To all the showjumpers

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sam_

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Is anyone getting fed up of all these potential or actual changes to BS? Sorry if this has been brought up before but all I'm seeing on fb UKSJ Forum page is people complaining about the changes and rightly so!
I don't think BS actually know what they are doing! It's so frustrating and I cant seem to keep up with it all!

Sorry for the rant! What do other people think of the proposed changes, I think the one that bothers me the most is the whole changing foxhunter to an age class, not everyone is in the position to have a 6/7 year old jumping fox's!
 
Think that change is crazy. My new girl will be out and about in around 3 months. Fox would be where we were aiming in the autumn.
Think I will give BS a miss and just go cashjumping.
 
It's really questioned my decision to actually register the daughter (just moved up to seniors). Shes always aimed for Fox. She did when on ponies, which took a long time & that's what she's aiming for now. The horse is a green 6yr old (6 this time) that was started late but has bags of potential. I'm sure she will get there but not for a few years yet. But, It's looking like not at all if the age rule comes in. I really don't see the point. They have age classes so why spoil a good, old school class that us ordinary folk can have aims at jumping. It really feels like they are trying to push out us 1 horse amateurs that are doing it for the love of the sport & not as a business.
 
I am really angry about it and think it is a stupid idea! Both the new leagues and the possibilty of changing NC and Fox to ages classes. I have been lucky enough to have a fantasit horse but he didnt start jumping until age 9 so we went through the grades and did all the 2nd rounds for experience, he is now out of Fox but I gained so much experience being able to jump agaisnt the pros round decent 2nd round tracks. If they change it to age classes then it doesn't give us amateurs any hope really!

As for the new leagues it is stupid what do I do? Hold my horse back under 1m10 and gallop round to qualify for the final at HOYS which will be 1m10 A10 so probably 1m20/1m25 in the JO which is about our height or jump 1m15-1m25 like I do now and if somehow I manage to qualify I will have to jump 1m25 A10 at HOYS with a JO which could be up to 1m40! They have not thought this through. I think I will just jump whatever classes are on like i normally do and forget about the leagues.
 
I am not going to bother re registering BS. Following the Addington meeting & then keeping updated via the UKSJ fb page it seems the whole structure in is disarray, unless you can afford to be jumping a string of horses abroad BS aren't really interested & if you are jumping the lower classes it seems other members of BS think you should be in the riding club as you aren't worthy bla bla bla. If you do qualify for any smaller 2nd rounds in the amateur classes you soon realise that you are up against pros on grade a horses whizzing round the 1m for diesel money, so no point even trying to qualify really when the same combinations are winning the 1m, 1.10 & 1.20. We have registered for cash jumping & that seems to be the way to go.
 
I'm not defending BS but i'm sure cashjumping with have its own teething problems as well. The same people pot hunting at BS will also jump Cashjumping to win the money. I do hope Cashjumping takes off it is a great alternative or could compliment BS quite well. Would I be judged if I keep my horse under 1m10 in BS to try and Q HOYS but jump 1m20s and 1m30s Cashjumping??
 
Yes it does certainly look good, looks like they are planning a 2 day show in July & with the league tables you can qualify for the finals in September. I also like the idea of having to move up a level once a certain amount of prize money is won, should stop the same combinations continually jumping round the little classes & cleaning up. My BS membership is still valid, but as I said I doubt I will bother to re register when there are cheaper alternatives without all the unrest.
 
It is all a total shambles! Who on earth is putting these ideas forward!?

At the end of the day the ones that make up the bulk of the membership and therefore the main source of memebership fee income are the amateurs/one horse/weekend riders - so why do they seem to keep going against everything that we are shouting for!

Arena UK just cancelled their premier show due to lack of entries - the main reason that cropped up is because they were not also running a NC!

I have a rising 4yr old, who will be starting BS this year at some point WHEN SHE IS READY. I am not a professional, I do not want to compete my horse in age classes. I want to choose the rate at which she progresses, I certainly don't want to feel as though she 'should' be jumping a certain class/height at a certain time. She is my ONLY horse so I will be very careful to produce her correctly within our own timescale. I'm not a pro, I do not have the wish nor do I have the ability/time to produce a horse to jump 1.10m by their 4yr old year (a lot of these horses still actually being 3yrs old at the time of the final!!!!!) if I don't want to jump NC/Fox until she is 10 years old then I should blinking well have the choice!

Still undecided about the whole cashjumping saga. I have registered, but I do like the fact that everything is recorded with BS - it puts value on the horse and is fully recognised. I like the fact that you can qualify for different finals and stay away at shows.
 
Its always been my ambition/goal to jump a fox, my horse is 8 and broken so if they change the classes thats never going to happen on this horse. He may well not have the scope (think he has, its me who is questionable!) but the class was accessible to people like me, complete amateurs. I work full time, own one horse and on limited funds. Fox isnt beyond the realms of possibility in those circumstances but changing them to ages classes makes it even harder than when you have just got a winnings limit.
As for the leagues, I dont know much about them. Although the thought of jumping A10 with it going up to 1.25m in a jo doesnt fill me with joy, nor does racing round to try and qualify in the first place.
I have no idea when i will be even able to ride mine again let alone jump so im pretty uninterested, i should be as it will probably affect me at some point but im finding more and more that jumping aff its what it used to be...
 
It is one of the stupidest ideas I have heard for a long time. I am never out of the money for NC but also never stand a chance in opens.
 
Sorry i'm a bit behind on all this - are these rule changes definitely happening? If so, i agree its totally stupid. My aspiration is to jump a foxhunter but its never going to happen if they make it an age class.
 
I dont showjump to any great height and not aff, but even i can tell that is the most rediculous rule change ever - having spent a fair few afternoons waiting for the fox classes to acctually start when i was grooming, if you limited the fox entries to an age class they would be practically empty! there wasnt generally that many in the any way especially week day shows - and a few more at weekends - but the percentage of the horses jumping the classes who would be of the 'correct' age was minimal!
 
Reading all your replies I'm glad to see you are all in agreement it's utterly stupid what they are proposing to do! Surely some of the reps read what's happening on social media and realise that what they are doing is ridiculous and what they are doing is just losing out on buisness because as someone pointed out most of the membership is made up your amateur/weekend one horse riders!

I really hope it doesn't come about I have an 8yo in fox still and I am aiming for 2nd rounds this year and if this happens, then what do I do?

The cashjumping does seem to be what a lot of people are leaning towards now and it seems a great idea but I really hope BS takes there heads out of there a***s and listen to its members/supporters and scrap the idea of at least changing NC/Fox to age classes and I think if they are going to do leagues they need to make sure it's properly thought out to benefit everyone and not just the pros!
 
I agree to what everyone else is saying, it is a completely RIDICULOUS idea to make Fox and NC age classes.......the BS will lose a dramatic amount of members and shows will have barely any entered in their classes if they do go through with the changes..

Do they not realise that its the amateurs with only one or two horses competing at weekends who have full time jobs that are supporting the BS system?!? Idiots..

I am currently only competing at Disc, and am moving my way up slowly to maybe do some 1m05's in a couple of months and then at the end of the summer aim for NC. But if they change it to be an age class I wont be able to do it.... its so ridiculous.

Why can't they just keep the age classes as age classes, and keep BN/Disc/NC/Fox as normal classes with notional winning limits to control the entrants??

The BS committee have lost all their sense if you ask me...
 
claire_p2001 said:
I'm not defending BS but i'm sure cashjumping with have its own teething problems as well. The same people pot hunting at BS will also jump Cashjumping to win the money. I do hope Cashjumping takes off it is a great alternative or could compliment BS quite well. Would I be judged if I keep my horse under 1m10 in BS to try and Q HOYS but jump 1m20s and 1m30s Cashjumping??
Click to expand...

The horse that is leading the 70cm league has won £3,400, the horse that is 2nd in the 80cm league has won £14,000 and it also won the 1m final at the Amateur Nationals - so I wouldnt worry at all about what classes you want to jump. I think it could be an alternative if you have a very good horse, or want to get experience without winning money at BS.

The new amateur leagues are a bit strange, in the bronze leauge you gain points in classes from 90cm -1.10m - however the final at HOYS starts at 1.10 so the 90 riders needn't bother going to the semi finals as you need to jump 1.25 in the JO at the Semis - but I suppose that is the same as BN. It would be nice if there was some form of recognition for where you came in the leagues.

Making the fox a 6yo class and the Newcomers a 5yo seems strange - I'm really not sure who would benefit from this. The show centres won't as they will lose entries and the riders won't - there must be a hidden agenda behind this that benefits someone. The silly thing is that when you look at the age horses that have qualified for the final historically it has been 6yo with a few at different ages, so the end result is already happening without upsetting everyone.

ETA. I wonder what effect these rules will have on their lottery funding as they are supposed to encourage grass roots and increase participation in the sport to keep it...
 
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But with CJ once you have won £500 then you have to move up a level, so compete against horses of the same level & removing the chance of pot hunting, so if these good horses are jumping in the little classes & winning, they will soon be out of them.
 
It really is a shambles!! I really hope they actually think about what they are doing at some point and realise that it's a ridiculous idea!
The members lose out and so do show venues! It's so frustrating!
 
It's ridiculous, considering we support the BS a hell of a lot with over 20 horses registered.. VERY annoyed and think it should be re-thought!!!!
 
The logic behind changing new/fox/etc to age classes is that currently, some european countries known for producing good showjumpers dont record results for horses below 1.40 unless its an FEI show, so horses are being produced to that level without a record, then they are imported to the UK as "novice" horses, as they have no record, and then clean up in "novice" classes (as the new/fox finals technically are). Obviously, for the average BS member with one or two horses who might aim to jump a foxhunter or qualify for the second rounds, with little chance of actually qualifying for the final, this isnt really an issue, but for the people who actually do qualify it seemingly is a problem. The vast majority of the horses in the finals are 6-9 years anyway, so it wont change the demographic of the final much if at all.... just alienate 90% of the membership and make them feel they have nothing to aim for.


I don't necessarily
agree with the proposals... but thats the reasoning as I understand it (from UKSJ)
 
Jo_x said:
The logic behind changing new/fox/etc to age classes is that currently, some european countries known for producing good showjumpers dont record results for horses below 1.40 unless its an FEI show, so horses are being produced to that level without a record, then they are imported to the UK as "novice" horses, as they have no record, and then clean up in "novice" classes
Click to expand...

I understand they want to stop this but why not look at the imported horses rule? The HOYS league thing is a total joke but turning new/fox into ages classes is a major step backwards.

It just seems to be sending a message to amateur and lower level riders that you shouldn't be jumping above 1.10
 
Miss.Geek said:
I understand they want to stop this but why not look at the imported horses rule? The HOYS league thing is a total joke but turning new/fox into ages classes is a major step backwards.

It just seems to be sending a message to amateur and lower level riders that you shouldn't be jumping above 1.10
Click to expand...

I agree with this looking at the imported horse rule would seem a far more logical approach than turning everything upside down!
It will put your weekend/amateur rider off from registering as they will have nothing to aim for!
 
But when you import a horse, it gets a certain level of winnings on its card according to its age unless you can prove otherwise...
I think changing New/Fox to age classes is a ridiculous idea. As I said in my email to the BS rep, there are already good age classes and how many N/F competitors now are riding horses of the right age if it changed? It would make them less accessible to amateurs and less popular and the show centres wouldn't run them, I think it would be very sad.
 
It is so hard to progress through age classes,as BS have recommended unless you are a professional and are jumping regularly.I prefer to give a horse time,at the smaller levels,rather than push and risk injury.We can only jump now and then due to work etc and there is no way our 7 year old,or 14 year old will be rising through the ranks.There still needs to be progression classes aimed at amateurs,in my opinion.
 
Don't forget you can only jump in age classes if your horse has full breeding papers, so horses with only half breeding or no breeding will also be out. Mine wouldn't be eligible as only her sire is on her papers even though her passport and microchip proves her age.
 
Oh no :-(( It always was my lifetime ambition to jump a Fox (got to 1 m 15 with Catembi before he got sick & died) & now I'll have to think of an alternative. I am a very true & not particularly talented amateur & would def not be able to get a youngster to that level so fast.

I am so glad that this bit of the forum exists, so that I can keep up, despite being sidelined for the foreseeable. Another one who's off to google cashjumping!

Thank you, everyone.

T x
 
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