When should competitors speak to a judge with a question about their round? How many refusals should mean elimination in an International Hunter Derby Championship? Does an oxer have to be the final fence in a hunter classic? Should riders be allowed to enter mules in hunter and equitation classes?
Those were among the rule change questions on the agenda for Thursday’s final board meeting of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s annual meeting in North Carolina. They illustrate why the organization should be the body debating such matters—and even more consequential items affecting the hunter, jumper and hunt seat/jumping seat equitation divisions.
Many people in this era, however, don’t know why USHJA exists, or how it came to be. On the eve of its twentieth anniversary, let’s take a look back and see how it happened.
The American Horse Shows Association’s late Twentieth Century successor, USA Equestrian, and in 2003, the U.S. Equestrian Federation that supplanted it, decided that hunters and jumpers needed their own affiliate. After all, every other breed and discipline had one.
Lacking such an affiliate, the federation’s board traditionally spent a great amount of time dealing with hunter/jumper business, which took attention away from other breeds and disciplines.
After years of wheel-spinning by a Hunter/Jumper Council, at a 2003 meeting in Newark, N.J., a small group came up with a definitive plan for a real hunter/jumper organization.
During the new federation’s 2004 midi-year meeting, USEF President David O’Connor declared that the time was right to have an official affiliate, despite some calling for a delay. The USHJA proposal presented by Bill Moroney (now USEF CEO) got the nod over one for the National Hunter Jumper Association that was presented by Gary Baker.
This followed a turbulent time when the U.S. Equestrian Team, which once trained, funded and fielded international squads, was involved in a governance struggle with USA Equestrian. The Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act, passed by Congress, would not allow a sport’s national governing body to delegate any of its international duties, so USA Equestrian and the USET battled for the right to be the federation.
In the process, USA Equestrian became the USEF (you don’t need more details about that unhappy time, do you?) and the USET is now a foundation raising money that enables the U.S. to fund competitors who can carry the flag internationally for horse sports.
USEF fields teams, deals with drugs and medications, licensing of competitions, licensing of officials, and numerous other duties. USHJA, which like USEF has an office at the Kentucky Horse Park, creates a wide variety of programs, including the International Hunter Derby, offers awards and education, has a museum and serves as a voice for the hunter/jumper community.
So now you know who does what, and why.
Back to the rule changes, which must be approved by USEF after being hashed out by the USEF board. The four items that led off this story were resolved this way: competitors should wait until the end of the day to meet with a judge; two refusals mean elimination in the International Hunter Derby, the course designer has the discretion to decide what type of fence will be the last one in a classic and mules should be eligible for the hunters, hunter seat and jumper seat equitation; they already are allowed to do the jumpers and eventing.
Whitney Barnard, the USHJA’s assistant managing director of education programs, didn’t feel it was appropriate for an employee to speak during the meeting on the subject of mules, but she wrote a convincing letter about why they should be allowed to compete in the disciplines.
Her mule, Alan, became an eventer because that discipline reached out to her, and she felt he and the other mules should have a chance to broaden their competitive reach. If another reason was needed, she playfully cited DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) which is a big USHJA objective on the human side.
Britt McCormick, USHJA’s president-elect, remembered how he showed mules “when I was starving” and agreed it was time “to be more inclusive.”
Among the other rules passed was one giving USEF jurisdiction over conduct violations outside the competition environment. Commenting on that, USHJA Vice President Charlotte Skinner-Robson pointed out it shows the organization cares about horses “all the time, not just when they’re at the horse show.”
Director Sissy Wickes emphasized the organization has to consider horse welfare, citing the problems being experienced by racing and the recent scandal of Danish dressage trainer Andreas Helgstrand, whose stable was cited in a TV documentary for unacceptable methods of riding, training and treating horses. Oversight by equestrian organizations is vital, with social license to operate a major issue involving public acceptance of the way animals are treated in sport.
Rule changes disapproved included eliminating Horse of the Year Awards and removing the competition mileage rules.