Qualifying for HOYS SJ-- advice please

[LittleRooketRider]

My new girl (Roo- 6yo) is quite green(ie flatwork and XC needs a lot of work plus some SJ basics eg. gridwork/bounces/jumping out of trot), however she is very scopey andhas done a lot of SJ up to and including 1.10 classes (BSJA). i got her in October and having though about targets, I'm thinking I would like to try and qualify for the bronze league thingy at HOYS 2015 (probably a tad overambitious) (figured 90-1.10 classes would allow me to establish partenership/and improve her basic training without wasting my time). I have never registered BSJA before, but have competed up to high levels unaffiliated.

Now given that I'm in my last year of Alevels (finally, ao would be able to compete a bit Jnauary-March (with a lot of weedling ) and the probably not again till late June/July is it worth me registering in January (2015) and is there any chance of me coming close to qualifying for the semis or will the people qualifying be out every weekend throughout the year and winning every time??

The next year I would like to try and progress to foxhunters (silver?)


Other aims are to get a lot of XC schooling andconfidence under our belts plus do some unaffiliated ODEs before going BE in 2016 (Wow thats a scary thought, 2016!) But generally going with the flow

Do you think these are realistic targets?

 

[ljohnsonsj]

I've had a year out of BS to produce youngsters, but someone will correct me if i'm wrong, i think The leauges are about accumulating points for the semi's then the top however many qualify for hoys from the regional semis. So if that is right the people who are out the most accumulating the most points will go forwards to the semis ( so it would seem!)

 

[LittleRooketRider]

I thought it might...worried about both wasting a year just carrying on doing the same comps as always (where the course standard isn't great) and wasting money going affiliated because I don' make use of it.

I was wondering if the points scored made it impossible to catch up at all I suppose?

 

[dianchi]

Wouldn't aim for the league as its consistency and points that you need.

At the height you are looking at Amateurs would be a good bet (top 6 in a one off qualifier for second rounds, then top six in 2nd rounds),
Scope and Blue chip- one off classes to qualify.

Then you could go for HOYS leagues the year after

 

[Zerotolerance]

The exact format of the leagues and qualification for HOYS has not yet been confirmed by BS - but is likely to be similar to last year. Therefore the qualifying period will probably be from April, so any results you got Jan-Mar wouldn't count anyway. To win one of the leagues you'd have to win or be placed pretty much every week. There was one person who we calculated had jumped her horse over approx 1,000 - 2,000 fences (inc warm up jumps) in 1 month alone by competing 4-5 days/week, 2-3 classes per day. For me this raises horse welfare issues and is not something I would even contemplate with any of mine. However it does depend which area of the country you live in. For example, one of mine was competed in the South by someone who has their BS home address in Scotland and with a bit of effort we could easily have got into the top 15 by competing in the south where there are plenty of shows, but being on a Scottish league.
The alternative (if it remains the same in 2015) was to go to a direct qualifier for the semi finals. These had quite a lot of entries and you had to go like a bat out of hell to qualify.
I would suggest keeping an eye on the BS website for updates and rule changes, or the UKSJ page on facebook if you use that.
An alternative could be to try and qualify for the Amateur Championships held at Aintree in November. It's a lot more achievable and is just the best show - fantastic facilities in a historic setting run by the most efficient and friendly team anywhere!

 

[Zerotolerance]

Just to add with the Amateurs - 2015 is the last year where to qualify for 2nd rounds you need to come in top 6 in just 1x 1st round qualifier, then in the top 12 (not 6 as someone else said in an earlier post) in a 2nd round competition. In both you must jump clear in the first round (If 1st round is run single phase, clear over the whole course - 2nd rounds are always A7 & drawn order).

From Sept 2015 this will be changing to needing 4 x double clears in the 1st rounds instead.
As Amateur classes are not always easy to find in some areas, hopefully this will increase the demand and more shows will put them on.

Do keep checking the website as the rules seem to change on an almost daily basis!

 

[pigsmight:)]

I qualified for Hoys this year in the bronze legue, we jumped the direct qualifier and went about it that way. Echo what the others have said re the north/ south points devide it just isn't possible to jump at that many shows in Scotland!. There is no harm in aiming for something and I never thought I would qualify, best of luck

 

[LittleRooketRider]

Thank You all..I never even knew the amateur champs existed. I have never done affiliated before due to lack of funds and knowledge which makes it more expensive and increases the risk ofmessing up. At the risk of sounding up my own @rse I feel I've progressed beyond the half-hearted constructions of most of the unaffiliated competitions round here and I also like to have something to aim for.

Pigsmight I think I remeber your post...its what first got me thinking avbout what my target would be

It looks like I'll be on the lookout for a direct qualifier