumping and he came 3rd, but would have been nowhere as a pony!

Work it to your benefit!

 

[mulledwhine]

I am just trying to soak up as much info as possible on the showing subject so please forgive me my question..

How would you know which to enter before you got to the show to know how many, children, smaller horses were entered in each group.

I showed dogs, and you would not know your competition until you got there, is this not the same with horses? or is it the case that as you get into showing your horse that you know who will be showing when and in what group?

 

[AFlapjack]

148cm I would still class as a pony but I agree with above, it depends on your age. You're lucky that you are right on the boundary so can decide which class to enter!

 

[caitlin95uk]

Well i got told the other day that with SHOES on, a pony can measure up to 15.1hh.
So has he got shoes on?

 

[Brandy]

His height cert could have been done when he was shod and due to be shod, or when he was barefoot, well trimmed and 'sleepy' shall we say Either way, he has mesaured in at that height and I would class him as a pony.

Saying that you would usually have less competition in horse classes, even if the pony classes have kids in they are often (in my area) on whizzy fab jumping ponies!

 

[marmalade76]

I am 33 and don't like the idea of pinching rosettes off little kids, I didn't think there would be such young ones in the class!

The PC pony and RC horse classes at said show did not specify a height, just horse and pony, so I think I could have done either.

His height cert is out of date now, and I would imagine that he was measured without shoes - as is the norm.

 

[spotty_pony]

I bought my boy five years ago as a 14.2. I entered him in pony classes and I did get a few comments about whether he was actually a pony as he did look big next to some of the other 14.2's. I measured him again earlier this year and found that he is actually 15 hands! He was only five when I bought him so he must have grown a bit. I now enter him horse classes because I know he is bigger than 14.2.

As your horse is actually 14.2, you have a choice really. Although, you will probably be against a lot of kids if you choose to enter in 14.2 and under. Some people say you are at a disadvantage entering a 14.2 with smaller ponies, however I never had this trouble because my boy can turn on a sixpence! It's really up to you though, there isn't really a right or wrong answer.

 

[marmalade76]

Think I'll get my stick out!