I read Piper Klemms article about the Pony Jumpers and she’s right we need change.
(Link here: https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2023/08/22/what-if-there-were-small-medium-large-pony-jumpers/)
But, as a Pony Finals Alumni and Hunter/Jumper Trainer the reason we only had 9 riders isn’t the format.
First let’s clarify 2 things:
Pony Finals has and always will be centered around the hunters. It’s where the money is, I get it. When I went the only livestream for the jumpers was the Team Final and Individual Final. Hunters had every class, if that doesn’t show the favoritism in the US I don't know what does.
Pony Finals is supposed to be a stepping stone for riders. It helps to identify riders and keep them going to NAJRC and then to NAYRC. Because you had to work to qualify on the point system it showed who was a good rider, a consistent rider, and who could get the most out of their pony.
I went in 2013, probably one of the last few good years. I got a pony in February and had until July 1st to Qualify. I had only been riding for 3 years and had done 1 other show prior to getting my pony. Back then there were 12 ponies in zone 7. This year there were 0.
In 2013, there were 44 ponies in total. The Individual final had 21. This year, 9 ponies went. 3 ponies made it to the Individual Final. 2 ponies went clear the whole time. 3 ponies didn’t finish. These stats are 10 years apart, isn’t that a red flag?
Now we don’t need to put kids on ponies that are going to dump them for every mistake or are dangerous. But ponies can’t haul a kid around 1.15m they can barely haul them around 1.05m. If you watched Pony Finals over the last few years you could tell the jumps are getting smaller. The courses are getting easier. Honestly, the riding is getting worse.
We don’t need to separate the ponies into different height categories. We don’t need to lower the height to .75m.
We need to teach kids to ride again.
How do we fix it?
Yes, Piper is right we need to make a pipeline for pony jumpers.
We need to make smaller jumper classes for kids to learn to ride like a jumper, turn like a jumper, and go fast (safely) as a jumper. We're already seeing this emerge with the Crossrail jumpers and the growing .65m and .75m classes. So, we're heading in the right direction!
As for the ponies, we do need to split ponies by height to make the lines and combinations better and less of a confidence wreck for riders and their mounts. But, they should still be held to jump at the same height. Lower the height to 1.0m, it really doesn't matter!
Now here’s the part y’all won’t like.
Small ponies have no business being in Pony Jumper Finals. They should do the .65/.75m jumpers where there aren’t combinations and when the kids mess up they’re fine. 90% of the time if there’s a kid riding a small it shouldn’t be jumping bigger than that anyway.
There shouldn’t be a separate final for smalls to do .65m/.75m. It feeds into the climbing fees that make the horse world so expensive already! The only people who can afford to have their kid qualify on a small pony and take it to a National Final in Kentucky are the kids who are probably already showing a small hunter pony.
Keep the 4 person teams. Keep the same format. Just make Mediums and Larges ride the same course with an adjustment for stride length. Teach kids how to ride the jumpers properly. Because of the way it’s going, the US is about to have a large gap in the Jumper ring. With so many kids that have been put on fancy hunter/Eq ponies & horses, no one will be able to ride technical and big courses and we’ll be left to watch as the price of nice jumpers sky rocket above the hunters. We'll also have to answer another question which has been talked about a lot lately.
Who will be left to train the next generation of horses and their riders?
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