The Final Four used to be the highlight of the world show jumping championships. It offered suspenseful moments when the top four riders would jump the last course of the show, then return on their rivals’ mounts and take the fences three more times to determine the placings.
In the era when Final Four competition was most intriguing, the horses usually were quite different from each other. As such, they presented a challenge to the riders. At the 1982 championships in Dublin, for instance, I remember the compact Brit, Malcolm Pyrah, climbing aboard Fire, the massive warmblood ridden by Germany’s Norbert Koof, and realizing his hopes were done for on that mountain of an animal. Norbert wound up as world champion; Malcolm settled for second place
Back before bloodlines became increasingly mix and match, horses from each nation often represented a distinctive look and required a particular approach that varied by country. Seeing how riders of different backgrounds coped and adjusted to each horse often revealed great equestrian insight as well as luck, But times change, and when show jumpers regularly began selling for seven figures, it seemed the wisest course was to let them dance only with the rider who brung them (to slightly revise a quaint expression).
At the 2014 show jumping world championships, Beezie Madden and Robert Ridland watched as Patrice Delaveau rode Beezie’s mount, Cortes C.
Thus the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy,. France, was the last time for the show jumping Final Four, with a former Olympic champion, Jeroen Dubbeldam of the Netherlands, taking the honors.
There was excitement at the last Final Four show jumping presentation in 2014, where Jeroen Dubbeldam won, France’s Patrice Delaveau was second and Beezie Madden claimed bronze. (Photo © 2014 by Nancy Jaffer)
Some had derisively deemed it the world catch-riding championship, which really isn’t the point. And it was felt by many that these horses didn’t need to jump three extra rounds after nearly a week that included team competition, as well as individual efforts.
But the Final Four concept lived on for 11 more years (with much smaller fences) at the Platinum Performance/U.S. Equestrian Federation Show Jumping Talent Search Finals, in both the East and West venues.
After the flat phase, gymnastics and jumping a course, the four highest-scoring riders would jump a shorter course to determine the final placings, which weren’t decided until each rider had finished the route on the others’ horses — just like the world championships format.
There were challenges for the Talent Search competitors with that approach, but as the years passed and the Juniors and Young Riders involved became ever-more skilled, the ride-off usually boiled down to fine points (though not always; refusals and other mishaps were not unknown).
The Talent Search began in 1982 with the idea of developing riders who could someday represent the U.S. on international teams. It had many memorable winners who went on to do that, including McLain Ward (1990) and Brianne Goutal (2004) in the East and in the West, Meredith Michaels (1986, though she eventually rode for Germany) and Skylar Wireman (2020), who is on the League of Nations squad in Abu Dhabi next week.
The Talent Search has been through many iterations over the years (at one point it was run on a grand prix field with a grob and a bank at the U.S. Equestrian Team’s Gladstone headquarters). But the biggest change is coming this autumn, when the Final Four will be no more. The changes were made with recommendations from the USEF’s Talent Search task force, sent on to the show jumping committee (chaired by Beezie Madden, who coincidentally rode in the 2014 world show jumping championships’ Final Four.)
USEF Youth Chef D’Equipe DiAnn Langer, an advisor to the task force, noted eliminating the Final Four also is a horse welfare issue. As she pointed out, in the era of social license to operate, having the horses jump four rounds instead of one in the final phase could be interpreted as asking too much of them.
Word came out this week that the Talent Search Final Four is being replaced by a different test for the top 10. The first three phases will remain pretty much the same (the flatwork will involve a minimum of eight movements to be performed in two and one-half minutes before going on to gymnastics) and all competitors will jump a course in the third segment.
Explaining the decision to do away with the Final Four, USEF Managing Director of Show Jumping Lizzy Chesson said the competition “is an important part of the jumping pathway.”
She added that those offering input for the change were “making sure it (the Talent Search) stays relevant to where the sport is gong at the top level and keeping it fresh and exciting,”
Dropping the Final Four in favor of a test for the top 10 came because “we were trying to make it a jumping final mixed with equitation,” Lizzy said.
Now the final phase will be a modified winning round format on the clock, held over a shortened 1.15-meter course.
“Judges will evaluate athletes’ ability to combine speed with short turns, accuracy, efficient track selection, and control, while maintaining classical riding principles and showcasing the horse’s ability to jump clear,” the specifications state.
Each rail down will result in a 4-point deduction, but time and faults will not be the sole determining factors.
“Time has become far more critical in jumping,” Lizzy pointed out. A 2022 rule change that involved going from one time penalty added for every four seconds commenced over the time allowed, to one penalty for every second commenced, has made a big difference. And in League of Nations competition, she noted, ties in jumping faults are broken by the time taken on course.
News that the Final Four would be no more came as a surprise to some top trainers whose students had won the Talent Search multiple times.
In regard to how eliminating the Final Four will affect the Talent Search, Stacia Madden said, “I think it makes it much more like any other competition.
Stacia, who trained 2024 Talent Search East winner Taylor Cawley, observed, “I think the Final Four was one of the real goals and objectives of the kids. It was a very unique format. It was such a level playing field. It’s not like Washington (the Washington International Horse Show Equitation Finals) where the draw of the horse really plays into it. Sometimes that can be a real game-changer.”
The 2024 Talent Search East winner Taylor Cawley with her mother, Molly Ashe Cawley, and trainer Stacia Madden.
In the Washington, the riders who switch off their mount ride only one other horse, and if that horse happened to be quirky, there were no other chances, the way there were in the Final Four.
“When you had to ride all the different horses (in the Final Four) it was a very level playing field, I thought,” Stacia commented.
She added, “I was not privy to any of the conversations to know why this was changed. Nobody had asked my opinion, which was fine, but I was just a little bit surprised that I didn’t hear anything about it beforehand.”
Eleanor Rudnicki jumping in the 2025 Talent Search Finals East.
Trainer Missy Clark, who coached the Talent Search East’s 2025 winner, Eleanor Rudnicki, noted, “There’s two sides to every coin,” but added, “when the World Equestrian Games eliminated the (show jumping) Final Four, I can’t disagree with that. It was great while it happened.”
The presentation for the 2025 Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals East.
In terms of dropping the Final Four in both the world championships and the Talent Search, however, she noted, “I think it’s a better format for today’s world.”
Missy believes it’s better for the horses too, “it’s not so much jumping in one day for them. I support the decision.”
Andre Dignelli, a trainer who won the class himself in 1985 when he was a young rider, said of the decision to drop the Final Four, “I think initially it’s going to be a shock, because a lot of kids, as they’re growing up, probably dream of riding in the top four. That’s what made those finals different.”
At first, he commented, “it’s going to feel like a loss, but I think if they do it right, it’s going to be okay. Your ability to ride a jump-off smoothly is basically going to be the winner. You’ll probably see more kids that are in the lead stay in the lead, you probably won’t see as much jumbling around.”
Andre pointed out, “I think it will probably work and in the end, I think it’s probably a good thing.”
He noted that many of the horses have more demands on them after the Talent Search because they will going on to other finals in the ensuing weeks. At the same time, Andre did mention that “the Final Four gave those kids that were really, really good riders who had ridden a lot of different horses, but didn’t have the one famous horse, the opportunity to maybe out-ride the other kids.”
In his case, he said, “Once I was given the opportunity it gave me a shot at winning.”
Taylor Cawley, the 2024 Talent Search East winner, said that for her and the other three who made it to the last phase that year, participating in the Final Four was important.
“That was my favorite part of my entire equitation career, the finals and the final four switch,” said Taylor, who also won the ASPCA Maclay finals at the National Horse Show..
At the Talent Search, she said, “I feel like that was where I learned so much, from riding the other riders’ horses and watching the other riders, then kind of getting to feel it out on your own. The other riders, all four of us, that was our goal. that was what we looked forward to.”
Taylor’s mother, trainer and grand prix rider Molly Ashe Cawley, was second in the Talent Search herself in 1987 and her brother, Neil Ashe, won the class in 1986. Molly, who also had been a Talent Search judge in the past, was nostalgic about the Final Four.
“I think it’s probably nicer to the horses to do one more round, instead of four,” she conceded.
“But the Final Four, that was something. Now it’s feeling like another equitation final.”