On Feb. 29 the U.S. Equestrian Federation Board of Directors passed three extraordinary rule changes and one standard rule change affecting United States Hunter Jumper Association competitions. The extraordinary rule changes will help maintain fairness of play in the equitation arena, and the other rule will broaden the Association’s ability to provide competitive opportunities within the Outreach competition environment.
Additionally, on March 24, the USEF President approved a Presidental Modification effective May 1, 2016-April 1 2017 that says competitions using the California Split for sections that allow individual classes to be entered, including the performance and high performance hunters as well as unrated sections, will not be required to split under saddle classes with fewer than 30 entries in order to award multiple championships.
Two of the extraordinary rule changes approved in February, EQ110.5 (Tracking #013-16) and EQ110.8 (Tracking #014-16) increase the limit set on US Hunter Seat Medal and ASPCA Maclay Horsemanship qualifying classes respectively from 12, as approved in January by the USEF Board of Directors, to 14. The USHJA Executive Committee proposed this extraordinary change to both rules to due to the “possibility that some members might be disadvantaged by limiting the nuber of times a junior rider could compete in the US Hunter Seat medal qualifying class. The Committee felt that increasing the limit to 14 classes provided ore flexibility, further leveled the playing field, and decreased the likelihood of negative unintended consequences that might results with a limit of 12 classes.”
“Limiting the number of Medal and Maclay classes in which a rider can compete after qualifying for either the regional or national finals has been under discussion for several years,” said USHJA National Vice President and chair of the equitation task force, Geoff Teall. “This fall the concept to limit the number of total classes to 12 gained popularity among members at the USHJA Annual Meeting and those on the equitation task force, and ultimately the change was approved by the USHJA and USEF. After additional analysis and discussion since that change was approved, we believe the extraordinary rule change to increase that number to 14 will further promote fairness for all those competing in these classes and allow for a more seamless transition as this rule takes effect.”
The other extraordinary rule change, EQ105.6 (Tracking #012-16), which was originally approved in January, aligns the effective date with the qualifying period for the Medal and Maclay, now Sept. 1, 2016 instead of Dec. 1, 2016. That rule recommends riders use “stainless steel stirrup irons that promote proper position of the foot in the iron as well as a correct leg position.” Further the rule recommends stirrup irons provide judges with a “clear and unobstructed view of the position of the foot in the stirrup.” However, unlike the current rule which mandates elimination for use of stirrups other than silver or non-colored stainless steel, this new rule states “judges may not eliminate a rider for using a particular style of stirrup iron.”
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GR902.3 (Tracking #309-15), which was referred to the February meeting from the January USEF Board of Directors meeting, clarifies and enhances the definition of a USHJA outreach competition in order to broaden the potential for sport growth. Under the new rule, effective Dec. 1, 2016 USHJA Outreach competitions can take place on either one competition day or over multiple competition days with a maximum of two competition rings (one hunter and one jumper) per day. A companion rule GR 305.1 (Tracking #299-15) is in the approval process and is expected to be approved as a clarification during the April 25th USEF Board Meeting.
“Sport growth is such an important concept to the USHJA and the outreach rules definitely speak to growing our sport at the base of the sport pyramid,” said the Vice President of Hunter Programs, Mary Babick. “The approval of these rules harnessed with the changes made to the USHJA’s outreach program should stimulate this area of the sport.”
Extraordinary rule changes are rules that bypass the traditional rule change process because they would cause a severe hardship or gross unfairness to the Federation, its members or their horses, its licensed competitions, or its recognized affiliate associations, if they were not implemented sooner than the traditional time line allows.
To see each of the individual rule changes in full, visit the USHJA website.
